Targeted Obedience

By William S. Wilson

Targeted Obedience
This book is a companion to "Targeted Bible Study" to show the spiritual disciplines individuals can use to grow closer to their God. This book outlines a devotional strategy God's people can use anytime and under any circumstance to stay in an honoring relationship with their God.
The idea for this book started with a study of Psalm 119 which most scholars conclude was written during the Babylonian exile. I saw the Psalmist having lost all support - religious and otherwise. He was alone in his quest to retain a right relationship with his God. I saw him using specific spiritual disciplines in attempting to live close to God.
In Daniel, I saw another individual who was alone and searched for ways to maintain his connection with God. Both practiced many of the same disciplines in their spiritual journey. In this book, I combined these disciplines into a comprehensive, composite devotional strategy. The disciplines are:
Giving God Proper Reverence
The challenge for God's people is to give Him the preeminence He deserves. His people are to see His majesty, glory, and power and respond with reverential awe. In our modern church culture, personal reverence for God is rarely taught and seldom practiced. The beginning step in spiritual understanding is to give God the proper respect, reverence, honor, and love He deserves.
Responding in love
The Old Testament reveals the God who created the universe. It also shows this God Creator called Israel into a love relationship with Him. God asked Israel to respond in reverence and love. However, Israel disobeyed and failed to give God the honor deserved.
In their lives, both Daniel and the Psalmist made personal decisions to give God the love He deserved. They trusted He would honor His promises to the obedient. He was all they had; they would not do anything to harm the promised fellowship.
Asking God to Act
God's people can enter His presence in prayer. Prayer involves surrendering our lives to God's control and intervention. There is a direct relationship between surrendering a life to God's control and the amazing things He brings into a life.
Meditating on God's Standards
God has standards for His people. He wants His people to put into practice His principles. Studying God's Word involves much more than just reading the words. Real study involves several different thinking and learning strategies, which result in a proper understanding of what is required.
Living in Obedience
God expects obedience from His people. Obedience flows from the reverence and love the individual has for God. Proclaimed believers ought to live like they really are His children.
Daniel and the Psalmist knew their relationship with Him was the only area of their lives they had not lost. They intentionally put into practice what God demanded. They assessed their lives to find failures, and asked God for the power to change. They were desperate not to do anything to damage the relationship.
Sharing Him with Others
Committed believers find God opens doors so they can witness to others. As His people are transformed on the inside, their outer behaviors reflect the changes. When people see real changes, they will often listen to what is said.
SUMMARY
This book and "Targeted Bible Study" together give believers a comprehensive devotional strategy for aligning their lives with God's expectations. Both Daniel and the Psalmist made connecting with God their top priority; we can do the same.
The standards are simple. God's people are to understand God is their life. Nothing matters more than their relationship with Him. They strive to keep the connection open and healthy. This book will guide you in answering key questions: Is God the most important thing in my life? Am I giving Him the reverence and love He deserves? Is God the essence of who I am?

• Language: English
• Publisher: William S. Wilson
• Release date: Jun 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301815203

William S. Wilson

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Throughout my career, I was able to balance my secular responsibilities with my ministries as a teacher of the Bible. Studying and teaching the Bible has always been a priority in my life. Through the years, I realized that the people in my Bible classes were not using the thinking and learning skills I found essential in my roles as a Business Executive, a Management Consultant, a College Professor, a Bible teacher, and an individual committed to knowing God's Word. Upon retiring and moving to Eugene, Oregon, I committed to write spiritual books, which would help the ordinary believer learn how to study the Bible on their own. The goal was to teach them how to find out on their own what their God has done for them and what He wants to do with them today. BOOKS IN PROGRESS This Bible Study Book is the first one actually completed. The following books are in various stages of development and will be published shortly: 1. Targeted Bible Study Slide Program: A PowerPoint slide program designed for conducting group training on Bible Study. Nearing Completion and will be published soon 2. The Cosmic Impact of Calvary: A description of the cosmic implications of God's program for restoring His creation to its original pristine state 3. Malachi: An Old Testament Challenge to the Church today 4. Beatitude Living: How Jesus Taught Citizens of the Kingdom are to live 5. Spirit-Filled Living: Victorious Christian living as empowered by the Spirit BUSINESS CAREER [1962-2004] [Forty two Years] In my career, I went through numerous training programs designed to teach me how to be a careful analyst, business strategist, problem-solver, decision maker, and communicator. Such courses covered efficient speed reading, financial and economic analysis, practical problem-solving, professional decision-making, strategic planning, professional management, and effective communication. As a Management Consultant, I received advanced training and experience in business problem-solving, industry and economic analysis, the development of top-level corporate strategy, and enhanced presentation skills. In my fourteen years as a College Professor, I developed and taught upper-division business courses designed to teach students many of the same disciplines. [MINISTRIES [1960 to date] [Fifty-two Years] Throughout my working career, I continued to teach the Bible in my roles as a Youth Leader, a teacher of adult Sunday School classes, the leader of weekday Bible classes, a conference speaker, and a seminar speaker. When I started teaching right out of Graduate School, I soon realized the people I was teaching did not have the training to study the Bible the way I thought was normal. So I started using many of my business thinking strategies to make my Bible classes come alive for my students. I got them excited and showed them how to use the same kind of thinking skills in their personal studies. Over the years, I conducted numerous Bible Study Seminars in the Churches attended. EDUCATION BA Economics Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL [1961] MBA Northwestern University, Evanston, IL [1962] PERSONAL LIFE Married 51 years to the young lady I met when I was fourteen - still learning Four married children Eight grandchildren

