—Lesson on Obedience to 9-year-old Techi.DO 24467/88

(Techi breaks out in hives after disobeying Grandpa.)

1. You usually make the right decision & you do obey‚ but sometimes you really stall, & you really fight it! Remember the story about the little boy whose sister asked him about the Lord's Prayer? It says "Thy Will be done on Earth," in other words obey, "as it's done in Heaven," & she asked, "What does that mean?" He said, "Right now!"

2. Now that is a distinct problem you have, Honey‚ & that is about "right now" obedience! You seldom ever do it right now, you always stall & you're always objecting & arguing about it. You always finally yield & give in & obey, but you put it off as long as you can‚ you stall & argue, & try not to do it.

3. So maybe you need to learn that lesson of right now! Obedience is right now! And when you stall & you argue & you don't obey right away, then what are you doing? (Techi: Disobeying.) You do finally obey, you finally yield, but not without argument & discussion & stalling as long as you can get away with it, until we really lay down the law & say, "Well do it!", & then you finally do it. Or you stall until you're finally convinced that you should do it. But in the meantime, you do have a hard time with instant obedience. So the Lord just may be trying to teach you a lesson about instant obedience.—Obedience which is not instant is not obedience, it's disobedience!

4. (Maria: What were you disobedient about?) That's why she's holding her shirt over her head like that, because I said, "Now don't take it off!" And I said‚ "But if you must take it off, you're going to have to put something else on!" So while she was arguing about it, she was still holding it up over her head, she was in Limbo‚ hanging halfway between obedience & disobedience.

5. So I was trying to tell her that obedience that is not instant obedience is disobedience, & that is one of her major failings that I have had a problem with. When you ask her to do something she doesn't want to do‚ she stalls. She eventually yields, but she argues & stalls & is stubborn about it.

6. Stubbornness is a pretty serious sin! What does the Bible say about it? (Techi: "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, & stubbornness is as iniquity & idolatry."—1Sam.15:23.) So it's pretty bad, huh? If we ask you to do something & you stubbornly refuse & argue about it & it sometimes takes us 10 or 15 minutes to convince you, that's not instant obedience. Sometimes it takes half–an-hour to an hour before you finally give in & yield & obey! So maybe the Lord's trying to teach you something, Honey.

7. Well, you think about that & pray about it. Why don't you talk to the Lord & tell Him you're sorry & ask Him to forgive you. (Techi: Thank You Lord that Grandpa could teach me this good lesson, Lord. I pray that You will really help me to be more agreeable & obedient & have instant obedience, Jesus‚ & to learn from my mistake. Please forgive me for being naughty, Jesus, & I pray that You will help me to learn my lesson, in Jesus' name. TYL!) Amen.

8. If you knew that every time you started arguing & stalling & stubbornly refusing to do something you're asked to do, I'll bet you anything‚ if you immediately got the hives when you got that spirit, it would soon cure you of disobedience! Is the Lord going to have to do that now to try to cure you of disobedience?

9. Which is worse, the hives or disobedience? (Techi: Disobedience.) Which would you rather be cured of‚ hives or disobedience? (Techi: Disobedience.) So therefore if the Lord allowed some little imp to afflict you with the hives every time you disobeyed, you would soon learn instant obedience, wouldn't you?

10. Remember what King David said? He said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but in my affliction I cried unto the Lord!"—Ps.119:67; 18:6. In other words, he turned back to the Lord. Instead of running away from the Lord he turned back to the Lord & cried to the Lord & the Lord saved him, delivered him out of all his troubles. So PTL! As you obey now, maybe the Lord's going to heal you. "As they went they were healed!"—Lk.17:14. PTL!

11. (Techi: This cream is menthol & it helps.) Well, don't give all the credit to the menthol. I wouldn't be a bit surprised that the minute you decide you're going to start instantly obeying, the hives would disappear. It's already getting better. Maybe you're already deciding you're going to obey from now on! You sure would obey in a hurry if you knew every time you didn't, you'd break out in hives! What was the little boy's name whose nose grew a little longer every time he lied? (Techi: Pinocchio!) He soon learned not to lie! So it could be that the Lord will just allow some little imp to afflict you from now on every time that you get stubborn & you don't obey right away & you stall.

