FINDING THE MAGIC WAND

Thinking can get you in trouble...  I mean you should think before you do something but to over think, now that is a different story.  In church yesterday Pastor James spoke about finding God's favor.  He said that people think that their is a code that you put in and the results should be blessings from God.  Do we really think like that?  Lets look at some possible codes or passwords that some think just might earn them the favor of God.  Prayer + Bible reading (1chpt) = Gods favor.   Oh wait I have to add in church + tithing + fasting should be in their too.  Witnessing must play a part in this also, along with serving.

Crud, which is it?  I want to be blessed by God but what do I need to do to be blessed?

Instead of thinking of it as things that we need to do for blessings.  We need to look at it a little differently.  As children our parents would praise us when we... got good grades, picked up our room, put away our clothes, or even made them some crappy refrigerator art.  Well kinda like that... But what does our Heavenly Father want from us.

The two keys I see are relationship and obedience.  If you spend time with God, no matter what that looks like.  You get close enough to hear His voice.  That might come from His Word (BIBLE), a Preacher, The still small voice you hear that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.  How ever you hear from Him it is important to continue to listen.  Praying or speaking to God with praises is a good way for us to communicate to Him, but learning to be quiet and still so that we hear Him is a practiced thing.  You got to practice listening to God.  God loves this... It is like working on flash cards with your kids when they come looking for help.  In the Bible it talks about this...  ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27  

 This verse then leads us to speak to the other clue... obedience...  We don't just hear His voice we do what He says to do!  Our Heavenly Father was totally impressed with His Son Jesus.  Their are lots of places where we read in the Bible, THIS IS MY SON IN HIM I AM WELL PLEASED!!!  A booming, thunderous voice coming out of Heaven.  Could that happen with me?  I am an adopted son of the living God.  Could that happen to me?  Lets work on that.  You see God is responsible for our obedience.  

Their may not be a MAGIC WAND, or CODE, but we can live to please our Heavenly Father.  He loves to bless His children... Just because we talked about this today... God wants to bless us.