Genesis 2: 2-3, Acts 2: 42-47, Job 13:15, Psalm 118: 22-24

Glyn Barrett

From the opening account in Genesis, God presents us with an incredible key for life.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done." (Gen 2:2-3)

To work six days and to rest one is a pattern for life that God designed for each of us. Notice how he blessed the seventh day when he had completed everything he set out to create. This shows us that blessing comes to our life through pattern and completion. People who live haphazard lives, with reams of unfinished business are rarely rested, whereas people of pattern, who complete what they start live blessed because they move from one success to another.

Here are three keys to living blessed, based on a pattern we find in Acts 2:42-47. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved".

From this passage we see three words which speak of pattern: devoted (v42) every day (v46) and continued (v46)

• Devotion determines destiny (v42)

The people from this passage were regular, ordinary people from all walks of life yet they had one thing in common - Jesus. They lived so devoted to him that God "added to their number daily those who were being saved" (v47). Jesus is our greatest example as he lived devoted to us, being 'resolute' in his journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Another inspiring example of devotion is when Job lost everything but he stayed devoted to God (Job 13:15) and he eventually received his reward.

To live devoted means to give all or a large part of time and resource to something. Your diary and your bank balance will indicate what you are currently devoted to. We can choose today what our destiny will look like based on what we currently devote our time, resource and energy to. E Stanley Jones said this: "If you don't make up your mind, then your unmade mind will unmake you. Here is the place where there must be no dallying. For any dallying will be the Trojan horse that will get on the inside and open the gates to the enemy. God can do anything for the man who has made up his mind: he can do little or nothing for the double minded."

Destiny will not just happen to you, nor is it the product of chance. It is directly related to what you decide to live devoted to.

• Your everyday shows your devotion (v46)

A day is more than just 24 hour period of time, it is a portal into your future. You can spend the rest of your days regretting a day or you can spend each day thanking God for THAT day. "This is the day the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad" (Ps 118:22-24.) It is worth remembering that:

One day with God is very surprising

The nature of God is to confound man's wisdom and do things that we would never expect. "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone" (Ps 118:22). Moses never expected to see a burning bush. Joseph didn't expect to go from a prison to a palace in the space of one day. Shadrach wouldn't have predicted moving from a fire to parliament all within 24 hours.