Son of disobedience?

Much of my early life I was constantly being asked the question, “What is wrong with you?” My parents asked it, my teachers asked it, my friends, the police, and the military asked it; finally at a family meeting my brother formed the hypotheses that perhaps I was a “bad seed”. To this day I still wonder why I was so disobedient; was my brother right and I am a bad seed?

The Bible mentions “Sons of Disobedience” in referring to fallen angels. That description seemed to fit me. It has not been lost on me that perhaps I was even demon possessed by one or more of them for part of my life. At the very least I was heavily influenced by satan for a while and I seemed to want to do his will instead of God’s.

Sunday after I spoke at a church and the service was coming to conclusion a number of people came down to the front to pray about various things. There were so many that it was all the pastors and deacons could do to talk to them all. At the conclusion of speaking I sat back down, but in a few minutes one of the pastors brought a chubby little boy who appeared to be about 12 or 13 years old over to me and gruffly said, “Here, you talk to this one”, and then he turned on his heel and went back to others who were standing in line.

I put my arm around the little boy and asked him why he had come down there. He dejectedly put his head down and ashamedly said, “I have a problem with disobedience”. Hmmm I ruefully glanced at the preacher that had brought him over, but he was busy with someone else. I suppose he deduced that I was the original Son of Disobedience and would be the perfect person to talk with this little boy. Indeed I probably was. I’d been in this same position many times throughout my troubled childhood, and who better to pray with this little guy than me.

I warmly smiled at him and said, “So do I”. He looked up at me with his eyes widening and earnestly asked, “How’d you fix it?” I told him that “I” didn’t; God did.

I asked him if he believed the Bible and he vigorously nodded his head yes. I said the Bible tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. “Do you believe that?” Once again he nodded yes and this time he even dared to offer a quick little cautious smile.

I said, “I want you to pray with me”. He nodded his head okay, and I led him in prayer:

“Dear God I ask You to forgive me for being disobedient. The little boy repeated those words and I continued, Jesus I ask You to do as You have promised in Philippians 4:13 and come into my life and strengthen me against being disobedient and in fact change me to be obedient to my parents, and to my teachers, and to anyone in authority. Again he repeated every word of the prayer word for word. I concluded it by saying, Thank you God for honoring Your word today”.

I turned to the boy and said that no matter what he had done in the past if that prayer was sincere that God had 100% forgiven him. I told him he could show that he was telling the truth by being obedient in the future. I then encouraged him to memorize that verse and whenever faced with temptation, (and he SURELY would be faced with more temptation to be bad in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead), to use that verse in a quick prayer to God.

I then told him that God can do anything He wants and He wants to help him, but He also wants him to first ask for His help and then to have faith that He would deliver on His promise to him. I hugged him and told him that it works for me and it would work for him. He smiled widely now and went back to his seat.

It sounds simple but it does work. We will never be free from temptation in this world, but God will provide a way to escape and He has promised to give us the strength to utilize it. Call on the MIGHTY name of the Lord today. Remember always that God desires our obedience as much as we do. Ask Him to assist you with successfully fighting through whatever problems and temptations that you might be facing. Have faith that He will honor His word and watch in amazement as He transforms your problems into nothing and blesses your life as never before. We serve a MIGHTY God; why not take advantage of that power in your life, starting this fine morning.

Have a great day today! The choice is yours you know

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.