If you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full…….You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ~John 15:7-11; 16
Every day we live our lives with distractions that seem to always keep us down. Distractions that keep us from recognizing God is the one who keeps us even when it appears as though He’s not there. The text says, “if you abide in me and my word abides in you, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” The key is that God’s word should always abide in us. We must learn to be consistent no matter what state we find ourselves in. We must also understand that by abiding in His word, we are afforded the comfort and protection of God and are filled with all His goodness and mercy that He gives to us daily. We must know that we are connected to God and that God wants us to bring forth good fruit. What is this fruit? I am glad you ask. It is what we choose to do to please the Most High God by having Faith, following his commandments, showing love, forgiving each other, praying for each other, enhancing our gifts and talents to build the kingdom of God, witnessing, and being a willing vessel of light in this very dark world.
God’s word is telling us that if we abide in His love we will have no problem keeping His commandments. Everyone wants joy, but to have joy, we must have loved. Our joy is a result of God’s love and the act of keeping God’s commandments. We need to know that we get back what we put in. God not only wants us to give but to give with the Spirit of thanksgiving! By gaining the Spirit of giving, we open ourselves up to all kinds of Blessings! We must always give God the Glory in everything we do. But it all starts by abiding in God.
A lot of us are enjoying comfortable lifestyles because God has chosen us to be blessed. Not the other way around! God has ordained us to be blessed and God does not give us more to do less with. We have the responsibility to abide in God’s word so that God will abide in us. The Jesus in us should always outshine our circumstances. We should find strength in the word of God to help us defeat anything that comes up against us. We must always keep our minds on the positive side of the situation. This will leave no room for the devil to come in. We must always seek God first! In all our ways acknowledge Him, and give God the Glory due Him. Psalms 113:3 says, “from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised!” Psalms 116:12 asks the question, “what shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?”
When we abide in God and He abides in us, we understand that we have ALL His benefits, because He has chosen us. We understand and can operate with a certain level of confidence accomplishing insurmountable tasks we could not do without Him! It also confirms within us that whatever we ask of Him, He will do it when we keep His commandments!
The good news on this day is that it is GOOD TO BE BLESSED! We have the authority to take control of our situation and walk as if we are BLESSED, act as if we are BLESSED, to talk as if we know we are BLESSED!
My friends, it’s important to be confident in the fact that God has chosen us to BE BLESSED!
In His Service With Love,
The Rev
Reverend D.A. Whitney is the Founding Partner of Blessed 4 Life Ministries (B4LM), host of “Let’s Be Blunt With The Rev” and co-host of “Chatting With The Whitney’s” on Impact Radio USA @ https://pod.co/blessed-4-life-ministries The Rev is the author of several books including “Overcoming Principalities”. Contact The Rev at www.blessed4lifeministries.com or blessed4lifeministries@gmail.com