Thursday, February 21, 2008
May The Lord Bless You
In the days of old, the Lord told the priests to bless the people with a simple prayer. The priest would say to the people: The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Do you realize that God wants to bless you? He wants to shower blessings on us, his children. Just like a parent longs to hold their children and love on them, God desires that kind of interaction with us. He longs to hold us in his arms, love us and hug us, show his fatherly affection towards us and give us great gifts and other blessings. Parents love to give their children great gifts for their birthdays and Christmas and even at unexpected times – taking them to the store to let them pick out a book, a toy, a special treat. These are gifts of love, small blessings to let the child know they are loved. Our Heavenly Father loves to give gifts too!
“ Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting shadows.” -James 1:17 ncv
As any parent will tell you, sometimes kids misbehave and (as a result) lose out on special treats or blessings that had been planned for them. At these times, parents don’t enjoy punishing their children (often they were looking forward to the reward as much as the children). Nevertheless, they find it necessary to withhold the blessing in order to teach the children how to be obedient. The same is true of God.
All of God’s children act badly sometimes; it’s called sin. God cannot bless our life when we are in sin. It goes against who He is and everything he’s trying to teach us. Word to the wise: When you fail, seek forgiveness immediately! Don’t hold on to your sin. Let it go and repent as soon as you realize you have sinned. Get your heart back into the position where God can bless your life!
Hanging on to sin in our life has a dangerous consequence: it starts to change our hearts. Our passion and fire for the Lord becomes cold. It is during these times of unrepentant sin that God is forced to use more severe punishment to drive sin from our hearts. He does it because he loves us so much. It’s his way of encouraging us back to the spot where he can bless us!
Psalms 139 starts and ends by acknowledging the need for God to search us and know our hearts. This needs to be our prayer on a daily basis. This is how we ensure that sin doesn’t get its grip on our hearts.
There is a song that I love to listen to by Jonah 33, the lyrics are: “Search me, know me, try me and see every worthless affection hidden in me. All I’m asking for is that you cleanse me Lord. Create in me a heart that’s clean. Conquer the power of secret shame; come wash away the guilty stain of all my sin. Clothe me in robes of righteousness; cover my nakedness with grace. All of my life before you now, I humbly bring.”
When we are actively walking in obedience before the Lord, actively seeking his will and righteousness – we can boldly go before him asking God to bless us. So, I pray for you today: The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Word…
Pasta’ Alex
posted by Pasta' Alex # 3:22 PM  
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