The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. ~Isaiah 32:17 (NIV)
Simply put, righteousness is “right standing” with God. It doesn’t just mean that God isn’t mad at us for all the things we don’t get right, it also encompasses the fact that He is looking to bless righteousness everywhere He sees it allowing us to live in quiet confidence of the Lord’s goodness. God tells us in 2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show His might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward Him.” (RSV) That scripture alone confirms that God is always looking for someone to help and bless. Our attitude should be that it might as well be us because we are His children! We need to set out every day with confident expectation that today could be the day that God brings to pass all our hopes and dreams. He set them into motion when He stirred them in our hearts. Today could be the day for the Lord’s miraculous intervention. We must remember that God knew us before we were born and the destiny that He planned for us is doable because He is our way maker. Our heart has been made righteous and a righteous heart is a blameless heart. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, then you are a believer and if you are a believer then you stand blameless before God because of what Jesus has done for you. It’s not because of anything we have done that causes God’s blessings stream to us. It’s because of what Jesus has done. Ephesians 1:3 tells us “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (NIV) There should be no doubt in our minds that we are blessed and if there is doubt we should ascribe it to the enemy and cast down those types of thoughts.
It’s not until we know in our heart that we have been made righteous that we can serve God to our fullest potential and receive every blessing He has for us. We cannot expect and prepare for His blessings if we don’t believe we deserve them. The truth is that God’s blessing in our lives brings glory to Jesus. Faltering in our faith to a point of abdicating all that God has for us not only affects us but those around us. Our destinies are tied together, and faith begets faith. When God blesses us it is very humbling. At first, we think “what did I ever do to deserve this” and that should immediately be followed by a “Thank you Jesus”. Because we know in our hearts that we could never have been good enough to deserve the blessings God has poured into our lives. It was what Jesus did. Can you see how God blessing us brings glory to Jesus? Isaiah 32:17 tells us the fruit of righteousness is peace and its effect is quietness and confidence forever. If you want more peace and confidence in God, you have to trust that what Jesus has done is a finished work. God isn’t looking at any of your sin; past, present, or future. He is just looking to bless you over and over and over again...because your heart is blameless towards Him and that is because of what Jesus has done. The hand of faith that reaches out to God is an expectation of His glory being magnified in and through our lives. We should all be saying "Thank you Jesus" a lot more often!
Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield. ~Psalm 5:12 (NIV)
What are you thanking Jesus for today?
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