Will, Design and Blessing

I've been reading Andrew Murray again. Abiding in Christ. It's a 30 day devotional that I've been reading for about 9 months now, maybe longer. Anyway, ran across a great quote a couple days ago:

. . . the will of Christ is to (the believer) the only path of liberty from the slavery of his own self-will.

Oh, and another thought, something I pray for my kids often:

That God's original design (Psalm 139) for them will be cultivated and advanced in their lives.

One more nugget for today from Shame Off You, by Alan D. Wright:

(pg. 34) Genesis 1:28 - "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.'"

Does God want us to be fruitful? Absolutely. Does God expect big things from us? He sure does. Does God bless people because they are fruitful? Nope.

Look again at the sequence in Genesis 1:28. The sequence is everything: God blessed Adam and Even and then told them to be fruitful. The blessing came first. The affirmation of their worth did not rest upon their fruitfulness. Instead, their fruitfulness depended upon them knowing their self-worth. The knowledge of their blessedness fueled their capacity to subdue the earth.

I realize those are pretty random thoughts - just thought I'd post them all and see what God does with it.