THE POWER OF THE BLESSING (Part 2)
Kenneth Copeland Ministries
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“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
BLESSED shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
BLESSED, shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
BLESSED shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
BLESSED shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
BLESSED shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out.”
“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
The Lord will command THE BLESSING on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will BLESS you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Deut. 28:1-8
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Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.’ So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God created He then, male and female he created them. Then God BLESSED them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the flesh in the sea, the birds in the sky, and the animals that scurry along the ground.” Genesis 1:26-28
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“THE BLESSING of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22
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“Bless the O Lord, O my soul , and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:2-5
Talk about these to yourself. Let the truth about the power of THE BLESSING become more real to you than anything else in your life.!
The Egyptian army behind them and the Red Sea before them. What could the Isralites do? If they went forward they would drown if they went back it meant slavery again. We all face those times in life where the past is coming up behind us and it seems as if we have no place to go. Moses gave the Istalites some good advice that would help us during those times in life.
Moses said unto the people, “Do not, be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace”. Exodus 14:13-14
Do not be afraid. Over and over in the Bible we are told, “do not be afraid, fear not”. God knew the many opportunities we would have to fear or be afraid. Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”.
Stand still. The words “stand still” mean “to position yourself, to place yourself, and be ready to move forward. Psalms 46:10 “Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God”.
The Lord will fight for you. God will go before us and untangle the snares the enemy has planned for us and they will scatter. Deuteronomy 28:7 “The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways”.
Hold your peace. Don’t worry, no more trying to figure everything out. This is a time of trusting God to make a way for you. “Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”.
One day as Jesus was standing by the sea of Galilee the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He noticed two boats tied up left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. Luke 5:1-11
It takes faith, obedience and trust to push out to the deep. The first thing Jesus asked Simon was to go out a little from the shore. He had the need of the boat to teach the people from. Then Jesus asks Simon, “Push out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch”. A carpenter turned teacher was asking him to go into the deep water. Simon had just fished all night and it was not a successful fishing trip. Simon said, “I will because you have said so”.
The Scripture tells us when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
Let us get out of the shallow water and push out to the deep. Shallow water does not take much faith after all it is ankle knee and still water. It is a place of comfort. We see what is beneath our feet and what is ahead of us.
Psalms 107:23-24 Some went out on the sea in ships; Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep.
You want to see the wonders of God – go to the deep waters. Faith-Trust-Obedience opens the door to the wonderful promise of God!
SEE HIS SUPPLY!
Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right was withered…And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Luke 6:6,10
It must have drawn many looks–some curious, some sympathetic, some possibly of disgust. For the owner and all who say it, the withered hand must have spelled “challenging”, “Difficult” and very likely, “impossible to heal”.
But where others saw the witheredness, Jesus saw only God’s supply of healing and wholeness available to the man. That’s why He said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” Jesus didn’t see the lack others saw. He only saw the Father’s superabundant supply of grace all over that withered hand. He saw the Father’s heart to heal and bless the man!
Today, don’t focus on the pain, symptoms or the doctor’s negative report. Whether it’s an aching back, ailing heart or barren womb, see His healing power enveloping your body. See His grace supplying life and health to you!
Joseph Prince
Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant and boundless mercy has caused us to be born again [that is, to be reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] to an ever-living hope and confident assurance through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3
If Jesus had not risen from the dead-if Jesus is not alive today, then everything He did was worthless. If Jesus Christ is not alive, then we have no salvation, there is no hope for the world and we have no promise of eternal life.
But the good news HE LIVES because he lives we have a living hope. The hope we have is not just for an eternal home but a hope to live life in abundance on this earth.
-How sweet to hold a newborn baby And feel the pride and the joy that he gives Oh but greater still, the calm assurance We can face uncertain days because He lives And because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth a living just because He lives-
God of the Valleys Too
Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they…Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “the Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” I Kings 20:23, 28
In the darkest moments of our lives, we often feel like God is a thousand miles away. God is with us on the mountaintops, we think, but in the valleys, we’re all alone.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In I Kings 20, the Syrian king was told that Syria had fought Israel on the hills and lost because Israel’s God was the God of the hills. So if they fought the Israelites in the valleys, they would win. Of course, the misinformed Syrians lost again because God is a God of the valleys too!
My friend, there’s nowhere you can go where you’re not covered by God’s mercy and grace. Whether you are in the pink of health or terribly ill in the valley of the shadow of death, He is with you and will never leave you nor forsake you. So don’t lose hope. The God of the valleys is your strength. He will uphold you with His righteous right hand and deliver you from your enemies!
Joseph Prince
“Let go and let God” is a catchy phrase. I have used this phrase in sermons just to get a point across. I have never read this actual phrase in the Bible though.
As believers should we just confess “let go and let God”. Then do nothing, say nothing, feel nothing and allow circumstances to just take over however they may. Absolutely not!
As humans control is the hardest thing to give up because without it we feel helpless. Only when we choose to “let it go and let God” do we truly find freedom. Maybe it would be better to say, “Letting go and let God.” This is something we will be learning as long as we are alive on this earth. We want things in our time, our way.
The word tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.
Only One Truth can Change You!
In the story of the prodigal son, the critical elder brother related to his father based on his performance, as did the Prodigal Son. One believed he deserved his inheritance and the other knew he was undeserving of ever being a son again.
While one son boasted he had kept and obeyed his father’s laws and commandments, the other son confessed his sins and failures.
You aren’t accepted by God based on how holy and good you have been or rejected by God based on how sinful you have been. It isn’t your performance, positive or negative, that earns you anything from God. it is all about the Father loving you as you are. The incredible thing about God’s love is it never leaves you in the same condition it found you.
Ed and Laurie Elliot
Pastor Jerry: Reconciled to God
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Rom. 5:5,11)
About the year 1515 a young priest in Germany, Martin Luther, was having a Bible study in the book of Romans and saw the true meaning of the Romans message given by Paul. It was this message, “the just shall live by his faith.” This was a rebirth of the original teachings of Scripture. Believers were free from all the man-made doctrines that had taken hold of the church during 15 centuries of time.The revelation was, it is not what we do for God that saves us, but rather what God did for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins that we might be reconciled to God. It is what we commonly call being “saved by Grace”.
Grace is not just having our sins forgiven, but it gives us power over the power of sin in our lives. Grace makes us as though we never sinned. It wipes out all the charges against us and gives us a new heart in the image of God to reflect God in our lives. We will never perform in a perfect way while living on this earth but Jesus presents us to the Father faultless by His own blood which was shed for our sins. When Jesus said “it is finished” as He hung on the cross it wasn’t that His life was over but that everything needed for man’s salvation was complete. Paul summed it up to the Phillipian jailer by saying, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved”. My friend, that hasn’t changed.
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