Deuteronomy 28:13 – Am I looking ahead or am I looking back?

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

Obedience to the Lord will bring you blessings. That’s a powerful promise. This is a covenant promise given to Moses by God and a gift to the children of Israel if they chose the blessing. God would make them “above and not beneath”. The blessing included personal blessings, family blessings, national blessings, and the favor of God which can be described as the fountain of all blessings. Or the curse which would have real effects like utter ruin and destruction.

You see, we all have a choice. Either we choose the blessing or we choose the curse. It seems like a simple choice on face value, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to choose the blessing? Especially, the blessings of God. But what if you didn’t know for sure what the blessings of God were or the world on face value seems too good to pass up. Hey, we’ve all been there. I’m not trying to be preachy here. But, I’ll be transparent, I still make bad choices. Hopefully, not as many, but I mess up.

When I first heard this Scripture passage, I likened God’s promise this way: I would always rather be “The head and not the tail” because I wanted to always know where I was going instead of seeing where I’ve been. Ya know what I mean? God’s plan for you is absolutely filled with blessings, and favor, and abundance. He promises, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) And God is leading the way. All we need to be is obedient and choose wisely.

Jim Cymbala, in his book, “Breakthrough Prayer” he says, “Do you know that in addition to describing God as Creator, Comforter, and King, the Bible also calls Him “the Hearer of Prayer”. This is the sweetest yet least known descriptions of the Lord in Scripture. “O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come”. Or, more literally, “Hearer of Prayer, to you all men will come.” (Psalm 65:2 NKJV)”

Jim also points out that, “Many of us fail to call on God because we don’t understand the need to pray about something God has already promised to you.”

So you see, you have a great promise given to you in Deuteronomy 28:13 that obedience to the Lord will bring you blessings. And another great promise, that God promises to prosper you and give you hope and a future. And finally, God promises to hear your prayers. So I ask you, can you take some time in prayer this week and pray the promises of God for yourself, your family, your friends, your co-workers, and even your enemies? Why not start out with thanking God for His promises and begin to believe and speak truth into your life and the lives of others from the promises of His Word.

Heavenly Father. Thank You for being the Hearer of Prayer and for establishing a plan for each of us that is filled with blessings. Help us to remain obedient, always looking toward your promises that give life. Protect us and help us turn away from the shallow promises of the world that cause us to look back and do not give life, but take it away. Build a hedge of protection around our family, our friends, our neighbors and co-workers against the schemes of the enemy. Help us understand how much You love us and desire to bless us. And Lord, bless our enemies so that they may understand that their hope lies in You Lord. Use us Lord to be a lighthouse to them. In Jesus Name. AMEN

Don’t believe me, believe God!

Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV – What choice will we make

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live

God is full of grace.  If you turned off your alarm, got stirred up by your dog, or had the morning sun shine through the window that caused you to get out of bed this morning, God poured out His grace upon you.  God is full of grace.  He has given you another day to live and breathe.  There is no other reason why we are alive except that God chose to allow it.  Period.  It’s up to us and how we will spend the time He has given us.

As the Scripture says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing”.  We must choose wisely.  We are given two choices; choose life or death; blessing or cursing.  It’s one or the other.  We can walk with the Lord and in His ways or we can choose not to.  That’s it.  There are no other choices.  Well, some might say, “I can go to God when I need Him.  Then I’ll walk in His ways.” That’s a wrong answer.  It must be one or the other.  You can’t have it both ways.

God is the source of all blessing.  “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12 NIV)  Why would we desire to walk in our own ways instead of walking in the ways of the Lord?

God has placed in all of us a free will.  That is an ability to make decisions without being coerced by any external forces.  Our Scripture above stresses that people are confronted with free choices between good and evil and commands us to choose good.  Our Christian life involves making decisions at many levels.  We make decisions concerning our family.  We make decisions concerning our work and how we can support the needs we have.  My decision, my choice is life; the blessing of God.

When I wake up in the morning, sometime between the time I wake up and the time I arrive at my workplace, I enjoy spending time with God in prayer.  One of my favorite prayers goes something like this, “Thank You Lord for another day to serve You.  Thank You that You have ordered my steps today. I pray I remain in Your steps for Your glory.  If I happen to wander off those steps and I find myself walking in the ways of the world, Lord forgive me, take me by the hand and place me back on track and on the path You have laid before me.  May all I say and do glorify Your name.  In Jesus Name.  Amen” That’s my prayer.  It will vary from day to day.  But what I am endeavoring to say to the Lord is, “I desire Your ways.  I choose the blessing.”

We are given only so many days to live on this earth.  God controls this and we never know what lies ahead of us.  It’s vitally important for us to choose wisely and stay away from choices that will curse us.  Certainly we are free to walk in the ways of the world and let the world care for us.  But friend, I just don’t think that’s a wise choice.  Scripture says this, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4 NKJV)  When we are a friend of the world, we are walking in spiritual infidelity.  The world is a fallen place and is in rebellion to God.  But thanks be to God that through Jesus Christ, God reconciles the world to Himself, breaking the chains of sin.  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

You might ask, “I’ve never thought about choice this way.  I never heard of the blessing or the curse.”  Well, that’s ok.  You may not have read God’s Word before.  There’s a starting point for everything.  The Bible says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for corrections, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV)  You can make a choice right now if you would like.  You can choose to call on the Name of the Lord and have a personal relationship with Him.  You can choose to study God’s Word for your life and allow it to guide and direct you in your decisions.  It all begins with a prayer.

Prayer is simply a humble conversation with God.  Prayer demonstrates our dependency on God and believing He will hear and answer our prayers.  Will you choose to pray this prayer?

Dear Lord, I desire to make the right choices.  I find myself choosing unwisely and away from Your will for my life.  Forgive me Lord.  I am a sinner.  I pray for You to guide and direct my thoughts, my actions, my decisions, and my life.  Come into my life and be my Lord and Savior.  Forgive me of my sinful life and give me eternal life through Your Son, Jesus.  I believe Jesus died for me and my sins and rose from the grave so that I can have eternal life with Him.  Help me to choose wisely and make my decisions based on Your Word.  Forgive me when I fail and pick me up, wash me clean by the blood of Jesus, and set me on the path You have chosen.  I love You Lord.  In Jesus Name.  AMEN.

Don’t believe me, believe God!