This is why obedience matters-
After Jesus ascended, He told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. And they obeyed.
"Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." -Acts 1:4–5
But imagine if they had decided to take a vote... maybe Jerusalem was just too dangerous. Too uncomfortable. Too uncertain. What if they had chosen somewhere safer? Somewhere easier? Somewhere that made more sense to them? “We can wait in Capernaum just the same... let’s just go there, it’ll be much safer...”
The issue with this little plan is that the Holy Spirit was coming to Jerusalem, by design. Not Capernaum.
Had they gone their own way, they would have missed the very thing God had already set in motion for them. The Holy Spirit wasn’t set to descend in Capernaum, He was going to Jerusalem, just as Jesus had said.
How often do we do the same?
God says go… and we delay.
God says stay… and we move.
God says trust Me… and we choose what feels safer instead.
And then we wonder why we feel distant from what God is doing or why God didn’t meet us as we had expected.
Obedience is not about control. It’s about alignment. It’s surrender to His will and not following our own.
Sometimes the blessing, the breakthrough, the calling, the encounter, the provision, the outpouring of God… is waiting on the other side of simple obedience.
Imagine what we are missing because we keep choosing our way over His. If it hasn’t been working out quite like you have hoped, what not give His way a try. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!
~ Devin
Devin Osborne
The Early Church
