The message:
My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My believer.
Derived from John 15:8

We are supposed to be profoundly effective in our mission to shine. It makes us feel good...and it makes God feel good, too! I want to be fruitful and effective. I want to know that I've somehow left an impression of Goodness behind...and shared an indication of its source.

One thing I love noticing in scriptures is that over and over it is mentioned that God rejoices in our success. He wants us to prosper in our lives, and tells us the key to that success is in following his lead. Obedience.

"The report of your obedience has reached everyone; therefore I rejoice over you!" Romans 16:19

Obedience. Ouch. I really don’t like that word. It sounds so confining. "Submission", "deference", "compliance". They all "feel" the same way to me. I guess I've learned to connect those words to negative emotions, most likely due to their definitions' inference of surrendering control. Ouch again.

But in my thesaurus is says that "respect" is a synonym for "obedience." Now that sits well. I don't feel negative about “respect” at all. Even when I have to give up my own desires to follow another's plan, if I respect them then it doesn't matter to me. There's no bother.

I respect God. After all, each and every time that I did "obey" and follow his direction he never let me down! I feel him and can honestly say that every time I've asked for his specific blessing of ___, it was given.... I have been "rescued", "fed", "relieved", "loved", "comforted" and so much more. So, yes, respect is definitely there.

"The report of your respect has reached everyone; therefore I rejoice over you." Now that sounds right to me. It completely changes the way I view that verse. I can do that! I can respect him and let him guide me and then he'll rejoice...over me??? Me?? Really? That's pretty cool! I know I feel joy and great satisfaction when I realize that my decisions to go with him resulted in immeasurable blessing. And that's a give and take that feels like an equally respectful opportunity!

Thoughts to ponder:
Do you think you’ve ever missed the mark in His message because of your human connection of a word to a past experience or emotion? If so, have you ever considered examining that word and exploring its true meaning? That simple practice can change everything…