Blessed or Cursed?

My continued trek through Deuteronomy, chapter 11

Is God’s blessing on your life? Do not say “Yes, I’m a Christian, of course” to soon. God’s chosen people the Israelites had some conditions to God blessing on their life. Just because they had been unconditionally given the Promise Land they did not automatically have God’s blessing (favor) on their lives. Read this:

Deuteronomy 11:8-28
Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; (9) And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

(10) For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: (11) But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: (12) A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

(13) And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, (14) That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. (15) And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

(16) Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; (17) And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

(18) Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. (19) And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (20) And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: (21) That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

(22) For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; (23) Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. (24) Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. (25) There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

(26) Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; (27) A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: (28) And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

Are you constantly struggling? Nothing ever seems to go “your way”? Every time you get some extra money something breaks? Constants strife in your family or relationships? You do everything right but you constantly fail? A one hour project takes all day?

In this passage I see no middle ground, if you are not blessed then you are cursed. “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse…” The lack of the blessing is the curse.

So I ask again, is God’s blessing on your life? If you have the signs of the curse let’s look at the cause of the blessing.

“Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day”

“And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul”

“For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him”

God wants your obedience. Do you reward your children for being disobedience? This ain’t rocket science folks! No need to send me a love gift so that I can send you a 7 part CD series on this.

Don’t live your life under a curse. Choose the Blessing of God on your life.