Recognize that thorns come to ultimately frustrate you; to make life difficult for you; to make it seem like you’re not making progress. So first, carefully tackle any form of frustration attempting to creep into mind by removing the focus from yourself and unto a bigger goal. Second shut down the proponents of your thorns.
Thank You for Your Grace; the display of your love and kindness, the daily manifestation of your glory and power.
Thank You for Your Grace; Your graciousness and Gift of grace freely given to us. Grace bought us, grace keeps us and we glory in Your grace.
Thank You for Your Grace; washing away sins, saving lives, filling to overflow with rivers of living waters.
Thank You for Your Grace; Divine enablement by Your Spirit to do the seemingly impossible even today.
Thank You for Your Grace; Your divine ability, to physically create, build and establish your purpose.
Thank You for Your Grace; Your divine and boundless favour, bringing in overflowing measures of goodness from wherever life exists, extending same from us to wherever life exists.
Thank You for Your Grace; divine strength and sustenance to remain undaunted, unflinching, persuaded and fully committed.
Thank You for Your Grace; The force of Your power, neutralizing every opposition and contrary force.
Thank You for Your Grace; my confidence, my boldness, my assurance.
Lord, thank You for Your Grace today.
Considering the above truths, we shouldn’t have believers struggling to make ends meet. Every follower of Jesus Christ should naturally exhibit the hallmarks of the blessing; increase, expansion, influence, dominion, and enjoy security/protection. Statutorily, every Christian possessed all these things from the new-birth, unfortunately not every Christian fully expresses them as should.
In the Rest place of God, there is no anxiety, worry or panic, because faith in the Word reigns supreme.
If you have been with me on this study, remember that we took a side journey from the sub-topic “Victory Through Faith” in order to find out how Abraham became the ‘Father of Faith’. You can read a bit more about that here.
Today we conclude our brief study on Abraham by looking at ‘The Blessing of Abraham’.
God pronounced the blessing on man immediately after creating him (Genesis 1:28). However Adam’s sin and fall introduced the curse which brought in spiritual death, sickness and poverty. Through His death, burial and resurrection, the Lord Jesus settled the curse forever, did away with it and re-established the blessing (Galatians 3:13-14).
When we look at the first mention of the blessing, we gain an understanding of what the blessing means….
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
……be fruitful, multiply, increase, expand, dominate…
I find that the blessing is often mentioned alongside fruitfulness, expansion, increase, abundance, or influence in the scripture. Sometimes we find a combination of these mentioned.
From Proverbs 10:22, we see the value of the blessing….
The Blessing Makes Rich! The Blessing Makes Rich!! The Blessing Makes Rich!!!
So the blessing is an empowerment to prosper.
We find the answer to this in Genesis 12:1-3….
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family and from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV
If we want to line-list the Blessing of Abraham, we will have;
So, what do we see here? We see;
This is ‘The Blessing of Abraham’ and it pretty much covers everything anyone would want in life to feel successful, doesn’t it?
So did Abraham become all that God promised? Sure!
Genesis 24:1-2, summarizes for us that God blessed Abraham in all things….
“Now Abraham was old, [well] advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.” Genesis 24:1 AMP.
What exactly can fall under ‘all things‘?
Genesis 24:35 mentions some of them;
“The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great (wealthy, powerful); He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and maids, and camels and donkeys.
Genesis 24:35 AMP
So Abraham put his hands to work and the blessing manifested.
Genesis 24:35 is actually a testimony from Abraham’s servant (as he went seeking a wife for Isaac from the house of Bethuel). According to his testimony, Abraham had become; greatly blessed, wealthy, powerful, an owner of flocks and herds, silver and gold, camels and donkeys and master servants and maids. I love the way Abraham’s possessions are mentioned in multiples- flocks, herds, camels, donkeys, etc. And talking about Abraham’s servants, I found it almost ‘mind-blowing’ that Abraham went to war (to rescue his nephew Lot) with 318 trained men born in his household! So how big was Abraham’s household? If he went with 318 men, how many were left behind? How many wives, children, mothers were not counted? So how exactly big was Abraham’s household? Talk about being blessed! In modern day, Abraham would have been described as a very powerful and influential person.
Abraham experienced the blessing through faith, obedience and patience.
I love the blessing of Abraham and I am so glad that I am an heir of Abraham. I am a partaker of this blessing.
Yes, I am an heir of Abraham and the Blessing of Abraham is mine.
Someone says ‘Grace, how did you come about that?’
First, Abraham became the father of faith because he believed God’s promises and he was counted righteous through faith. Therefore because I believe God’s Word by faith also, I am an heir of Abraham. Abraham is my father.
