The Heart of Obedience: Cultivating A Love-Driven Faith JourneyAir Date: May. 27, 2025

Beth Barlet (00:01)
Have you ever found yourself questioning why we obey God? What if I told you that true obedience flows from a heart overflowing with love for God? Today, I discuss how affection can transform our understanding of obedience and empower us to live authentically in faith. Are you ready to shift your perspective? Let’s get to it. Salty begins right now.

Beth Barlet (00:49)
Welcome to Salted, where I help you uncover the transformative power to know and love Jesus in His fullness and stir up revival within your heart. Join me, Beth Barlett, as I come alongside you every week on the narrow path that draws us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Get ready to be encouraged, empowered, ignited and equipped as we pursue authentic discipleship to influence the world for the Kingdom of God.

Beth Barlet (01:19)
Hey everyone, welcome to the newest and latest episode of the Salted Podcast. I’m just so thankful that I get to be with you guys again here today and that I get to talk about the mercy, grace, and love of Jesus and how the more we come to love him and adore him and our heart grows in gratitude for all that he’s done for us on the cross, the easier it is to live for him.

obey his laws and commands and to submit unto his will and all that he has planned for us in his fullness in our lives. And I want to go back and review a little bit about our last episode where we dove into what it meant to live in light of eternity but also what it meant to live our lives from perspective where we place eternity as a priority.

when we really sit and meditate on the truths that we believe, it really helps us to grow in our love and adoration for all that the Lord has done for us. and from that love that grows deep inside of us,

Christ’s love for us compels us not only to love Him and others, but to also obey God’s commands. And it actually also sets us on fire to walk out the impossible with Him for His glory and the furthering of His gospel and kingdom. And I really want to start off this episode by talking about a testimony of mine and how the Lord tested my obedience

and faith. You see, after I received Jesus into my heart and experienced his amazing grace, love, and mercy, the one desire I could not shake in my heart was to actually bear a child for God as a form of utmost worship. And for all that Jesus had done for me, the best thing I felt I could give him

was to raise a son or daughter to love him, serve him, worship him, and forever bring glory to his name. And after a long journey of infertility for six years, which is a testimony for another day and another episode, God answered our prayers and blessed our family with a son, as I’m writing to you now a six month old baby girl. And for 15 years, I had practiced medicine at a successful clinic where I had pretty much invested my entire life.

However, after the birth of my son, I started to feel the pull of the Lord to back away from work and fulfill the calling as a full-time mother that he so placed upon my heart years before. And in an act of radical obedience, after 15 years of practicing medicine, I was to leave behind my career to be home with my children and raise them for him in every way.

I was so full of joy and anticipation as I knew that I would leave everything behind to walk in the will of the Lord for my life and fulfill the desire He placed upon my heart so long ago.

But the Lord would test if my faith, trust, and willingness to obey him were strong enough to follow through in my convictions no matter the level of cost that I was to bear. For not coincidentally, at the very moment I was asked to lay down my career, for the first time in years, because of large internal issues and our other two investment companies, me and my family were right in the midst of a stressful time of financial uncertainty.

My obedience to God and the will he had for my life was not to be situational. It was to be bold, radical, and supplanted in faith. It was a test from above to see if the love I had for my Savior was strong enough to willingly and sacrificially bear a cost for God’s will to prevail in my life despite the possible negative outcomes. It forced me to dig into the wells of faith, trust, and intimacy I had forged with him over the past decade.

and trust God’s sovereignty over my life to provide for my family when everything before me lived hopeless, uncertain, scary, and dim. My fear of the Lord had trumped my fear of uncertain circumstances, outcomes, and the loss of things in this world. And not only was I to leave behind and sacrifice my comfort, career, and income for the furthering of God’s kingdom in my home, but I was to do it during a time when we were at risk of financially losing everything.

