How to take advantage of God’s goodness

For sun and shield is Jehovah God; Grace and glory will give Jehovah; he will not take away good from those who walk in integrity. ~ Ps 84:11

Can I tell you how hurt you are? No matter what season you are in, goodness or growth, you are blessed! God has blessings in store for you. And He is waiting for you to come find them.

How do I know that? Because He said it… dozens of times, in His Word. More than that, I have experienced it in my own life. Let’s take a look, shall we?

First of all, it’s important to know, really know, that God is good all the time. He is abundant in goodness! There is no evil or wickedness in Him. He is Love personified, always giving, protecting, guiding those who will accept wisdom from him. None of the world’s afflictions was caused by Divine Love; it is impossible for a completely loving Being to be anything other than good!

• When God created the world and humanity, everything he created was good and very good.
• When Moses asked to see the glory of God, God said that He would do His goodness pass before him, proclaiming: “The Lord God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and great in goodness”.
• In Deuteronomy, when God began to teach his people how to live a blessed life, he gave them instructions for his good always, so that He can preserve they and we. God always has our good in mind because He is good and wants to make us good.
• gave to the Israelites good land, houses, food and everything necessary for them good. He fed them in the desert and tested their faith to be able to do well in your last end. Faith is your connection to His goodness.
• Deut. 28 details God’s Blessings good treasure and explains how to use them.
• Psalm 52 says that the goodness of God endures continually and Psalm 84 declares that He retains nothing good of those who walk uprightly.
• Jesus sits down to preach good news. and Jesus walked doing well and healing everyone.
• And in Romans 8, it says that all things work together…

so how much good is happening in your life? Do you want more? There are things you can do to take advantage of God’s goodness in greater quantity and quality.

Hold on to peace. God is not a god of confusion and restlessness. That is your head or the devil’s maneuvers. Jesus clearly explained that Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. He doesn’t give him ground. Don’t listen to his lies. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, gave you his peace (John 14:27), and told you not to be troubled or afraid. Clearly, peace is a choice you make. can take a [mental and emotional] battle, but you can hold on to peace, no matter what happens in your life. Peace is good.

Hold on to your promises. You’ve heard it before, but it’s very important. You can’t just know what the Bible says. You have to make it personal to yourself, affirming out loud (words have power, you know) what He promised for you. The Apostle James (3:11) warned that the blessing and the curse should not come out of the same mouth, that a fountain does not pour sweet and bitter water. Cursing is not just using words. You curse your own life when you speak negative things about yourself and your situations. Stay on the blessing side with your words. His promises are good.

Hold your patience. The book of Romans describes patience as a force or power. Patience allows God’s people to remain steadfast and committed, despite life’s trials and challenges. Patience trusts God to work out the details, knowing that all things truly work together for good. God is our example. She patiently waited for the right moment (more than 4,000 years) to send Jesus into the world. He never gave up on his plan for our redemption, no matter what the devil tried to stop him. He simply kept speaking his own promises through the voices of his prophets (Isaiah is full of them), knowing that what He said would come to pass. Patience protects faith and rejoices in hope. Psalm 37:7 says, “Rest in the Lord, and hope in him.” Patience is good.

Hold on to forgiveness. God speaks of forgiveness from Genesis to I John. It’s important to Him, so it should be important to us. His great mercy was the reason for sending Jesus as our Redeemer. Jesus took the penalty for anything anyone has done or will do, so that we can be free to receive God’s goodness in our own lives. Shouldn’t you extend that same mercy to those around you? Unforgiveness blocks God’s goodness in your life, not because He withholds it, but because your guilt and anger cut you off from the flow of His blessing. Remember Jesus’ instruction to Peter: he forgives not just seven times, but seventy times seven! Forgiveness is a choice, a decision made regardless of feelings. When your head tries to remind you how badly you were treated, talk to yourself. “No, I forgave that person. He’s done.” Forgiveness is good.

Hold on to love. Jesus’ command to New Testament believers is to love God and love others. Jude 1:21 says, “Keep in the love of God.” Apparently, this is something we must do because “He will take no good away from those who love him” (Ps. 84:11). Love, divine agape love, is the most powerful force in the universe. It is God because ‘God is Love’ (I John 4:8). Repeatedly the Bible instructs us to love God, walk in His ways [of love] and ‘Jehovah your God will bless you.’ Like a good father, He cannot give you access to all of His wealth and goodness if you are going to abuse the privilege. His goodness is directly linked to your obedience to the commandment of Love. God’s love is patient, peaceful, and forgiving. That’s how you should be. Loving is good.

As a child of God, you are supposed to be overwhelmingly hurt and ready to be a blessing whenever you can. You are the son of the King! That makes you a prince or princess (are you smiling?), a ruler of your world. If you govern yourself first, by doing the things you know how to do, you will access the full extent of God’s goodness.

Mark explained that God uses our measure to measure us (v 4:24). So if he’s putting a thimble of effort into it, he’ll get a multiplied thimble. God always multiplies, but wouldn’t you rather have a truckload than a thimble?

I Peter says that you should ‘show others the goodness of God’ and Romans says that you should be ‘rich in goodness’. Hold on to peace, patience, forgiveness, love and its promises. Decide to take advantage of God’s goodness…for you and as a distributor. God… it’s downright GOOD!