Devotional

God's Promises-Blessings

Psalm 67:1-2 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

What is the Blessing?

The word is the ultimate expression of God’s constant and overflowing gifts of abundance. You may think that abundance means: prosperity in material goods, financial success, etc. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs" (Matthew 6:32, NLT). We must not associate our needs for God simply though His provision for our earthly needs. God loves us too much to give us just a fraction of his love. He loves us so much that his blessing to us was giving us his only son, Lord Jesus Christ, a son of infinite love, to pay the ultimate price of his life in order that that we may have eternal life with him free of charge. There is no greater love expressed by our Lord than the blessings received from Jesus deliverance and his infinite existence in our everyday lives. Blessings are abundant when we live through Jesus Christ and to have a constant, fervent and loving relationship with him. Spiritual blessings, peace and prosperity, protection and security. Being a child of God and living in Him, loving, obeying and honoring Him allows the blessings of abundance to manifest in our lives - the ultimate gift, the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He is – in our body, mind and spirit. Through His redemption – he has given us everlasting life. When blessings are overflowing in our lives, we have more than abundance and content to share with others Jesus’ infinite love. Who can be more content than that? Romans 3:24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

What does it mean to be blessed?

The word blessed as Jesus used in the Beatitudes means to be happy or blissful and that our happiness is related to our relationship with God and is independent of our circumstances. As children of God, peace and contentment, regardless of what is happening on the outside can only be given to us by our Heavenly Father. Knowing that God is always with us, not forsaking us, always preparing the way at His will for our good and for his Glory. Our Heavenly Father shelters His children, he provides security, calmness, peace, guidance, instructions. In times of trouble, He provides a way to bear the circumstances, lifting us up, overcome, to succeed, to prosper and to be contend in life’s situation. In Him, there is peace beyond all understanding. We are so truly blessed when we remain in steadfast belief, faith, trust, love, dependence, obedience, love for others as well as ourselves, selflessness and a spiritual sense of purpose and productiveness, but most of all because of his infinite love, mercy and grace that we are truly blessed. Never taking our eyes off of God, He will always keep his eyes on us. Psalm 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

God’s Blessings to Us

Of the various meaning of blessings – God’s blessings are demonstrated in the following for his children:

1. God’s blessings generation to generation. God blessed Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and adding that they were to exercise dominion over creation; they were blessed with eternal life, to never want or need. But then the fall of man. But because of God’s infinite Grace, he never fell out of love for his people. When God called Abram to go to the Promised Land, He promised to bless him, make his name great, and through him, to bless all the families of the earth. The blessings here are plainly associated with happiness and welfare – in reverence and doing the will of God. Genesis 12:2-3 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

2. Spiritual Blessings - this can happen only through divine revelation and transformation through God's Word and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Transforming of the mind and in spirit, how we see ourselves and those around us. When we are in God, we see the world as God wants us to see the world. We come to a new understanding and purpose…not my will be done; but “thy” will be done. Not what I can do and get; but how God can provide for us in His sovereignty for His good and the good of his children. How we relate to each other; not by being selfish, but by being selfless by thinking of others and serving others. Instead of relying on our own strength and power, we rely on God’s greater strength and power; through Him, we can do all things in Jesus who lives in us. Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Jesus makes a prophetic announcement declaring who is included in the blessing of God’s kingdom. He continuously affirms that blessing comes to us not because of our ingenuity or effort but because God is kind and always working for our good. As in the beatitudes, God is gracious and is acting to deliver us from our sorrows. Blessing arrives because we have a God whose overflows with blessings.

3. Bestow divine favor: Blessings means to consecrate or sanctify; to make or pronounce holy. To request of God the bestowal of divine favor on (i.e., homes, family, health, marriage, prosperity); in other words, to grant good of any kind upon: a nation blessed with peace; to praise as holy and to glorify, Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Our Blessing to Others

In biblical terms, the act or words of a person who blesses others is to declare God’s truth into someone’s life and to announce God as the gracious, sovereign Lord who intends to flood His children with goodness and joy. Blessing others, we appeal to God's favor upon a person; we bless others in Jesus’ name, we join God’s healing and restoration. We participate in His intentions to bless the world. When we pronounce a blessing, we serve as witness to the truth that God’s generosity and power have by no means been extinguished. When we extend our blessings to others, it is to extend well wishes for that person and their circumstance, peace, prosperity, hope, good will. It is an expression of love in prayer, with the blessings of Jesus.

Because we belong to the Lord who blesses, we live as a people who bless. While it is true that a blessing serves as a witness to God’s generosity, in some mysterious way, it also enacts His generosity; a special favor, mercy, or benefit: the blessings of liberty. 2 Peter 1: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

What does it mean to extend blessings?

The word blessing is a biblical word and can only be used in the biblical and spiritual sense pronounced by God. There are times when the word: blessing or blessed are used in the wrong sense; to use the word Blessed or blessing superficially as an expression by not using it the way God intended the greeting to be used. To extend our blessings to others is for good will to men to grant happiness, health, or prosperity to; to be blessed with peace. It is not to be used to as an expression of sarcasm, patronizing or condescending, prideful, or insult (i.e, blessed with beauty or blessed with power) nor the expression or exclamation self wish or selfish gain.

So what does it mean to extend blessings? To bless – through praise and thanksgiving - praise; devotion; worship, and thanksgiving for all that we have and all that we are in Christ. To worship or adoration to God; to call or hold holy to give honor or glory.

• To thank the Heavenly Father for his blessings: past, present and future

• To thank the Heavenly Father for his blessings seen and unseen

• To thank the Heavenly Father for his blessings direct and indirect

• To thank the Heavenly Father for his blessings for allowing us to be his children and to glorify his Name!

• To thank the Heavenly Father for loving us so much and that we share in the same love

• To thank the Heavenly Father for his ultimate Blessing, Lord Jesus Christ – our redeemer and gift of everlasting life.

Material blessings we enjoy from day to day are temporary, but the spiritual blessings available to us in our Heavenly Father through our Precious Lord Jesus Christ encompass time and eternity, as well as material and immaterial things.