Blessings-Selah95-CMAW197

Christian Men at Work Podcast

We want God to Be in our lives because He is the source of all blessings Like Israel we gather and do certain things looking for the blessing of God We worship, we keep the commandments Blessings are complicated, sometimes the prosperity we seek doesn’t come We often associate blessings with material vs spiritual growth Building a Life Which God Can Bless Not a believer in the law of attraction Think positive thoughts and work hard and you attract good things magically God is not obligated to respond to what we do He doesn’t owe us anything, we owe Him everything We can create in our lives the right circumstances so that if God chooses to bless us, then He can The proper conditions are there for blessings Blessing is favor from God that brings happiness, joy, and or fulfillment. It can manifest as material wealth, good health, success, happiness, peace and spiritual growth. 6 types of blessings

1. Generic or double blind blessing-see Matt 5:45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (common grace), this blessing doesn’t care who it goes to, it doesn’t discriminate, available for everyone, double blind because we don’t recognize it, story of man who complained “if I were only rich”, God disguised as business man offering $5M but must be blind, or $10M for arms, $15M for ears, he said no, Lord said “you are so rich already you just don’t know it”
2. Potential or latent blessing-clearly in King David, David looked beyond his blessings and sinned with Basheba, 2 Samuel 12:8 “I would have given you much more”. This is heartbreaking. We pursue what WE think will make us happy. 3 things that make blessings latent (sin, we don’t ask (James 4:2-3) or have wrong intentions)
3. Mirage or hamster wheel blessing-Ecc 6:2 "A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil [a]affliction", we don’t have the capacity to enjoy because always wanting more
4. Fruitless blessing-a man had a great harvest, Luke 12:19-21 "

   And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

   21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”", he only cared about himself,

5. Vanishing blessing-Ecc 5:13-14 "There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. 14 But those riches perish through [a]misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand."
6. Blessed blessings-blessing falls on the right place at the right time and we are ready for it, Ecc 5:19-20 "As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his [a]heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.", this is where we all want to be, but we have to be ready, we have to grow spiritually so we can handle it. This is true of every type of blessing including financial and relationships.

Riches Luke 16:20-blessed are you poor Fame and Popularity Luke 16:22-blessed if people hate you Joy and Happiness Matt 5:4-blessed who mourn Power and Influence Matt 5:5-blessed are the meek If we want the blessings of God, we have to align with who he is Luke 12:30 and Matt 6:33, seek first the Kingdom of God It’s not a sin to be rich, famous, popular It’s wrong when we make those our priorities So if we want to receive and be blessed by God's blessings, we need to be ready. We need to prepare our hearts. And if we find an area in our lives where we are not experiencing blessings, it may be that we are not ready to receive them, and our question with the answers found in his Word are what do we need to do to be ready?