365 Days with God - Day 138: Steps to Prosperity

I'm giving myself a challenge. Read the Bible each day for a whole year, following the ESV Study Guide 1-year plan. Each day, I will post whatever God has revealed to me in His Word, and how it is changing me. A friend of mine once said that nothing has changed her life as much as reading the bible each day - and I'm excited for how this will change me. Join me on an adventure into the heart of God - and day by day, we can learn more about who He is and what that means to us!

- Andy Catts

Day 138, May 7, 2014

Readings: Psalm 137, Numbers 20, Numbers 21, Isaiah 58, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Following God isn't about what we get out of it. He's not a mystical genie who provides everything we ask for. But he does give us some pretty clear instructions about how to draw near to Him. How to have his favor, so to speak. What's the secret?

I'll give you a hint. It has nothing to do with following rituals, going to church on Sundays or "doing the right thing." It's so much more than that. It's harder than that. But it's good. And it follows the heart of God.

"Is this not the fast that I choose:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hid yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself our for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail." (Isaiah 58:6-11)