The book of Deuteronomy is where Moses goes over the law for the second time to the people of Israel.  Now, if God has to repeat Himself twice, it must mean that it’s something extremely important!  This is also the last time Moses is going to speak to the entire nation, so his last words are extremely important.  After giving the law for the second time, Moses makes sure they understand that he’s not just speaking “meaningless words.”  He tells them, this law (Word of God) is your life.

So, in other words, Moses is saying to the Israelite and to us, God is not speaking meaningless words to waste time, but they have important meaning.  If you want to live life, then you will need to keep the Law (Word of God).  Moses tells them that they are about to go and possess the Promise Land.  In order to live and enjoy the land, they will need to keep in heart the Word of God.

We expect God’s blessing to come to us and to continue to be poured out, but His blessing is based on our obedience to His Word.  He will not bless you if you are disobedient to Him.  Throughout Israel’s history, they struggled as a nation in the Promise Land.  It wasn’t because God wasn’t with them.  It was because they disobeyed His Words.  Our disobedience will bring curses or negative things to our lives.

How do I keep and enjoy God’s blessing on my life?  By obeying His Word.  It’s just that simple.  Obedience is what unlocks God’s blessings and disobedience will lock up His blessing.  That’s why Moses makes the nation of Israel chose what they wanted (Deut. 28).  If you want to have all these blessings, then you must choose obedience which will bring life and incalculable amount of blessings.  But if you choose disobedience, then curses will come.

If you want to enjoy life and be blessed, then obedience is something you must do.  You can enjoy everything God gives you or you can lose everything by your act of obedience or the lack of it.

“They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run

away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers or

recognize their call.”

Jesus is speaking about how He is the Shepherd.  He speaks about His sheep, about how they listen to His voice and follow Him.  In verse 5 He makes a powerful statement: His sheep will never follow a stranger because they do not recognize their voice.  Let us think about this a little more.  We are constantly telling our children “Don’t speak to strangers”, “Don’t go with strangers.”  Why do we say that?

Our intention is that we want our children to be safe.  We don’t know what strangers would do to them.  Some strangers are nice, while eithers are evil, but how would you know if they are nice or evil?  You just don’t risk it.  The interesting thing is that we already know the kind of strangers Jesus was referring too.  We know what he’s capable of doing to us.  We see how his sheep end up at the slaughter’s house.  He doesn’t care for his sheep.

But, too many times we find ourselves following a stranger’s voice.  I know we try to cover it up, but in reality, we get lead by strangers when we doubt God or when we disobey His Word.  Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice and follow me.”  They just don’t hear his voice, they move towards it.  As soon as God speaks, the stranger’s voice begins to call out to us, too.  The stranger doesn’t want you to follow Jesus.  So you have to make a choice, whose voice will I follow?

When Jesus says, “run away from him,” I don’t think he’s meaning that should run away in fear of him, but that you should turn (repent: change the way you think; change your direction) from his direction and into Jesus’ direction.  Every day you will have a chance and an opportunity to follow Jesus voice.  At the same time, the stranger’s voice will be harassing you to follow him.  The decision is yours to make, but just be ready for the consequences, whether good or bad.

Listen to the voice of Jesus and follow Him.  He will lead you to the right path.  And if the stranger’s voice is calling out to you, just keep on walking past him, knowing that the One you are following is all you really need!

“Mary took a very expensive bottle of perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet. She wiped them with her hair, and the sweet smell of the perfume filled the house.”

I’ve always loved reading this passage and refer it to how worship is suppose to be.  I was thinking how valuable our lives are and how we sometimes don’t like to “waste” it on unimportant things.  Yet as we live our lives out, we end up wasting our lives on small insignificant things that won’t even matter in the end.  How many countless hours are wasted on Facebook or in front of the T.V.?  Really, do we really have to watch every single new show that comes out?  What do you get out of it?  How much of your life goes into God or how much of our lives go into helping others?

We can be like that very expensive bottle of perfume being stored away and never really allowing others to smell the aroma of God in us, only on special occasions.  Some die with the entire perfume still in them.  What a waste.  You think God gave you this life so that you can watch uncountable hours of T.V. or to go through this life without ever sharing anything about Him?  How are people going to know how good God is if we never tell others of His goodness?  We need to pour our lives out to God and into others.

Don’t waste what God has given you.  At the end of your life, what aroma will you leave behind to others?  Will they even know that you were a Christian?  How much of God did you pour out into others?  Yea, I know we can be so distracted by all the shows, games, gossip, and other insignificant things to care about eternity.  We like to enjoy things NOW, but what happens when you die?  Pour out your life to God and into others.  Don’t leave this Earth with all of your perfume.  That you may present God an empty bottle, so that He can reward you with something greater.

Don’t think too much about it.  Just share your testimony or share God’s goodness to others.  Pour out what God gives you into others.  Leave the aroma of God in someone’s life.  Don’t be selfish with God’s goodness.  Someone needs a word that only you can give.

