Sunday, March 27, 2011

Blessings for Obedience

We recently returned from southern Arkansas where the fruit trees were blossoming and warm breezes were blowing. Now who around here, still looking at a foot of snow, wouldn't find that refreshing? But hang on, Spring will arrive for us, too!

A road trip clears my mind and freshens my perspective. With my husband driving the many miles we covered, I had the opportunity to read to him, and then we'd discuss what stood out to us. We were in Leviticus (which can be a challenge), but here is the treasure I found there:

"If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you..." (I'll summarize, but you can read it here: Leviticus 26:3-13 NIV) rain... crops... fruit... harvest... safety... peace... security... favor... increase... abundance... freedom. The Lord shared beautiful promises:
  • "I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful..."
  • "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people..."
  • "I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high..."
And the one that really charmed me was:
  • "Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you."
What this says to me is when we walk with God, we can beat INCREDIBLE odds! When we walk in obedience, surrendered to Him, He can do things we could have never imagined.

Ted and I talked about times in our lives we've known that to be true. Sweet times of fully trusting; we saw God's hand and His favor in our lives beyond what we would have believed. Dismal situations that turned out far better than we could have hoped.

We wished it could always be that way, but we sometimes get in the way of that. God wants our full obedience... we say we want to follow Him wholeheartedly, but we hold back a little piece of ourselves. We try to give God power and authority over our lives but we hold onto something we don't really want Him to change. We live under burdens we don't need to carry because we want to do it our way.

When we worry or doubt, we are focusing on ourselves and not God. With people things seem impossible, but with God all things are possible. What power there is in surrender! We're afraid of losing, but in reality, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

God, help us to be careful to obey your commands. We want your blessings for obedience. With our eyes on you, we strive to let go of all that holds us back. We want to beat the odds, to rise above the selfishness that keeps us from knowing your perfect will.

Is there something that seems too big in your life? Give it to God and watch Him work.

3 comments:

  1. Great post! Are those pictures from Garvan Gardens?

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  2. Yes, the Garvand Woodland Gardens were beautiful! I like your last blog post, too. Happy to see things work out for your move, but sad to see you leave. Guess it was time to change your blog name? Go Team Shelbs!

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  3. Now I really have spring fever, but looking at 15" of snow and we have 25" of ice on Shawano Lake. Bummmmmmmmer. KPalmer

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