Thankfully, with the enemy intended for evil, God is for good and through his faithful and sovereign hand, he provided for us as he always does. He blessed our obedience through our time of trial and hardship and I have no greater peace and joy knowing that we were in the midst of God’s will for our lives. And I know deep down that this was the best decision I could have made for me and my children and I will never regret having left behind my career. However, if it wasn’t for the love and trust that was forged through deep intimacy with God,

and the wells of faith that were dug in the years prior, I do not believe I would have had the blessed assurance or the boldness to step out in faith into what the Lord was asking of me. Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will obey His commands. And I believe that it’s only the depth and power of our revelation of God’s love for us which inherently grows our love for Him that compels us to trust Him and step out in faith when He calls us. How deep is your love for Jesus?

Are you willing to leave everything behind for his perfect will for your life even if at the time your circumstances seem dim and are uncertain? Are you forging intimacy and digging walls of faith with him through reading his word and prayer?

I pray that this episode will deepen your understanding of the power our affection for Jesus holds in this life and the power affection-based obedience has to mark our lives and set us on the right trajectory to fulfill the exploits God has for our lives and his kingdom for all eternity. Throughout the entirety of scripture, God’s word calls us to pursue Jesus as our first love.

It is a love that passionately seeks, yearns for, and zealously pursues him like that of a spotless bride who awaits the return of her bridegroom, who prepares and consequents herself in anticipation of their wedding day. It is not a fleeting superficial emotion or infatuation, but one of mature self-sacrifice, obedience, and surrender. It is a love that burns and combusts for Jesus and elicits an unquenchable hunger and thirst for his return.

This holy love for God is the only love that asks of us and has the power to supersede one’s love for our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, or brothers. This love is the only love that can supernaturally surpass the deepest love a devoted husband and wife have for each other and the most intimate love a mother has for her child.

The Bible tells us that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love for us. No height, no depth, angel or demon, etc. Romans 8 13. God is love and he demonstrated his ultimate love for us when although we were sinners, he sent his son to die for us. Romans 5 8. God’s love for us is all pursuing and enduring forever and ever. Psalm 136.

And we are assured through God’s goodness and unswerving faithfulness that he will keep his covenant of love through a thousand generations for those who love him and obey his commands. God’s love is tried and true and it has the power to not only fulfill the deepest places of our hearts but has the power to call us higher, transform our hearts, and change the course and destiny of our lives. It is a love that forges trust and loyalty and like age wine, it only gets better with time.

In response to God’s amazing love toward us, we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is the merciful love of God that compels us, and much of the Christian life is built upon the supernatural revelation of the depth of God’s goodness and understirving love for us, and its revelatory power to transform hearts and ignite lives.

It is no coincidence that Satan uses the temptation, idols, and distractions of this world to try and steal or misplace the love of our hearts intended for our first love and bridegroom King Jesus. And as touched upon in our last episode, Jesus said it is those who are forgiven much that love much. And as we remember his body that was broken for us, the flesh that was torn for us, and the blood that was shed for us, we cultivate a love that is grown through intimacy and gratitude. We love God because he first loved us.

for the more we align ourselves and receive with an accurate understanding and correct perspective of the love God has for us, the more it stirs a deep love for Him and supernaturally transforms our hearts into His likeness.

And the more we can be reminded of our wickedness and sinful nature by the standards of God’s law and the consequences of this nature, the quicker our hearts can be tenderized by the revelation and how much we need Jesus and all that was bought for us in forgiveness and redemption by our precious Savior. And it’s through intentional prayer, reading His Word, and the experience of His power and presence firsthand that we can more fully understand this love.

as Holy Spirit gives deep revelation bringing remembrance to his repeated faithfulness, provision and undeserved favor toward his children.

It is love that despite our sin, loves us even we are at our worst. And ultimately, we begin to recognize our growing love for God as we desperately recognize our extreme dissatisfaction with the limited capacity in our hearts.

to give him the love that he deserves. Additionally, like Paul in Philippians 1,9 we are to pray that our lives would abound in more and more knowledge and depth of insight of the affection of Christ for us so that we would be able to discern what is best and pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of his righteousness. Jesus tells us that if we love him, we will obey his commands. John 14,15

A life of obedience in the Kingdom of God that seeks to live in holiness, righteousness, and purity is not one of religious legalism, but the natural expression of one’s love for Jesus and the evidence of fruit that is born through our submission

to him as Lord and King.

