Deuteronomy 5:33 (NLT) Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.

When the Jewish people left their bondage in Egypt after God had liberated them, they began a new journey. God was leading them all the way, letting them know when to stop and stay at a certain place and when to break camp and continue to move on. Each time, He would give them direction through the leading of the cloud of His presence, which was always with them. Even through their rebellion and stubbornness, the Lord had mercy and continued to lead them. After forty years of traveling through the wilderness, Moses was giving the people reminders about God's commands and instructions for when they crossed over into the Promised Land. God's commands and instructions come with promises attached to them for those who obey them and in the verse above, the people were promised long and prosperous lives in the new land if they kept to the path that the Lord was leading them on. As we know from scripture, it didn't take long for the people to wander from the path and from God's commands and they suffered heavy consequences instead of the promised blessings for obedience.

Today, the Lord says the same thing to us. The Lord Jesus told us about a path that we must follow if it is that we are going to be His disciples. Although Jesus does have a specific path for each one of us to follow, it begins with a general path. He laid it out for us in Matthew 16:24 and it involves denying ourselves, picking up our cross and following Him. Following Him where? It's following Him to wherever He leads us and in order to be able to follow the path that He is laying out for us, we must follow Him closely. As a matter of fact, the only way to not take a mistaken turn off the path somewhere is to keep the Lord in your sight at all times. Jesus promised that He would be with us always (Matthew 28:20), so the problem is never with Him. The problem of keeping Jesus in sight is with us because of our wandering hearts. But if we will just remain in Him, He will remain in us. And if He remains in us, then we will be on the path that He has commanded for us to be on by default. It's on that path that we will experience life to full measure, receiving not just long life but eternal life and a prosperous soul. Stay on the path that Jesus leads you on and you will go through this life in the best and most blessed way possible. It's God's promise to us, and He never lies.

Pastor Joey Vazquez

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