ESOCS Devotional 22 December 2022
TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 28:1-14
MEMORY VERSE: “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-14
0 And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted lace ”
There will be outpouring of blessings to us from heaven if we could do just one simple thing: obey the voice of the Lord our God. This is not an awesome task. God is gracious. He has always planned things to be easy for us. At the beginning of things, He created man and placed Him in the Garden of Eden, which He had already prepared. Therefore, man did not need to labour but entered into luxury. Also, He gave us the ticket to enter the kingdom of heaven through His abundant grace in Christ Jesus our Lord. We were not called to labour for it. The Bible says we should simply “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and [we] will be saved …” (Ac 16:31). Again, the Scripture emphasizes that our salvation is “not of works [we have done], lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:9). It is entirely the work of grace. Titus 3:4 & 5 makes it clearer: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”Grace works for us. Grace speaks for us.
We may hear God speak to us directly into our ears or through His prophets. He may also speak to us through His word in the scriptures. We must set our minds to be hungry for His word, hear it, assimilate it into us, and do it. Many good things flow from obeying what God says. Obedience to Him is very important in His relationship with us. As individuals, families, and nations, we would receive the blessings and benevolence of God only when we are true to Him in our hearts. The condition of our hearts towards Him is what would make us be willing to please Him. If we harden our hearts towards Him, we would not obey Him. If we do not make Him our priority, we would always fail to put Him first in our considerations. If we do not develop the heart that loves and fears Him, we would not have the attitude to do only the things that please Him.
God has a great delight in blessing His people. Let us keep up our Christianity in true holiness and righteousness. There is no other way to endear ourselves to Him. He has so much to grant us; and much to give us. He is always looking for people He would grant His favour and give His blessings. If we choose to become obedient children to Him, He “shall supply all [our] need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). We will lack nothing. We shall always have abundance. In times of famine, we would have plenty; and more than enough to give to others too. In times of difficulties, He would be near us to make things easy for us. He will bear our burden, and shall dwell at ease in His joy. Obedience does it all.
CHALLENGES
- Count how many times you received the blessings of God because of simple obedience and compare it to the times you disobeyed Him.
PRAYERS: Pray God to give you the spirit of obedience.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Thank you for reading the ESOCS Devotional today. Please share and follow us on all our platforms to contribute to the spread of the Gospel.
ESOCS Devotional 22 December 2022
