Tim's Blessing Blog

You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock-the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.

Then all the people of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lor, and they will fear you.

The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity-in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground-in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

The Lord will open the heavens, the store-house of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.    Deut. 28:3-13

In the old covenant God blessed his people. He constantly set them up and told them how they could be blessed. It is amazing to me that this side of the cross people disavow God as desiring to bless his people. Somehow religion has convinced people that the covenant in Jesus’ blood is inferior to covenants in the blood of animals in regards to God blessing us in this life. So strange! God still wants to bless his people in this life and its continuation after…life everlasting.

GOD BLESS YOU.

Let’s revisit some things God has done for those He loved. Remember the how He delivered the children of Israel from slavery, kept them through the wilderness, and helped them vanquish their enemies. He was so faithful! The three Hebrew children were protected from a fiery furnace. Daniel was protected in the lion’s den.

And then there is Jesus, God incarnate. How He expressed His care!  He raised a child from the dead. He healed the centurion’s servant. He healed the demoniac. He fed the multitude. He healed the blind. He cared and acted…until His ultimate act of caring at the cross.

This God we serve loves us and acts accordingly. All those expressions of His love and provisions should encourage us. He did not stop doing great things. He still loves His people and acts accordingly. Do not be surprised if He does great things for you.

A child was born a king was given…

Jesus, our Lord was born and now He reigns in the hearts of men and women as our King.

But does he?

Jesus asked “Why do you call me Lord Lord and don’t do what I command?”

Let us, in this special season, obey our King. We often claim that Jesus is Lord without thinking that through.

Example…

When Jesus taught us how we are to love one another, and how we are to behave there were no “excepts” in His sermons. He did not say love your neighbor as yourself except if he or she does not vote like you…or if he or she is a fan of your hated sports team, etc. We often obey “except” in certain circumstances. When we “except” we are really saying that That team loyalty, or that political affiliation is more important than what Jesus says. The Bible has harsh things to say about putting other thing before God. The Bible calls it idolatry.

Please in this season of celebration let us obey the King. It is not a hardship, for every point of obedience carries its own blessing. Be blessed. Obey the King. He loves you and everything He wants you to do is Good. Merry Christmas!

 

So many of us were raised knowing about victories and defeat in war, in politics, in sports. We know about Christ’s victory over Satan by His birth, death, and resurrection. But what about us?

Everyday we are in battles. Everyday we can win victories. And these are real victories. Sometimes we underestimate what happens when we choose good over evil. Not only do we start ripple effects of good in our life and world but in the spiritual realm we make a difference. If we give in to evil we give our enemy and his spiritual forces inroads into our lives. As we do good we expand God’s influence in our lives, in our world, in our bodies, in our souls.

As we win these little battles, submitting to God and not evil we will be transformed. Little victories, everyday victories may not seem like much, but they are the stuff of which positive, victorious lives are made.

In this Holiday season enjoy the glory of the incarnation. And win those daily victories and enjoy being victorious. God bless you all!

 

So many go through the religious motions without having a real spiritual encounter with God. Indeed many church members believe that to be possible for certain special people…not them.

Our Christianity is to be real, a relationship with a living God. If that seems strange or unreal to you, you may be missing out big time. In this season in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we must go beyond the sentimental, the historical, and embrace the dynamic realities of a relationship with God.

After all, that was the point. Jesus came, lived, died and arose alive again so we could be reconciled with God, could have a personal dynamic relationship with a real living God.  So when my heathen friends say “Be Real!” meaning “Don’t believe in God.” I have to decline their view of “real”.

My life was transformed by a real God. He’s done real miracles for me. I’ll be real. My Christianity can’t be a Sunday only thing. It must be an every moment of every day thing, a real thing. If it is not, what’s the point? Do we have a relationship with the Almighty just to play religious games? Of course not. We have a relationship with the Almighty to give us the God kind of life which we can share with one another. Now that is real.

How wonderful to know a real God not just a theoretical one! He’s real. And we are Alive because of Him. Be sure to enjoy your relationship with a real, a wonderful God, this Holiday season.

I love the warm fuzzies of being in love. I love the feeling when I am surrounded by God’s love. But God’s love is more than feelings as wonderful as those are. In scripture I don’t recall any places where God’s love is mentioned without corresponding action.

In Psalms 136 we see a reminder list of things God did for Israel. They praise Him for who He is and what He’s done. Continually the couplet of God’s actions/God’s love go on and on. Read it. It is cool. The Hebrew word for love is sometimes translated as loving kindness. God loves. God acts.

In the New Testament according to John 3:16 God so loved He gave.  We should work on that. If we say we love there should be corresponding actions. Be like our Father love in deed and truth.

