“Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

Proverbs 8:34, 36

These are the words that come from the heart of God to give directions to every one of His children. He starts with the word “Blessed.” This word means fullness of joy or the maximum happiness. This passage tells us there are several things that we have to do in order to experience His blessings. The principles the Lord gives are simple:

A. Train your ear to hear God. This is something that is achieved through prayer. We should set apart daily time to be close to God, because it is in the secret place that we can hear His voice.

B. Watching at His door every day. We cannot allow the promises that God has given us to remain dormant or lose their value. Instead, we should feed them every day by declaring that these promises are for us. The ‘doors’ speak of expressing our gratitude to Him (Psalm 100:4).

C. Waiting at His doorway. During the Passover, it was over the doorway and doorposts that the father of the house applied the blood to protect everyone inside. This speaks to us about the trust that we should have in what the Blood of Jesus has done for us.

D. Those who persevere will be rewarded in two areas:
1. They will find life.
2. They will receive the favor of the Lord.

When we have these two things we do not need anything else, because they cover everything.
Paul, at the end of his ministry, said that he was laying aside all the things of this world, because his greatest desire was to reach the excellence of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He decided to forget his own righteousness in order to give place to divine righteousness, so that he could know Him “and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10).

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Let your goals consist of more than just your own needs. Let a strong desire to know God in an close way be awakened in your life. This will motivate you to spend more time in prayer with Him and to rest in every one of His promises. You will be able to declare with great assurance what the blood of Jesus has done for your life. When you find life in Him, you can begin to simply enjoy it. Jesus is life, so enjoy Him.

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“I found Jesus and in Him I have found life. Now, I enjoy the blessings of God.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume One.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

• Old Testament: Leviticus 21-23; Psalms 45
• New Testament: Matthew 20:17-34; Acts 27:27-44