God is Pleased with our Obedience: The Youngest Son’s Salvation Story

Obedience. One of the core tenets of the Christian belief system and arguably one of the most burdensome for believers. Our most natural tendency as humans is to gratify the desires of our flesh, but we know that following Christ requires us to put those desires and tendencies to death and adopt those of the Spirit of God living within us. I believe that we find obedience to God to be so difficult because when He speaks to us words of instruction, they’re often counter to what we would find to be the natural response to a situation. We know that His heart is set on our good and His glory, but we don’t always trust that. Time and again we are too wrapped up in ourselves, our own needs, and our own desires to catch the glimpse of the big picture that He’s desiring to show us. 

Potentially one of the most impactful things that I’ve learned to recognize this year on the Race that I’ll carry with me beyond these eleven months is the value of my “Yes” to the Lord. He can and wants to and will do a lot with our obedience and what I’ve seen him do with mine is quite the story. Most recently, I was blown away by what He did when my team gave a hard yes to our hosts in Armenia. Lemme tell ya bout that one. 

It had been a rather long day of preparation and execution of youth ministry. We’d spent our day planning crazy games and learning new songs to sing in worship and then we got to hang out with some of the church members for the evening. It was less like the typical youth group setting that we’re accustomed to in the States, but I’d say that we had a pretty great time in fellowship and service with our new friends. At the end of the church service, Vardush, our lovely host, found us and informed us that our driver would return with the bus shortly and we’d all need to be ready to go as soon as he arrived. No context, just get in the bus, which was all we got most days. However, this was particularly interesting because it was a little after 9:00 pm. Because of this, our team leader gave us the opportunity to opt out and stay back, but the majority of our team bought in and loaded onto the bus to learn that this was just another house visit. We were used to these. We would enter the home, exchange a friendly greeting, Vardush would chat with them for a while while they served us fresh fruit and coffee, then she would address Brother Google Translate to fill us in, and that would be our invitation into the conversation. 

As we piled into the apartment on the top floor of this high rise apartment complex, the events unfolded just as we’d expected them to, but this story was rather unique. The oldest son of this family had recently been killed in the war and both the father and his brother had recently been killed in two different car accidents. We learned after a while that the younger son had also been in a car accident only weeks before our visit that killed the passenger in his car, but his life was spared. We prayed against the generational curse of death on the men in this family, and then I quickly responded and shared that I believed his survival was more than a coincidence. 

The Lord had spoken some words clearly to me over that youngest son’s identity and role in his family, so I shared that with him through the translator and that naturally transitioned our conversation into a presentation of the Gospel. This family claims to be followers of Jesus, but I could tell that this young man, if he’d ever surrendered his life to Him, was a prodigal that the Father was longing to hold in His arms again. So I refused to leave without hearing a response from the son. The good news had been presented and that’s not a space you want to leave open ended, the enemy loves to get in there and loosen all the screws when we just leave it open, so I plainly and directly asked if he was ready to say “yes” to God’s invitation into the kingdom, ensured that he knew what that meant, and then Vardush helped him to pray a prayer of surrender to the Lord. 

As we were wrapping up conversation and walking out the door, I was chatting with my new brother, and waiting for the ladies to walk out, but they never came. I popped my head back into the living room to see tears streaming down the faces of my teammate, Jenn, and the young daughter of this family. She was convicted by the Holy Spirit, and Jenn and Vardush led her into the arms of her savior for the first time that night as well. 

HALLELUJAH!!!! PRAISE THE LAMB!!!! 

Loading into the bus, we rejoiced together at what we’d just watched God do before our eyes. This late night venture, our decision to obey, and our sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit meant salvation for two lost souls. Thank you, Lord, that you allowed us to partner with you in this!!!

We don’t get to see people say yes as often as you might believe, so we are thankful when we get to walk with sons and daughters into the eternal kingdom of our kind Lord. 

Maybe obedience doesn’t have to be as burdensome as we make it out to be. It can be as simple as saying yes to whatever God is asking of you. 

So…. What is God asking you to do that you’d not naturally be inclined to give your yes to? I’ve known that difficult obedience to be incredibly fruitful and beneficial. He is worthy of your devotion, even when you don’t wanna give it to Him. 

God is pleased with our obedience. How will you respond when He calls? 

I love you, 

AWM