Immediate Obedience: The Adventure of Tuning in to God; A Book Review

After I got saved, I asked (then) Pastor Jaime what I should read. Because I’m always looking for something to read. She said the book of Romans and Pastor Rod’s then-new book, Immediate Obedience. 

Let me just say before we start, it’s like Christian basic training. Not only education but also application. Especially if you do the 90-Day Challenge. I’ll get to that. 

Immediate Obedience: The Adventure of Tuning in to God by Rod Loy

“Listen and obey: These words transformed Rod Loy’s relationship with God. He wondered what would happen if he became more sensitive to the voice of God and immediately obeyed whatever God told him to do. Through his story, Rod describes the thrill and the challenge of walking hand in hand with the King of the universe. God gives us specific assignments in the ordinary course of every day even, and especially, in the mundane and the frustrating events. When we grasp that truth, every moment will become infused with the possibility that God may do something unexpected and spectacular at any moment. Jesus delighted in doing the Father’s will and showering His love on people. In the same way, when your heart is aligned with His, you ll delight in doing His will fully and immediately and seeing Him use you to touch the lives of those around you. Get ready to hear God clearly and to obey immediately.”

I have the hard copy, which is heavily highlighted with notes peppering the margins. I won’t post quotes in this review because, in the end, I’ll link to another blog of mine where I did the challenge after I read the book. I documented all ninety days of my usually not immediate obedience. 

The chapters are:

1. Immediate Obedience…Are You Kidding?
2. God Speaks
3. When God Seems Silent
4. The Proof of Our Love
5. Connection Failure
6. The Perils of Disobedience
7. Lessons Learned
8. Getting (and Staying) Aligned with God

Followed by the 90-Day Challenge. 

Every chapter has stories and information, and ends with questions to consider. Pastor Rod challenges the readers to do the challenge, which involves prayer, Bible reading of select verses, and questions.

So I started a new blog on October 5, 2014 called First Samuel 12:24 to document it, mostly from my journal. To get an idea, here’s an excerpt from my first day of the challenge:

“Day one of the challenge involves prayer, reading Luke 5:1-11, and seeing what God is saying through it, like is He telling me to obey in a specific way and how? Recount past nudges, how I responded, and how I felt after; any resistance or misunderstanding. Then ending with a prayer.

What I got from the passage was great blessings follow when you leave it all to follow God. The direction for the day was simply “listen.”

We were switching out warm weather clothes for cold weather clothes, and my wife was throwing what she didn’t want into a pile to burn. I felt a sense as I bagged them up that I should give the clothes Casey was throwing away to Goodwill, the cold weather ones at least, and it had to be today.

I’m a bit of a slacker in these matters, so the urgency was interesting. Casey ran with it. One bag became 5 and a box. Goodwill took them all. A good deed or God deed? Doesn’t matter as long as good is done. I do wonder how it works out for whoever needed what God provided through us.”

I give Immediate Obedience 6 stars. Anything that gets me that focused for three months in a world of seven-second attention spans deserves it. 

If you want a closer walk with God, get this book, and apply it. Let me know how it goes.