I am continuing with the series from my new book, God’s Dream for Your Life. Today, we will talk about how love and obedience brings blessings into our lives.
Before we get started, I have a question to ask you.
God has BIG dreams & plans for your life —
Are you living them?
I have developed a quiz to help you identify where you are on your journey and what might be your next steps. You can take the Quiz by clicking on the link Quiz.
Quiz
Now on to our topic, How Love and Obedience brings Blessings.
The following is from my book, God’s Dream for Your Life.
In John 14:23, Jesus told his disciples, “Loving me empowers you to obey my word…” (John 14:23 TPT). The word obey has a broader meaning than we understand. It is the Greek word tereo, which means to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard, to observe, to reserve.
I want us to recalibrate our thinking when it comes to obedience. I remember when I was growing up with my four siblings, when my dad told us to do something, we did it! And it was not because we loved him; it was because we feared him. So obedience was a form of survival! This whole concept of being empowered by love was foreign to me. Honestly, like many of us, our understanding of obedience to God stems from what we learned as children. I learned to equate fear with obedience!
Instead, God wants us to understand His perspective, which becomes clear when we understand the true meanings of the words obey or observe. He is asking us to keep, to guard, to take care of, to attend to carefully what He has asked.
Our ability to obey is powered by our love of Jesus, not our fear. And the more our love grows for Him, the greater our obedience grows.
In reality, obedience and love fuel each other. Our obedience deepens our love for Jesus, just as our love for Jesus fills our desire to obey Him.
Our love and obedience combined together causes the Lord to pour out many amazing blessings on us.
”And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:2, NKJV).
Here are just a few of the blessings from Deuteronomy 28 you can expect when you love and obey God. (Amplified Bible)
1) Intimacy and Closeness to God (Verse 9)
“The Lord will establish you as a people holy [and set apart] to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk [that is, live your life each and every day] in His ways.”
2) Protection (Verse 7)
“The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way, but flee before you seven ways.”
3) Blessings (Verse 12)
“The Lord will open for you His good treasure house, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.”
4) Finances (Verse 11)
“The Lord will give you great prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.”
5) Leadership and Authority (Verse 13)
The Lord will make you the head (leader) and not the tail (follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen and pay attention to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe them carefully.
God’s Word is a powerful reminder of what kind of blessings we can count on when we love and obey Him. These blessings can be part of our daily lives.
I am closing with a testimony to encourage you from God’s Dream for Your Life.
One Friday night we were holding a special conference, and the young mom came while her husband stayed home with their three children. As we received an offering for the speaker, Joyce felt the Lord prompt her to give five hundred dollars! This was more than their budget allowed; however, she wrote the check. Not having discussed this with her husband beforehand made for an uneasy ride home. But once she shared it with him, she was happy to find her husband was in agreement. Come Monday morning, to their surprise, the bank called and offered to refinance their house, lowering their mortgage almost five hundred dollars a month. For months, the couple had been trying to get their mortgage refinanced without success. She was obedient in giving a one-time offering of five hundred dollars. However, God gave them five hundred dollars a month for the life of the mortgage! That is abundance from obedience! (page 191)
How has love and obedience created blessings in your life?
I would love to hear your testimony. You can leave your comment on my Facebook page by clicking here: CindyStewart or send me an email at
Have you read my new book, God’s Dream for Your Life?
Here are a few quotes from others who have read my book:
This was an excellent read. At first I was somewhat depressed because I realized that I had forgotten how to dream. I must say that this book stirs your spirit to bring those dead dreams back to life! It is a VERY interesting book full of examples from Cindy’s life. Partner with Jesus and Cindy to learn to dream again. You will not be disappointed with this book! Kathy W.
This book stirred my spirit and reminded me of how faithful and powerful God is ALWAYS! It lit my spiritual flame back to LIFE! Thank you Cindy for sharing your relationship with God with us! So grateful!!! Pamela C.
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