We tell people, "God bless you", and in prayer, we ask the Lord to bless us, but what does a blessing mean? My goal in this blog is to answer this question and give a new perspective on the blessings we already have in Christ.
Anytime you have a question like this, the book of Genesis is usually hiding the answer. Where was the first blessing in the bible? In Genesis 1:22, God's first blessing is to the creatures he created on the earth saying, "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." This text is broken into 3 parts, what, how, and where.
What is God doing? Blessing his creation
How is God blessing them? By giving them instructions
Where does this blessing apply? In all the earth
Now let's apply this same breakdown to Abraham's blessing in Genesis 12:1-3 "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, 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 of 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, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
What is God doing? Making Abraham a great nation
How is God going to do it? By blessing him and those that bless him, and cursing those that curse him
Where does this blessing apply? To all the generations that come out of Abraham, and who are grafted in through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:14).
God tells Abraham what he will do, then how he will do it, and where this blessing will apply. Later throughout scripture we read how God reveals more and more details as Abraham steps in faith. In Genesis 13:14-17, God reveals more details on the scale of his land as well as scope of those who will make up his nation. Finally (in relevance to this topic) in Genesis 15:1-21 God reveals even more details on how this blessing will come about, by telling Abraham he will have a child from his own bowls, and then establishes the covenant with him.
So what is a blessing?
God's blessing is his permission on what you can do, how it will be done, and where it can be done. All tied together by the promise of success. Permission to do a task and a promise it will succeed, although the success might not be as fast as you think, the greatest achievement is obedience. God's measure for success is how well you obeyed, and this takes time to get right. So don't be afraid to make a mistake, don't be afraid if it doesn't come out right, Jesus' sacrifice was the perfection God the Father was looking for. And now he's given you his Holy Spirit and blessing to make you Christ-like, but he wants you to take the first step. So let's step in faith believing God will do what we can't!
What are some blessings we can exercise right now?
Ask God a question, James 1:5. His word promises he will answer! (Be persistent!!)
Tell someone about Jesus and what he has done for us, Mark 16:15. The success is the rewards we earn in heaven!
Give Jesus your stress, and get his incomprehensible peace, Philippians 4:6-7.
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