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Open Heavens Rev Sarah Nyathi
Deuteronomy 28:1-2
If you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord, to observe carefully His commandments . . . All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord.
Genesis 22:15 – 18
Then the Angel of Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.
This is what the Lord says: because you have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the sea shore. They will conquer their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — all because you have obeyed me.
Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and addedth no sorrow to it. (KJV)
Ephesians 1:3
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.
A visit to a modern Pentecostal worship setting will reveal an amazing pre-occupation with blessing. Believers are seized with a need for “breakthroughs”, “blessings” and a strong thirst for holistic success and prosperity. While the desire for blessing and breakthrough may be consuming I also find that there is little understanding of how to achieve the “blessed”, “prosperous” state that most desire.
Enjoying the blessings of the Lord is not as mysterious or difficult as we have been led to believe. Blessings are indeed available and are within the reach of the ordinary believer. Blessings come in all shapes, sizes and there are different types of blessings, it is the responsibility of the individual desiring to be blessed to be familiar with and understand this.
It is futile coming before God to request blessing without a clear understanding of what it is that we desire Him to grant us. It is with this in mind I would like to briefly share some ideas that are encapsulated in scripture about how this “blessed” state may be attained.
The scriptures are littered with promises alluding to blessing and prosperity.
Of note is that all promises of blessing have a condition attached to them. Whilst God has ensured that we live a blessed life, He has also set principles and conditions in place that need to be fulfilled as a pre-requisite to blessing.
A clear illustration would be Ephesians 1:3 which states that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. The key that unlocks these blessings is to abide in Christ. Psalms 1:1 states “Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly.”
The condition to activate the Psalm 1:1 blessing is to avoid ungodly counsel. These are just two of a myriad of promises of blessing that are available for believers to freely enjoy.
Blessing has been defined as being empowered to succeed or possessing the ability to rise above adversity and prosper despite negative circumstances.
Through my study of the scriptures I have found that there are some blessings that need to be activated, some imparted and there are others that we gain automatically by virtue of receiving Jesus Christ. In recent times the impression has been created that there is much mystery, difficulty, striving and expense necessary for one to reach the blissful state of blessing. This is not necessarily the case and through this article I hope to liberate believers with the realisation of how easily attainable blessings are. What is required is an understanding of how to use the keys that activate the blessings.
Failure to understand the accompanying conditions of blessing may result in us being robbed of what is rightfully ours. In addition, using the wrong keys in an attempt to open the right doors may also result in frustration as people become disillusioned when blessings fail to manifest in their lives.
Many incorrect keys are presented to believers as they diligently search for blessings, as a result we have witnessed believers moving from “pillar to post” in ignorance, unsuccessfully trying to unlock the right doors. With much sadness I have watched believers lose time, resources and strength chasing after blessings ignorantly.
I assert that this ignorance is the greatest of all “blessing robbers”. Surely you cannot enjoy something you are ignorant of. We cannot partake of blessings if we do not know about them nor understand the accompanying conditions for their fulfillment.
This ignorance can be remedied through personal reading and study of the scriptures. Any serious believer who wishes to be blessed must of necessity enquire personally about the blessings available to them.
It is unwise to depend on hearsay or rely on information from a third party, regardless of how spiritual or respectable the source may be. The Berean believers in the books of Acts were commended for their diligence and nobility in searching the scriptures to confirm that what they were told by the Apostles was correct.
I pray that the spirit of the Berean believers be restored to the church again (Acts 17:11) I advise all serious blessing seekers to find out for themselves what the Bible has to say about blessings and in the process tailor make a blessing package to suit their particular circumstance.
After understanding what the Bible says about blessings, the next step is to call the word of God to His attention.
God encourages us in Isaiah 1:18 (a) “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord…”. The reasoning process is possible and productive when we have a personal knowledge of the scriptures. Figure out exactly and specifically what it is that you need from God with regard to blessings and present it to Him in prayer.
For the best results, obeying the instructions of the blessings is necessary. From experience I have discovered that the instructions are fairly simple and straight forward and can be followed by any serious person who is not addicted to the “quick fix”, “instant blessing syndrome”.
Instructions such as “… if you give you will receive …, if you obey …, if you harken to my commandments…., avoid ungodly counsel …, abide in Christ . . .”. None of these conditions mentioned are particularly difficult and can be achieved with a little strength of character and discipline.
Recite the promises, meditate and speak them to yourself concerning life’s situations, family, career, business ventures and any other area that you may desire to see blessed.
Recitation of promises is often referred to as “self talk” in secular terms. The Colin’s English dictionary defines “self talk” as “the act or practice of talking to oneself, either aloud or silently and mentally. Proverbs 18:20 -21 confirms this “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”.
If one is to engage in self talk, I encourage that this energy and creative force be used to speak scriptural promises that create the blessed state that we all long for. Psychologists, medical doctors and some accomplished individuals have recognised the importance and power of “self talk” and how it can improve your life.
In addition to ignorance of the promises in scripture there are certain “blessing robbers” that we need to vigilantly deal with. Listed here is an inconclusive list that can get us started on the journey to blessings. Watch out for the following:-
Lack of obedience. Even if we possess knowledge of the word of God but opt rather to disobey it, we lose out on the promised blessings that should accrue to us. A simple example would be the principal of giving finances that activate the blessing of a harvest of finances. Failure to give finances = failure to receive finances.
Failure to recognise the power contained in the promises of the word of God. Often times we read the scriptures and listen to endless sermons by some of the world’s renowned preachers. Yet we secretly do not believe fully what they tell us.
Mike Murdoch states that what you do not recognise you do not benefit from. He claims “what you do not recognise in your life is uncelebrated, anything uncelebrated is unrewarded. What is unrewarded will exit your life”. If we recognise and exalt other things more than the word of God we will be unable to activate the promises and blessings contained in the word.
Understanding that there are different types of blessings is necessary and in that regard I will briefly list some of the types of blessings we need to activate in our lives.
Types of blessing
Blessing of the Lord (Proverbs 10:22) — which makes rich and adds no sorrow.
Corporate blessings — the blessing of Abraham which we access when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord.( Galatians 3:13-14)
All spiritual blessings — as we abide in Him (Ephesians 1:3)
Blessing by association – Elisha serves Elijah and receives a blessing. (1 Kings 19:21)
Family blessings — Observing family relationships results in blessing. Ephesians 6:1-3.
Father’s blessing — An important blessing that is passed by fathers to their children.
Blessed work, business — the work of our hands can be blessed. Deuteronomy 28:8
Blessed children — Psalm 147:13, Psalm 128:2-3 our children can prosper.
Blessed marriage — Genesis 1:27-28 Marriages don’t need to be drudgery.
Blessed finances – Psalm 128:1-2 – our finances can be blessed.
Blessings abound in the scriptures and these are there for us to partake. Don’t merely be occupied by the need to be blessed, take your quest further by investing time and energy into gaining knowledge and skill in activating blessing through study, meditation, “self talk” (confession), prayer and observation of the accompanying conditions.
In the next article we will examine each of these blessings and accompanying conditions for their fulfillment in detail.
Through my study of the scriptures I have found that there are some blessings that need to be activated, some imparted and there are others that we gain automatically by virtue of receiving Jesus Christ. In recent times the impression has been created that there is much mystery, difficulty, striving and expense necessary for one to reach the blissful state of blessing.
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