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DAY 4 – Sunday, June 15, 2025
TITLE: Obedience Almost Broke Me -But It’s Building the Future They’ll Run To
SCRIPTURE TEXTS:
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” -Hebrews 11:7 (NIV)
“For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”- 1 Corinthians 4:9 (KJV)
BY: EFFIONG ETOK
Carrier of God’s Word
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Faith is rarely applauded at the beginning -but it is always honored in the end. What looks ridiculous now is often the foundation of a coming testimony.
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever obeyed God and ended up being the joke? You believed what He said, but nothing changed. You stepped out -and it felt like you stepped into silence. People whispered, “Where’s your proof?” You started building -a business, a ministry, a life of purity, a prayer altar -and they laughed.
That’s the pain of early obedience. It doesn’t come with applause. It comes with mockery, isolation, and the haunting echo of faith in an empty room. But don’t quit. Noah was laughed at too. And Paul? He was called mad, made a spectacle, stoned, shipwrecked -and still, he called it light affliction.
MESSAGE:
Noah didn’t need clouds to believe. He needed God’s voice. And with nothing but a word, he labored. He cut wood while the sun was still shining. He preached rain to a dry world. He built under mockery -until mockery became a flood.
Elijah must have looked insane when he drenched the altar in water and shouted, “Let fire fall!”
Elisha instructed a decorated general to wash seven times in a dirty river -it looked foolish until the flesh was restored.
Ruth followed Naomi into obscurity, leaving behind her people and her future -until Boaz found her gleaning in grace.
Jeremiah cried in public squares, was locked in prisons, and mocked by kings -yet the same words he wept became scriptures we now quote.
They were all called mad before they were called mighty.
HERE’S A WORD FOR THE ONES WHO’VE BEEN MOCKED FOR BELIEVING:
•To the believer who obeyed a divine instruction and is now called foolish by family, church members, and friends…
•To the woman who still lays out baby clothes by faith- though the doctor’s report says it’s impossible…
•To the man who left a lucrative compromise because he feared God, and now watches his family eat from hand to mouth…
•To the student who turned down a cheating opportunity, and now watches classmates succeed while you’re stuck repeating the course…
•To the servant of God who gave their youth to ministry, and now fights battles in private that their congregation will never know…
•To the mother or father mocked for raising their children in righteousness -while others prosper in ungodliness…
•To the woman fasting every week for a home that still feels like hell…
•To the young man who turned down a bribe because he feared God -and now walks to work with worn shoes, watching those who cheated ride past in comfort… but still refuses to sell his soul for silver.
•To the young woman who refused to sleep with her boss to keep her job- and now remains overlooked while those who compromised rise above her… still quietly asking if purity is worth the pain in a world that rewards the corrupt…
•To the single man or woman who joyfully sowed into the weddings of others- yet returns home each Sunday to face another year of waiting alone, still holding on to the hope that love will find them too…
•To the prophet whose words from God have not yet come to pass -and now sits in silence while people whisper, “Maybe he missed it,” not knowing you weep like Jeremiah, carrying a word that’s still on the way…
TAKEAWAY STATEMENT:
When men laugh at your obedience, heaven marks it as worship. The world may see madness, but God sees a vessel He can trust in secret. Keep building, even with blistered hands. Keep believing, even with a broken heart. What looks like madness now is the very miracle others will one day need to survive the storm.
PRAYER POINTS:
1.Lord, see my tears and count every sacrifice I’ve made in obedience to You. Remind me that I am not forgotten. Let what looks like madness to others become the miracle You are preparing in secret-in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
2.Oh Lord, refine me through this season of being overlooked. Consecrate me through the silence. And when Your fire falls, when the rain comes, when the promise finally breaks open -let it be clear that I was building what You asked for. Use my obedience as a refuge for others. Let my pain produce Your glory- in Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
