God has a special kind of blessing for some of His choice disciples. It is a blessing that goes in advance of the disciple as he pursues his pilgrim way. God said to the Israelite: “I will send my fear before thee… to whom thou shalt come” (Exodus 23:27, KJV). If I obey God fully, He will not only be with me, He will be before me; and in going before me, He will prepare and condition the hearts of the people whom I shall meet.
One of the unique features of the ministry of Jesus was the way people were prepared to meet Him. “It was noised that He was in the house” (Mark 2:1, KJV). Because of His complete obedience to the Father, Jesus became perfume in His hands, which He spread all over Palestine. Listening to Jesus teach became a matter of comparing His fame to His performance. But since He was so obedient, His fame and performance were one and the same.
My goal as a disciple should be to achieve the kind of obedience that sends God before me. Often I have heard people say of another, “His very presence was a blessing to us!” This was possible because God went before that person and overcame opposition and melted the hearts of the people to receive him. If I look for victory on the spot, I may be disappointed. Victory comes like a garden grows; first sow the seed, then reap the harvest. By walking closely to my heavenly Father I am now sowing the seeds of a victory to be harvested later. Not only do I benefit, but that victory may be far beyond the bounds of my present location. Peter’s perfume reached as far as Joppa (Acts 10) and Paul’s floated across the Aegean Sea (Acts 16:9).
May God make me that kind of disciple! There will be people in my future who will need the touch of God. By walking the disciple’s path now, I am preparing for our future meeting, at which time they will become my triumph for Christ.
“For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother” (Philemon 7).
Daily with the King 