It stems from faith, reverence, and trusting God and is sustained through dove eyes that are solely fixed on eternity and a mind that is saturated in the truth of God’s Word. Walking in obedience is not only submitting to God’s commands but also submitting and surrendering one’s selfish ambitions and desires to walk by God’s will for one’s life. Obedience should not be viewed as following hard and cold rules. Our perspectives must shift to see that His will for us to walk in obedience to His ways

is because he said fastly loves us and wants the best for us.

His desire for us to walk in obedience to his will for us and his commands is simply his eternal goodness pursuing us and his desire to give us his best all the days of our lives. It takes a heart that trusts in God’s goodness and sovereignty, a spirit of humility and the wisdom to lay down one’s pride and arrogance, believing that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than we could ever fathom. It’s a love that trusts God with all of one’s heart.

does not lean on one’s understanding and that commits all of one’s ways to their Lord knowing that He will direct their paths. Within the body of Christ, so many people want to obey God and live a life of righteousness. However, they continually strive to walk without sin by their strength alone, only to fall into self-condemnation and hopelessness. But it isn’t until they receive the Holy Spirit’s revelation that the ability to walk in obedience to faith is rooted in the growing adoration and love for Him. Therefore,

Instead of focusing on striving in our strength to walk righteously, we must shift our desire to ask the Holy Spirit to enable us and increase our capacity to understand His love for us and in turn love Him more. As the Holy Spirit supernaturally grows our love for Jesus through remembrance, thanksgiving, and the revelation of God’s unending love, Jesus tells us that only then will we supernaturally desire and have the ability by the Spirit to obey His commands. 1 John 3, 24

And this is his command, to believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him and he is in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us. But we need to cry out to God, help me God to know your love for me.

Help me to love you more deeply and fully receive your love so that I can through your grace live out your commands believing that if we ask we will receive, if we seek we will find, and if we knock the door will be opened. One could even argue that a heart of obedience is considered to be one of the most important virtues in the eyes of God. Even within the teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches to disciples that only those who do the will of the Father can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 7, 21-23.

Additionally, in the Gospel of John, identifies us as his friends, but clearly on the sole condition that we obey his commands. John 15, 14.

A life of obedience is one of submission, surrender, and genuine humility and should be worked out with fear and trembling. It is releasing control on every area of our lives and rooting ourselves in faith, believing that God can be trusted and has the best for our lives when we are in line with his sovereign will. It is selflessly deciding to choose God’s will over our own, even when we think our ways are better or cannot see or understand his ways fully.

Many times I found in my own life that until our hearts willingly say yes to what the Lord is asking of us, only then will we find the peace and assurance that we are looking for before we make that step of faith.

There is supernatural power in our yes, one that ultimately gives us the desires of God’s heart

It is also by His grace Titus 2.11 that enables us to obey. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. As we trust in the Lord, we establish and lay down a strong root system in the Lord each time that we obey God’s word and seek His presence.

is our daily obedience to God’s will in our lives that establishes our intimacy with God and grows our love for Him as we continually find His goodness working in our lives. Each decision we make to trust God in all things lays the foundation of faith and hope in Jesus alone that will carry us through this life and His troubles for eternity. We repeatedly learn from multiple individuals within the Bible and their circumstances about how much full radical obedience is important to God.

Scripture over and over again teaches us and shows us the power that holy obedience has to change not only our lives here on earth, but also our eternal destinies. Maybe like my story I shared, you are at a crossroads and are feeling prompted by the Holy Spirit to take a step of obedience and faith, but feel nervous, hesitant, unsure because you don’t know the outcome on the other side. I want to encourage you to look at individuals such as Abraham,

who with great faith and without hesitation obeyed God even when he asked him to sacrifice his one and only son.

