12 October 2008  The Blessing is on me

 Blessing is the empowerment to prosper

Abraham was blessed  by God – to be a blessing

Genesis 12:2 (New King James Version)

 2 I will make you a great nation;
      I will bless you
      And make your name great;
      And you shall be a blessing.

Galatians 3:9 (New King James Version)

9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

 Are you of faith – are you  a believer?

If you are you are blessed too. As a believer you believe that Jesus died for you. That he took your sin and gave you his righteousness. He also took your curse by becoming a curse for you so that you might receive his blessing.

Gal 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

This is  part of the great exchange.

We are blessed- It is a done deal!

We are left with a choice – to believe it and receive the blessing – to live in it or not. Live it or miss it.

We will miss it if we try to be blessed i.e., strive for blessings. Or  try to do God’s work by our own efforts. Even Abraham tried to do it another way. He went into Hagar to father a son – Ishmael. It took another 13 years before he fully trusted God when he was an old man and Sarah was humanly past childbearing too.

 The first step in walking in the blessing is to have knowledge of what is ours.

This comes from hearing believing the word of God

Psalm 3:8 (New King James Version)

 8 Salvation belongs to the LORD.
         Your blessing is upon Your people.  Selah  

So if we are his “People” then the blessing of God is upon us.

We can confess that “the blessing of God is upon me.”“I am a blessed one”.

Note the "Selah" – we should pause and think on this – let it down into our knowing – meditate on it until it becomes revealed – revelation knowledge.

 The revelation needs to be stronger than the doubts and negative expectations.

The fear of bad news and the expectation of failure – like the things we newscasts on the economy , these are very invasive and breed lack of confidence and they sap your faith.

 Words that described the results of the Blessing are: prosper, increase, excel, succeed, rise above. When we have these – what a testimony of the grace of God – what a witness we become!

 Secondly we need faith – not just a knowledge.  We can know things but live out of the fullness of what we know.

I am talking about a strong conviction and a strong confidence based on the word of God. Faith comes by HEARING. We will need to establish the truth that the blessing is upon us. We know that God cannot lie. Can we believe that what he has said is so  and that because it is so then that is the end of the matter? This inner conviction should be greater than how we think naturally. Your feeling, your view of things, your expectations are to follow the truth of God’s word. Can hold up your Bible and say?  “This is my Bible. This is God’s word to me. I can do what it says I can do, I can have what it says I can have, II can be what it says I can be."

Lets be like Joshua and Caleb who didn’t bring a gloomy report of what they had seen because they saw with the eyes of faith – saying “Our God is able.”

Let's confess this.  "God has put his blessing on me, I’m a winner, I cannot fail, I cannot loose, I prosper, increase, excel, succeed, rise above."

 You know we often find that our faith is stronger in some areas and weak in others. Abraham chased after the kings who captured Lot with only 300 men in his 'army'. These were just servants not trained warriors and they defeated the kings.  On the way back home they visited Jerusalem where the priest/king Melchizedek recognised that Abraham was blessed of God.

However, this same man, Abraham did not have faith for a son through Sarah but fathered a son by himself through Hagar. He became the father of faith much later when he fully trusted God.

 He, the father of faith, taught that son Isaac to trust so that Isaac sowed in famine and reaped 100 fold: a great witness to the people arround him that the blessing of God upon him.

We can see today that there is a financial famine – but it’s not our problem as we are blessed. We  don’t preach about it, we don’t talk about it we stay in faith in the knowledge of the blessing upon us which causes us to prosper.

Proverbs 10:22 (New King James Version)

22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich,
      And He adds no sorrow with it.

In the Message – it says :v 22 God's blessing makes life rich;

Let’s confess, "I'm rich. I have a rich life.2

the secular definition of Rich includes: abundance, well off, comfortable, affluent, opulent, prosperous.

Our definition of the blessing of God upon us includes the RICH LIFE - not limited to the material riches.

If we are believers, we have exchanged our sad unprofitable life for the rich life of Jesus, We know it. We put our faith in what we know by the revelation to us personally from God.

I can confess that God’s blessing is upon me. I can’t and won't loose sight of God’s power working in my life.

Can you confess that? If you know that it's God's word and his will for you is revealled in his word then take it in faith and live the blessed life - Its yours because Jesus has given it to you.