Obediently Blessed

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2,NIV).

How many of us really make a determined effort to follow the Lord's command to live a surrendered life? Perhaps we don't because following Christ means sacrifice. We want to follow Him, but it means giving up who we are for who He is. It is going to cost us. Selfishness and pride are two of the first things that must die. Following Christ also takes up our time and uses our energy. We sometimes make our Christian walk circumstantial and based on our feelings instead of God's desires. But if we sacrifice our feelings and follow His will in all circumstances, God's blessings “will come upon us and accompany us”.

It is God's desire to bless His children who make a commitment to follow Him. His blessings are His gifts which flow when we sacrifice our personal desires for His, and live an obedient life. Sacrifice without obedience has little meaning. Sacrifice is whatever we lose for His sake, and obedience is whatever we give. Obedience is our offering to Him that comes when we realize that the sacrifice of ourselves is not about us. It's all about His love that gave His life for us. He was obedient to death on a cross for us. How can we not respond in return with an obedient life that praises His love, and gives up all that is necessary for His sake?

Never live for the sake of His blessing. Always live for the sake of His love. We must never regard sacrifice and obedience as a means to earn God's blessings. Then pride enters, and makes us see God's blessings as a reward for all we have lost and given. Sacrificing our desires for His desires and living a committed life brings blessings because of God's love for us—not based on our efforts. His blessings are an outpouring of who He is. He is the love which gave His life for ours on Calvary. He is the love that is only completed in us when we give all of who we are to Him. His blessings flow as a result of who He is, and never because of anything we have done. “I have come,” Jesus said, “that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). God wants us to experience the fullness of our relationship with Him. In living a sacrificially obedient life, that is what we receive.

In these verses in Deuteronomy God's blessings are intertwined with our obedience. His direction is very clear. If we fully obey the Lord our God and carefully follow all His commands, His blessings will come to us. And His blessings are the very best. Different from any humanly-inspired gift we might receive, His blessings will change our very lives. We will learn that sacrificial obedience brings His abundant life. In giving all of ourselves to Him, we shall receive all that His chosen for us. His blessings are beyond whatever our human mind might conceive. They are more than our human heart can hold. They are of Him, divinely-inspired and given out of the greatest of all love.

I Choose His Presence

“He will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6b).

Do I believe this promise that he will never leave or forsake me? It is a guarantee. If I don't feel His presence all the time that does not mean He has forsaken me. He doesn't change (Hebrews 13:8), and He doesn't leave. When I have something in my life that is wrong, I don't feel a closeness to God. I have an uneasiness that lets me know I need to make a change in my attitude, thought-life, or action. When there is something that blocks His presence in my life, I have no peace because my life is not surrendered to Him completely. I feel He has left me, but He hasn't. He is still there waiting for my return. If I have sinned the feeling of separation that comes with that sin is very real, but it does not come from Him. It comes from my own decision to go against what I know is His truth. If I haven't surrendered in areas that He wishes to be surrendered, He prunes “self” out of my life. When either “sin” or “self” stands in the way of a surrendered relationship with Him, I feel alone and struggling to understand what is wrong. What is wrong is me. He has not forsaken me. I have forsaken Him.

If I have something in my life I know is not right, I must turn completely from it, and ask for His forgiveness. If I have wrong attitudes and desires, I must surrender the “selfishness” that harbors them, and choose what is right. If there is anything He wishes for me to surrender to His will, then I must give up that which keeps me from intimacy with Him. When my life is surrendered to Him, I have a calming peace from believing and knowing that He is with me. I am thankful that though His supernatural presence is always comforting, I do not need to constantly have a sensory feeling of His closeness to know He is with me. I have His guarantee. I know His peace even when all around feels dark. I know in whom I believe, and know He is able to keep me safe no matter what happens. There is the deepest peace that comes from surrender of self and choosing to believe by faith that He is with me. With that peace comes the feeling of completeness for which my heart has so longed. Those days He fills me with feelings of His amazing presence mean so much more because I have chosen to believe in Him on days when life is hard.

