Divine Reversals Are Birthed in Obedience
Dianna Hobbs reminds you that obedience isn’t always easy, but every “yes” to God plants a seed for breakthrough. See how the Holy Spirit empowers you to walk boldly into divine reversals and lasting transformation.
Very recently, God laid a heavy call on my heart that shook my soul and tested my faith in the deepest places.
He told me to speak truth, to stand firm on His Word in a situation close to home, one charged with emotion and clashing opinions. God didn’t sugarcoat it. He warned me that obedience would spark tension, draw criticism, and might even create distance.
But His command was crystal clear: “Do it anyway.”
So I obeyed. And just like He said, a storm broke out. My stand, rooted in Christ’s love and righteousness, put me at odds with people I care about.
“Obedience to God won’t always feel easy, but it will always lead to what’s best.”
Words flew like arrows, piercing my heart. Feelings were bruised. The enemy tried to plant seeds of doubt. Yet right there, in the middle of the chaos, I discovered a peace that wrapped around me like a warm blanket and a joy that rose up even through my tears. Obeying God, when it cost me comfort and approval, filled me with a strength only He can give.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather please my Father in Heaven than win the applause of people. Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than men.”
And let the Church say, Amen.
If standing for His Kingdom means being misunderstood or pushed aside, “Yes, Lord” is still my answer. That’s the power of obedience. It plants seeds for God’s blessing, even when it costs you something.
After I spoke up for the Lord, He told me to be quiet. Hush. Not another word. He put a divine muzzle on me. And even though I wanted to respond, I hushed. That silence was my “Yes, Lord.”
***
While I navigated my own personal storm, God drew me to Hosea 1, where He highlights the actions of a king named Jehu. The Holy Spirit nudged me: “This is why it matters to obey Me exactly the way I say.”
In Hosea 1, God tells the prophet Hosea to do the unthinkable. Marry Gomer, an unfaithful woman. Then He said, give their children prophetic names: Jezreel (“God sows”); Lo-Ruhamah (“no mercy”); and Lo-Ammi (“not my people”).
These names were a billboard, shouting Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Though He loved Israel like a faithful husband, they chased after idols.
Let’s focus on Jezreel—“God sows” or “God plants”—and we’ll come back to Lo-Ammi (“not my people”) in a bit. Jezreel means both warning and hope. It’s a real place, a lush valley in northern Israel, famous for crops and for blood spilled in battles and betrayals.
To get Jezreel’s full meaning, we’ve got to rewind to 2 Kings 9 and 10. God picked Jehu to be king and gave him a clear charge: wipe out the family of Ahab, that wicked king who, with his wife Jezebel, murdered a man named Naboth just to steal his vineyard (see 1 Kings 21). Together, they killed God’s prophets and dragged Israel into idolatry.
The Lord said, “Destroy Ahab’s family to pay them back for hurting My people” (2 Kings 9:7–8).
Jehu went to work—hard. He killed King Joram (Ahab’s son), Jezebel, and Ahab’s seventy grandsons right in Jezreel. God was pleased with his zeal and promised Jehu’s family the throne for four generations (2 Kings 10:30).
But then Hosea 1:4 drops the hammer: God will punish Jehu’s house “for the blood of Jezreel” and end Israel’s kingdom.
Why? What went wrong?
Well, Jehu obeyed, but not fully. He overreached and killed people God never told him to, like Judah’s king, Ahaziah, and his family (2 Kings 9:27, 10:12–14). Jehu’s motives got twisted; he started serving his own ambition, not God’s heart.
“When God is guiding you, follow Him fully, without hesitation or detour. Don’t veer to the left or the right. And whatever you do, don’t lean on your own understanding!”
Jehu wiped out all the worshipers of Baal. He tricked them into gathering at the temple, then destroyed them all and tore down the temple itself. But even after this bold stand, he still clung to Jeroboam’s golden calves, the very idols that had led Israel astray from the beginning (2 Kings 10:18–31).
Jehu’s half-hearted obedience, picking and choosing what suited him, sowed trouble.