“In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God,” Galatians 3:6-7 NLT
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:26-29 NKJV
Who is an heir? Someone legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person’s death. A person who inherits and continues the work of a predecessor. A beneficiary, grantee, inheritor, successor.
Yes, I share in the same Blessing of Abraham..
“What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.” Galatians 3:8-9 NLT
I am an heir of Abraham and I have the blessing of Abraham. I have the Blessing! God has empowered me to prosper. And just as God blessed the handworks of Abraham causing increase and expansion leading up to wealth, influence and dominion, even so the blessing causes the works of my hands to prosper, leading up to wealth, influence and dominion. I walk by faith, I walk in-step with the Spirit, I live by the Word and I inherit the blessing. I am blessed, my name is blessed, and I am a blessing to nations…..and so are you!
When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, it was to assure him that the promise will be fulfilled, that the blessing will not fail. As Christians we stay confident that the blessing will prevail because of the covenant made by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The blessing will not fail.
Thank You Jesus!
Remember that you can access previous parts of this study as follows; Part 1: Study Background. Part 2: The Scope of the Christian Victory. Part 3: How Christians Gained Victory. Part 4: How Faith, Love and Hope Mix Together for Victorious Christian Living. Part 5: The Nature of God’s Love. Part 6: Characteristics of God Kind of Love. Parts 7 and 8: Winning Through Love. Part 9: How to develop our love nature. Part 10: Giving Is Not (always) Love. Part 11:Victory Through Faith: Understanding Faith. Part 12: Victory Through Faith: The Righteousness of God. Part 13: The Stimulus for Faith. Part 14: The Faith of Abraham (A). Part 15: The Faith of Abraham (B).
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Blessings & Love Always!
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us
We’ve probably all heard or read about the Bible story of Esau and Jacob, the twin sons of Isaac. May I ask your perspective on the story; did Esau sell his birthright or did Jacob seize it from him? ?
By virtue of his birth position as the firstborn twin, Esau was naturally positioned to receive the birthright blessing from his father Isaac. So God gave Esau an advantage from birth; an opportunity to inherit the birthright blessing.
However on this particular day, somewhere in his teenage days, Esau didn’t see his birth position as a privileged position, he didn’t think it was worth more than a bowl of pottage… Esau thought he needed food more than a future birthright blessing….
“Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Genesis 25:29-34 NKJV
Esau had just returned from an exhaustive and not very successful hunting session. He was weary (hungry and weak) and just needed something to eat. On returning home, his brother had a ready meal of pottage waiting to be consumed.
Esau only asked for some of Jacob’s pottage, as would any hungry brother who’d smelt food from far off.
Esau had a legitimate reason to want food; he had labour out in the fields and was exhausted. Are there believers today whose experiences can be likened to Esau’s on this particular day- working hard and having nothing to show for it? What options do people in this situation have? How should they handle the pressures of life-rent, fees, food, clothing, etc, etc? How should they meet family obligations and responsibilities? Like Esau, do these people have any advantage by virtue of being Christians or are they thrown daily into the same rat race as the people of the world?
In Hebrews 12: 14-16, the writer draws a spiritual lesson from Esau’s response to his pressures;
“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.” Hebrews 12:14-16 NKJV.
Esau is used here as an example of a godless person because he did not recognize his birth position as being worth more than a bowl of pottage, and believers are admonished to place high value on their spiritual inheritance; to consider it as precious; never to trade it for anything else.
Let’s think about Esau for a bit; why did he easily give up his birthright?
Do you think he understood the spiritual implications of his birth position? Did he link his birth position to a blessing? Do you think he believed in this blessing? Or was Esau just an impatient person driven more by his desires than reasoning?
Here are my thoughts……
One, It seems to me that essentially, Esau lacked good knowledge and understanding of both natural and spiritual things/processes. Yes, Jacob may be described as a schemer, ‘supplanter’, tricky and deceitful person, yet, I still think Esau was naïve; he neither understood how the world works nor how to make it work to his benefit. Additionally (and most importantly) he was also unspiritual/godless and so could not understand the spiritual implication of his birth position, so he had little or no regard for it. Naivety and godlessness are obviously 2 dangerous combinations. If Esau at least had one of these, Jacob would have had a very hard time taking advantage of him. You don’t sign a letter of agreement (or swear even casually) to forgo your birthright blessing for the rest of your life! That is not smart; spiritually or naturally.
Two, I think that Esau allowed fear to dominate him, fear of the unknown, fear of what his future would be like. And fear is always a reflection of unbelief. So Esau had slipped into unbelief (even without realizing it). I daresay, this didn’t all happen in one day. It’s likely a subconscious response to seeming to be unsuccessful despite putting in a lot of efforts at becoming successful. One thing Esau did not realise though was that all along he had something worth more than a bowl of pottage.