Feelings depend upon moods, circumstances, and outward pressures. His peace comes from within and never without. I may be influenced by circumstances, but He never is. His promise is always kept. He promises to keep my world at rest through days that spin out of control. To have His peace that passes my human capability to understand, I surrender all of myself to Him. I let go of everything in my life that stands between us. I give Him all that I feel, and I choose to believe in what He has promised. He will never forsake or leave me.

Call And He Answers

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3, NIV)

Slow down this morning and dwell on this verse in Jeremiah. It is an incredible promise. If you rush into your morning without taking time to partake of its promise, you will miss something the Lord wishes to show you. This verse is an absolute truth in God's constant and abiding Word. If you call to Him, He will answer. You do not ask a void for an answer. You ask the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God. You ask the Creator of the universe. You ask your loving God who knows you better than you know yourself. You ask your Father for His time, and He gives it willingly and unsparingly because you are precious to Him. You ask the Lord who is everywhere at the same time, and yet He is there for you. You ask an all-powerful God who is there for all who believe. He brings the same power to your need that He used to raise Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19). There is no other name that you need, but that of Jesus Christ.

He answers you with great and unsearchable things which you do not know. You may not understand them all after He imparts them to you, but you believe because He is your God. He only imparts truth. You believe them by faith, and you trust by faith. One day you may understand, and one day you may not understand. It is alright either way. You have His peace either way. Because you love Him deeply and intimately as He has loved you, there is peace in either knowing or not knowing–in understanding or not understanding. You know that He knows best so there is no struggle against His will. There is acceptance and rejoicing. He speaks to your longing spirit and heart because you have peace no matter what. You receive powerfully and completely and trustingly from His magnificent bounty.

This is is picture of how your life can be with Him. Call to Him. Pray to Him. Cry out to Him, and He will answer you. It is when you want all of Him, and have given up all of yourself–your desires and your “rights”–that His unsearchable truths fall behind the importance of loving Him. The unsearchable truths are beyond magnificent, but He is.......! There are no words for who He is except “joy unspeakable and full of glory”.

Iron Sharpens Iron

“Your hair!” Amanda exclaimed. “What has happened to your hair?”

I glanced in my rear view mirror and realized that whatever had happened to my hair had also happened to my glasses. No wonder everything had seemed s0 blurry on the way to Birmingham this Sunday afternoon. Hugging my friend, Chaundra, at the altar that morning had obviously been more than about praying with her. I had been covered by more than her prayers. Her hair dressing had covered me, too!

What a blessing to be reminded that those that pray for us leave a part of themselves covering our lives! But Chaundra left more than just a part of herself on me that day at the altar! Her life impacts mine, and I pray that mine impacts hers. We pray to make a difference in each others' lives–for God to use us to bring out the best in each other. “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Psalm 17:17, NLT).

How many times do we miss the opportunities God sends to invest our lives in others? Not only have we missed the chance to make a difference in their lives, but they have missed a chance to make a difference in ours. What is strong in me should be made stronger by contact with those God sends into my life. What I have needs to be tested to see what if it is worth. I need to know where I am weak so that I can allow the Lord to have control over that part of my life. My life should also be strong enough and courageous enough to address with loving concern those things that should be addressed. “Speaking the truth” in love has the greatest power to make a difference when spoken to another who is strong enough to receive it. When the psalmist writes that “iron sharpens iron” he does not write of strength that is not teachable. True strength is teachable and responds to the “iron” which is brought to bear upon its life. I should receive with a teachable spirit that which I give out because God is using my friend to sharpen my life for His purpose.

