If

There are certain words that hold a lot of weight and IF is one of them.

Yes, I will marry you, IF…
I will love you forever, IF…
I am going to give you a huge inheritance, IF…
You will attain the career of your dreams, IF…

If someone were giving you one of these statements, you would want to know the IF. You would want to know what it takes to obtain the promise.

Deuteronomy 28: 1-14 lists out some amazing promises;

If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. 13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Those are the kind of blessings I want over my life, but they come with that little weighty word. The first verse declares, “IF you fully obey the Lord your God…” IF is a big word, and so is FULLY.

Have you ever disobeyed God? Or only partially obeyed? Even though partial obedience doesn’t seem as “bad” in our eyes , it is still part of the IF that God requires for the incredible blessings he lays out for us.

Joyce Meyer says, “If you want to be radically and outrageously blessed by God, you must be radically and outrageously obedient.”

Are you disobeying God, partially obeying or fully obeying? If we want God’s full blessings, it requires our full obedience.

Don't Settle,

Mel Miller