Friday March 9, 2012

Read Deuteronomy 7:11-25

 

As a father I love to bless my children and to give to them. If you can understand that love and if you have experienced it with your own children or your friends, then you are starting to understand how God feels towards His children.

 

God loves to bless, to give to His children. He loves to lavish His children with His goodness, His mercy and His grace. But that love is never in a vacuum. It is always in the context of a covenant relationship. God will not bless and give generously to His people if (or while) they walk in disobedience.  God’s fatherly love is lavished upon His children as they walk in love and obedience. His fatherly discipline and chastisement awaits those who continue to walk in disobedience.

 

It’s a lesson we need to learn and apply to our own lives. We cannot and should not expect to be blessed by God and lavished by Him if we walk in disobedience. God is holy and righteous and He will not tolerate sin among His people. He will discipline us and chastise us as necessary. And if we are prone to stubbornness like the Israelites, we need to remember that God has a lot more time on His hands than we do. He can sit and wait patiently for us to come around!

 

But as God’s people love Him and serve Him they can expect God to be powerfully at work among them, even fighting for them and preparing the way for them to enter the Promised Land.  Verses 15-25 remind me of a young boy, about 4 years old, who was too scared to play in the park where the older boys were playing loudly and roughly. Israel is that little boy sitting on the edge of the Jordan looking at the park across the river and wanting desperately to go and play but being very much afraid. When that little boy saw his dad come to sit and watch, his countenance changed. He became courageous and ran off with glee to play and frolic in the park. Our heavenly Father promises to do more than to sit and watch us. He promises to hold our hand, to watch out for us and to be with us through all trials. Knowing that God is with us and for us should make us courageous and fearless. We can tackle anything because God has promised to be with us. Israel could march confidently into the Promised Land because God was with them. You can march confidently into all of life because God is with you.

 

Prayer:

¥ Praise God for the various cell leaders among us. Praise God that they are willing to prepare and lead week by week. Pray that God would make their work a joy and that he would be close to them, granting them wisdom and insight into the Word each week.

¥ Praise God for our Extreme Team who are willing to reach out to non Church families each month. Praise the Lord that this ministry has born fruit. Pray that God would bless and encourage and strengthen each and every single worker.

¥ Praise God for those who preach and teach the congregation each week. Pray that these men would be granted wisdom,  & insight and that they would see the fruit of their labours.