God's Blessings

Some preachers continually speak about God providing earthly blessings to His people. They declare that God wants us to have health, wealth and success. Other preachers declare that we will not always be blessed in this life. They both refer to blessings in this earthly realm and forget about the eternal blessings.

God does want us to enjoy the temporal blessings, which He provides for us; but they are not always guaranteed. In fact, God will also bless us with trials and tribulation (Matthew 5:11; John 16:33). Jesus was tortured and crucified. John was in prison and beheaded (Matt 11:2-6, 14:10). God gave Paul grace to deal with his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Blessings are gifts from God, which come in all shapes and fashions. Many make us fortunate and happy; yet, sometimes, these blessings appear couched in misfortune and tribulation. Our attitude about them is what makes the difference. Our testimony may be the only source of saving grace for someone suffering along with us.

If we rejoice always (James 1:2; Philippians 4:4), then we view even the most horrendous trial as a blessing from God (Genesis 50:20). He walks through it with us, and in us, providing for our needs and using us as a light in the darkness around us (Psalm 23; Philippians 4:19). It is healthy to mourn our losses, but joy comes as we hold His hand through it all (Psalm 30:5).

God calls us to completely surrender to Him, to trust in His wisdom and to have faith in His faithfulness to His Saints (Job 11:13-15; Proverbs 3:5-6). He rarely operates as we expect or desire, but our Father always knows what is best. Relying totally on God provides the most peaceful existence for us. Living in the center of His will is the happiest place on earth.

Prayer:

Father God, You do all things beautifully in Your timing and way. You are rarely early, but always on time, and usually at the very last earthly minute! I am so glad that You brought me to the place of total surrender to You and Your will in all things. Remind me to be still, to acknowledge You as God, and to allow You to work out everything for my good (Psalm 46:10; Romans 8:28). When I remember what happened when Sara gave her maid to her husband - the Muslim world was born and they have been fighting the son of promise ever since – this prevents me from inventing my own solutions to my problems and spurs me to desire to walk in Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

When God is silent, He is simply enjoying our companionable silence; so be still and know that He is God and has everything under His control.

– Psalm 115:3, 46:10, 16:9; Zechariah 4:6

God's Gifts

Some people boast about their accomplishments and talents; however, they end up like a cloud without any rain, blown around by the wind (Proverbs 25:14; Jude 1:12). They brag, yet have little evidence to back up their claims. In reality, every good and perfect gift comes to us only from the Father of lights, not from any inherent goodness of our own (Ephesians 2: 8-10). God does not show partiality or prejudice in distributing His gifts (James 1:17). He generously gives them to all of us (1 Timothy 6:17).

Because of Adam’s offense, death reigned in us from birth. However, we can receive God’s great gift of righteousness and abundance from Jesus Christ, who justifies all men. He also gives us grace to succeed in life  (Romans 5:15-18; 6:23; Ephesians 4:7). Sin is no longer our master, because Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 6:14). In addition, Jesus gives us living water, so our soul will never thirst again. His love satisfies our longing and fills our hungry soul (John 4:10; Psalm 107:9).

When we repent and are baptized in Jesus’ name for the remission of our sins, God also gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God (Romans 8:14). The Spirit exchanges the carnal character in our soul with His fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith (Galatians 5:22-23). We eventually grow to the place where we no longer gratify the desires of our flesh, because we live by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16, 5:24; Romans 13:14; Ephesians 2:3).

Now that we live by the Spirit, we keep in step with the Spirit moment by moment throughout our day (Galatians 5:25). Anyone who does not have the Spirit of God in him/her will not accept the wisdom that comes from the Spirit. In fact, God’s wisdom sounds like foolishness to unbelievers; they cannot understand God’s principles, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). While we live and work in this world, God calls us to conduct ourselves, in all of our relationships, in the holiness and sincerity that are from Him. We do not act according to worldly wisdom but according to Godly wisdom by the grace of God (2 Corinthians 1:12).

All Believes receive gifts to minister to one another, as good stewards of the grace of God (1 Peter 4:10; 1 Corinthians 7:7). Our gift makes room for us to use it, and may even bring us before great men (Proverbs 18:16). It is more valuable to us than precious stones because when we use our gift, we and those we minister to will prosper (Proverbs 17:8). Before we bring our offerings to God, however, He demands that we be reconciled with our brothers and sisters first, because any discord between two people blocks the communication between us and God (Matthew 5:23-24). God has many gifts for us, the best of which is to allow us to enjoy the fruit of our labors (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

Prayer:

If we, though we are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, You, Father God, know much more how to give good gifts to those of us who ask You for them (Matthew 7:11). We thank You for our daily provision of food and shelter. We thank You for Your spiritual gifts that make us useful to Your Body. We thank You most of all for Your spiritual wisdom that is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17).

Thought for the Day:

Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you. - 2 Timothy 1:6