Blessing for Obedience

I have lived a blessed life. That's not to say that everything has always gone perfectly or exactly how I had planned but I have been blessed. I have always had a roof over my head and food on the table. My husband has been a good provider for our family and my children are all healthy and serving the Lord. I am blessed. I could go on and on listing off my many blessings but that's not what I wanted to share today. 


I attribute my blessings  to be from the Lord but also because of my parents. My parents taught me what it meant to obey and to respect authority and I am grateful for that. My parents were never harsh but my siblings and I knew who was in charge and it wasn't us. Because they taught me to obey, it was a natural progression for me, once I came to the age of understanding, to obey the laws of the Lord. When I read the Word of God and knew what God expected of me, I did my best to obey Him. Because I love Him, I want to obey Him and please Him.


Because of that obedience to God, He has blessed me and I have avoided a lot of hardship in my life. Think of it this way: when our children disobey, we correct them with a punishment for their disobedience. We don't give them gifts as a reward for their errant ways. Neither does God. God delights in giving His children, those who truly belong to Him, good gifts. (Matthew 7:11)


I know that I am a far cry from perfect, but I have found that when I walk with the Lord, He walks with me. When I hold close to Him and follow His Word, then He blesses me. I walk on a blessed path. We should never follow God just for what He can give us. He knows our heart, better than we know it ourselves, and He can spot a phony right away. He knows if you are sincere or not and He will reward you accordingly. 


So many prosperity preachers have it all wrong. They preach that we 'deserve' God's blessings and that God is 'obligated' to pour out His favour on us. But that is just not true. Remember His is God and we are not. There are conditions to receiving God's blessings. Just read the following Scripture and see if you can spot the conditions (I'll make it easier for you by putting the conditions in bold type and underlining them.)

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

 " 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:

 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

  The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him. 

 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 

 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

  The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 

 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them."

Did you catch the conditions? God will bless you IF you follow His commands and obey Him. I love how verse 8 says that the Lord will send a blessing on everything we put our hand to. How wonderful that is! Do you want your job to be successful? Do you want to have plenty to eat and a roof over your head? Do you want to see your children grow up well and have a good life? Do you want to see everything your put your hand to turn out well? If you do, then honor God with your life. Honor Him in everything you do. Walk with Him. Follow His ways instead of your own. Obey God and see the blessings for obedience.