Book preview

Targeted Obedience

William S. Wilson

Copyright 2013 by William S. Wilson

Smashwords Edition

This E-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This E-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com  The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

~~~~~

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1: BLESSEDNESS:THE RESULT OF LIVING IN OBEDIENCE

CHAPTER 2: THE IMPACT OF THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

CHAPTER 3: OPPOSITION TO THE PSALMIST

CHAPTER 4: GOD'S WORD [THE PSALMIST'S ONLY RESOURCE]

CHAPTER 5: GOD IS THE FOCUS

CHAPTER 6: REVERENCE [THE FIRST DISCIPLINE]

CHAPTER 7: RECIPROCATED LOVE [THE SECOND DISCIPLINE]

CHAPTER 8: PRAYER [THE THIRD DISCIPLINE]

CHAPTER 9: MEDITATION, REFLECTION, STUDY [THE FOURTH DISCIPLINE]

CHAPTER 10: OBEDIENCE [THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

CHAPTER 11: THE DISCIPLINE OF APPLICATION AND SPIRITUAL PROBLEM-SOVING

CHAPTER 12: SHARING WITH OTHERS [THE SIXTH DISCIPLINE]

CHAPTER 13: A CHALLENGE TO ALL BELEVERS

~~~~~~

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A: A STANDARD FORMAT OF PRAYER

