Episode 135 – I Prayed For 30 Days…What I Heard Changed EVERYTHING

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Note: This blog post serves as an accompaniment to the corresponding podcast episode of A Changed Mind, where we’ll distill down the core ideas of this week’s theme, along with additional distinctions and insights. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, you can go here to do so.  Enjoy.

For weeks, I prayed for clarity. I felt stuck, waking up stressed and overwhelmed by challenges in my life and business. Then, during a quiet walk, the answer came in a single word that stunned me: Obey. Four simple letters, yet a command that shook me to the core. As I meditated on it, I realized this word could transform the way we live, create, and experience God’s blessings.

What Obedience Really Means

The word “obey” often carries baggage. We’ve been conditioned to think of obedience as submission to oppressive authority, something associated with weakness or fear. In history, we’ve seen obedience enforced by dictators, monarchs, and systems of control. No wonder the word stirs resistance in us. But that’s the earthly distortion of a divine truth. Obedience in its highest sense is not about bowing to rulers or systems—it’s about aligning with the intelligence that governs life itself. It’s about yielding to God, Spirit, or whatever name you give to your higher power.

In scripture, meekness is often misunderstood as weakness, but meekness is really about obedience to God. Moses stretching his hand over the Red Sea wasn’t weakness—it was radical obedience, and that obedience opened the way for miracles. Meekness is power under alignment. It’s the willingness to submit not to human oppression, but to divine guidance. And when we obey in that sense, we open the door for extraordinary outcomes.

Obedience, in the divine sense, is not about punishment or coercion. It is a portal to peace, protection, provision, and purpose. It’s not that God threatens us if we disobey; rather, when we choose to place our obedience in fear, in scarcity, or in ego, we naturally reap the fruits of that choice. When we obey God, we step into the current of blessing that was already flowing in our direction.

We’re All Obeying Something

Here’s the truth: you are already obeying something. Every day, whether you realize it or not, your allegiance goes somewhere. Maybe you’re obeying fear, financial worry, or the judgment of others. Maybe you’re obeying old trauma, cultural pressure, or your inner critic. I spent years obeying fear—fear of failure, fear of not having enough, fear of letting go. And every time I obeyed fear, my life reflected it back with scarcity, stress, and struggle.

Obedience is simply submission to a voice or authority. If you’re not obeying God, you’re obeying something else. The question is: what are you obeying right now? The fear that whispers you’re not enough? The pressure to prove yourself? The constant scrolling of social media? Or the divine nudge toward trust and surrender?

This distinction matters, because your obedience creates your reality. When I obeyed the voice of fear, I lived in scarcity. When I obeyed the voice of anxiety, I created chaos. When I obeyed the whispers of comparison, I shrank. But the times I chose to obey God’s nudges—whether in my recovery, my relationships, or my business—life flowed with grace, provision, and breakthroughs I could never have orchestrated on my own.

Stepping Away From the Problem

What God showed me recently is that obedience often looks like stepping away from the problem. For years, I prided myself on being a problem-solver. I believed my progress came from grit, analysis, and hard work. But as I sat with this word, I realized: I never solved those problems. God did. Every true breakthrough in my life has come not from forcing or controlling, but from letting go, stepping aside, and allowing God to move.

Think about the battles in your life right now. How long have you been pushing, analyzing, and striving against them? Maybe it’s your finances. Maybe it’s a health challenge. Maybe it’s a strained relationship. Obedience may be as simple—and as terrifying—as stepping back. Not abandoning responsibility, but relinquishing control. Letting go of the urgency to fix it right now and instead obeying the divine whisper: be still and know that I am God.

When I look back, every time I’ve dared to release the problem and obey God’s instruction to stand down, the impossible has become possible. In my addiction recovery, I had to obey the command to surrender. I had to admit that my life had become unmanageable, that there was a power greater than me who could restore me, and that my only job was to turn it all over. That obedience freed me from destructive patterns that years of self-will never could.

