“You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.” Deuteronomy 28:6 NIV
We are starting the Winter session of GROW in His Word. By all accounts our group started last Sunday but I have not been able to get my brain in working order due to the illness going through our house. During the next few weeks, we are going to be focusing on blessings and gratitude. In our group, we are being encouraged to share or journal three things we are grateful to God for each day during the eight week study. So I am encouraging you as well to do the same with us. You may share in the comment area below, join our group on Facebook and share or simply keep a journal of gratitude. If your new to GROW, it is a group on Facebook led by Faith and Kelsey. Each session, we are given a Bible verse that we read, meditate upon, memorize and share our reflections about the verse. Are you ready to get started?
Week One of Winter Session 2015
As a child, I knew who my parents were, I knew how much they loved me. I knew if I obeyed them, life was pleasant. I also knew if I disobeyed, my life felt like a curse. The choice was mine to make and what I chose decided my outcome. There were many times, my parents were slow to anger, bestowed graces and mercies upon me to correct my ways. However as loving and caring parents, they would only let me go so far before their wrath corrected my ways. It was only after I asked for forgiveness and began obeying again that the pleasantries of life began to flow again. The same is true with God our Heavenly Father.
When you read the whole chapter of Deuteronomy 28, we see Moses explaining the blessings and curses of obedience and disobedience towards God. These verses are part of God’s covenant with His chosen people, Israel and all through out the Old Testament we witness God staying true to His word with His people. His blessings have been poured over them abundantly however when they fell astray from His laws He, as loving parent disciplined His disobedient children. They would then once more turn their hearts back towards His ways and follow His laws for them. How many times has that not been true in your or my own life? I know who my God is, I know what He has instructed me to do, but that hard-headed, selfish child raises its ugly head and I willingly choose to disobey God. It is in those times of disobedience that God delivers His discipline upon me. Through His faithfulness, He forgives me when I ask for forgiveness and turn my heart back towards Him. He wants to pour His blessings upon us, but He wants our obedience to Him first and foremost. Our obedience is rewarded with blessings. In our coming in and in our going out, obeying God will be blessed. In those blessings, we can experience the lasting joy and happiness that comes from being at peace with God.
In His Love, Crisi