APPENDIX B: DIFFERENT EMPHASES IN PRAYER

APPENDIX C: SUMMARY> TARGETED BIBLE STUDY STRATEGY

APPENDIX D: ABOUT THE AUTHOR: William S. Wilson

APPENDIX E: COMPANION BOOK Targeted Bible Study

~~~~~

PREFACE

This Book is a sequel to my original book Targeted Bible Study. In Targeted Bible Study, I referred many times to the writer of Psalm 119 as a good role model for believers in this generation. My challenge to everyone was to read Psalm 119 once a month to keep their interest in Bible study high and to understand the importance, the absolute necessity, of studying God's Word.

Targeted Obedience focuses on the importance of personal worship, prayer, love, study, submission, and obedience as seen in Psalm 119. As we identify key devotional strategies in Psalm 119,we can use them in our personal lives today to connect with our God despite our circumstances in our modern, fast-paced, hectic, overloaded lives. We can decide to use these disciplines to stay connected to our God.

Many people have written about Psalm 119 and have focused on the following:

-The structure with its 22 stanzas for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet

-The emphasis on God

-The focus on God’s Word

-The Psalmist’s commitment

-The Psalmist’s depression

-The Psalmist’s pleas to God

-The Psalmist’s awareness of his failings

A DIFFERENT FOCUS

The focus of this book will be different. The example of the author of Psalm 119 can be our example to grow in our relationship with God. I will highlight the principles I see the Psalmist using in his devotional life to persevere in and grow his relationship with his God. I will concentrate on the key strategies the Psalmist developed to align his life with God’s standards.

Although the author of the Psalm is unknown, commentators have suggested many different possibilities: David, Hezekiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, or Malachi. Historians infer Psalm 119 was written during or shortly after the exile. In the Psalm, there is no mention of the temple, sacrifices, or congregational worship, which suggests they were not available to the Psalmist. The Psalmist's focus is strictly personal, reflecting the commitment, struggles, successes, and failures of an individual who is alone and still wants to honor his God and be who God wants him to be.

As I studied and meditated on Psalm 119, it was fascinating to see the approach of the Psalmist. He committed to live for his God, structure his life by his God's standards, face oppression because of his stance, and trust God to lovingly fulfill His promises. In my studies, I kept seeing many parallels woven between the lines, reminding me of what I had learned in a study of the life of Daniel. So, I felt comfortable picturing Daniel as the author of the Psalm. I wrote this book from the perspective the Psalmist and Daniel were one and the same person.

-Both expressed commitment to not defile themselves.

-Both were committed to obey God's Word

-Both exalted their God in their dealings with others.

-Both made prayer an important discipline in their lives.

-Both suffered persecution.

-Both were able to witness before Kings.

- Both upheld their commitments despite attacks.

-Both trusted God would preserve their lives in their circumstances.

-Both made the study of God's Word an essential part of their lives.

-Both saw their failures and shortcoming relative to God's standards.

-Both committed to honor God by obeying His commands.

Because of these similarities, I believe we can distill the practices of the Psalmist and the example of Daniels' life into a personal strategy for staying in a proper relationship with God in any circumstance. This approach will be different, because it focuses on the personal sphere of relating to God.

My conviction is the personal facet of spirituality needs to be re-emphasized if we are going to experience real revival in personal lives. I believe we need to go back to the basics as seen in the lives of the Patriarchs to see how individuals aligned their lives with the God they claimed to love and serve. There is a lot we can re-learn from their simple approach to being connected to their God.

THE PERSONAL RESPONSE IN THE PSALM

I see Psalm 119 as a summary of the strategy the Psalmist used to align his life with God's lifestyle demands for His people. The Psalm shows the personal struggles the Psalmist went through as he sought to find ways he could, although alone, stay connected to his God by living a righteous life. In his solitude, the Psalmist struggled to find how he could stay worshipping, learning God’s standards, and putting them into practice without the support of organized religion. The Psalm reveals the Psalmist’s commitment to deal with God's instructions about how he was to live his daily life.

My conclusion is Psalm119 outlines an overall approach for building an honoring relationship with God. In such a context, I have written this book from the perspective of a person desperately striving to live a blameless life, walk in righteousness, be blessed in his soul, and bring honor and glory to his God. The Psalmist also understood only God could give him the inner power to succeed.

Throughout the book, I will use the terms the Psalmist and Daniel interchangeably using one or the other as the context warrants and I feel is fitting. The reader also will find some repetition in this book, occurring as we look at important principles from several different perspectives.

This book is organized around the Psalmist's circumstances, his understanding of his God and God's expectations, and the ways he sought to bring his life into conformity with God's standards. I focused on his reverence, his love, his prayer life, his study habits, his commitment to learn the standards, his dedication to making them the way he lived, and his willingness to examine his life against them. I believe the Psalmist's approach gives us a strategy for learning and living by God's Word in our hectic world in any circumstance.

OVERALL APPROACH OF THE BOOK

Psalm 119 shows how someone without relying on the trappings or props of a formal religious structure can develop an acceptable approach to connect to their God. The identified strategies will enable a person to communicate with God, offer Him acceptable worship in different ways, live a life honoring Him, and make Him known in their immediate world. The struggles of the Psalmist give modern day believers a structure for insuring the worship of our solitary inner life is as significant as our congregational approach on Sunday.

This book takes the disciplines exercised by the Psalmist and puts them into an approach the average Christian can use individually in their private life. Real transformation usually starts in the private lives of individuals as the Spirit convicts them of their sins and their need for transformation. The purpose of this book is to give the average Christian the personal tools needed to lay the groundwork for such transformation to occur.