Have a WONDERFUL Holiday season.

What we look at and think about affects our emotions and our action or inaction.

Let’s consider a Bible story as an example…

God delivered the Israelites out of slavery and promised them new wonderful land of their own, one full of good things. As God led them through the wilderness away from their place of slavery, the Israelites looked around them and complained about not having food. God provided food. They complained about not having water. God gave them water. He delivered them from their problems and their enemies.. and yet they complained. When they reached the promised land and scouted it, they again complained. As I read about this I just shook my head. God had been with them the whole way and was leading them towards a better place. I started to think badly of God’s people until God told me that I do the same thing. What!?

He told me that we all have periods of wilderness between when we pray and start believing for the promises to be fulfilled and their fulfillment. And we, like the Children of Israel, look around at our circumstances or think about what we don’t have yet and complain, at least to ourselves.

The Children of Israel should have focused not on circumstances, discomforts or even promises yet to be realized, but should have focused on something else…someone else. God was with them. The whole time they were focused on what they did not have they could have been focusing on Who they had, the great and gracious Lord. It is a lesson for us. We already have something greater than any answered prayer. We have a loving God with us…constantly desiring to bless us. Focus on the BEST. He’ll see to the rest.

 

 

 

During this season we are often encouraged to find things for which to be thankful. As Christians we should have no problem in this. How can we count our many blessings? Think of it! We were forgiven our sins and given new lives.

His righteousness was imputed to us. His nature was imparted to us. Yes. Let us be thankful!

We have access to God and His favor. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.  We have a blood covenant with God Almighty! Is it hard to be thankful?

We are part of a family that spans the continents and the ages…this earth and heaven. It is not hard to be thankful!

We are blessed in this life. And we are blessed with eternal life. Could we be thankful? Just for a day? How about “ever thankful”? Should it be difficult for us to do as 1 Th. 5:18 says to always give thanks?

Above are listed some of our spiritual blessings but there are more…much more, for which we should be thankful every day. Some are so much a part of us we take them for granted. Our senses are a daily blessing. Perhaps we are smelling the aroma of a freshly baked turkey or listening to beautiful vocals. So much we are blessed with that we take for granted! Let us be thankful.

Our society encourages us not to be thankful but always grasping for more. So much of this is driven by marketing. If we do not have the newest, greatest, most modern this or that…how can we be thankful?

But we Christians are of a new nation, a new ethnic group are to model a different culture, a culture of Thanksgiving. Be thankful this holiday season, but continue being thankful throughout the coming year. If you have problems in this area, pray. God has given me a spirit of thanksgiving. That in itself is a blessing.

You are blessed! Be thankful! And have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

This post is not a Bible lesson but a short reminder about words. Remember the little saying we used as children? “Sticks and stones may break my bones but word will never hurt me.” Those of us who have been verbally abused know this is untrue. Words have power. They can help and they can hurt. How many times an encouraging word has helped get a person through tough times! How many times have word of hate and hopelessness sent persons on a downward emotional spiral!

But there are other WORDS…anointed WORDS…God’s words and they have incredible life changing power. As Christians we have access to  words that help and anointed WORDS. Remember even the most lowly Christian can affect other lives positively…can even revolutionize them. Consider your words. You have more ability than you may know.

Study what the Bible says about words. For instance John 1;1, and more.

Some say words are not important, but how can this be when John 1:1 says that Jesus was the Word of God.  Think of this. Words are powerful and the WORD is the Almighty.

 Grace and Peace to you in the coming week.

We serve a great and powerful God. Awed by His greatness some say that we can’t know Him. How can we know a God as Revelations 1:9 says, who is The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Almighty? God wants us to know Him as much as is possible considering our limitations. We know His presence but he wants us to cognitively know Him too.  He did not give you a brain and then encourage you not to use it in regards to Him. He has revealed Himself in scripture by what and who He says He is.

We should not view this as an overwhelming list, but each as a door into which we can look to know Him better.

He is…

Savior Is. 53:5, Judge Is. 11:3, Lawgiver Is. 42:4, Sin Bearer Is. 53:6, Prince of Peace Is. 9:6, The Soul Winner John 4, the Bread of Life John 6, The Great Physician John 5, The True Vine John 15, The Good Shepherd John 10, The King John 12, The Servant John 13, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Rev. 5:5, The Lamb Rev. 17:14….and so much more in scripture.

There are the covenant names of God. There are more of the I Am sayings of Christ. In Isaiah there are more names describing Him. Look at these as facets of a many faceted One. As you look into each one prayerfully you will get to know our  Great and Almighty God more and more. And as you get to know Him you will be transformed.