Genesis 22:18 (Contemporary English Version)

This chapter illustrates how obedience is an important key to unlock the blessing of God.  The Lord had told Abraham to go and sacrifice his only son.  Abraham had a choice: to obey God or disobey.  We are also faced with those two same choices on a daily basis.  We think that because we obeyed God one day, we deserve blessings for eternity.

Abraham wasn’t only blessed because of that one day.  He was obedient every day to voice of the Lord.  When we hear a voice telling us to give up something we love, we tend to ignore it, thinking it must be the devil talking.  God spoke to Abraham and told him to sacrifice Isaac to Him.  It wasn’t the devil who said it, it was God.  When we face that kind of challenge we tend to try to bargain with God to see if we can come to some sort of agreement.  God is not interested in listening to your pros and cons of His will, He wants obedience.

The interesting thing is that God never told Abraham what would take place up in that mountain.  He also didn’t tell him that He would bless him for his obedience.  Abraham’s obedience to God’s voice opened the door to release God’s best.  The blessing was directly connected to his obedience.  When God tells you to do something, there might be a blessing attached to it, but He won’t tell you.  He’ll wait to see if act in obedience.  If God tells us the blessing that will come to us if we obey, then we are more tempted to do it just to receive the blessing.  But God wants to know if you’ll obey Him regardless if He blesses you or not.  This is why Abraham became God’s friend.  Abraham wasn’t looking for blessings; he just wanted to get close to God.  As a result of that relationship, God blessed him beyond measure.

He will do the same for you too.  Listen to His voice and obey.  You will never know what powerful blessings obedience will unlock for you.  Like Nike’s slogan: Just do it!

“Study God and his strength,
seek his presence day and night;”

David was a man that knew God.  After the ark had come back to Jerusalem, David gave this psalm to Asaph.  When we get down to verse 11 other versions say, “Seek God and His strength…”  The Message paraphrased it to, “study God and His strength.” The dictionary.com defines study as:                application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, as                 by reading, investigation, or reflection; to think deeply, reflect, or consider.

What David is implying is that we have to make an effort to know God.  It wasn’t enough for David to hear stories about God; he decided to know Him personally.  We sometimes can get stuck with just listening about God, but in reality God wants us to pursue Him.  Make an effort to study Him; get your mind thinking about Him.  There are so many bad things that cross our minds throughout the day, but God just wants us to just focus our thoughts on Him.  When you do that, then it won’t be hard to believe His promises.  When you are constantly thinking about God, then you can expect to get what you’ve been thinking.  If you think about how good God is, then His goodness will come over you.  If you think on His power to heal, save or deliver, then you’ll get that.  Think about God and what He can do for you.  Your faith will come alive.

The second part of this verse is important: to seek His presence day and night.  Other versions say, “Seek His face always.”  I believe David is making a statement here: don’t seek God for what He can give you, but seek Him just because you love Him.  In a relationship, when you are with someone just for what they can give you, the day you don’t what you want, you’ll be upset and want to leave them.  God is not our ATM or a drive-through window guy.  He wants a personal, deep relationship with you.  It’s an amazing privilege that the Creator of heaven and Earth wants to have a relationship with us.  Don’t take it like someone you can date for a day or two and leave for someone else.  God wants a real commitment from you.  Give Him your heart.  The psalmist reminds us here: seek His face first.  Let your love for Him make you wanna be with Him day and night.  Don’t just go to God whenever you’re in trouble.  You wouldn’t want friends like that, what makes you think God does, too?  Seek His face.  Study Him and be changed!

As Jesus enters His ministry, His first message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17 NKJV).  Must be an important message.  But, repent from what?  God was introducing the Kingdom of Heaven.  It was a totally different concept than what they were accustom to.  God’s message came to destroy every misconception they had about everything.

In order for the Kingdom of God to be establish on Earth and on the lives of every believer, repentance was and is very necessary.  Repentance or to repent is to change the way you think.  So if I’m going to apply this to my life, it would mean instead of believing God doesn’t love me, I’m going to repent (change my way of thinking) and believe that He does love me.  When I pray I’m going to believe that God hears me.  When I sow, I believe that God will give me a harvest.  When I pray for deliverance or healing, I believe those things will happen.

If you begin to change your thinking, you’ll begin to see there’s a lot more in this life that God has given us.  You need to get into the Word and see what other things you need repenting of.  This is the message, the Kingdom message: Repent.  This is a constant thing.  In order for you to change your mind, you have to put some effort.  You have to begin reading the Word, praying, fasting, even changing some friends might help.  As you change your thinking, your habits and your actions will begin to change, too.

Don’t just read this and shrug it off.  Do it!  That’s the whole idea Jesus came here for.  He came to show us by example on how to live this Kingdom Message.  Don’t miss out on the best that God has for you because of all your misconceptions.  It’s time to repent, change your thinking!

