adminOPEN HEAVENS Rev Sarah Nyathi
I would like to thank all those who gave their comments and views on my previous articles. We will respond to them as soon as possible. Please keep giving me feedback, we love and it is our calling to hear from you and help you in issues that are of spiritual and life importance. This week we look at how you can mature in blessings.
Genesis 12:1-3
Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Galatians 3:13-14
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangeth on a tree:
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The next blessing that will be examined closely is the blessing of Abraham.
The blessing of Abraham is a blessing released by God upon Abraham the patriarch of the Jewish nation. It is understood that it is the covenant that God made with Abraham committing to bless him, his offspring thus making a great nation of his descendants. This blessing is the reason why the Jewish people are amongst the most blessed and prosperous people regardless of their geographic location.
On closer examination of this blessing we see God making some promises to Abraham. Listed below are the conditions that God is obligated to honour through thousands of generations, as they were covenant promises made to Abraham.
A covenant is a conditional agreement, entered upon by two parties. The agreement not only contains conditions that are to be honoured but is also beneficial to the two parties. The benefits that Abraham would enjoy as a result of entering into this covenant with God were: I will make you a great nation; I will bless you; Make your name great; You shall be a blessing; I will bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
These are the six tiers or six levels of blessing that one can enjoy if they appropriate the blessing of Abraham
A great nation – God promised to make Abraham a “great nation”, this infers that God would multiply Abraham and bless his posterity. In order for Abraham to enjoy this level of blessing God would have to rectify a problem of barrenness or sterility as Abraham’s wife Sarah had borne him no children.
A miracle of fruitfulness was granted to the couple and a son was born from whom descend a people group, the Jews. God desired that Abraham graduate from being self-centred and small minded and so invited him out from his tent one evening. God instructed Abraham to look at the grandeur of the evening sky and requested that he count the stars, to which Abraham replied that they were too numerous.
God told Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. In that instant God removed Abraham’s blinkers and limitations that had restricted him. God adjusted Abraham’s blinkered perspective about life and blessing and released on him a generational blessing that would affect all who would be born from His bloodline.
As we enter into 2015 may we leave our figurative or spiritual tents and readjust our perspective of the possibilities that a blessed life has to offer. Create an awareness of the limitless opportunities presented to us due to the blessings that God has availed to every believer.
Rather than limit God to only providing blessings for instant gratification (clothes, food, money and cars) let us implore Him for larger, durable blessings that can be enjoyed by us in our life time and by our posterity after we have exited life on earth. May God remove all forms of barrenness (spiritual and natural) and release fruitfulness in all spheres of our lives. The blessing of Abraham guarantees that a believer can become a “great nation”.
I will bless you — The next level of blessing is material blessing. In God’s order of priority material and financial blessings do not top the list. Whilst material possessions and financial wealth are essential they are not the highest form of blessing available to the believer.
As a believer enjoys a certain amount of success in this regard they should not rest on their laurels but aspire to higher levels of blessing. God has greater things in store for His people with regard to blessing. Blessings have erroneously been limited to the material and financial realms only, yet being blessed is to be empowered to succeed. Success is not limited to a fat bank balance and the abundance of material possessions visible to the eye.
When studying the blessing of Abraham I was reminded of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs where the lowest level of human need is for the fulfilment of the physiological aspirations (food, clothing, shelter, security). God has multifaceted blessings available for us and we need to grow into them and refuse to be contented with the lower levels that consist of material/financial blessings only.
I will make your name great – God promises to make Abraham’s name great. This is where blessing matures and surpasses the lower levels of provision of basics intended for personal consumption by the recipient only. When a believer graduates to the “making your name great” phase they have attained a maturing level of blessing. At this level God unleashes, authority, stature and influence. The believer no longer lives a life of insignificance but commences a life that touches and transforms people, communities, cities and nations.
In order for God to make Abraham’s name great he had to relocate and start life away from familiar ground (influences), this entailed leaving his family and geographical location, moving to a place that God would show him. Abraham’s obedience to this command was the first step that he took towards enjoying the blessing of significance. Living a life of significance entails possessing an external focus, putting other people first. Les Carter and Jim Underwood in their book The Significance Principle discuss the significance paradox.
