Showing posts with label obedience to God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obedience to God. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Be Careful Blessings Ahead

DEU 8:1-20 NLT
“Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord . For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell. Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. “So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath. “But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. Just as the Lord has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed if you refuse to obey the Lord your God.
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Everyone wants a blessing.  We want a good life. We want more yield and just a bit better return. We want enough to share. We want to be comfortable. Who doesn't?
We pray for blessing, we ask for protection. We hope for good crops, better wages, longer holidays, sunnier days and plenty of rain, but not when we need to be outside. We love fresh fruit, rich cakes, hearty beer, fine wine, choice tender meats and tasty pastries.
We hope we don't get sick, we pray for healing and we long for a good night's sleep.
On our best days we pray that even our enemies share in the blessings of peace, prosperity and economic growth.
We applaud job creation, advances in technology and miracle cures.
Endcliffe Park, Sheffield

But be careful! Blessing can blind you! Abundance can bind you. Opulence breeds obesity.

And people forget God.

James 1:17 KJV
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Got a raise? It was from God. Did you give him credit?
Healthy? That was from God? Have you thanked him?
Have a good meal? Travel safely? Get a return on your investment? Have a comfortable life? Enjoying the sunshine? Get a choice? Live in peace?
Be careful not to take it for granted. Your freedom wasn't won simply by your clever economics, your superior intellect, or your rigorous education. And you're not blessed because you deserve it.
If you got it GOOD, it was from God!
Be careful to not forget him. Give him credit.
Be careful, blessing can be your undoing.
Don't become proud.
Don't forget God!
Hunter's Bar, Sheffield

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Look for Unity.




Ezekiel 9:4-10 NASB

The Lord said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst." But to the others He said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders who were before the temple. And He said to them, "Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!" Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city. As they were striking the people and I alone was left, I fell on my face and cried out saying, "Alas, Lord God ! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?"   Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood and the city is full of perversion; for they say, 'The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!' But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads."
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Ezekiel 11:19-20 NASB

And I will give them one heart
and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. 
Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God
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Three Sisters in Unity!
Transformation of the human heart may be the greatest miracle ever planned and performed by God.
Listen to the promise of restoration:
Unity characterises the first move of God in bringing restoration. Do you want to know if you are in a revival? Ask yourself if God is creating unity in worship and obedience.
Have people begun to act in obedience to God's word in unison? Are they obedient soft hearted and identifying themselves as God's people?
Unity, soft-heartedness, obedience to God and a strong identity with God are the characteristics of real restoration.


https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/real-restoration-at-bingham