Blessings (Deut. 28:1-14)

7/4/2009 7:06 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The blessings

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 28:1-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  "Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2  "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: 3  "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4  "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. 5  "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6  "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. 7  "The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. 8  "The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 9  "The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. 10  "So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you. 11  "The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. 12  "The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13  "The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, 14  and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”

            The blessings that are listed in this passage above were given to the nation of Israel if they would obey the Lord and not play the harlot and go after other gods.  These blessings were given because of the grace of God, for there is no one who deserves God’s blessings for grace is unmerited favor from God, giving to someone what they do not deserve or could ever earn.  Dr. Wiersbe points out in his commentary on Deuteronomy, “Be Equipped” that because Israel was a young nation just moving into the land that God had promised them, that they were treated differently than if they had been in this land trusting the Lord for a long time.  If they obeyed they were blessed, if they disobeyed they were giving curses for not obeying.  There are common blessings or common graces given to all people and sometimes when a believer in Jesus Christ is going through a difficult time and looks around at a nonbeliever and sees them getting many blessings they can’t figure it out.  Job is a good example of this as his so called friends were saying that Job had to have committed some great sin in order for all of these bad things to come upon him, but God was testing Job, and He knew that Job would not fail Him, but He was testing him to make him better and not bitter, and in the end Job was better and blessed of God even more than before the test.

 

           

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Give thanks for everything that God allows to come into my life for that will be the will of God for me in Christ Jesus.
2. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.
3. Put on the spiritual armor:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, and take the sword of the Spirit.
4. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
5. Learn contentment.
6. Keep a short list of my sins with the Lord, confessing my sins to Him.

 

Memory verses for the week:                                  Ephesians 3:16-19

 

16.  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

17.  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18.  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

19.  and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

7/4/2009 7:40 AM