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Msg #566 Wed, July 22, 2009
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For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven (Deut 11:10-11)
Living the Christian life rightly is living in dependence on God’s blessings. God gave us a powerful picture of this in the difference between the Children of Israel living in Egypt and then living in the land God had for them – Israel.
In Egypt, in the world – it is all about effort. In Egypt, they had the Nile River as a source of water. If you wanted water – you pumped it with a foot pump into your land. Your effort would supply your land with water. Again, this is a good picture of life in the world. It is all about effort, striving, pumping from the supply in the world.
In the Christian life it is not striving but blessing from above that supplies. In Israel there was no Nile River to pump from – but by God’s design, the land was supplied continually by rain.
the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,
Rain is a picture in the Bible of God’s active blessings. Blessings from above. The supply of the Christian life is to be one that lives in constant dependence in God’s active blessing.
In the Christian life it is not a reservoir you draw from, but living on a constant supply. Christian, have you discovered that your Christian life is constantly in need of supply? Have you discovered that you are always needing a touch from God, help from God, blessing from God to make it through the day and week? If so, maybe you thought something was wrong with that picture, maybe you thought you should have some reservoir of spiritual strength and thought something was wrong with constantly being in need of God’s touch. Simply, nothing is wrong if you have found it so. By God’s design, you are meant to live constantly receiving from Him the strength to live – it is how it is supposed to be!
In the Christian life it is not striving but abiding that supplies. In the world, it is about pumping, striving. Not so in the Christian life –it is about abiding in Christ (John 15), about listening and obeying Him. As we do this – we experience His blessing. We live on the “rain from above” – His constant supply.
‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. (Deut 11:13-14)
Today, in Roswell, we are enjoying a wonderful rain. I call you to learn from it, to consider how rain is a picture to us of God’s blessings. Christian, I call you to be one who seeks to live not by striving but by abiding in Him.
Living the Christian life rightly is living in dependence on God’s blessings.
For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven (Deut 11:10-11)
Jim
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