Who has God brought into your life to strengthen you? Who has He brought for you to encourage to become stronger? Most often it is a friend because a friend will seek out another friend. When your friend shares his heart, he has trusted you enough to make himself vulnerable to what you think of him. If your friend comes to you seeking advice, pray for God's wisdom and always extend the grace of honesty without judging him. If you are a loving friend, and not a “Job” friend, you will know that you don't have all the answers, but you will carefully listen. If the Holy Spirit gives you insight, you will only offer that insight, and not place any expectation upon your friend. You make a suggestion, and also make it clear that you love him no matter what–that you do not have all the answers. God extends free will to us, and we must do the same. We can't demand anything of anyone, but we can love completely with His love that sees potential without passing judgment.

If you friend comes to you “speaking the truth in love”, listen with the love of Jesus in your heart. Realize that what you hear might not be pleasant to your ears, but it also might be necessary to make a difference in your life. Do not take it as a judgment of your character. Listen to what your friend says and ask for the Lord to reveal if it is something that needs to be addressed. Yes, there may be “emotional” feelings of hurt at first, but take the time and pray about what has been said to you. God will use it to make a difference in your life. The advice will either inspire you to change something in your life or teach you how to respond without hurt to advice which, though not applicable, has been offered in love.

This is the “iron” of Calvary–His love that makes a difference–the iron that sharpens iron. I pray that what is strong in the lives of my friends always sharpens me, and that my life always brings out the best in theirs. Spiritual growth is “iron sharpening iron”. It is allowing my friend to rub off on me. So if you ever hear me say to Chaundra, “come grease me up good”, what I am saying is come and impact my life for His kingdom, and allow me to impact yours. “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (Psalm 27:17, NLT).

Changed by a New Heart

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26, The Message). “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19, The Message).

For us as believers to have unity of heart, (Ezekiel 11:19) where no stoniness and hardness of heart keeps out His spirit, I must first, as an individual believer, (Ezekiel 36:26) have a new heart and a new spirit that receives life from Him. For the church to experience “an undivided heart”, I, as an individual believer and part of the church body, must experience a heart change that radically alters my life. This heart change is what I must bring to the body of Christ.

This first verse in Ezekiel speaks of this heart change that takes place within each one of us. The Holy Spirit does everything within His power to soften my heart. Through circumstances or relationships, He continually places me in a position where I either allow Him to move in my life or I turn away from His will. He desires to change my cold, unfeeling heart and give me one that beats with His love. If I will give Him the freedom to change me, the attitude of my heart will no longer be cold and withdrawn. Instead of being uncaring over the pain of others, my heart shall break for their suffering. My heart shall experience the divided state of their heart that they may not even know exists. My heart will understand with the flesh of the pain of my Savior. He will place His Spirit within me, and I will be consumed by His love. I shall have a heart that feels with the pain that He bore for me–yet loves with the hope of Resurrection promise.

When each of us allow Him to give us a new heart, and to put His spirit within us, we alone not only benefit from the change. The body of Christ will come to also have that new spirit within its own heart (Ezekiel 11:19). The church shall be set free to move into His presence as never before. It will be free of a stony heart that has judged and divided the body. Now it shall receive His life, because it has been freed from the tyranny of a stony heart. Our heart, where once it was hard and cold, shall worship Him with every breath of our life. And His Spirit will flow and bring a wholeness and unity of purpose that will usher in a newness of spirit never before experienced. We shall be totally set free to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Our lives will forever be changed by His love.

Jealousy

“A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones” (Proverbs 14:30, NLT).

Envy. Jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster that if allowed will consume us. Nothing good comes from envy. It springs up and steals the fulfillment in life that God's spirit imparts. It kills the fruit of the spirit. Jealousy crucifies any love, robs our joy, and destroys our peace. Whatever patience we might have had is gone, because we are never satisfied. Whatever kindness and goodness we exemplified has departed, because we don't view another as someone to care about. We see another person as someone to compare ourselves with. We have no self-control of our desire for more–we have no faithfulness that perseveres–we have no gentleness of heart because we are in a constant state of competition (Galatians 5:21-22). With jealousy, there is no peace.

