In my desire to read the Bible cover to cover within five months, I have already finished a significant portion of the Old Testament. What has stood out in my reading are the highs caused by obedience to God and the lows by disobedience that Israel experienced as a nation.

Unfortunately, between the two, the lows stand out all the more! Those who will learn from the history of the Jewish people, avoiding the mistakes they made, will "spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures" (Job 36:11). 

During his encounter with Jesus at age 12, Roberts Liardon, author of the God’s Generals series, received a commission to study the lives of God’s great men and women, to find out why some of them succeeded and why others failed. Jesus told him that there will come a generation that will need those history lessons. The Old Testament books are also for that purpose; all those "things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11).

When in our Bibles we read about Israel as a nation, together with its leaders, it is clear that when they lived in obedience to God, they prospered. And whenever they violated their covenant with God, disobeying His commandments and worshipping other gods, they predictably suffered miserably because of it. 

Heeding this example as New Covenant believers, we must realize that we too will always experience the goodness of God if by His grace we live for Him, and Him alone. However, if we commit idolatry by loving the world and the things in it, exalting them and making them our gods, we risk losing the benefits and rewards of serving God. The lows of Jewish history do not have to be repeated in our lives. We should know why they failed and suffered and determine not to fall where they did, while choosing instead to imitate the things that brought about their successes and prosperity.

Our church, Last Adam Tabernacle (LAT), has received many commendations from God regarding what we are doing for Him. I believe that is the reason for the many precious promises He has given us. The commendations and promises are the result of obedience; doing only what God has commanded us to do and doing it with pure motives.

Yet God knows that we still can fall, as our Bible says of the Jews in the Old Testament and as Roberts Liardon clearly captures in his writings in God’s Generals. But because God wants LAT to continue to be a success in His sight, on the 13th of January 2017, He gave Prophet Paul S. Jaiser the dream below, which you as an individual should also apply in your life.

I, Paul S. Jaiser, dreamt I was attending Zoe Fellowship. Prophet Elvis Mbonye called me out of the crowd and asked me, "Are you new in this fellowship?" I told him I had been a member since 2011. On hearing that, he excitedly further asked, "So, do you know Moses?" I answered, "Yes, I actually go to his church and I help him in ministry." Prophet Elvis then became more excited, pulled me aside and told me, "Please tell Moses to be careful not to mess up the work you guys are doing over there – it is a great work. Please let him not mess it up, it is a very great work."

From this dream we see that God is more than pleased with LAT. He wants us to "keep it up." Doing so is easy, we must simply hear and obey. And for you as an individual, all it takes for you to continually receive God’s approval and rewards is to be obedient to what He commands you.

Things do not have to fall apart in your life. You should only be experiencing increase upon increase of God’s goodness, and all you need to do is to constantly obey Him with pure motives. Israel prospered because of obedience, as did many of God’s Generals, and so will you.

God Bless You.