OBEDIENCE: POSITIONING FOR THE BLESSINGS OF GOD!

John 14:15 “ If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 15:10 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…”

Obedience is the decisions in our lives that position us for the Promises of God to take effect in our lives. It is loving obedience that causes us to “abide” in Him. That simply means to remain connected in fellowship with Him. John 15: 7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you will, and it will be done unto you.” In Psalm 91, a classic filled with a multitude of God’s promised blessings, the key to positioning ourselves for His blessings is stated as the one who “dwells in the secret place of the Most High” and “abides under the shadow of the Almighty.” Isaiah 1:19 “If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land…”
Let me share with you in two small examples how God is able to bless us and others through our simple obedience even to the small things in life.

Today I was driving down the road toward a business appointment, when I suddenly felt impressed in my spirit to pray for a friend of mine that I have recently reconnected with. I had no clue as to what specifics I needed to pray, so I began to allow the Holy Spirit to pray for me. When I don’t know how to pray, I begin to pray in the Spirit.(Romans 8:26) About ten minutes after I had finished praying, I called my friend to let him know the Lord had placed him on my heart and that I was praying for him! No answer!

About 30 minutes later he called me and told me the following. He had been working in Washington D.C. on scaffolding about forty feet in the air, when a pipe that secured the scaffolding to the side of the building broke loose and the scaffolding separated from the building and began to fall. It separated approximately five or six feet from the edge of the building and miraculously did not continue to fall. Somehow it stopped and he was able to scamper down the scaffolding as fast as his feet would carry him.

The reason he could not answer his phone was that he left it up on the scaffolding. The scaffolding began to fall just as I had begun to pray in the Spirit, and somehow God privileged me to be a part of His protective promise for my friend John! John’s response after he returned my call and realized what had taken place was “Isn’t the Holy Spirit awesome?” That is not coincidence; that is God!
Earlier this week, on the first day back from vacation I was working my way through a packed day filled with work that had piled up while we were away. As is my standard practice, I have a list of all the things I need to get done for the day, and when I complete each item, I practice asking the Lord what to tackle next. I had planned on spending a good portion of the afternoon on securing new business with a host of phone calls. Late morning after completing another task on my list, I asked the Lord what was next and I heard the following. “Go read your Bible and spend some time with Me.”

Maybe He didn’t realize that I was all backed up from vacation and really didn’t have the time at that moment. Perhaps I could find time later on that evening. He persisted and not being as stupid as I look, I decided to take a break and go refresh myself in the presence of the Lord. I picked up my Bible and began to talk with Him.

My cell phone rang about ten minutes into my time. I answered the phone and it was a customer of ours who said the following. “Ken, I want you to know I just got rid of one of my current vendors about ten minutes ago and you popped into my head to replace them at a cluster of our Properties. I want you to get started this week!” We started today and even before we finished our first job, he added three more onto the list for next week.

What would have happened if I decided to ignore the voice and keep on working? As I stated I had been walking in obedience for ten minutes and it appears as soon as I responded “Yes Lord!” this customer started thinking about me and called me to give us a lot of new business. That freed me up an entire afternoon to work on other items I had to do.

These blessings of God are available to those who “listen diligently unto the voice of the LORD God, to observe and to do all his commandments (Everything He asks you to do) …and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if you will listen and obey the voice of the LORD thy God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2 Loving Obedience positions us to secure the blessings of God both for ourselves and for others.

Fill out the comment section on the website with your examples of obedience procuring God’s blessings for you or for others!

One that loves God obeys God!