Obedience must precede blessing, where the will of God is ascertained. There is nothing so humble, nothing so steady as obedience, nothing which so marks the Spirit’s presence, nothing so opposed to insubordination, nothing by which every ungodly voice must be so utterly silenced, as by obedience.
Obedience is the great principle to go on — obedience to known truth, not plans of our own mind, but obedience to known truth as the portion of a single-eyed, humble, simple mind. In all cases and under all circumstances, gift or no gifts, obedience is the path of a Christian — the path of duty and blessing. This principle is the preliminary of blessing and is the only rightful state of the creature. “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
J. N. Darby