Or Moses, who despite his feelings of inadequacy and impossible obstacles, learned to rely fully upon God rather than his own abilities and lead the entire nation of Israel out of Egypt. Or Naaman, who suffered from leprosy and who had the inhumility to follow simple yet seemingly foolish instructions from God to be healed.

or Joshua, whose obedience resulted in the miraculous, Daniel, who was steadfast in obedience despite persecution, and Mary, who embraced God’s will even when it disrupted her plans and expectations, all of which receive eternal blessings from God. But also to not miss that each one of these individuals had cultivated intimacy with God in an encounter in his power, love, and presence.

We are all more than likely in a particular season where the Lord is working on our obedience. I know that at the start of this podcast, I felt like Moses, inadequate, unsure, uncomfortable with all the Lord had asked me to do. But the Holy Spirit reminded me of my burning bush experiences and encounters with the Lord in a secret place where I came to embrace His love for me that not only consecrated me, but empowered me and in faith propelled me to follow through with all that He asked of me.

It was here that he gave me confirmations through visions and dreams that what he’s called of me is not man or name but by God. And despite whatever tangible outcomes I may see or the measures of success by the world, I am doing what he wants me to do by his power to work through me to accomplish whatever he needs to accomplish to the hearts of you guys, to admonish and encourage you to keep going on your journey and maybe give you the confirmation you need to step out.

and fulfill all that God has for you to encourage you to press in more, to cry out more, for more confirmation to see you forward, to move deeper into your intimacy in the secret place in order to fulfill your exploits in which he’s called a view for the kingdom of heaven. I know for a time in my walk I was so caught up in these supernatural experiences, I kept wanting more and more until the Lord convicted me that even though it’s a gift to encounter his supernatural glory and presence, it wasn’t just for me to keep returning to the bush over and over again.

but that it was for a purpose. To assure me and prepare me and build my faith that the Lord was with me, would never forsake me in all that He called me, so I would be obedient in whatever He asked. It’s what gave Moses the faith to deliver an entire nation of people from slavery. If you look also at the powerful encounters Peter, Paul, and Isaiah had, you can see how they not only convict and consecrate our hearts, but they also give us a heart posture that screams, Lord, here I am, said me.

I know so many close to me who right after they had a supernatural encounter with God’s glory that it was shortly after that they felt commissioned by God to step out boldly in faith and obedience to fulfill large heavenly exploits that they could never do on their own. Whatever season of obedience the Lord has you walking in, know that it often involves faith, humility, and a willingness to trust God’s plan. Let these examples serve as a reminder of the blessings and growth that come from following God’s commands. Remembering

that God blesses those who obey him. Proverbs 16 20. He saves those who obey him. Psalm 7 10. And the Lord watches over those who obey him. Psalm 33 18 and takes care of those who obey him. Psalm 37 18. But understand that a call to obedience within the kingdom of heaven can cost us our comfort, our loved ones, our reputations, and even our lives.

However, God teaches us that we are to trust His plan even when things seem difficult, when things are difficult to understand, when they go against our desires, or are counter-cultural to the ways of this world. Each act of obedience asked of us by God is an opportunity to die to self and allow the Holy Spirit to have more and more of His divine way and experience more of His presence in our lives.

A call for obedience from God tests us, challenges our faith, and forces us to inwardly reflect upon the state of our hearts before the Lord. When God calls us to walk in obedience, is more times often not situational, and at many times can be some of the most pivotal and hardest decisions we must make that control the destiny of our lives.

However, when we walk in sacrificial, affection-based obedience, though difficult, the rewards are great as we can experience God in His fullness both now and eternally in Heaven. Like Jesus, who in His full obedience to God underwent suffering and hardship, we too must understand that when we live righteously and walk in obedience to God’s commands, we aren’t always promised worldly happiness, comfort, and prosperity that the culture of this world ingrains deep within us from childhood to seek.

However, in our heavenly obedience and perseverance in choosing to obey God and His laws, we are promised to be rewarded in heaven for all eternity. God’s heavenly laws were put into place because of His love for us and His utmost concern for our spiritual protection and eternal safety. His desire is for our foundations to be unshakable in the trials to come.

wise builders who would persevere into eternity.

