Becoming God's child occurs in an instant. Living the blessed life takes a lifetime...

    My husband and I have spent 25 years in Christian ministry.  We were married young, and Sam immediately began Seminary training.  Our enthusiasm carried us through a lot of our Christian experiences.  We have eagerly led many people to pray and give their lives to Jesus Christ.  This spiritual birth is an instantaneous thing, a miracle of God's Spirit.

     The next steps, though, are more difficult.  As people seek God's blessing in their lives, they often want short cuts--maybe a few scriptures spoken, a word of admonition here or there.  I have nothing to offer but to show them the pathway and the guidebook.  There it is--the Bible.  The pathway is obedience to the Bible, which should be in our hands as we begin the journey.  We begin with prayer.  We go when God says "go," and stop when He says so, like the Israelites setting out from Egypt. 

     I would urge Christians whose lives have been running amuck to take a look at Deuteronomy 4-8.  There, God spells out the warnings--the blessings and the curses.  There, we see why we so often miss the good things He has for us. 

Here are the basics, in case you haven't begun:

Believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, the deliverer from Sin.

Read the Word daily

Keep the Ten Commandments

Seek God in prayer

Spend time weekly in a church where God's word is preached and followed

Teach your children to revere God

Give your finances and budget to God's control

In every way, substitute Godly wisdom for your own natural preferences.

If you will try these principles, you will see a life transformed over a period of years.  There are plenty of folks who call Sam and me when they are in trouble, when they have ignored the principles above.  Then it is rescue mission time, and the outcome is dubious.  It's like tossing a life preserver into a stormy sea, and hoping the swimmer will catch and not sink. 

It is so much more effective to begin practicing the blessed life before the storm kicks up.  I think God uses that inclement weather to catch our attention often, but for the wayward Christian, this is a dangerous way to live.  There's no telling what portion of our treasures may get fried by lightening if God is continually having to let the lightening fall. 
     Storms don't do nearly as much damage if you are already  prepared for them.  They will come, they are inevitable.  But the more you see circumstances as part of that which is under God's providence, the more wisely you can interpret and respond to them.
     I am still very grieved when I think of my friend, C.  For several years, she was my prayer project.  She spent hours in my husband's office and in my home.  I tried to talk to her about getting along with her mother-in-law, loving her husband, disciplining her children.  She was young, but she did not respond well to suggestions.  She wanted commiseration, not ways to cope.  She thought God was on her side.  I could see disaster coming. 

   Without revealing particulars, C's husband ended up leaving her.  He really couldn't take her vindictive bitterness.  Every attempt by him led to ranting and raving from her.  When he left her, C. called me.  "I need you, I need you!" she cried.  But she still needed me to go tell her husband how wrong he was, not how she could be a sweeter wife and mother.  There was nothing to do, no way to help her, because she removed herself from God's blessing by not reading, studying, and obeying.  She was all about getting her husband to rotate around her. 
     I see this in other ways in the lives of many people.  If they would get to church, hear God's word, read their Bibles, pray, find God's ministry for them, they could have joy in every circumstance.  However, they want the shortcut to joy.  They want the magic words to fix their lives.  After a lifetime of barely doing church, they want God to correct their kids, pay off their bills, and remedy their marriages.  That's just not how it works.  Not even for me, and I know a lot of scripture.  Not even for my kids, and they've grown up in the parsonage. 

     I had a serious chat with my grown daughter today, who has put economics above church attendence for the summer.  She has earned a lot of money.  But she has missed the chance to grow in the Lord this summer.  She likes to throw at me the fact that she doesn't care to be the pastor's daughter, which I don't see any special allowances for in Deut. 4:24:  "Our God is a consuming fire."  In fact, it looks to me like the more we know God, the more we are expected to revere and obey Him.  He is not satisfied with a brief nod, a short testimony, a devotional on the way to work.  He wants our whole-hearted devotion, mind, heart, and soul.  Then, God promises in Deuteronomy, we will be blessed in our bodies, our relationships, our labors, and our land.  He will supply us with everything we need, materially and spiritually.  But first, we must hand it all over to Him.