12. (Techi: I think they're all gone now.) How about that! It's almost funny! You just got through asking the Lord to forgive you & help you to obey more. Yes, they're all fading away‚ look at that! Ha! I don't think it was the ointment, it was the prayer! But see, our prayers alone wouldn't do any good, you had to pray! Boy oh boy, if I won't [discipline] you to make you obey, the Lord knows how to do it! The minute you prayed & asked the Lord to forgive you‚ immediately it started going away!

13. You see, you've now got to do things yourself. We can't just pray for anything & everything & ask the Lord to deliver you from something that He allowed you to be afflicted with to teach you a lesson! Right? All the praying in the World is not going to do much good if you still don't repent!

14. Now, are you going to think about this little rash the next time you decide you're going to stall & disobey & argue? If you thought maybe the rash was going to break out just a few minutes after you started disobeying, what would you do next time? You wouldn't disobey! Which means you would do what? (Techi: Obey.) How quick? (Techi: Pretty quick.) To make sure you didn't get the rash, right? I bet you'd obey in a hurry!

15. Okay, from now on, every time you start arguing‚ stalling & disobeying‚ do you know what I'm going to say? (Techi: Remember the hives!) Yes, exactly! Remember the hives! The rash, Techi, the rash! Remember the rash! I bet that's going to have some effect on your slow stalling & your putting it off & arguing all the time.

16. Look at that, isn't that amazing how it can just go away like that! I really think a lot of allergies are possibly demonic, from some little imp. Anything that can come that quick & go that quick, to me it seems it's almost got to be spiritual. It's already fading, it's mostly faded completely. Don't give the credit to the ointment‚ it didn't happen until after you prayed. No ointment does things that quickly. It happened almost instantly! I really expected to see it leaving after you prayed that prayer! In fact I said, "I'll bet it's going right now!" And you turned on the light, & sure enough it was.

17. Honey‚ the Lord is really dealing with you, & if we don't [discipline] you from now on, you may find out you're going to start getting [discipline] from the Lord! "The rash, Techi! Remember the rash!" It's funny that rhymes with lash! (Techi: Grandpa, let's say hives!) I like rash, "Remember the Lord's lash, the rash!"

18. (Maria: Why don't you call the others who were praying for you, & tell them that the Lord healed you.) Tell'm how the Lord healed you, when the Lord healed you, while we were praying. (Techi on intercom to Family: Mommy said that you were praying for me, but I'm healed now. I wanted to take my shirt off because it was a little bit wet‚ but Grandpa said to either put it back on or put something else on. But I stalled & argued, & then got the hives. So it's a good lesson about not stalling, & obeying right away. Then when I prayed it went away right away.)—When you prayed & told the Lord you were sorry & asked Him to help you obey! (Dad takes intercom:)

19. The minute she prayed & asked the Lord to forgive her for disobeying & not obeying right away, the itch stopped immediately! And you folks were praying too‚ & I guess maybe that's why I gave her a little talk on obedience, & it's almost all gone now, thank the Lord. It's a miracle, really a miracle! I had faith for that, the minute I heard her pray & ask the Lord to forgive her. I gave her a little talk about disobedience. I said, "Maybe the Lord let it happen because you were arguing & stalling & not taking your shirt off or putting it back on, so the Lord just gave you the lash of the rash!"

20. We prayed for her & it didn't do a thing‚ except you guys were praying also, & I guess that all of our prayers were being answered by teaching her a lesson, because that's what I was convicted & impressed to talk to her about, her disobedience. She was standing there with her shirt over her head pulled up, & she was even rubbing it on her cheeks while she was stalling about either putting it back on or taking it off, & that's when the rash hit her all of a sudden.

21. I said, "Well maybe the Lord is trying to teach you to be more instant in obedience!" We had prayed for her & nothing happened, it was still there, but then I said‚ "Now you pray, the Lord wants you to pray & ask Him to forgive you & ask Him to help you obey more instantly after this, because obedience is not stalling!"

22. Eventually she will obey, but you know how she is about arguing about it & stalling. So I said, "Maybe He's dealing with you about that because obedience which is not instant, is not obedience." What is it, Techi? Obedience which is not instant is what? (Techi: Disobedience.)—Right! So she then prayed & asked the Lord to forgive her & help her to be more quickly obedient. And right after she prayed that prayer I just had the instant immediate faith that the rash was going to go away, & we turned on the light, & sure enough, immediately the rash was already going away!

