ARE YOU BLESSED?

ARE YOU BLESSED?

Josephat S. Hema

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NIV)

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your .”

What is a blessing?

I have been thinking(meditating) a number of times over this matter!not only me i suppose,many people and you too probably.The real meaning of being blessed has been a multi-faced matter.The Bible itself has made it a broad concept too.

Some people connect blessings with material prosperity,some with spirituality.I think its okay as long as the prosperity comes from the Lord because we prosper(bodily) as our spirits prosper(proportionately)

_3 John 1:2

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.”

In Hebrew blessing can mean praise,congratulate or salute(“barak”)

-Genesis 12:1-3(God towards Adam and Eve)

-Genesis 22:16-18(God towards Abraham)

-Genesis 24:60(Rebekah towards her home)

-Genesis 27:28-29(Isaac towards Jacob)

Or happiness/peace(“esher”) as a result of God’s directive to the right path.

Job 5:17 (NIV)

“Blessed is the one whom God corrects;

so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”

Psalms 1:1-3

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers”

In Greek there are also two words

-“makarios” standing for happiness as applied in the beatitudes(Mathew 5 and Luke 6)

-“Eulogeo” standing for best wishes.

1 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

We therefore learn that the declaration of blessings(benedictions) are two way,can be from God to people or from people to (i)God or (ii)Other people.From Here i would like to share with you two attributes of blessings today in a simple way.

1.BLESSINGS FROM GOD ARE CONDITIONAL.

This goes contrary to Graces(unmerited favours),blessings are conditioned,this is vivid in many places(though sometimes blessings are being portrayed as special graces)

Deuteronomy 28 explains about the conditions God put to bless the Israelites,that is to say,israelites were worthy of being blessed after observing all the Lord’s commandments(vice versa holding true)

God told this Abraham,

Genesis 22:16-17 (NIV)

and said, “I swear by myself, declares the

LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely BLESS you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies”

Also in Malachi 3:10

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much BLESSING that there will not be room enough to store it.(NIV)

2.A BLESSED INDIVIDUAL BLESSES OTHER.

“The giver is greater than a receiver”-(Acts 20:35)

Blessings are meant to spread,to be shared(Hebrews 13:16),not to be used selfishly.

Are you wealthy?successful?healthy?happy?strong?at peace?,if you have got all these as blessings from the Lord and you have never been a reason for someone’s success,peace or happiness,you are typically not blessed.

“When God blesses you financially,do not raise your standard of living,raise your standard of giving”(a quote by Mark Batterson)

And again its not the factor of how abundant,the little you have can be a blessing to the one who has nothing,relativity principle can apply here.

A person who posses one million and shares nothing with others is not blessed,but a person with ten thousands and share with others.

You can be blessing by Praying for others,spreading the gospel,encouraging(Romans 15:1)and helping others financially.

There is one moment in my life i had to throw all my troubles to encourage my friend whom we shared the same problem but only with different intensities,mine was a ridiculous when compared to his.He needed peace,i had to share a little 'piece' i had!

Jesus Christ,our all time role model had all the blessings you know but He had to lose all in His human nature so that we could inherit...just by trusting Him,to entrust all the Spiritual and Bodily blessings into our life..BLESSED JESUS!!!

Matthew 20:28 (NIV)

“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

A blessed person is able to make sacrifices.

Remember you’ll be the lender and not the borrower(Deuteronomy 28) and to whom much is given,much is required in return(Luke 12:48).

“THE GREATEST BLESSING THE WHOLE WORLD IS BEING A BLESSING”-Jack Hyles.

ARE YOU BLESSED????