I came across a verse that lifted me up and gave me a great deal of hope.  You can find it in Romans 9:25 (The Message), which says, “Hosea put it well: I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies…” God is saying that He’s going to call those people that feel like nobodies and those who have been told that they are nobodies, and He’s gonna make them into somebodies!!

You don’t have to start being a somebody, He’ll take you just like you are, but when He’s done with you, you will be a SOMEBODY!  God loves turning failure into success.  Are you ready to leave that “nobody” status and update it to a “somebody” status?  It’s been too long living under that “nobody” status, it’s time to update it!  God believes in you, more than anyone on Earth.  He loves you too much to leave you in that old status.

People fight, steal, cheat and everything they have to do to become a somebody, but God will take you as you are and make you into His somebody.  He’s not promising stardom or to be on T.V., but you’ll be His somebody and for someone else.  You are the answer to someone’s prayers.  All you have to do is update your status!  Allow Him to fix whatever is broken and torn in your life.  If He said it, then you should trust His Word.  Get ready for your update!

It’s so amazing to me that Jesus, the Son of God would ever pray this kind of prayer.  I mean, He is God.  Yet, Jesus teaches us an important lesson on surrendering our will to the will of the Father.  Jesus could have given up at any time; He could of decided not to go through the suffering, torture and death.  But He wanted to do what God the Father wanted, not what He wanted.

Here is where we make our mistake.  We live our lives to please ourselves.  Your life is not all about you.  Sorry to burst your bubble!  There’s a bigger picture that we’re not seeing.  Everything that you go through in life has to do with the bigger picture.  The moment something bad comes our way, we start crying, complaining and speaking bad about God, life and just about everything and everyone.  Instead of asking God “what do you want?”, we do whatever we think is best.  Jesus didn’t do what He wanted, He did what the Father wanted.  There was a bigger picture and more lives at stake than His.

Can you imagine what would of happened if Jesus never had gone to the cross?  Where would we be?  His surrender to God’s will made a difference that affected forever our lives and everyone else’s.  You will never know how your decision to surrender to God’s way, will affect everyone around you.  Your “Yes!” to God can mean a whole lot to your family and friends.  But you will never know until you ask, “God, what do you want?”  What is amazing is that in verse 43 the Bible says, “At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him.”  Immediately after Jesus made His decision, an angel came to strengthen Him.  Your help is only a decision away! You can turn down God’s help by doing things your way.  And in verse 44 it says, “He prayed on all the harder…”  He got His breakthrough.

His circumstances didn’t change, but He knew His outcome was going to be victory for Himself, God and the entire human race.  Your perspectives changes.  It’s no longer just about you anymore; you begin to see the bigger picture.  Even if your situation doesn’t change, even if everything seems impossible, God will never allow you to stay there.  There will be a day where His power will come upon you and you will be able to rise from that situation with power and glory.  Jesus did.  You will overcome whatever comes your way.

Begin to step into victory by asking God, “What do you want?”

“God said, “I’ve taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey…”

The people of Israel had been captive for over 400 years and in their despair they cried out to God.  They could no longer support the affliction they were living.  In their pain and suffering, they had thought that God had forgotten them.  But God had a plan.  He was preparing a man, a deliverer, to release them from Egypt’s grasp.  He interrupted the career of a shepherd to tell him that He had seen the affliction and had heard the cries of His people.

When we go through storms, we think we are by ourselves.  Thinking that God is somewhere on the other side of the World helping other people.  God hears your cries and sees your affliction.  He cared so much to see you free from that affliction, that He prepared a Deliverer to come and pay the price to set you free.

Jesus lived, died, and resurrected to bring you out of the affliction you are facing.  God saw the storms you were gonna go through and prepared a way to help you.  Only through Jesus can you really be delivered from everything that oppresses you.  He not only knows the pain you are facing, but has provided a way to help you.  Call out to Him,  He responds to the broken-hearted.  Don’t be surprised when He does respond.

So, does God really care for you?  Yes, He does.

The devil tries to tells us lies that if we don’t pray or read the Bible enough, God will stop loving us.  Or if we sin, God will reject us.  The thing is that God loved us even while we were still sinners.  He is the Beginning and the End, so He knows everything about you.  Chris Tomlin says in a song, “He knows the depths of our hearts and still loves us the same.”  Think about that for a moment.

There have been many times when you haven’t acted like a Saint or even thought like one.  Yet, God still loves you.  How many times have you been unfaithful to Him and He still loves you?  Paul wrote in Romans 8:39 (The Message),

“…absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love…”

Whatever you can think of cannot seperate you from His love.  He loves you no matter what you’ve done or what you will do.  Up until now, He might be the only person to love you for all that you are.  Just accept His love and love Him back.