23. I said, "Now Techi‚ I'll bet you're going to think twice about obeying instantly!" Or maybe you'll just think once about it‚ immediate obedience, lest the Lord send that little imp along with that lash of the rash again! Beware of the lash of the rash! I think that's what I'm going to say to you next time you stall & argue. I'm going to say, "Beware of the lash of the rash‚ Techi!" Amen, Techi? What do you say? (Techi: Amen!) GBY! (Maria: Can you say it a bit louder?) Well‚ she said "amen." You can't expect her to be too enthusiastic about the Lord's chastening.

24. So I said, "From now on, every time you stall about obeying I'm going to say, 'Techi, watch out for the rash! Beware of the lash of the rash!'" It's funny how lash rhymes with rash! So PTL! If you folks have any problem with her obeying instantly, or not obeying instantly when you ask her to do something, I suggest you use that little phrase, "Techi, beware of the lash of the rash! Techi, remember the rash?" Amen, Techi? (Techi: Amen!) She said it so quick. (Techi: AMEN!) There you've got it, how's that!

25. All right, PTL! I think she's learned her lesson tonight. I don't think she'll repeat that very often. PTL! God bless you folks, thanks for praying! The Lord answered prayer, not exactly the way we expected, but He answered your prayers to get her to repent & pray, & as soon as she prayed, it instantly stopped itching & started going away! PTL! Prayer really works, amen?—Especially when along with the prayer we are sorry we disobeyed‚ & we then obey. Amen? GBY! She's taking this real well, she's cheerful about it. GBY! Thanks to you all for praying. Good night. Lord bless & keep us all & give us a good night's sleep.

26. (Maria: Techi, even when you're just pretending to pout like you do sometimes, or pretending to frown, you shouldn't do that, because that gets you in a bad spirit. Like that article said that Grandpa put in the WND, if you smile‚ you instantly feel happy & better. If you frown, you feel bad. So it's better not to even do that in fun, to make your mouth into a pout or a frown, even if you don't really mean it, because that can actually get you in a bad spirit.)

27. Here is the problem, Techi: When you disobey—even start to disobey—you open a nice little crevice for one of the Devil's little imps to get in & cause you trouble, even if it only gets skin deep. Maybe when you got that rash of mosquito bites the other night you disobeyed something too.

28. You make a little hole in the dike for the imp to get through to get under your skin. Honey, are you listening? You tell me what I just said. (Techi: You said when you start disobeying, it's opening a little hole in the dike, a little cranny for the Devil to get through.) Get through & get where? (Techi: To your heart & in your skin.)—Get under your skin. That's an old expression: "Boy, that really got under my skin!"—Meaning an irritation. "Something somebody said got under my skin." It means it offended me. So you don't want the Lord to say, "Okay, go ahead, Mr. Lash Rash, she was rash again & she didn't obey, so give her a rash!"

29. Do you know what that word "rash" means in that context? "Techi was rash." (Techi: "Be not rash with thy mouth & let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God."—Ecc.5:2.) So what does that mean when you say "be not rash"? What is it to be rash? (Techi: To be unkind.) Well that's one form of being rash‚ but generally the word means foolish. To be rash is to be foolish. So when you were resisting obedience, you were being foolish, you were rash, not considering the risks involved, so the Lord used the lash of the rash on your rashness! Amen?

30. So that's a very good lesson to learn, & that was really a quick lash, but it was a quick healing too. PTL! That's a good testimony that you can share with others, how you were slow in obeying & you were arguing about it & immediately you got a rash. But then when you prayed & asked the Lord to forgive you & you promised to try to be quicker in obeying, immediately your rash stopped itching & it started going away.

31. PTL, Honey! You got the victory & the Lord's healing you! (Techi: Amen!) PTL! (Techi: I'll share my lesson with others.) That's a good girl, it takes a real strong character to admit your mistakes.

32. Bless Techi, Lord. Thank You that You did bless her tonight with a good lesson. Help her not to forget it. And bless her for being such a good girl, willing to confess it & pray & ask for & get deliverance. TYL! That was a wonderful illustration tonight of Thy Love & Thy mercy, but "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth & scourgeth every daughter that He receiveth."—Heb.12:6. So You gave her a little lash with the scourge tonight, Lord, a lash with the rash for being rash, TYL! Now finish healing her completely‚ in Jesus' name, amen.