Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today’s episode is titled ‘Notice the Blessings’ as the last in our series ‘Daily Doses of Meaning’.
In this series, we have sought out ‌ways to approach God for the very first time -and- learn how His presence in our lives can give us hope and meaning.
So far in this series, we discussed immersing ourselves in all of His creation across the earth and bringing a snapshot of our lives before Him. This is not for scrutiny and judgment, but to ask Him to help us understand who we truly are in Him.
We discussed the importance of living with purpose. We don’t always know our purpose, but when we come before God humbly and sincerely, He will reveal the perfected plans He has for us, including the very reason we were put here on Earth. We learn that when we offer ourselves to God to serve Him, He can and will orchestrate events in our lives to carry out our purpose. This allows us to experience joy and fulfillment in a way we never could on our own.
Today, our focus is to open our eyes, our ears, and even our hearts to notice the blessings that come from living this way of life.
Today I want to go over some things that you may not have noticed as you pursue your walk with God. We should do our best to keep these in the front of our minds, just as a reminder of the fruit that comes from walking hand in hand with Him.
We need to focus on the importance of -starting- the conversation, knowing that He is ready with open arms.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue our discussion of some of the blessings that come with living a life that prioritizes God.
Favor
The first blessing I’d like to explore with you today is the concept of favor. The blessing of favor can be experienced in many aspects of your life: in your workplace, in your school, in your home, as you’re out and about running errands, and everything in between. When God is walking with you, He will bless you with favor across -all- of the areas of your life.
In very simple terms, this means you will experience benefits from your relationship with God that you otherwise would not have. These may appear in very simple ways, but they can also be elaborate and complex.
For a simple example, as you’re out and about running errands, God will cause you to notice your environment in such a way that you will come across a parking spot right in front of the place you have to stop, more often than not.
A more complex example is being noticed, interviewed, and hired among hundreds of applications for a job even though you are underqualified.
When God’s favor is upon you, you will experience things in your life that will make you feel noticed, loved, prioritized, and included. Experiencing God’s favor is going to make you feel like you have someone who truly loves you on your side, helping you live your day-to-day life in the best possible way.
Experiencing favor can also come in the form of keeping you out of trouble. Perhaps God will give you knowledge of a situation that will help you speak the right words at the right time to the right people.
Favor is something that once you experience it and see the patterns, will help you see why it is so important to maintain a close relationship with God. Lean into your relationship with God each day and thank him for the blessing of favor over your life.
Protection
One of the most powerful blessings God brings into our lives is in the form of protection. Much like favor, protection can manifest in many aspects of your life.
In the workplace, protection may come in the form of keeping you safe from evil deeds done by coworkers or management.
During your commute, protection keeps you safe as you travel to and from your destination. God will allow you to notice things in such a way that you unknowingly avoid danger to yourself or to others.
In matters of the heart, there are people in our lives who may seek to harm us or cause distress and frustration. Protection can come as having the discernment to understand which individuals to avoid and which to embrace. During travel, protection covers us as we go across distances great and far.
In all situations, God can and will protect us from things that mean us harm. All that being said, I want to set expectations: this does not mean that we will never experience harm. What it does mean is that we can know God’s promise is that He will look over us and protect us when we keep Him first in our lives.
God never said that bad things would not happen to us in this world. However, I maintain that when you put God first, the things that occur to you are very different from what would happen if you did not have a relationship with Him. You may experience a harmful event where God has actually thwarted plans that would have caused far more damage and harm than you actually experienced.
I have certainly experienced situations where harm came to me, and the situation caused me to learn things that I don’t think I would have learned had it not happened at all. In these situations, I believe God actually sheltered me from more significant harm that could have occurred, allowing only the things that would educate me for the future. Know that when you put God first, He will watch over you and protect you.
When there are moments that occur in your life that cause you harm, know that God will make good of any situation. Again, He never promised that there would not be harmful things in the world that occur to us, but He does promise that He will make good of all situations where we may have been harmed in some way.
Peace
The last form of blessing that I’d like to cover today is the blessing of peace. When I say peace, I mean the peace and calm that persists over your heart and mind.
When you live a life that honors God and puts Him first, He will allow His presence to dwell within and around you in a way you will notice. I cannot put into words the level of peace that comes with this feeling; it is unlike anything you have ever experienced. In fact, the peace you experience from God’s presence is such that it is very difficult for things in the natural world to affect you in the same way they would if you did not have His peace.
I have experienced situations, even recently, that are, on the surface, quite troubling and upsetting. Having peace in my heart does not mean that I am happy despite or about the situation, it means I am not overwhelmed by the circumstances. I do not have anxiety about the situation, and I trust God’s will.
Peace can also be a positive feeling that comes from surrounding yourself with godly activities. For example, earlier in this series, we talked about the value of surrounding yourself with God’s creation in nature. When you do this, you will certainly feel a level of peace and calm as you are surrounded by the beauty of His creation.
When you have this peace, you are typically equipped with an emotional strength and resilience that allows you to approach stressful events with poise, calm, and balance. I can certainly attest to this when I think back on how I reacted to stressful events in the past before I knew God. In the current phase of my life, when I am facing very stressful situations, I am absolutely calm. I believe the source of this calm is the blessing of peace that can only come from God.
I invite you to ask God to reveal to you how His peace shows up in your own life. Consider a situation you are facing that is not ideal or is a little stressful and think about how that situation makes you feel when you bring it before God. You might notice a level of calm that is difficult to explain. God will give you the calm to navigate a difficult situation so that you still have your wits about you, without having an adverse emotional or psychological response to the circumstances.
Ask God today to reveal to you the peace that only He can provide.
Wrap Up
Today we wrapped up our series, “Daily Dose of Meaning,” by talking about the blessings that come into our lives when we live a life that honors God and keeps Him first.
We focused on three specific examples of these blessings:
God truly desires to be abundant with favor when we prioritize Him. Favor can manifest in many forms. For example, subtle acts, such as finally noticing an item on sale that you have been looking at for months. Favor can also be complex such as involving matters of the heart, such as noticing opportunities to reconcile with a loved one or repair a broken relationship that you otherwise would have dismissed.
Personally, I see such a high level of favor in my life that it would seem irrational for me to pull away from God, knowing I might experience less favor than I do now.
Another form of blessing is protection. Protection often comes in ways we do not notice. Frequently, God protects us from things we don’t even know are about to happen by ensuring they never happen at all. Other times, we are protected because He makes a situation much less harmful than it would have been without His intervention. Even when harm does come, God promises to make good of the circumstances at hand. I have experienced situations where I learned through hardship in a way that equipped me for similar challenges later in life. While God never promised we would avoid all harmful things, He does promise to protect us and keep us safe.
Lastly, we discussed Peace. God’s peace is like no other because He knows our hearts and minds intimately. He allows His presence to cover us, providing calm in times when others might feel disarray, anxiety, or fear. There is nothing impossible for Him to deal with. In recent months, I have faced stressful situations and concerning events, but I am at peace because I know God is in control. This peace does not nullify the severity of the situation; rather, it changes my reaction to it. I know myself well enough to realize that without God’s peace, I would be a nervous wreck; instead, I have complete calm in the midst of the storm.
God loves us unconditionally and desires for us to experience the blessings that only He can provide—blessings we could never accomplish on our own. These are the most important ways He shows us His love every day. It is easy to notice these moments if we keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to how He works in our lives.
Why not take some time today to notice how God is blessing you and give Him thanks?