Obedience Is the Bridge to Blessing

Between every promise and its fulfillment lies a gap. The vision of health, abundance, love, and purpose you carry in your heart—and the reality of living it—are separated by a bridge. That bridge is obedience. Blessings are not rewards for good behavior; they are the natural flow of aligning with divine order. When we resist, we fight against the current of life. When we obey, we flow with it. Miracles become natural because we are no longer blocking them.

Throughout scripture we see this truth. Noah obeyed and built the ark, preserving humanity. Abraham obeyed and became the father of nations, stepping into a promise that required him to leave everything familiar. Joshua obeyed and saw the walls of Jericho crumble without lifting a sword. Peter obeyed after a night of failure and pulled in an overflowing catch of fish. None of them were perfect or powerful on their own. Their greatness came from trust, surrender, and obedience.

This is the pattern: divine instruction, human obedience, miraculous outcome. The instruction often seems illogical, even laughable. Build an ark when there’s no rain? March around a fortified city instead of attacking it? Cast your net in the same water where you just failed? But obedience flips the switch. It aligns us with the unseen current already flowing in our favor.

What Are You Obeying Right Now?

Take a moment to reflect: what are you obeying without realizing it? Social media? The news? The voice of comparison? The economy? Someone else’s opinion of you? Or are you obeying the higher call, the divine nudge that scares you because it asks you to stretch your hand over the Red Sea in your life?

Obedience is not always comfortable. It rarely makes sense to the rational mind. But it is always the path to freedom. The nudge you’ve been ignoring, the whisper you’ve been rationalizing away—that may be the key to the blessing you’ve been praying for.

I know this because I lived it. When I resisted obedience, I endured unnecessary suffering. When I delayed, the knocks grew louder. But when I chose to obey quickly, even trembling, blessings unfolded with a grace that felt like heaven touching earth.

The Cost of Disobedience

It’s important to recognize that disobedience is not neutral. When we don’t obey God, we are still obeying something—fear, ego, urgency, or external voices. Disobedience keeps us in cycles of anxiety, scarcity, and striving. It’s like rowing against a river, exhausting ourselves while making little progress. God doesn’t punish us for disobedience—we punish ourselves by resisting the flow of life.

For me, disobedience looked like years of financial insecurity. I was obeying fear instead of trusting provision. It looked like health challenges I tried to fix through control instead of surrender. It looked like endless striving in business, trying to force outcomes instead of flowing with divine timing. Each time, the fruit was the same: exhaustion, frustration, and lack.

Obedience, on the other hand, restored me. It brought peace back into my home, clarity into my mind, and provision into my life. It didn’t mean life was suddenly perfect, but it meant I wasn’t carrying it all on my shoulders anymore.

Three Practices for Living in Obedience

So how do we live in obedience in a practical way? Here are three practices that guide me:

1. Trust the Nudge. That inner prompting, however small or inconvenient, is often the divine instruction. Act on it, even when it doesn’t make sense. Don’t rationalize it away. 
2. Obey Quickly. Delay is disobedience in slow motion. Don’t wait until the knock gets louder. Step into obedience now, even if it feels uncomfortable. Quick obedience prevents unnecessary struggle. 
3. Remember the Blessing Is Already Prepared. You’re not earning it, you’re aligning with it. Obedience flips the switch so the light can shine. The current is always flowing—obedience simply puts you in the boat. 

The Invitation of Obedience

Obedience is not about control. It’s about love. God doesn’t need your obedience—He invites it because He knows you are always obeying something, and He wants you to experience the peace and abundance that come from aligning with Him. Obedience is the magnet for blessing. It’s the bridge across the gap. It’s the current that carries you from striving into flow.

So I leave you with this invitation: identify what you’ve been obeying that doesn’t serve you, and make a choice to obey differently. Obey the whisper. Obey the nudge. Obey the divine call. Step away from the problem. Stretch your hand. Build your ark. March your circles. Cast your net. And watch what happens when obedience becomes your path to blessing.

You don’t need to figure it all out. You don’t need to strive harder. You don’t need to control everything. You simply need to obey. Because on the other side of obedience lies the life you’ve been praying for—the peace, provision, and power that only God can provide. And it’s already waiting for you. All that’s required is your yes.