How to Obey God When We Don’t See Results
We should obey God whether or not we see instant results. We love a nice payoff after hard work, but often we do not experience it for a while when we are in God's will. If we preach the gospel we might not see thousands saved instantly. When we serve in the church, we don't notice a promotion and start to wonder, "Did God send me here?" We pay our tithe and expect a big paycheck to fall straight on our lap. Let me tell you, that's not how the Lord operates. God has a bigger plan than just see you succeed, He wants to form you into the image of Christ.
Rejoice in Trials
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2). What a strange thing to say, don't you think? Rejoicing amongst trials and hardships is not common. Yet it is possible to have joy even when we fail again and again. Yes, failures inevitably happen, but the question is how do we respond to them? Do we throw in the towel, meaning give up, or continue to push through? There is a difference between winners and losers, but all winners go through trial and error. All true winners went through the most difficult tests, that's why they could now perform on such a high level.
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan, the famous basketball player was cut from making his high school basketball team. He missed many shots in his career, and lost plenty of games, but was arguably the best basketball player in history. He succeeded because he failed.
Rocky
Sylvester Stallone was born with the left of his face paralyzed. He was homeless for a time in the streets of New York. You'd think, a total failure, right? Not quite. He starred in the famous movie Rocky to which he wrote the entire script himself in just three days.
Imitating Apostle Paul
Let's talk about men of God now. Apostle Paul was denied access into many cities for the preaching of the gospel. He was stoned in Lystra and was dragged out of the city. If we saw Paul the next week we would instantly say to him, "Paul, it wasn't God's will for you to visit Lystra. You should've listened to the Holy Spirit for direction." Yet Paul kept pushing, for he was persistent.
People who are fully surrendered to Christ endure the greatest resistance. A man living for God does not count his life dear to him. Our life belongs to Christ. If you failed then get up, dust yourself off, and keep going. "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet" (Matthew 10:14). Jesus knew not to get discouraged in the midst of failure.
Removing our ego.
I had to learn this when I was in Kilosa, Tanzania for a gospel crusade. It was the third night of our meetings with a crowd of 1,200 or so. After the preaching of Jesus, I went up to pray for the sick. As usual, I taught on healing for around 15 minutes and then began to pray. I saw as people put their hands on the part of the body they needed healing from Jesus.
Then, I asked whoever had evidence of their healing to come to the side of the stage to testify. No one came. I gave clear instructions to the crowd until finally, a lady came who was limping. She told us Jesus healed her, but not completely. I was in disbelief that out of a thousand people there were hardly any testimonies. I was not bothered that no one was healed, but because no one came up to testify.
The next day during prayer our team laid hands on me in faith, and a thought from the Holy Spirit pierced me. "It's not about results, it's about obedience."
I obeyed the Lord and executed as I was commanded when I prayed for the sick. If no results manifested I should not be discouraged. This was a turning point for me. I am not to look at the outcome but to simply obey Christ and do as I'm told. My mood changed and there was beauty not in the accomplishments, rather in carrying out the assignments I was given. If there's no fruit, then it wasn't my problem, it was on God.
The next day a teenager named Ezekiel came up to testify for healing. We examined him. In the past, he would fall multiple times per day from an epileptic spirit. The night I prayed for the sick he fell for the last time, for a demon was cast out from in that moment. Ezekiel was completely free, and He rejoiced for Jesus had done a miracle in his life.
Listen, if we preached and no one was saved, or we laid hands on the sick and nothing happened, yet we were obedient to the Lord, then that is fine. It's the Lord's business to heal and to save. There might be no change and that's okay. Let the Holy Spirit move upon the people whom we preach to, it's not our business to convert.
We must unhook our ego from the results, and rather focus on pleasing Father God.
The obedient prophet.
Jeremiah did not see much results from his rebukes to Israel, for most of the people despised him and opposed his words. He suffered much for being obedient to the Lord. Israel did not heed the words of Jeremiah, but the Lord lifted this young prophet. In the end, Jeremiah went down as one of the greatest prophets from the old testament. It's about obedience, not about results.
Eight people were saved out of thousands of residents in the days of Noah. Did Noah not try to convince his neighbors to enter the ark with him? Of course, but they did not listen. Noah did his part, warning the people of the coming flood, and only his family was saved.
Noah’s Ark
We do not find in the scriptures that Noah was discouraged. He could've quit and mumbled, "I've had it with these people! All I do is try to save them and they just mock me. I'll show them!" Nowhere do we find a silly idea like that. Noah was a righteous man who must have pleaded with the people to enter the ark, but they just ridiculed him and died in their sin. Noah was submissive to the Lord and carried on as He was commanded. Let's take our example from Noah. God desires us to succeed. He wants us to grow in Christ.
Rejected 10 times.
Recently, I went through another trial. We were assigned to organize and preach at kid's crusades in the city of Dar Es Salaam. In one day we were rejected from ten regions, all in a row. Not once did my partner Josiah and I preached. As I was questioning my abilities, the Lord reminded me of the secret He revealed to me before. ⭐ In times of testing we are growing. I made a choice not to be downcast, and the Holy Spirit strengthened us.
Do you know what happened the next day? We had six consecutive kids crusades organized that very day, and not once did we get rejected. We shared the Good News at all of them and 2,790 decisions were made by children to turn to Christ. We didn't give up and the blessing of the Lord came. This was another miracle by God.
Growth happens amidst trials.
Hardships come when the whole world may look upon us as fools, but God allows His fools to rule. I am a fool for Christ's sake, and I much rather look like a fool in the world's eyes than be full of pride and be a fool in God's eyes. For who is it more important to please, this crooked generation, or the Holy Spirit? I choose the Holy Spirit.
The Final thoughts
We want success, we are born to be winners, but the greatest winner of all time hung on a cross with a crown of thorns piercing His head. The Jews and the Sanhedrin thought they finally put an end to Jesus' ministry, but little did they know that was only the begging of the reign of a new King. The devil lost, and Jesus won because He endured with joy the greatest trials. Let us learn from the best, for as we obey the Lord, our character is transformed into His image. We become more like Christ when we obey Him, whether we experience the results in the ministry, in our family, or even in prayer. Let us lift our heads when difficulties arise because it's an opportunity for us to mature in faith. Are you the type of person living by results, or are you satisfied when God gets the glory no matter what happens?
