If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Num 14:8[NIV].
There are many varieties of lands in the life of a Christian. We have spiritual land, material land, marital land, even the physical lands we can see. The level to which you can possess your set land depends on how pleased God is with you. You find yourself doing a particular thing expecting results, but nothing seems to yield as expected. You pray the same prayer for many years without answers. You desire change in a particular aspect, but the same thing keeps happening.
When your ways and your life please God, every little request made to Him is treated with utmost speed because He is a father who listens to every conversation of the righteous.
If we think we can attain our desired heights as children of God by depending on our wealth of experience, connections, physical strength, or number of years we have put in the journey of Christianity, then we're nothing less than liars. For by strength shall no man prevail.
As a church, we can't stand to win souls for Christ if we stand to run by our own strategy or how the other person does his. Our lives should be the first thing that evangelizes to people.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Psalms 1:3[NIV]
~There's always an evidence for every little effort you make.
~Academically, business wise, you stand out tall.
~Your marriage/family becomes a role model.
~The church reaps evidence of evangelism.
When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 16:7[KJV]
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.
The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Rev. 8:3-4[NIV]
~It pleases God to hear and answer your prayers. Prayers here is not all about what you can beg or ask from God, rather the greatest and the most fundamental prayer of the saint is worship. So when God talks about incense as fragrance, He was referring to worship. This is your greatest gift & prayer to God. Or lives can only be a worship to God when it radiates fragrance, when it honors God, when it is beautiful like incense unto God. This is the only time we can receive healing, deliverance, and answers to our prayer requests, because worship is more than just the words we sing, it is our lives.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1[NIV]
And if our lives are not pleasing unto God, our prayers will be struggling to break barriers to reach God. This is what causes prolonged answers to prayers most of the times.
In order to possess our assigned inheritance as sons and daughters of God's kingdom, God has to find pleasure in our lives first. That, can only be achieved through righteousness and total obedience to HIM.
