For OUR Good
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“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).
God does not call us to “obey Him or else!” He calls us to obey Him because He loves us and deeply desires to pour out His blessings and promises over us. The more we follow His commands and come into alignment with His ways, the more we experience the fullness of His goodness.
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Where there is a slave or servant mentality, obedience is often a response to fear. Fear will undermine blessing in our lives every time. Jesus does not give us a spirit of fear nor does he call us servants. Instead He calls us friends, and our obedience is meant to be born out of our love for Him. In this we experience the Father/child relationship where we delight in His presence and He delights in us and in blessing us.
There are things that we all dream of having – good health, financial freedom, restored relationships, hope for the future, peace of mind. The world offers us a variety of ways that we can “work at” having these things, but we are often left with poor or mixed results.
God calls us to simply obey His voice and follow in His ways. In this, blessings in every area of our lives will come upon us and overtake us (you can read the specific blessing promises in Deuteronomy 28:1-13). This takes our focus off the problem and gets it on to the Lord who is able to set the details of our lives in order and immerse us in the abundant life.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, NKJV).
Questions: What does the Lord command of us as Christians to do? How can we experience that Father/child relationship with Christ?
About the Author Emmie Stanley
Tags: abundant life, blessings, command, commandments, emmie stanley, fear, financial freedom, health, peace of mind. Israel, promises, slave, statutes
8 Responses to “For OUR Good”
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What Do You Fear?
What do you fear, and why? Is it holding you back from realizing your full potential?
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to walk in His way
Andi, Thank you for your kind way of explaining Lordship to us. I think of a parent, and how a child would be lost if not for them, and how they would not even survive with out them. When we shake our finger a child, we do that b/c we love them and want them to live a peaceful life and understand the concequenses if they don’t obey. So, to fear God, and to walk like Jesus, obeying HIM is a “choice” of survival… We love our parents, but there is normally a time in our lives when we “fear” them… as we mature in our lives, and mature in Christ, we feel the fear less, b/c we are obeying GOD, and have received the delightful blessings he gives those who obey HIm. Just interesting, and a nice lesson. Thanks.
I love the concept of Jesus being a friend. The song, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” goes
“all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.”
Just love this input Trisha. Yes, that is the way it is f/the Lordship of God …. and yes I can believe you had a waiting list. To HIM be all glory and honour and adoration as we learn to love and obey because we KNOW He is Creator God!
When i was a preschool teacher (15 years) i had one “mantra”, so to speak, in my classroom… “Listen and Obey.” The rules (commands) i set up within the room of which, unless we went outside, 27 four and five year olds had to interact for up to 8 hrs a day. i HAD to establish safe ways for this to be successful. If a child chose to do his own thing and NOT “listen and obey” for the GOOD of the classroom and the other children, i HAD to issue the consequences. This is how i see the Kingdom of God. HE has it “set up” and knows what works and is best for us (even when we don’t and then feel the need to rebel such as some of the children in my classroom.)if i were to let them do what ever they felt like, however THEY wanted, i would have pure chaos on my hands! It would NOT be a “delight” to go to work each day. i felt it was my job to “train these children in the way they should go” which is ONE of God’s instructions for good results. For me, it’s about what RESULTS am i getting from the different choices i am making. The problem as i see it…the Bible isn’t read enough, people are seeking their own ways to live life, they are following the advice of astrogogists, gurus and psychics! The flesh cries out in agony against the Spirit as the sin nature wants to be in control. Well, we all have free will and God isn’t going to MAKE us but just like i couldn’t ‘make’ the kids ‘be’ obedient, i did have waiting consequences to help them see the error of their ways. And here’s the greatest part of all this…those children KNEW they were loved. i made my classroom one of safety and nurturing. After they came to understand the “commands” of my classroom, they got to experience a wonderful day at school. Can you believe i had a waiting list every year for a parent to have their child in Ms T’s room?
Yes…Listen and Obey…it might not be easy yet it is simple. Glory to God in the Highest!
Sydna, I used to feel that way too until we lived in the Kingdom of Tonga & I began to understand the concept of what an ABSOLUTE Monarch is. Thru living there and grappling w/this issue I ended up learning in my mind, heart and spirit what God as LORD of our lives means.
I pray you do a study on what Lordship is; for w/our perfect Father God when we see HIM as LORD then we can come to HIM knowing that these 2 seemingly contradictory statements have been melded together.
God used there scriptures to prepare me for this incredible life-lesson that revolutionized my relationship w/HIM
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Do what I ask of you. Do not add to it or take away from it.
and then
If I delight myself in the Lord HE will give me the desires of my heart…..
this last one brought it ALL together and I think this is one concept the author is trying to get us to understand.
So I pray you will become excited as you learn what Lordship under God fully is and can then begin to truly delight in obeying HIM and realize the wonderful freedom that brings us into in our relationship!
I hope this helps?
I feel tis devotional speaks directly to me and the challenges I currently face on the job. The author says: “God calls us to simply obey His voice and follow in His ways. In this, blessings in every area of our lives will come upon us and overtake us (you can read the specific blessing promises in Deuteronomy 28:1-13). This takes our focus off the problem and gets it on to the Lord who is able to set the details of our lives in order and immerse us in the abundant life.” Which is hard to do when you constantly bombarded each day. But always remember, God is bigger than all these things. Be blessed.
Parts of this article seem contradictory….She9 the author) says God doesn’t want us to fear him but yet Deuteronomy says we should fear Him. It talks about not being servants but the scriptures always talk about obeying and things “I command”. There’s always the air of threat if we don’t obey which causes fear in me. How do you love what you fear>