Week of July 13, 2008"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." Deuteronomy 28:1
The God that created us to commune with Him loves to bless us in every area of our lives. In Deuteronomy 28 He says that He will defeat our enemies, He will bless our land, our work, our wombs and our finances. He even goes so far as to say that if we carefully obey Him, we will “always be at the top, never at the bottom.” That’s a hefty promise.
God favors those who are obedient, not that He loves one of us more than another because that would be impossible. His love is perfect. But when we carefully obey, putting Him first in all things, honoring Him regardless of our sacrifices to do so, He exalts us, even publicly.
I receive many prayer requests from people concerning sad circumstances in their lives. The Bible informs us that we will go through trials and trouble. And certainly, God fires us and prunes us to refine us and to cause us to grow the right way. But sometimes, the difficulties we experience are due to our own disobedience. God’s precepts are true and work when put into action, even if we don’t believe them. We can choose life or death, and in so doing, we reap whatever we sow.
I have a friend who is a new author and was promoted to high positions of influence this year. She is now preparing to step out on platforms in front of multitudes. Her book hasn’t even hit the stands yet, and she called me the other day saying that she has noticed that others close to her are showing signs of jealousy.
The truth is that none of us have to be envious toward others’ successes because God offers every one of us the same opportunity for abundance through His son Jesus Christ. The same precepts that are at work for my friend work for all of us. Therefore, I suggested to her to not apologize for the blessing of God’s favor.
Loving God more than our selfish desires puts us in right standing with Him and is the basis for the Christian walk. Loving God causes us to want to do for Him. When we consistently submit our whole hearts and choose careful obedience, God honors us with promotion. He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
We have been chosen “for obedience to Jesus,” according to I Peter 1:1. Let us not look to the left or the right, but keep our eyes on the Lord of the universe who perfects, loves and offers us great abundance in every area of our lives.
Margaret D. Mitchell is an author and the founder God’s Love at Work, a Christian outreach initiative dedicated to cultivating the heart of Jesus Christ in women so they may, in turn, share God’s love in the marketplace.
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