Our verse from Proverbs basically says that peace is the exact opposite of jealousy. Peace gives life; jealousy is like a cancer that grows out of control, reaches into every facet of our lives, and ultimately destroys. When our heart and mind are at peace, we can live in His fullness. The body is at rest. There is no striving to have more or be the best at something. We can rejoice with others if they receive a blessing. Our heart is free to love, and not judge. We don't compare because there is no competition. Without all the stress of comparing and competition–when are hearts and minds are at peace, our bodies are at peace. There is life. If we are filled with jealousy and are always comparing ourselves to others–if what we have never seems enough–if we feel we are not the best at something, then our striving and unrest will wreck havoc on us. It will kill the spirit and the body.

“I gave you milk,” Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?” (1 Corinthians 3:2-3a, NIV). How immature are we? Do we still need to be treated as spiritual babies needing milk? When will we grow up and walk in the spirit instead of the flesh? Jealousy does not only destroy our spiritual life; it breeds dissension and division. Jealousy does not only destroy God's ability to work in us; it destroys others. Now is the time to grow up. Instead of allowing jealousy to crucify the Holy Spirit in us, it is time to crucify this green-eyed monster.

If God's love is in us, there is no place for jealousy. Love is patient, and it is kind. Love does not envy. (1 Corinthians 13:4). It does not destroy lives. Love builds. Love creates. Love sees the best. Love does not compare, and it does not compete. The time for solid food has come.

Investment in Your Friend's Life

Do you have a friend who is struggling with something that is tearing his life apart? Perhaps it is something that consumes him–like an addiction. Perhaps it is fear or generational bondage. Perhaps it is the lie of an enemy to destroy. Maybe you don’t believe you can help him experience freedom, but you can. Pray for him and with him. Intercession not only gives you spiritual insight, but builds faith. Pray regarding what you share, and be sure the Holy Spirit is guiding you. Before you offer yourself to help your friend, realize that the offer you are about to make is a commitment to not only your friend, but to God. It is your investment in his life, and it is offered with the expectation of nothing in return.

1. Listen to your friend. Take time to understand what he is saying. Many times we don’t hear because we are planning what we are going to say next.

2. Do not judge. If someone confesses to you, do not criticize him. Realize that he reaches out to you because he trusts you.

3. Keep his confession confidential. Whatever he reveals, don’t tell others. Treat his confidence as a sacred trust.

4. Pray with him for deliverance and healing in Christ. Encourage him that there will be a day when he will be free from that bondage.

5. Persevere. Don’t give up. Believe in him when he is at his lowest. Don’t allow him to isolate himself.

6. Share the Word. Assist him in Bible study, and help him discover God’s promises.

7. Keep your own relationship with the Lord pure. If you are not open to the Lord’s correction, you cannot help your friend.

When you make your life an offering, the Holy Spirit does the miraculous. Not only will the Lord deliver your friend from his bondage, but you will experience an anchor of deeper faith and trust in God. Remember that the grace of Christ is more than sufficient to meet this need (II Corinthians 12:9). If you surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit, He does the work (1 Thessalonians 5:24). “Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life,” C.H. Spurgeon wrote. “ Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend." Be the friend that invests and inspires, and believes. You are not alone. He is with you.

Smaller Purposes

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2, NIV).

You love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. You live a surrendered and obedient life–one that seeks to please and honor the Lord. You seek Him everyday through prayer and the Word. You seek His intimacy because without it you are lost. You pray for others because if you don't, you will fail them and Him. You are available when He needs you, and you reach out to those who need help. He gives you what to say when you need the words, and He is able to direct your steps. You constantly seek to be closer to Him, and to be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. You belong to Him, and yet in your mind you are struggling to discover His great purpose for your life.

