Obedience and Blessings

God has taught me so much today! I can't even tell you all of what He has taught me.. and I feel like what He taught me was just so personal. But that is the way He is, He is a God of individuals. He doesn't just give us generic solutions to our questions or needs, he tailors everything for us! What an awesome God we have! What is the point of having a "Personal Lord and Saviour" when he doesn't deal with us as seperate, individual beings? It really irks me when I hear people say that the Bible is just a guideline or a rule book to tell us how to live our lives and basically that's what being a Christian is. Christianity is believeing and having faith that we are saved by our Lord Jesus Christ and having a relationship!! AND YES, a personal relationship, meaning two-way communication!

What he taught me today wasn't like a lesson that I learned through a situation, and it didn't happen in any special way. He basically just blessed me with more knowledge and wisdom from reading His Word. Everytime I learn more about God I can't help but just be in awe and fall in love with Him more and more.

Today, He taught me about Obedience. What a hard topic for me! But time and again when you read His word it shows examples of the blessings He showers on people when they obey Him. In my bible study workbook ("Breaking Free" by Beth Moore) the author writes about how God already has blessings he wants to give us, but we can only receive His blessings if we obey. I cannot imagine how many blessings I must have missed out on because of my stubborness or weakness.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" - 2 Corinthians 2:9

"Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" - Romans 6:16

Lord, I pray that I will be a slave to Your righteousness! I am tired of being a slave to the world of which all things are tempral that lead to death and can never withstand Your Glory. Lord, I choose You to be my master, a master who is forever victorious and forever faithful and bountiful in love (You are love!) and prosperity. I want to be obedient and do all good deeds through You Lord as I do not have the capabilty and am greatly lacking in the qualities to be victorious myself. Only through You Lord can I do the things I do. You strengthen me and wash me with Your courage and boldness. I am nothing without You Lord God! I am forever thankful! In Your son's mighty name, Jesus, Amen!

Mark 10:16

My house is occasionally a haven for little children, one in particular last weekend. She is a precious little three year old girl. She is the sweetest thing you will ever meet! She could talk endlessly for hours and have you captivated by the things she talks about, which is funny because you can't always understand what she is saying. She also has a love for nail polish and jewelry, which is why her nickname is "Kikay" which means basically "very girly" in Filipino. She comes over quite often and sleeps over during the weekends. Her mom had shared with me that she was talking to her and she told her she would be coming over to my house and she said "Oh, am I going to their house again mama? I know they miss me because I miss them!". I just stare at her and think sometimes of how much joy she brings to peoples lives and she doesn't even comprehend what is going on around her. It made me praise God that he takes care of the little children just like her. I praise God that He is with every child because he loves and favors them and will protect them:

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." - Matthew 18:5

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." - Matthew 18:10

Wow! Just looking around in the world that we live in, I used to be so against having children of my own. I felt hopeless because of all the terrible things that I see on the television or in the newspaper and the influence that it causes. It seemed like we lived in such a corrupt world with sex, violence and profanity blasting blatantly on television or in today's music as if it were all okay and we should just accept it. I didn't want to raise my children in that environment. No matter how I should try they will witness that and be influenced. I cannot hide them from the world. But God has promised us that he will be our children's great protector:

"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" Matthew 18:6

Although many horrible things happen to children everyday and even every second it was not God's will for it to happen. When children are abused or treated poorly, God might have allowed it to happen but he didn't make it happen. His reasons are not our own and we cannot comprehend his will, but only have faith that it is a great one. Now, I cannot wait to have children of my own, for God to bless me by entrusting with such a blessing and responsibility:

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." - Proverbs 22:6

I pray for the little girl who comes over and fills our house with such joy for I know she is so blessed to have God's angels watching over her. I pray that she will be trained in the way that she should go so that she will not turn from it. I pray that no one should ever cause her to sin for that person would have God's anger to deal with later on. I pray that she will become an awesome woman of God and his faithful servant. That she will be filled with the desire to love God and be showered with His blessings.