|
As we discussed in my last blog post, I finally came to believe that God wanted to bless me because He still was interested in blessing Abraham. The catch is for God to bless Abraham he must bless his children by FAITH and by blood. I am Abraham's son by faith! This insight gave me the courage to believe that God was willingly to BLESS me. So, I began to pray and ask God to bless me. I want you to know it felt really strange. However, God surprised me. The blessing came in the form of adjustment. Mainly, God adjusted me - He began to work on me. He began to show me how I was blocking the blessing from flowing in my life. Right off the bat God demonstrated to me how I was tithing in the wrong spirit. Tithing is extremely important to God. Cain found this out the hardest way possible. I had to make adjustments in how I was tithing.  God then showed me the all the unforgiveness existing in my heart. There was a list of people that I had to work through. One-by-one I began to honestly forgive them and walk through some pain and anger that I had not processed.
Next, God revealed the envy that was lurking in my heart. The Bible says where you find envy you find every evil thing. Make no mistake about it, though silent and easily hidden in the heart, envy is a killer and a robber of joy, happiness, and health. I could go on, but I think you are seeing the point. My life was like a kinked water hose. The water was flowing from the source but squeezed off from a bends in the hose. God was gracious and loving enough to show me where I was closing off the BLESSING. He began these revelations when I asked Him to bless me. So, I double dog dare you to ask for God's blessing. God has people in mind to bless but first He must find a vessel to flow that Blessing through. He used Abraham to flow to me the Blessing of knowing Jesus. When you pray for God's blessing, be prepared to be a blessing! This means preparing you to be a clean Holy vessel useful for the master and prepared to do any good work. (see 2 Timothy 2:21). You know God is still working on me. Recently, I discovered that it has been God's plan to give us even greater works than what Jesus did (John 14:12). So, I have been asking Him about these greater works. You want to know what he showed me....more to follow next time! Until then God Bless you!! I believe it is God’s desire to bless us! I have run into people who will fight me over their right to be disgusted, busted, depressed, and sick. I used to be one of them. Yet, in the BIBLE God called and blessed Abraham so God could bless the nations of the earth. God is not the curser; God is the blesser. The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. (Genesis 12:1-2) Abraham was the door through which God would bless the earth! God still wants to bless the nations of the earth through the seed of Abraham. This is how the Gospel flows to the nations. It flows through the Spiritual heirs of Abraham. God wants to break the curse and turn back its assault. God does it through the Gospel of the Kingdom. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29) “So, can I bless you so I can bless Abraham?”I struggled with the idea that God wanted to bless me! I somehow thought such thinking would surely lead me to selfish living. It was not until I understood God’s heart for the nations that I understood God’s desire to bless me. One day God showed me the only way that He can keep His promise to Abraham is by blessing both his physical house (Israel) and His spiritual house (the church). “Do you believe I want to still bless Abraham?” “So says your word Lord” “So, can I bless you so I can bless Abraham?” Wow! God liberated my mind to embrace that He wants to bless me so he can keep His promise to Abraham. While I still could not completely believe God wanted to bless me, I could believe God wanted to BLESS Abraham. God starts where we are! When you make yourself available to be blessed—some people will refuse to be blessed—you become a doorway through which God delivers nations from poverty, sickness, depression, oppression, corruption, and death. God wants to bless you, to make you a doorway to pour out His blessing on the earth. He is preparing the nations for the soon return of His son. He is at the door! GOD IS PREPARING THE NATIONS BY BLESSING YOUI was part of a church launch team in the 1990s. We were preparing to launch a church in an Eastern Kentucky community and several pastors visited the city to talk with the elected officials, business leaders, and professionals. I was talking with a doctor who was the director of the local hospital. I asked him what a new church might do to benefit the city—you know to be relevant. Being relevant is the cry of so many church leaders in the USA. You ready for his answer! “Just be the church. More than fifty percent of the patients that come to our emergency room are treated because of violence, depression, drugs, and poverty."
Where the Gospel is preached lives change. Why? Because God wants to bless people so much that He will lift the poor up out of trash heap—His words not mine! (Psalm 113). Join His team, ask God to bless you right along with Abraham. I double dog dare you. If you do ask God to bless you, I must warn you about what will happen next. Oh, I will share that in two weeks. |