Page 39 - Sarah's Children

feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God.

It is difficult to build a set of rules by which we might judge every action of a man or
woman. It is possible for two people to outwardly perform the same action while
inwardly their hearts are vastly different. God looks on the heart, and judges the
thoughts and intentions. Man often judges by sight and hearing and comes to a
conclusion altogether different from that of God. It is necessary for the people of God
to always be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit and to be directed by the Spirit in all
that they do.

It is quite possible for two women to ask the counsel of a minister concerning some
decision they are facing, and although the outward circumstances may appear very
similar, the inner life of the women may be vastly different. God will not always
provide the same counsel to every woman. We should always wait patiently before
the Father until we are confident we have heard His voice and understood His will
in a matter.

Some have also argued that if a wife is walking in obedience and submission under
the governmental order of God that her husband will never ask her to do anything
sinful, that Yahweh will restrain the husband from making such a request. This is
merely wishful thinking. Ananias asked his wife to join with him in sin. God has not
promised a woman that she will never be asked by a husband or father to sin if she
is walking in submission to them. It can, and very well may, happen.

Sapphira could not argue that she was merely being obedient to her husband’s
request. This did not absolve her of the consequences of her participation in the sin
of deception and lying. The Spirit judged her just as surely as her husband was
judged. She could have, and should have, refused to violate the command of God.
She may have suffered consequences in her home, but she would have been justified
before the Father.

This leads us to our next point: when we are brought to a place of obeying God rather
than the command of men to sin, we must yet submit ourselves to the authority of
man and receive the consequences of our obedience. Often we must suffer for the
sake of obedience. When Peter and John told the Jewish leaders that they must obey
God rather than man, they then had to suffer for their obedience.

Acts 5:40-42
And after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them
not to speak in the name of Yahshua, and then released them. So they
went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they
had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every