Position Yourself for Blessing
First of all, let’s lay the ground work that no matter how you feel you are blessed. Our natural or flesh-based feelings have nothing to do with the blessings of God. Because you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are blessed beyond measure.
The richest people in the world, if they do not have the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, are not as blessed as the poorest person who has received Jesus. That person, deemed poor by the world’s standards, has access to abundance. They have access to the treasury of heaven. They possess all spiritual blessings, most importantly that of life eternal with Christ Jesus. (Read Luke Chapter 16)
On top of that, whenever we prayer, whenever we gather together to worship in Jesus’ name, there is great opportunity to receive additional Blessing from God for the here and now. These are gifts of blessing over and above salvation and eternal life with Him. (Read Matthew Chapter 6)
However, though we are blessed beyond measure and have access to all spiritual blessings, we can prevent the additional “here and now blessings of God” from ever being manifest in our lives. We can literally refuse His blessings. We can even be in the middle of being totally blessed just because God loves us and grieve the Holy Spirit to the point where we short-circuit His loving generous outpouring.
As Jesus described in Matthew Chapter 6, we all need to position ourselves to receive from God. 5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Additionally, it says in Psalm 128 (NKJV) Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. 2 When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. 3Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table. 4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the LORD. 5The LORD bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life. 6 Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!
Being positioned to receive the fullness of Blessing is found in two phrases: fears the Lord and walk in His ways
The word used for “fear” means Reverence – Trust – Obedience
A Thesaurus search on these words give a deeper understanding of their meaning:
Reverence = respect, admiration, worship, awe, veneration astonishment, amazement
Trust = faith, belief, hope, conviction, expectation, reliance and dependence
Obedience = compliance, agreement, submission, respect, duty, deference, and conformity.
In researching the Hebrew word used to convey Reverence and trust I found it was
H3373 yârê’ yaw-ray’ which means fearing; morally reverent:—afraid, fear (-ful).
Obedience is the phrase to Walk in His Ways, which is a combination of the Hebrew words Halak and Derek
H1980 hâlak haw-lak is a primitive root that means to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively) It includes metaphors to behave one’s self, to be conversant, to depart from or go to something, to follow, to go forth or forward, to grow, to lead the way, to march, to be at the front point, to speedily complete something.
H1870 derek deh’-rek is a road; figuratively a course of life or mode of action, a journey.
These are action words that indicate we must GET UP and WALK or GO toward God’s best for us. That doesn’t mean we are expected to perfect ourselves. Going toward God means we are submitted, obedient doers of His word. In order to receive blessing from God we can’t just sit around and do nothing. We must reverence Him, trust Him, worship Him, and obey Him.
I like the JB Phillips New Testament version of Hebrews chapter 6 on this topic:
6:1-3 – Let us leave behind the elementary teaching about Christ and go forward to adult understanding. Let us not lay over and over again the foundation truths – repentance from the deeds which led to death, believing in God, baptism and laying-on of hands, belief in the life to come and the final judgment. No, if God allows, let us go on.
6:4-8 – When you find men who have been enlightened, who have experienced salvation and received the Holy Spirit, who have known the wholesome nourishment of the Word of God and touched the spiritual resources of the eternal world and who then fall away, it proves impossible to make them repent as they did at first. For they are re-crucifying the Son of God in their own souls, and by their conduct exposing him to shame and contempt. Ground which absorbs the rain that is constantly falling upon it and produces plants which are useful to those who cultivate it, is ground which has the blessing of God. But ground which produces nothing but thorns and thistles is of no value and is bound sooner or later to be condemned – the only thing to do is to burn it clean.
6:9-12 – But although we give these words of warning we feel sure that you, whom we love, are capable of better things and will enjoy the full experience of salvation. God is not unfair: he will not lose sight of all that you have done nor of the loving labour which you have shown for his sake in looking after fellow-Christians (as you are still doing). It is our earnest wish that every one of you should show a similar keenness in fully grasping the hope that is within you. We do not want any of you to grow slack, but to follow the example of those who through sheer patient faith came to possess the promises.
6:13-15 – When God made his promise to Abraham he swore by himself, for there was no one greater by whom he could swear, and he said:
‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you’.
And then Abraham, after patient endurance, found the promise true.
6:16-20 – Among men it is customary to swear by something greater than themselves. And if a statement is confirmed by an oath, that is the end of all quibbling. So in this matter, God, wishing to show beyond doubt that his plan was unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath. So that by two utterly immutable things, the word of God and the oath of God, who cannot lie, we who are refugees from this dying world might have a source of strength, and might grasp the hope that he holds out to us. This hope we hold as the utterly reliable anchor for our souls, fixed in the very certainty of God himself in Heaven, where Jesus has already entered on our behalf, having become, as we have seen, “High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”.
It is evident by these verses that God planned to bless all His kids for we are all the seed of Abraham. If Jewish, you are direct seed and you have the blessing of Abraham and even more so if you have received Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah. If Gentile, and you have received Jesus as your Savior (Messiah) you are adopted sons and daughters and you too are a recipient of this ancient, powerful blessing of Abraham and his descendants.
It is our choice whether or not to reverence, trust and obey (walk in His ways). In fact, it is a daily choice to receive the blessings of God or not. So, why not choose to position yourself for blessing? It’s simply a matter of acknowledging your total dependence on God and not yourself; His ways, not your ways. When we come to that place we become an open receptacle into which He can pour blessings “pressed down shaken together and running over.” Staying in position, we get so full of His love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, healing, deliverance, salvation and grace that it is more than enough for us and ours so it flows out of us to everyone in our sphere of influence, everywhere we go!
Be the conduit of blessing the Father has destined you to be; for blessing He has blessed you and multiplying He has multiplied you!
Copyright 2011, 2012 Cheryl S Birch
all rights reserved
Cheryl Birch 