Patricia Raybon - Beautiful Blessings from God

I didnt know I was blessed. Never even imagined it. Never dared to guess it. Not all the time, anyway.

Then one evening, while sharing a dinner with friends, I looked at their photos from a trip to Ghana. A smart three-year-old child taking a soapy bath in a bucket outdoors in a nice rain looked in the cameras eye and grinned. On her face? A confident look of blessed joy.

Her humble village had only one deep well. So when the skies suddenly opened and poured down rain, everybody grabbed buckets to catch the water. Then the little girls mother handed her soap and a towel, and the child tore off her clothes and scrambled into a bucket. Soon she was soapy from head to toe. And laughing about it all.

The child had a job to do in a big storm, but she obeyed and worked through the inconvenience, the downpour not to mention the lack of plumbing and she found joy. Showered with blessings.

Thats what I was seeking when I started this devotional: to be showered with Gods beautiful blessings but not as the world thinks, in material ways. I longed to be showered with Gods highest, simplest, and greatest blessings, then get refreshed on the journey even in a storm.

A simple but brave request? In fact, the path I sought was waiting on my bookshelf, ready for me to launch ahead. So I pulled down my Bible to read. My plan? I would launch a deliberate, purposeful journey through the fresh wind of Gods Word, turning to the sweet truth of Gods great wisdom to uncover His beautiful and quiet blessings.

But God wasnt so quiet. Instead, He wrote in loud words. With exclamation points.

Use common sense!

Be content!

I knew Id heard such timely advice before, but for some reason on this trip through the Bible, I saw and heard such urgings in a different way.

God seemed to be personally teaching His own rules for beautiful blessings timeless, smart, life-giving principles of both promise and joy.

I started making notes:

Gentleness makes us great (see Psalm 18:35).

God answers prayers when we trust Him (see 1 Chronicles 5:20).

As I continued reading, I discovered that with each command to seek His high and beautiful road, God promised a simple but powerful blessing. Not just an ordinary blessing. Instead, to those who followed His virtuous path, God promised His most grandiose, extravagant, crazy, highest, greatest blessings.

This devotional is based on the premise that the secret to every desire of the Christian life and to every desire of God to bless us can be found by pursuing His beautiful path of virtue.

Whats the best way to find it, using this devotional? Take the journey to blessings one day at a time. Go slow, letting God inspire each days intimate searching and seeking.

As you read, I hope you will stand under Gods downpour and enjoy His mighty rain. Rest in the One who promises to bless your efforts with His presence and His power leading you on His passage to a mighty end.

1

Listening to His Voice

Listen, my child....

P ROVERBS 1:8

Its dark, cold, and early. But Im excited. On this morning, the most important thing I have to do is hear from God. And not just a little bit. I want to hear without limits. Isnt that what were all saying today? That we want to be blessed by God? So we can bless God without limits?

So I sit, like you, Bible in hand the first chapter of Proverbs staring up at me looking for some life-changing secret on how to make such blessings happen.

Instead, Proverbs offers a gracious and quiet word: Listen.

Its not a suggestion. Its a plea. Spoken tenderly. Even kindly. Listen, my child.... The writer, King Solomon, seems to know most of us dont listen well. We wake up talking, our voices rattling around in our heads, hollering first and hearing second.

But Solomon says stop.

Step off the loud, rusty, ragged treadmills of our lives. Today, he says, turn from our noise all the emotional chatter raging in our minds or spewing from other people. And turn it off.

Listening is serious business, to be sure. Listening to Gods Word, implanted by Gods Spirit in our hearts, has the power to save your souls, says James 1:21. Why? My sheep listen to my voice, Jesus answers. I know them, and they follow me. When we listen, I give them eternal life, Jesus promises, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me (John 10:27-28). When we listen to God, He knows us. As we silence ourselves, our prayers dont perish. God may hear us better, plus, He grants us eternal life. Im ready to try that. Quiet my heart. And my mouth. Then look what Ill discover: God is speaking.

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.

W ILSON M IZNER

2

Listening for His Spirit