Esau had the Blessing Advantage but didn’t place a high value on it. He did not value his birth position, did not value the blessing that comes with it, and he had no regard (anymore) for the source of the blessing-God! If he did, he would have probably known to endure a temporary hardship, to be patient through a transient pain/discomfort, he would have most likely known to choose and safeguard/preserve something with a long-term value/benefit over a bowl of pottage.
Dearly beloved, Esau had the blessing, you have the Blessing! By virtue of your rebirth and position in Christ, you have the Blessing (Galatians 3:14b). Do you know it? Do you recognize it?
The blessing is worth more than any temporary gain because the Blessing always brings increase and multiplication.
The blood of Jesus that bought your salvation is worth more than a bowl of pottage. The call of God upon your life is worth more than that attractive but illegal agreement you are considering signing. The anointing on your head is worth more than the transient satisfaction of sexual sin. The plans and purpose of God for your life is worth more than that temptation to cut corners and indulge in dirty deals.
Esau needed to exercise just a little more control, a little more patience, if only he had some more regard for his privileged position, he would have endured a temporary hardship, pain, discomfort, distress.
How do you lose a life-long advantage over a transient discomfort? How do you trade the Blessing for a Bowl of Pottage?
Do not step out of God’s will, stay with God, stay with His Word. Stay in the blessing. Do not seek alternative routes to success, walk in-step with the Spirit, stay with God, stay in the Word, stay in the blessing. Do not go to the fortunetellers (those claiming to see into your future), do not consult the spiritualists (those falsely claiming to reach God on your behalf), do not sign misleading agreements. Stay with the Word (Isaiah 8:19-22 MSG).
The Blessing will continually speak for you. Shalom!
Bread, on the other hand, is the food one needs in order to live. We take in bread in order to nourish and repair the body. Bread should provide energy. Bread should satisfy and sustain.
I remember when I got born again; June 1993 at one of the branches of Deeper Life Bible Church, Nigeria. It was my first time at the Church, a friend had invited me for their regular Sunday service. There was a talk on the importance of choosing heaven over hell; talk about a broad way that leads to hell and a narrow path which leads to heaven. Yours truly didn’t want anything to do with hell, so off to the front roll I marched as soon as the alter call was made for people to make a decision for Jesus. I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ; hell lost a soul; Heaven’s gain….
As I think about my spiritual rebirth day, I am reminded of the process that brought me to my current spiritual status of being alive in Christ. Having heard the message on salvation as was preached that day (deliverance through faith in Christ Jesus), the expected response from me was to confirm my believe by simply walking down the aisle towards the Preacher, who led me to confess the ‘sinner’s prayer’.
Twenty-eight years later, even with a little stormy time along my walk, my salvation status hasn’t changed; I know that I am born again. I received my salvation that day, and that hasn’t changed.
Unknowing to me, the only good thing about that day wasn’t that I got born again, no, I was also delivered from the curse (Sickness, Poverty and spiritual death), because the same sacrifice that bought my salvation also bought my healing.
Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was a blind roadside beggar. On this particular day when Jesus walked out of Jericho, Bartimaeus didn’t want alms, he’s learnt how to ASK and RECEIVE gifts through the years. Today, he wanted a different kind of gift;…. healing for his eyes. All attempts by bystanders to stop him proved futile. In the end Jesus connected with his faith, his sight was restored. Bartimaeus RECEIVED his sight, ….just like that. He believed Jesus could heal him, he asked for his healing and he got it.
“Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.“
Mark 10:52 NKJV
Do you believe Jesus has healed you? And if I may kindly ask; ‘have you received your healing in the same way that you received your salvation?‘
Healing confessions are no good if we lack the conviction that we are already healed. Our confessions and partaking in communion do not in themselves bring healing, they are ways in which we further proclaim and maintain that we are healed.
Someone asks; ‘Grace, I am currently taking medications for a health condition, do you advice me to discontinue?’
Not at all, drugs or not, the truth remains that Jesus bought our healing. As Jesus would say…..’believe comes before seeing‘. So believe and receive.
By His Stripes I am healed.
Lord I believe that by the Stripes of Jesus I was healed. I receive my healing, and I declare that I am working in it everyday.
Thank You Lord!!
Yes, God will send His Word to shine the light into our hearts, bringing illumination and understanding to help us take advantage of all Christ has done, and to help us see that He already healed us (I Peter 2:24). And the Holy Spirit helps us see that God already sent His Word and healed us. So do not let the enemy keep you in bondage with an expectation that your healing is coming from God, no, the Word (Jesus) already came and healed all your diseases.
