Trust and Obey

“When you pray for anyone
you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.” Norman Vincent Peale




Here’s a little brain teaser to begin your day!

What common nine letter English word
will still remain a word
as eight of its letters
are removed one by one?

Trust and Obey:

Just like the people of Israel,
we also are called to a life of prosperity
that grows out of God’s love and acceptance.

“You shall therefore keep and do the instruction,
laws, and precepts which I command you this day.
And if you hearken to these precepts and keep and do them,
the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant
and the steadfast love which He swore to your fathers.
And He will love you, bless you, and multiply you;
He will also bless the fruit of your body
and the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine, and your oil,
the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock
in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.
You shall be blessed above all peoples;
there shall not be male or female barren among you,
or among your cattle.
And the Lord will take away from you all sickness,
and none of the evil diseases of Egypt
which you knew will He put upon you,
but will lay them upon all who hate you.
Deuteronomy 7:11-15 Amplified Bible

God brought Israel out of the bondage of Egypt
just as He brought us out of the bondage of sin.
He brought these people into a land that provided them
cities they didn’t build, crops they did not plant, wells they did not dig,
and orchards and vineyards they did not plant.
In the same way we were taken out of bondage
and brought into the riches of Christ’s inheritance…
the fullness of His riches by His grace, and His grace alone!

“In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation)
through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses),
in accordance with the riches and the generosity
of His gracious favor,
Which He lavished upon us
in every kind of wisdom and understanding
(practical insight and prudence),
Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will
(of His plan, of His purpose).
[And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure
(His merciful intention) which He had
previously purposed and set forth in Him,
[He planned] for the maturity of the times
and the climax of the ages to unify all things
and head them up and consummate them in Christ,
[both] things in heaven and things on the earth.”
Ephesians 1:7-10 Amplified Bible

Everything that Israel would have to enjoy,
and all that they would achieve in the promised-land,
would be acquired by intimacy and its by-product: the grace of God.

Self reliance, diligence, work-ethic, and skill
had nothing to do with their victories…
all was due to the hand of God, on obedience.

The principle is the same today, as it was over two thousand years ago.
John Shammis (a fellow Brooklynite)
penned the words to the old hymn which proclaims this truth:

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Refrain
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
Refrain
But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.”
Refrain

May our refrain ever be
that we were those who trusted and obeyed!

O.K. here is the answer to the riddle:

The word is S T A R T L I N G

If you remove the ‘L’ you get S T A R T I N G

If you remove the ‘T’ you get S T A R I N G

If you remove the ‘A’ you get S T R I N G

If you remove the ‘R’ you get S T I N G

If you remove the ‘T’ you get S I N G

If you remove the ‘G’ you get S I N

If you remove the ‘S’ you get I N

If you remove the ‘N’ you get I

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