Daily Devotionals by Ardith Keef

     Obedience precedes the sweet heavenly fire in the soul.
     Christians often wonder how they can have  the flame of zeal burning hotly, and
tend to look for shortcuts.  And ignorant preachers teach that the Holy Spirit will fill a 
believer and it is the experience of that infilling that gives the believer power to obey.
     That is not true.
     When we were born again the Holy Spirit came to indwell. At that time, we were 
given the power to obey. Before we were saved, we had no choice - we were slaves to 
sin.   But when we were born again, we were delivered from the old darkness and we
were given the freedom and power of choice.
      There is more.
      There is an infilling of the Holy Spirit that does many things, among which is empower
the Christian to witness.  But this infilling is the result of obedience, not the opening to 
obedience.
      Soldier, the call to obey is now.  You feel powerless?  It is a lie.
      You need no more to obey than you have now.  When that move is made, there is 
more room to be occupied by the One who designed you, and the flame of the soul
burns more hotly.
     God has an order and it is always obedience first.