Obey, Obey Now, Obey Willingly: Radical Love

By Linda Ramsey

When we hear the voice of God what is our reaction? Do we doubt what He says? Do we answer with our own questioning? Or do we jump right in and just do it? This book hopes to give encouragement to “obey, obey now, obey willingly”. Reading this book will give insight on hearing and listening to God. It will show by obedience to God we will bring delight to Him and we will see the results of God’s radical love for us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664262553

Linda Ramsey

Linda Ramsey has enjoyed working in children’s ministry for over fifty years. She is the mother of five, grandmother of twenty- five, and married to the same spouse for fifty years. During this time she has learned the importance of obedience. Her family and friends have encouraged her to write this book because of how the phrase “obey, obey now, obey willingly” had affected their lives. Her love of children led her to seek a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Moorhead State University. Her love for God led her to seek a Master’s degree and PhD in theology from the Minnesota School of Theology while attending Community Church International Bible School. Other books by Linda: Once God Had a Dream, God Had a Dream Samuel, God Had a Dream Josiah, God Had a dream Mordecai & Esther, God Had a Dream Joseph & Mary

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 Linda Ramsey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or

by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the

author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

All scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6254-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6256-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-6255-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022906110

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/05/2022

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Personal Testimony

The Book Begins

Obedience

Hearing and Listening

My Own Family

Children’s Ministry

Simple Obedience, Incredible Results

FOREWORD

Life is not a breeze; one cannot simply walk through it without ups and downs. If you want to read a book that makes you feel you’ve done enough, do not read this book. This book is for those hungry to do God’s work and obey Him in whatever that may be. This book, written by my grandmother, tells a tale of what life looks like when obeying God is at the center of a person’s heart. She will not tell you how to be obedient, giving you steps to reach maximum holiness. However, this book will paint you a picture and SHOW YOU all that comes with living your life for Christ. As my grandmother walks through life, she is faced with many choices, as we all are. She is given the option to obey God or walk in what she believes is right. As you read, put yourself in her shoes. How and in what ways would you answer the calls God placed her way? Would you question God’s judgment, turn to what is comfortable, or lock eyes with Him and follow His lead? God has given us free will, which makes obeying Him more challenging but also gratifying. As you read, I pray God stirs a boldness and hunger deep within you, that you will have the courage to Obey, Obey Now, and Obey Willingly.

—Victorya Sprecher

INTRODUCTION

I have always found it amusing the reaction people, especially the children, have when I speak the words, Obey, obey now, obey willingly. My own kids have been after me for years to write a book on the subject. After much prayer and seeking the Holy Spirit, I have written my experiences and testimony on learning and understanding how to obey, obey now, obey willingly. In writing the book, I have realized just how much God has loved me. Through my desire to follow Jesus with all my heart, I have often slipped off the path. To which, God has stretched out His hand, and helped me get back on the path. I have often used this example of a child learning to walk and after a few steps he falls. A parent’s response is to clap, and says encouraging words. The parent does not respond by asking, what’s wrong with you? You were walking why did you fall? No, the parent helps the child up and encourages him to try again. So it is with God, our Father.

It was a joy to write this book. I hope you will enjoy reading it. I also hope you will learn the radical love God has for you. I hope you will realize the delight God has when you hear from Him, listen to His plan for you, and then you put your faith into action, and obey, obey now, and obey willingly.

God’s blessings,

Linda Ramsey

Obey, Obey Now, Obey Willingly

Personal

Testimony

25838.png

D on’t you just love God and how much He loves us? It’s a radical love! It’s a love so radical that God wants to be a part of every moment, of every day in our lives. God does not want us to make a move without Him. Catch this in your heart; long before He created the heavens and the earth, He had a plan for each of us. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. NKJV God has plans for us, plans of peace and not evil, plans to give us a future and a hope. That’s part of the radical love God has for us.

This may be a crazy way to start a book, but I do not think you would have picked up this book to read unless you did not already have a radical love for God. I believe you have a desire to show God the radical love you have towards Him through obeying, obeying now, and obeying willingly. It’s the way God moves in a mighty way through our lives. If you picked up this book for any other reason, I hope by the time you finish reading it you have a new understanding of the radical love God has for you. You will then grow to know God more. As you grow to know Him more, you will develop a radical love for God. Your love for God can become radical enough that you will want to obey, obey now, and obey willingly.

This radical love between God and me started at a very young age. When I was around the age of three, a neighbor found out my dad was Catholic and had not been married in the church. So, she called her priest and introduced him to my family. My dad and mom decided to have their marriage blessed, and my sister and I were baptized in the Catholic Church. Later, at age four, I was visiting the church and investigating the altar where the tabernacle sat. As I opened the door on the tabernacle, I heard Jesus say to me, Linda, I Am inside of you. I knew right then that He had a special love for me. My heart leapt with tremendous excitement. I knew this was big, really big! My response, even at four, was, Let’s do it. I knew with all my heart that God had something we were going to do together. I skipped out of church that day filled with joy and anticipation. Jesus and I were going