How We’re Overtaken With Blessings!

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God: Deuteronomy 28: 1,2 NKJV

In order to “fully” (NIV) understand how we are blessed by our obedience, we need to “fully” read God’s Word and obey it–completely. What appears to be a stumbling block for many people is their misunderstanding of God’s Word–thinking we are obligated to the letter of the Law instead of the “spirit” of the Law. The Pharisees knew The Law and all of its various postscripts (one has to know what was said in the first five books) and they couldn’t keep it or wouldn’t keep it.

To be honest, it was too much remember, but Jesus came and said two commandments I give you, “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.” How easy is that too remember? Love God, Love others! Obedience brings into play blessings that will overtake us when we observe (do daily) what He says. Verses 3-14 in Deuteronomy list how we’ll be blessed and we need to go back and review the blessings when we think we are tiring of being obedient.

Blessed in the city and in the country–everywhere we go–we’ll be blessed.

Our children will be blessed and everything and everyone we influence will be blessed.

Whatever we produce with the work of our hands will be blessed.

When we come into places and leave them, we will be blessed.

We will be victorious over our enemies every time they attack.

We will be blessed in whatever place or condition we find ourselves.

We will be established–known to all–as God’s Holy people.

All the people in the earth will revere and respect us as God’s people when they see us.

We will be blessed with prosperity in all areas of our lives.

We will never know drought of any kind.

We will be the head and not the tail of every venture we attempt, always at the top and never at the bottom.

All these blessings will overtake us–if we completely and fully obey God--living to please Him only.

So, if we’re not experiencing being overtaken by His blessings, perhaps it is because we have not fully executed obedience–living to please Him, rather than others and loving others even when they are unlovable. Something to ponder and rethink what we do.

I don’t know about you, but I am waiting to be overtaken by all the blessings He has for me and if others don’t want their blessings–I’ll take them, too. Loving to love you all today!

 

 

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The Person Who Prospers!

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither–whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

One of the insults hurled at any many televangelists is that they are “fleecing” people and misleading them with their prosperity messages. Well, I cannot speak for all of them, in fact I cannot speak for any of them, but I do know–the message of prosperity and how to accomplish it–is found in The Word and as long as they are preaching and teaching The Word, I find no fault with them.

When I listen to those who do find fault with anyone preaching about prosperity (and everything else in The Word), observation of those who are complaining are those who are barely surviving–in their personal life and in their church life. For it is envy that prompts their animosity towards others who dare to say anything about prosperity. And it is envy that clogs up their ears and blinds their eyes when they do not hear those they preach against–also teach obeying God’s Word, totally. They do not hear the message of repentance, love, and obedience for they have closed their minds to hearing the “whole matter” and judge those things they do not understand.

It is not a sin for God’s children to prosper and when we are obedient to His Word–it is a promise to us–that we should prosper in everything we do. What does it mean to prosper–when we obey? We end up having more than enough–for our needs and to help others.

Now we know that the wicked also prosper and we only have to look at the events occurring in the world to see how. The drug kings–both legal and illegal–prosper when they sell their wares. The illegal drugs keep people dependent and poor, committing criminal acts to support their habits. The legal pharmacies are just as bad when they overprice medicines needed and end up scamming insurance companies and leaving the elderly making choices between eating and taking their medicine. We see the wicked in high places of authority, making deals with the devil that ultimately create chaos and disaster for others. We see the wicked in families and churches who say one thing, but live a lie–scamming their families, neighbors and friends–trying to make themselves to be something when they are not. But God has a solution for the wicked and their wealth–it is laid up for the righteous–those who obey God no matter what.

But then the Word also says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (3 John 1:3 NKJV). So now, we see that prosperity “in all things” is God’s desire for us–in our finances, our health as long as our soul–our will to obey Him in all things–prospers.

When people complain about the prosperity of those who preach and teach the Gospel, I’m led to believe that they did not believe God from the beginning–of the Word. Throughout the bible, we find promises of prosperity (along with repentance and obedience). One of my favorites is Joshua 1:7,8 and then there is the entire list of things that are ours when we obey found in Deuteronomy 28 as well as the curses for disobedience. It’s all in there.

The bottom line is this–we should not be “best buds” with those who deliberately live in opposition to God’s Word or hang out with them unless it is an effort to be a witness to them about God’s goodness. And we most certainly should not take up their habits, but be strong and courageous in obeying God’s Word and stand back and see how He causes us to prosper in all we do that honors Him. That is the person who shall prosper in all things–when they are living The Word–for all to see.

Run Me Over!

“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey The Lord, your God” (Deuteronomy 28:2).

Whenever I think of this passage of scripture, I think about an 18-wheeler, running me down and overtaking me on the highway and being left standing, more blessed than I could handle.  You may not have the imagination I have when you read this, but just think about it for a minute.  If we just obey God, His blessings will come upon us and overtake us! Wow!

Now, what are the blessings?  All those listed throughout the next 11 verses, are our blessings to expect when we are obedient.  His promises to us:  we’ll be blessed no matter where we live, our children will be blessed and anything we produce will be blessed, whatever we put our hands to (constructively) will be blessed, we’ll be blessed going into places and coming out of places, our enemies will be defeated in front of us, people will know we belong to the Lord by our actions and welcome us into their presence, we will be blessed with abundant prosperity, we’ll be the head and not the tail (start businesses and not just be the last hired)–if we pay attention to what The Lord has said and are not deterred by what men say, God will bless everything we do when we are obedient to Him.

When we don’t obey or just ignore His commands and become more concerned about what man has said, we open ourselves to the curses–a much longer list in the same passage of scripture.  Beat down by curses or run over with blessings? It is our choice.

I don’t know about you, but I want God’s blessings to run me over and never stop!  Now, I have something to do.

Lord, keep me focused on what You have said and help me to obey and to remind others of Your goodness, daily.  In Jesus’ name, I pray and thank You, Amen!

Blessed or Cursed?

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV). 

Many people do not like to be reminded of what is said in Old Testament scriptures and actually attempt to discredit much of which is said.  While I will not enter into a debate about it, I will point some things out that have come to pass, just as The Word said it would. 

I have always considered Deuteronomy 28 to be the book of blesses and curses, simply because the first 14 verses talk about how God will bless us.  And then from verse 15 through 68, we are told how we become cursed–through disobedience.  Notice there are far more scriptures relating to how we’ll be cursed than how we are blessed. 

And then are those people who would attempt to discredit a person’s ability to “choose” to believe God.  We see in this verse–that we have always had a choice–to be obedient or disobedient.  We choose life or death; blessings or curses by our obedience or disobedience to God’s Word.  Now for those who don’t believe God exists, that’s a choice, too. But for those of us who profess an unwavering belief in God and His Word, we are accountable for what we do–we should all be walking in the blessings of the Lord. 

The bottom line for me is simply this:  If I am obedient to God in “all” He says (love Him and love others), I will be blessed and everything I put my hands to shall prosper.  If I choose to disobey (hold hatred against others and create chaos and confusion by my words or acts), then I can expect my efforts not to do much of anything, but be cursed. I get it!

I choose life and prosperity and being blessed over being cursed.  What about you?