The Blessing Is IN Obedience

The Blessing Is IN Obedience.

So many of us today are asking God to bless us. We are believing for God’s blessing and declaring we are blessed. This is good and very much needed, but I recently read a phrase which challenged me.

“The blessing is in obedience.”

This made me stop and think of Isaiah 1:19: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.”

Could it be that there’s another key to God’s blessing?

The powerful passage from Deuteronomy 28 came to mind. This chapter is about God’s blessing, yet is centred around the concept of “If you obey…”

“The blessing is in obedience,” is a quote by a mum whose daughter and son-in-law moved to the other side of the country. They moved so her son-in-law could support his family and take up a position in the family’s ministry.

As hard as it was for this mum and the rest of the daughter’s family to see them go, they all knew and were in total agreement this was God’s will for the next chapter of their story. This mum wrote that amongst the tears, her faith was strong because they all knew that the blessing was IN the obedience.

“The blessing was in the obedience.” Wow! As I read this mum’s story, it made me stop and think of the greater concept of that phrase. So many times, I call out to God for His blessing in every area of our lives, but I also need to stop and make sure there’s nothing He has asked me to do—big or small—which I’ve forgotten, neglected, delayed, postponed, or refused to do.

One of the greatest examples of this I could give is in my “Mum life”. There’s been many times, especially when my children were younger, when I’ve asked them to do something—clean their room, help with chores around the house, etc—and they didn’t know what I had planned for them when they finished their task.

Maybe someone special was visiting, or I planned to take them to the shops. Perhaps I had arranged a surprise for them. I hadn’t told them what was planned, I’d simply given them an instruction for now. It’s not like I’d say, “Clean your room because Grandpa’s going to surprise you in twenty minutes and we’re all going to the shops together.” No, I’d just tell them to clean their room, knowing the surprise was coming once they’d finished. The kids didn’t know their simple obedience was going to unlock something special.

How similar is this to our Heavenly Father? We don’t realise our blessing is in a lifestyle of obedience.

Now, it’s important to remember that just because you aren’t seeing your prayers answered does NOT mean you are in disobedience. It can mean the devil is trying to stop you. Maybe there’s a blockage to press through. You should listen to Pastor Peter and Josh discuss this in Academy. (click here to watch)

Remember when Joseph was thrown into prison in Genesis? He wasn’t put in prison because of anything wrong he’d done. It was an attack by the enemy. BUT because Joseph walked in obedience, God could raise Joseph up inside the prison, then use that prison to launch Joseph into his destiny. God took what the enemy meant for evil and turned it for Joseph’s good because of Joseph’s obedience.

So, allow me to ask you this: are you in obedience?

Have you got anything on the back burner? What has God told you to do? Who has He told you to ring? What has He told you to sow financially? Has He told you to cook a meal for someone?

You don’t know what blessings await on the other side of your obedience!

Get the seed in the ground. Make the phone call. Cook the meal.

And see what blessings follow!