Blessing

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Psalm 67:1-2 Blessed To Make God Known

God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among the nations. Psalm 67:1-2

Being blessed is often seen as something best for self and not for the benefit of others. People hold onto their own personal blessings for their own good, not to bless others. Selfishness and pride rise to the top when things are going good and successful for most people. They begin to look down upon others, rather than passing those blessings along or showing where those blessings came from.

In this psalm, the writer asks God to be merciful and bless them and cause His face to shine upon them so that His ways and salvation may be known among the nations.

Any person who has done something wrong will seek mercy upon the one judging them. No one wants the books thrown at them in harsh judgement. Along with not desiring the harsh judgement, everyone wants to be blessed and have great favor. This is most often to just look good in the eyes of everyone else.

Believers in the church will often have this same problem with self pride. They want to look like a good Christian believer in the eyes of others in the church. Their purpose for looking good is not so that the world may know God and His ways.

God’s purpose for believers upon this earth is to make Jesus known among the nations. Jesus came to seek and save the lost and then passed that mission onto every believer so that none would be lost.

As God has mercy and blesses a person, that person must be willing to share what God has done with others, letting the whole world know of God’s great mercy and love.

God has been merciful in your own life in forgiving you of the sins you have committed against Him. He has also poured out many blessings, if you take time to see them and count all of them in your life. These things God has done is not for you to hoard them and make you look good, but so that you can show the world His mercy and way to salvation.

Each day you will have opportunities to share what God has done in your life with someone who needs to hear it. Let the whole world know.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will know God’s mercy in your life; that you will know God’s blessings in your life; that you will tell the world of the mercy and salvation God provides; and that God’s face will shine upon you.

Picture by Tim Zankert on Unsplash

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Nehemiah 8:6 Humble Worship

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Nehemiah 8:6

Being humble is something that is difficult for most people. The world tells everyone to hold their head up high and be proud of who they are. Then the world strives to be the god of their life and of others. People want to be the one that is in control and is the one that is worshipped and adored by others.

As Ezra blessed God the people agreed and bowed down with their faces to the ground to worship God.

Everywhere one looks it is always about self, how one looks, what one has, who one knows and other things about self. The individual is the most important and one is to look out for self. In the eyes of the world there is no right or wrong, but it is all about what self wants and desires. Pride is the number one feeling to have.

God is against pride because it is about self, removing Him and others from the equation. However, without God there is nothing. If God had not created everything, there would be nothing and man would not exist.

It is God who gives life. It is God who forgives. It is God who gives meaning to life. It is God who gives meaning during suffering. It is God who gives strength and abilities.

Instead of being filled with pride, believers are to be humble before God. They are to look down to the ground recognizing that they are nothing without the work of Jesus in their lives and humbly worship God from their hearts knowing it is all about God.

You may have done some great things in your life but remember that it was God who gave you the ability to do those things. Do not allow pride to build up and place yourself upon the throne.

Humble yourself and bow down to worship God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the giver of life, the One who forgives, the One in control. Allow God to be high and lifted up to be worshipped by all beginning with yourself. Let your entire life be completely all about God and what He has and is doing.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will recognize who God is; that you will humble yourself before God; that you will worship God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength; and that you will not allow self pride get in the way of loving, serving and worshipping God first.

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1 Samuel 19:10 Jealousy Kills

Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape. 1 Samuel 19:10

During times of extreme jealousy, people will try to destroy the one they are jealous of. Feelings that if one cannot have what he desires, then no one should be able to have it.

The world pushes people to desire and want things that someone else has. If one does not have it, he does not have life or happiness as he deserves.

Saul was jealous of David getting credit for killing more Philistines than he did. Saul tried to kill David with his spear, but David was able to get away.

Jealousy refuses to trust that God has given a person just what he needs. It is believing that he deserves something someone has and cause him to do whatever it takes to get it or destroy the other person.

Although most people will never try to physically kill another person over jealousy, many will try to destroy the person’s reputation or joy in what he has. Believers will try to make the person appear to be greedy and selfish because he has something desired.

Among the sins that God lists throughout the Bible, jealousy is one of them. As a sin it brings about destruction. It begins by bringing about the destruction of good relationships. Then it raises up unwarranted anger, causing the breakdown of anything good. In the end sin brings about death–death of relationships and death of the soul–God’s judgement.

Rather than being jealous, a believer should rejoice in what God has blessed someone else with. He must trust God for what God has blessed himself with and remove all jealousy from his heart.

Do not allow jealousy to fill your heart with rage and destroy all that is good in your life. Be willing to bless others more and more rather than tear them down out of a jealous heart.

Look at what God has blessed you with and realize that there are many things that you have that others do not have, just as others have things that you do not have. God will abundantly provide all that you need and more. You do not need what others may have.

Rejoice with others instead of bringing death and killing of good things.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that God will reveal any jealousy in your heart; that you will recognize how great God has blessed you; and that you will rejoice in how God is blessing others.

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Numbers 6:25 Give A Blessing

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; Numbers 6:25

The majority of people around the world do not place blessings upon others, except on to a few of their closest friends and family members. People are quick to call down curses upon others and desire that something bad occurs. Vengeance or revenge is desired over giving of a blessing.

Despising or hatred is very common among society. This comes from self-pride. Very few want to see others succeed above themselves, especially if they are enemies or have done something wrong.

God gave a blessing that the priests were to say over the Israelites. Part of that blessing was that God would make His face shine on them and be gracious to them.

Believers are very quick to fall into the same camp as the world in bringing down curses upon other people. This can even be found inside the church walls. People get jealous that God is blessing someone else and murmur curses under their breath.

God desires that all of His followers will show His tremendous love towards everyone else, including enemies. One of the greatest ways to do this is ask for God’s blessing in their lives.

Instead of asking God to strike someone, the believer is to ask God to be gracious towards them. Every believer should realize how gracious God was to himself. Any single sin was enough to bring down a death sentence upon one’s head, but God was gracious and loving and forgave that sin.

It is mercy, graciousness that draws a person to God in repentance. If God is only harsh, no one would turn towards Him at all. Giving a blessing will do a lot more than bringing down a curse upon even the vilest of enemies.

Every day you will meet a variety of people. Some will treat you wonderfully, while others will treat you badly. In each and every case you have a choice to make. You can choose to ask God to strike that person, or you can choose for God to be gracious towards them and bless them.

Think about how you would like to be treated. Would you want to be cursed or blessed?

Allow yourself to be filled with God’s great love and mercy and seek to bless those who harm you or curse you. Let God be in control of every situation and bless as He sees fit.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will bless people, rather than curse them; that you will know God’s graciousness towards you; and that God will shine His face upon you.