God Blesses Obedience

Proverbs 21:3 “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (NIV)

A couple of weeks ago I caught up with a friend who is in recovery. He had sought help from me a little over a year ago and I hooked him into a place that has transformed the lives of many men over the years.

A year ago my friend had nothing, as his various addictions had taken everything including his reputation and pride. Today he is transformed and it all happened because of his willingness to seek out help from others who knew the way and his willingness to accept Jesus as his Lord and saviour on a daily basis.

When I met up with my friend I asked him if the place where he got transformed offered the 12 Steps (as you know I am a big supporter of The 12 Steps). He said; “no, the entire foundation of this transformational program was based on understanding the freedom obtained through Jesus’s death for our sin and the willingness to accept the power of the Holy Spirit in order to try our best to live right and not sin.” He went on to say; “we were taught to seek God’s power on a daily basis to do right and in turn be blessed.” I totally agreed with him and shared with him what my pastor often says; “God blesses obedience.”

Over the years I have found there is more than one way to find and experience the tranforming powers of Jesus Christ and subsequent blessings, but the key to experiencing the fruits of this transformational relationship on a daily basis, is just as my friend said; “doing right.”

Sober and serene living (you don’t have to be an addict to miss out on sober and serene living) is about doing right and that is not easy for those of us who’ve created habitual behavior that is wrong and most of this “wrong” behavior is destructive behavior towards ourselves. The key to doing right is to first figure out what is wrong and look at the consequences created by wrong behavior. Then take a look at your right behavior and the blessings they create.

Keep in mind, in the early transformational stages, most of us are unable to determine right from wrong and need counselors, sponsors, mentors support groups…and of course God (through prayer) in order to help set us straight.

After figuring out what right is, we need to work on putting to death, on a daily basis, our wrong behavior and replace it with right behavior. It takes some time to break a habit and the first 3 or 4 weeks of replacing wrong with right is a bitch but it is the only way it will happen.

The best way to make it happen is to create a 28 day plan mapping out the strategy of your new “righteous” living…but make sure you seek help from wise people…“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” (Proverbs 19:20 NIV).

Once the new habit is created it must be practiced daily in order to experience ongoing transformational blessings created by “doing right.”

If you are struggling with continuous, habitual, wrong behavior, start over today, pray, seek out help, draw closer to Jesus, change your ways and begin reaping the blessings of right living.

P.E.A.C.E.

(P.S. If you think this post was written for you, it probably was, if you think it doesn’t apply to you, it probably does…none of us are ever able to live right all of the time…thank you Jesus.)

(P.S.S. A little over a year after my friend surrendered and sought help and began believing in right living through Jesus, he got a new job in his chosen field with several dozen men reporting to him…when he sought help a year ago, he was beyond unemployable…tell me God doesn’t bless obedience!!!! I note the several dozen men reporting to him because my friend knows he has the opportunity to bring others to the blessings of “doing right.”)

Please feel free to contact me at jay@eaglelaunch.com

2 comments on “God Blesses Obedience

  1. Nick on

    I cant believe noone has posted on this one. My Pastor is in the middle of a series called “Fruit v. Flesh” that has me feeling this post. I am in the middle of a pretty significant transformation myself. I haved been saved and serving Christ for nearly 10 years, yet find myself in a time period of unmatched transformation. Being recently married (almost 3 years), being an instant father to a pre-teen (my step-son) and now being a father to an infant (my 7 month old son) has allowed me to see on a repeating basis where I have been lacking in my development as a Christian and as a man. I cant count the number of times these past few months that I have seen, first hand the rewards of obedience and of disobedience. All I can do is set my mind and heart to doing right today…if i mess up today, there is another today coming right behind it to rebound.

    thank you for the encouragement

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