They contend that “we find our own significance by building the significance of others”. They further state that we need to commit to be a positive presence in other people’s lives. “You must choose to recognise the significance of others, and this choice must become a lifelong commitment”. We become great as we make others great. At this level we are no longer pre-occupied with self as we have “bigger fish to fry”. Believers enjoying this level of blessing possess a global perspective as opposed to being village champions
You will be a blessing – God promised Abraham that he “will be a blessing” indicating that he would be blessed to bless others. We see this fulfilled as Abraham blesses his nephew Lot. Abraham knew that his privileged position would have to benefit others. When one is living a genuinely blessed life they are not myopic and selfish.
The blessings they possess are blessings with a purpose. A classic example of this level of blessing is personified in Joseph who when enjoying privilege in Egypt extended his good fortune to his biological family and surrounding nations during a crippling global drought. Such blessedness enables one to part with what they possess or own to be a blessing to others. At this level people do not find it hard to give away some of their money and material blessing to the work of the ministry (church) and to others in need.
Many claim to love God but they are not willing to part with some of their good fortune to bless others. Abraham was able to bless others and as a result be a blessing. This last Sunday I was bemused to hear Pastor Nkululeko Moyo quip that “we are not conscious of our wallets and purses in our daily transactions, we will not hesitate to part with our hard earned cash, any amount can be exchange for goods or services we desire”.
However, when the same individual is seated in the pew and the offering basket is passed around they suddenly become conscious of the cash in their wallets. The money starts to speak to them with the largest denomination proffering reasons why it should remain in the wallet. Resultantly only coins and the smallest notes find their way into the offering on most Sundays”. Money does speak, the scripture confirms that money answers all things, answering is speaking. Let your money speak positively to you.
I will bless/curse those who bless/curse you – At this level God becomes our greatest ally. He rewards our supporters/friends and avenges those who abuse and misuse you. Under the old covenant we are encouraged to return evil for evil (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth). In the new covenant we are encouraged to love our enemies and pray for those who abuse us. In that light it is needless for us to be pre-occupied with our enemies; we can quit praying destructive prayers over enemies as God does it on our behalf.
Let us follow scripture and leave the avenging of enemies in God’s hand (point of clarity, I do not refer to principalities and powers in Ephesians 6:10-18 who must be dealt with in spiritual warfare). Bishop Colin Nyathi made an interesting observation which provoked me to reconsider my view of perceived human enemies. He stated that “our perceived enemies are not necessarily God’s enemies”.
My negative feelings towards an individual and hence my desire to see them rewarded negatively may not be congruent to God’s desire for them. The pitfall that presents itself therefore as we are pre-occupied with destroying perceived enemies is that we could find ourselves asking God to curse people He is preparing to bless. I have often asked myself, what criteria is used to determine enemies that God should curse on our behalf. I offer a solution today, enter into higher realms of blessing and God will sort out this sticky issue on your behalf.
In you all the families of the earth will be blessed — Abraham’s blessing ultimately results in global influence. Through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed. Believers should be striving to enjoy blessings that have global impact. Global impact is relative to our situations. For others it may be literally global whilst for others global could refer to enjoying blessings that extend beyond themselves and their immediate surroundings.
The great king Solomon lived at this level, kings of the earth came from near and far as they heard of his wisdom. In the process they also brought gifts of gold, silver, precious stones, spices, wood and others offered their daughters as wives to build strategic alliances with him. People of influence desired to be aligned with Solomon. This level of blessing attracts material/financial, health and wellbeing, solid relationships, connections, influence, strategic positioning and everything the believer might need for life and Godliness.
In conclusion I urge believers to grow in the area of blessing and move from the basic bread and butter blessings of cars and money and move onto the higher realms of blessings. Desire a great name, be blessed to be a blessing and ultimately affect others around us positively as all the families of the earth are blessed through us.
As has already been noted, this is the blessing of Abraham which came about as a result of a covenant that God cut with Abraham and his posterity. However, after Christ’s death at Calvary this blessing ceased to be a preserve of the Jews only, it was extended to non-Jews specifically those who have received Jesus Christ as their personal saviour — Galatians 3:14 — “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”.
May I take this opportunity to wish you all a prosperous, blessed and highly favoured 2015. Let us grow in the area of blessing from the lowest level of blessing to being blessed to be a blessing.
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