You have longed for a great purpose in your life that brings passion to your soul. You have cried out to God to know His perfect will. You know that if you are in His will, you shall be fulfilled. So you have struggled to discover it. In your seeking, perhaps you have missed the fact that smaller purposes can make up a greater one. Perhaps smaller opportunities that God has sent your way have been overlooked in the search for that great purpose, and with that overlooked opportunity, you have missed the passion and fulfillment you have sought.

Being renewed in your mind means being changed in the way that you think. Think differently about the little things that you do each day for Him. Don't believe that you have failed Him because you haven't perceived a great purpose. Live each day with expectancy that you shall be used by God that day. Ask Him for opportunities to be used, and you shall receive. Discover the purpose of your day that brings glory to His name. Make yourself available with a joyful spirit. Discover your passion in what has been given for you to do now. With a yielded heart of surrender and a mind to receive the direction of His Spirit, you can test and approve each opportunity that a day presents. Set your hand to the plow for the day and plow your purpose. You can “commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3. NIV). You shall be in His will–His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Remember that God does not consider any service as being small. If you seek and serve Him faithfully in what you consider the small things, you will one day learn just how big they really are. You shall know that you have found the great, passionate, and perfect will of God for your life.

Whatever We Ask

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6, NIV).

There is no need to worry about anything I face. If I have a need, I will present my request to God, believing and trusting that no matter what I lay before Him, He will answer. The phrase “with thanksgiving” in this verse means that I have assurance that He will take care of my plea for help. When I give my need to Him in prayer, I feel thanksgiving in my heart when its weight is lifted from me.

Are there times you hesitate to ask because you believe He doesn't take notice? Are there times you feel defeated and alone? When the circumstances of this life overwhelm, you can feel abandoned if you do not continually lay your heart on His altar. He has never abandoned you. He has waited patiently for you to come to Him in prayer. The Lord has an answer for what burdens your heart. He can miraculously lift it, or instead guide you through it with His powerful hand. All you need to do is ask with whatever faith you can supply, and He will supply beyond anything your limited human mind can imagine. His supply takes your little mustard seed of faith, and brings a great harvest (Matthew 17:20).

If you lay your heart's burden on His altar and take your hands off of it, He will move mountains. When you allow Him to have the cry of your heart–truly have it–the burden lifts and you are filled with thanksgiving that He will answer your prayer with His best answer. You have finally realized that His answer is the only one. The cry of your heart has become the will of your Father in heaven. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14, 15).

If He can move mountains, He can move you, and He can move me to prayer. We have not because we ask not (James 4:2).

Not by Appearance

“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.' But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart'” (I Samuel 16:6-7, NIV).

In this Scripture God has sent Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem with the instruction that He, the Lord, has chosen one of Jesse's sons to be the new king. Samuel looks on the outer appearance of Eliab, and immediately believes him to be God's chosen. But God lets Samuel know that Eliab is rejected. He is not the one. God has chosen David, a simple shepherd boy, to be His anointed.

How many times do we look on someone's outer appearance, whether in looks or clothing or size or manner, and judge who they are? How many times have we done as Samuel, and expected God to choose a particular someone for a purpose only to discover that our choice was not God's choice? How many times do we believe we know what is going on in someone's life only for God to show us that we know nothing at all? We really do not know the depth of that person's heart. Man always perceives with what his physical eyes see. But God wants us to look on others with the openness of His heart and His Spirit. He wants us to be able to see past any perceived fault and recognize the potential that God knows is there.

God saw promise in a shepherd boy. He saw David's heart, and knew His potential. Not only does God see the potential in other people and does not want us to judge them, God sees potential in our lives, too. What we do to others, is often returned to us. To recognize what God sees in us, we must seek to see what He sees in others. It is then that God's instruction to “to not judge lest ye also be judged” is closer to being understood.

I am thankful this morning that God always sees His potential in me. I may fail, but He sees my promise. I pray that I extend the same to others. Often the quiet “Davids” are passed over for the others who shine. I pray to always have His eyes to see potential in the hearts of those He brings into my life, and to realize that they are chosen for greatness.