WHAT DO I WANT FROM GOD (Deuteronomy 7)

God, on His part, will keep the covenant of loyal love he made with your ancestors: He will love you. He will bless you. He will increase you. (Deuteronomy 7:13, MSG)

Moses summarizes the blessings God will give to people who show their love by keeping His law:

• I will love you.
• I will bless you.
• I will increase you.

That list covers about everything I want and need. 

I crave love. I am a romantic; I write Christian romance, after all.  Although I bask in the love of my family and of my friends, above all I know that God loves me. 

I need God's blessing. I'm not talking about blessings of prosperity. I need His presence with me, His sustaining grace--His salvation.

I hope for God's increase. I hope for my sphere of influence to expand, I pray that God will use my oh-so-imperfect words and life to touch other's with God's love and His grace (see above two).

The next time you wonder what to ask for, for yourself or someone else, rely on God's promise: His love. His blessing. His increase. 

Amen.

FEEL-GOOD PROMISE

At last!  After several days of struggling with subjects such as the murder of children and blessing our enemies, today I paused on a genuinely feel-good, it's-wonderful-to-be God's child kind of verse.  

In Exodus 15, Moses sang a song about crossing the Red Sea. Exodus 15:12-13 definitely draws a line between "them" and "us." The Earth swallowed up "them"--those miserable slave-owning, refusing to let go Egyptians. 

But "us?"  We are redeemed--today, by the lamb of God, as surely as the Passover lamb redeemed the Israelites. 

We are led by His love. Have you ever heard the quote, "The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you?" His love accompanies us, wherever we are.

He guides us. Day by day. I might like a map of the next six months (six years?) but He shows me what I need today.

We are under His protection. (That is one of the definitions of "blessing," by the way. I discovered that in my work on my Blessing Factor  book)

He is taking us to His holy pasture.  A pasture to rest and eat--where we are set apart.

Wow: redeemed, loved, guided, protected, set apart, provided for.

That's what God wants for you. Put it in your warm fuzzy file.