So God invoked Jezreel as a warning: Jehu’s violence and self-serving obedience would lead to Israel’s downfall. The people kept sinning, and in 722 BC, Assyria conquered and scattered them like seed in the wind. That was judgment.
It is always better to obey God fully than to taste the consequences of half-hearted obedience.
Stay with me now.
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But thank God, the story doesn’t end there.
In Hosea 1:10–11, Jezreel’s meaning flips. God promises, “Great shall be the day of Jezreel.” He will gather His people, their numbers like “the sand by the sea.” Instead of scattering, He’ll plant them in love (Hosea 2:22–23).
See what God did there? Where there was only judgment, now there’s hope.
This is where the New Testament bursts in. Paul, in Romans 9:25–26, quotes Hosea: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
That’s the reversal God promised through Hosea: those once called Lo-Ammi, “not my people,” would be transformed into His own sons and daughters, welcomed fully into His family.
The Old Testament curse becomes a New Testament promise. Through Jesus, God’s grace turns judgment into acceptance, exile into adoption. Jew and Gentile alike are now God’s family. As Peter later declared in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” What once was rejection is now royal identity. In Christ, we’re not outsiders; we’re chosen, beloved, and called His own.
How? Jesus made it possible.
Unlike Jehu, Jesus obeyed God perfectly, all the way to the cross. His obedience flipped Hosea’s curse into our blessing! As you see, divine reversals are birthed in obedience.
“Obedience shifts things.
It activates blessings.
Obey God...and expect the miraculous.”
Aren’t you glad for Jesus?
By His grace, no matter our shortcomings, we’re adopted in. We reap the rewards of His obedience by faith. We are now His children: fully accepted, validated, royalty.
Our sins, once scarlet as the blood spilled at Jezreel, have been washed white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). We walk in the freedom only Christ gives.
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Jezreel shows us: obedience is seed. Full obedience, rooted in love for God, produces His blessings. Half-hearted obedience, like Jehu’s, sows trouble.
Hosea 10:12 says it plain: “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love.” Prepare your heart like good soil. Seek the Lord, and He’ll shower you with goodness.
I wonder, what is God asking of you today? To speak truth even if it costs you? To pursue the vision He’s planted in your heart, even when it stretches you? To sow generously, even when you don’t have it to spare? To forgive someone who hurt you? To press in deeper in prayer and His Word?
It might be hard, but every “yes” to God plants a seed He will bless. Your obedience produces divine reversals, miraculous turnarounds, transformative breakthroughs, and radical shifts you never saw coming.
I sense in my spirit that someone reading this is standing at a crossroads: between the comfort of disobedience and the discomfort of obedience. God is saying, don’t cling to what’s easy. Say yes to His will, and He will empower you to walk it out.
He’s already sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Paraclete, to walk right beside you.
The word “Paraclete” comes from the Greek paraklētos, meaning “one called alongside to help.” In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our Paraclete: our advocate, counselor, comforter, and helper (see John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, and 16:7).
The Paraclete isn’t just someone who comforts you; He stands with you, pleads your case, strengthens you, and empowers you—especially when obedience feels costly. When you step out in faith, the Holy Spirit is your constant companion, making sure you’re never alone in the storm.
You have what it takes to sacrifice all and follow Jesus, because the power of the Holy Spirit lives in you, equipping you to do all things through Christ. And when you plant seeds of obedience by the Spirit’s power, God will turn those seeds into a harvest of breakthrough.
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To help you say no to your flesh and yes to God, I’m stirring the words of Jesus from Matthew 16:24 NKJV into your cup of inspiration: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, make this your declaration: “I’ve decided to follow Jesus.” That means denying yourself and exchanging your will for His.
And here’s the best part: when you follow Jesus, He leads you into a Promised Land of fruitfulness, favor, and eternal life.
Now what could be better than that?
Now, let’s pray.
God, thank You for reminding me that partial obedience is complete disobedience. But when I say yes to You fully, I will reap the full harvest of obedience and see Your hand of favor in my life. With my whole heart, no matter the cost, I say yes to Your will and Your way. Thank You for every blessing that’s about to unfold, all tied to my yes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
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