God is worthy of all the reverence, love, and obedience we can give Him. Key Principle: Real spiritual transformation happens in our private hearts one person at a time as we kneel before the altar in our inner being.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 1: BLESSEDNESS: THE RESULT OF LIVING IN OBEDIENCE

The Psalmist structured this Psalm so the main theme is the introduction to the rest of the Psalm. In the first eight verses, he touches on what mankind is searching for: a sense of significance, a life with meaning, a sense of connection, and deep soul satisfaction. In these verses, he describes the life most people are desperate to have.

However, mankind has typically rejected God, and developed and followed humanistic-based ideas for what should be done and can be accepted. So, they live lives of despair, loneliness, and the useless pursuit of satisfaction. Believers are surrounded by people who are madly engaging in drugs, alcohol, sex, power, and the pursuit of material goods to find something that satisfies. I have always described living this way as represented by a ginger bread man with a hollow place in his heart. He desperately brings illicit sex, power, drugs, success, leisure time, material goods and whatever he can find to fill the hole in his soul. But all these things just drop through the hole without giving satisfaction and just make the pain worse. They live every day the theme from Peggy Lee's famous song: "Is that all there is?"

THE REAL MEANING OF LIFE

Surprisingly, the Psalmist touched on this age-old problem as he penned the opening verses to this Psalm. The Psalm prescribes the cure to what is ailing mankind. They need to first recognize God exists. Second they need to see He created them to be in relationship with Himself. Third they need to see God offers them a life blessed with satisfaction when they accept Him on His terms, and live according to His standards. Fourth, they need to understand a real relationship with God is the only cure for their endless pain. But most people reject God's claims and miss what He can and wants to give them.

I see the acceptance to God’s existence and His worthiness to be obeyed in the first story we hear about Daniel. He knew his God, knew His standards, and knew God would honor obedience. He took a stand by honoring his God with obedience. God blessed Him above the other Israelites who were afraid to take a stand and had willingly compromised. As I read Daniel’s story, I see him striving to honor his God in difficult circumstances, regardless of the possible results. As a result, Daniel’s God responded to his obedience in extraordinary, amazing ways throughout his life

In this Psalm of adoration and obedience, the Psalmist highlights the joy and satisfaction experienced by someone living in obedience to the God they love. This Psalm starts by repeating the same theme expressed in Psalm 1. Both Psalm 1 and 119 start with the word Blessed. The basic word means extreme happiness or double happiness. As I reflect on this idea, I see happiness entails the sense of safety, protection, joy, satisfaction, meaning, and peace God gives to those who flee to Him for protection. In both the Old and New Testaments, someone in close communion, fellowship, and obedience with their God experiences a deep sense of security and satisfaction in their inner being. They experience deep soul satisfaction; they feel connected.

The Concept of Blessedness

The introductory verses of Psalm 119 contain significant spiritual principles. In these verses, the Psalmist sets up a significant contrast between those who are walking in God’s ways and living by His instructions and those who do not. The obedient experience a life those running after the things of the world miss.

1. Blessed are they whose walk is blameless

The basic idea presented by the Psalmist is that God’s people commit to walk in His ways. He finds their obedience acceptable and will accept such obedience if done with a righteous motive and clean hands. God’s people choose to live in obedience, because their obedience shows their love to Him and brings recognition, honor and glory to Him.

The result of living a blameless life is referred to in verses 6 and 9. The Psalmist did not want to be ashamed of how he has lived his life. He committed to think his way through all these commands. He did not want to stand in front of his God and be found wanting. He wanted to be found worthy without fault. He did not want to lose the sense of God’s presence in his life. He did not want to see his relationship with God damaged by disobedience.

2. Who Walk According to the Law of the Lord

The word walk is an intriguing word. The word communicates committed believers structure their lives according to God’s principles and walk in obedience. So the Psalmist is saying God’s people live their lives within the boundaries prescribed by God’s standards. They intentionally evaluate every facet of their lives to bring their life in alignment with God’s standards.

3. Blessed are They Who Keep His Commandments

God’s approach is clear; He expects obedience from those in a covenant relationship with Him. They are to live lives so different from the world’s, outsiders will take notice. The standard is their outer behaviors are to reflect the transformation occurring in their inner beings. Such inner change only occurs as they passionately seek Him and surrender control of their lives to His control.

God ties how His people live to what they will experience. Commentators have used the following to describe the connection between obedience and blessing: Covenant Obedience always precedes Covenant Blessing. The second principle is also clear: God always connects the fruit of the Spirit with holiness.

The conclusion can then be made that real satisfaction and joy can only be achieved when a life is lived in surrender, relationship, and obedience to God.

4. Seek Him with All Their Hearts

The concept of seeking God with the totality of your being is a recurring theme in the Old Testament, which Jesus repeated in His teachings. The concept of love for God is first introduced in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 6:5 declares the Israelites were to love God with the totality of their beings. The degree of commitment and love could be measured by the passion by which His people strived to honor Him. When the Children of Israel were in slavery in Egypt, He heard their cries for deliverance and redeemed them. Throughout the book of Judges, God constantly responded when His people repented and begged for forgiveness. When they were desperately seeking His redemption, God heard and responded.

In the book of Jeremiah, God told the children of Israel in exile they would find Him when they sought Him with all their hearts and souls. The promise is those who seek Him with a sense of desperation and hopelessness will be heard and blessed.

5. They do Nothing Wrong

Although we know mankind will continually stumble and stray, the Psalmist concludes his description of the blessed person by stating they strive to do nothing wrong and walk in His ways. A person, who knows who God is, knows what God’s standards are, and is passionately seeking Him, will have a startlingly different life. God's Spirit will equip them to be able to live by His