God’s Word tells us that God favors obedience over sacrifice, 1 Samuel 15 22, and that those who are wholeheartedly devoted to God and obey Him are those to whom He shows Himself strong, 2 Chronicles 16 9. However, while obedience leads to blessing, scripture tells us both partial and full disobedience leads to a life of cursing and negative consequences, Deuteronomy 28 1. Eventually, a life of unrepentant sin and disobedience can eventually lead to a hardened heart and can hinder our intimacy with God.

Each day at home with my soon to be three year old, I am daily teaching him that disobeying his parents has negative consequences and that his obedience brings blessing and rewards.

And that like God, we want rapid obedience and that the reasons we want Him to obey us are that we love Him and care about His future safety and His walk with the Lord and to teach Him to walk in the way that is narrow so that He would fulfill all the Lord has assigned to Him for the kingdom of God for His glory and learn how to overcome the things that try and get in the way. God loves us so much that He gave us His commandments to obey so that would go well with us and that we would, along with our children’s children, would be blessed.

It is a life of obedience fueled by devotion and love that seeks continually God’s will that keeps us on the narrow path that leads to life and only by the fruit of obedience, holiness and righteousness in our lives can one tell if we love Jesus or have a devoted relationship with him at all.

Those who claim to know God but do not keep His commands are liars. Titus 1.16 and 1 John 2.4-6 It was disobedience that brought the eternal cursing of sin and eternal consequences in the Garden of Eden that led to significant consequences affecting not only the individual but also future generations.

It caused the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, leading to prolonged hardship and misdivine opportunities. And it was even the partial disobedience of King Saul that led to his loss of favor and leadership for the Lord. These stories highlight that disobedience not only affects the individual, but can also have far-reaching consequences for others. They serve as cautionary tales, reminding us of the importance of aligning our actions with God’s commands.

Scripture teaches us that we reap what we sow and in the gospel of Luke Jesus asks his followers, why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built.

But the one who hears my words and does not shake them and put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

The moment the torrent struck the house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. Luke 6, 46. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Isaiah 1, 19. It is the small everyday choices of obedience that dig and lay a strong gradual foundation upon which we build our lives that have the power over time to repair us or derail us from our heavenly destinies.

The late theologian Andrew Murray once said that obedience is the fitness to be used by God. Only those who walk in obedience are trusted and given the privilege to serve and be used by him for the kingdom of heaven. But even when God asks us to obey in the small, any partial disobedience must be repented for and we run the risk of not walking in the best that God has for our lives. Charles Spurgeon once said that it is sinful to neglect the common duties of life.

and that Jesus teaches us that those who are faithful in the little are faithful in the much. May all of our priorities align with the priorities of God. It is through our obedience and devotion to God that the church depends, and only those who walk in obedience to God can be trusted to walk out the fullness of their calling.

There are so many Christians today who take God’s word and commandments and values as a suggestion, but they are firm directions and laws that are meant to be followed and it is imperative that we embrace them as truth and obey, remembering that those who obey God’s commands and teach others to do so are the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven and that they were given to us out of God’s love to keep us in a state of joy and keep us safe from the detrimental effects of sin, to guard us and give us a life of blessing.

In the New Testament, which is filled with loving commands, the apostle John writes, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5, 3. Sister, you are not only a beloved daughter, but a lowly servant to the King of kings and Lord of lords called submit to His will. And Jesus doesn’t just want to be our savior and Lord, but also our friend. But he tells us his friends are those who obey his commandments.

So I encourage you in whatever season of obedience you are in, to in faith boldly give God your yes today, believing He wants the best for you as you surrender and submit to Him your heart. If we are in line with His Spirit, He delights to give us the desires of His heart, and usually they are never what we had in mind. But if we obey,

It will ultimately bring us utmost joy, peace and everlasting glory.

Be blessed, my friend. Looking forward to see you here next time.

Beth Barlet (26:50)
I pray this episode has blessed you today. I appreciate our time together and I hope our conversation has deepened your faith. Don’t forget to check out today’s show notes for episode links and additional information. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend, review it, and hit subscribe so you don’t miss one episode. Go to my website www.thesaltedpodcast.com and subscribe to my newsletter to be part of our Salted community. Remember,

Being salted takes intentionality. See you here next time.