What the Bible says about Blessings
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Jacob laid his hands on his grandsons' heads to confer God's blessing upon them. David considered God's hand upon him as a blessing and comfort. Jesus blessed little children by laying His hands on them.
Martin G. Collins
Basic Doctrines: The Laying On of HandsRelated Topics: Basic Doctrines: Laying on of Hands | Blessing of Jacob | Blessing of Little Children | Blessings | God's Blessing | Laying On of Hands
Think of this in its metaphorical, spiritual intent. When God comes into our lives, He begins to bless us. He will bless us in ways that we have not been blessed before. The Israelites in this situation were not blessed with the liberties and the prosperity that true liberty could bring. Their blessings and prosperity were going to be physical, and thus, God is using physical examples of how blessings will come into their lives.
Now what about those that come into our lives? Sometimes the blessings will be physical to some of us, and perhaps prosperity will come, but the main thing that He wants with us is the relationship between us and Him. He is looking for it to grow and develop until we are blessed spiritually by becoming like Him, allowing Him to create Himself in us so that we reveal to Him and to others His characteristics in our lives. He is telling us that blessings like these will come.
John W. Ritenbaugh
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Three)
When we give God back the tithe that is His to begin with, He blesses us abundantly spiritually and physically. Notice that God says He commands tithes so "that there may be food in My house" (Malachi 3:10). Tithes are primarily used to feed His people spiritually! If we support the work God is doing through His faithful ministers, He promises to bless us far above anything we could imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21)!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
TithingRelated Topics: Blessing | Blessings | Tithe Intended for God's Representative | Tithing | Tithing to Ensure Spiritual Food | Tithing, Principles of
By paying to God what we owe Him (that is, His tithes), He rewards us with blessings. Christians often find their third tithe years to be abundant with all types of blessings and invaluable lessons learned. These are not always material blessings, however. Storing up spiritual treasures in heaven is far more important than physical prosperity. God does not promise to make us wealthy but that our relationship with Him will prosper. Such eternal blessings are far greater than any temporary physical blessings we could receive.
Martin G. Collins
Tithing: Third TitheRelated Topics: Blessing | Blessings | Blessings and Cursings | Relationship with God | Tithe, Third | Tithing
Solomon is teaching us that now is the time to work with care, energy, and purpose to get the most and the best from life and to prepare for the hereafter. His basic reason is that the clock is ticking. Time is running out.
We let our requests for what we think we need from God be made known to Him with ease. In other words, they are at the forefront of our minds, and it is very likely that before we actually get down on our knees—or however or wherever we pray—we have been thinking about what we are going to request of God for a long time. We have many reasons to give to God why we want or need what we are asking Him for.
Thanksgiving in prayer requires prior preparation too. It is not something most of us tend to work at with all of our might. This is because of the human proclivity to merely accept things—especially things that we might consider as blessings—as due us. In other words, in some cases we go to God with the thought that we deserve it. This attitude is there, and this is what makes so many of our prayers nothing more than "the gimmes." Other vital elements that are needed to make an effective prayer before God are often overlooked, forgotten, and neglected, and sometimes never used, or maybe they are just brushed over in the rush to get to whatever we want to ask Him for. Nevertheless, true thanksgiving—an expression of sincere gratitude for what we have been given undeserved—needs to be a part of every prayer.
John W. Ritenbaugh
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Three)Related Topics: Blessings | Gratitude | Preparation for Future | Redeeming the Time | Thanksgiving | Time Management
As Christ passes by, the two blind men have the ultimate opportunity, and they take advantage of it. He did not pass by every day. If the two men had not pursued Him for healing at once, they may never have had another opportunity to be healed. Spiritually, the same is true for everyone. God opens doors of opportunity for salvation and service, but very few take Him up on it: "For many are called but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). A person must pass through those doors quickly, or they will close and the opportunity will be forever squandered (Matthew 25:6-12; Revelation 3:20). A Christian may also miss rendering service to others because he fails to take advantage of opportunities. With opportunities come blessings, and if an opportunity is missed, so are the blessings.
If we want blessings from Christ, we must follow Him. The blind men desired physical sight and so followed Him. Those who are indifferent in their faithfulness to Christ will have trouble receiving any blessing from Him, for He treats His followers differently from those who do not follow Him. At times, even a church member will complain of a lack of God's blessings in his life, but it may be that he has not followed Christ diligently and recognized the abundance of spiritual blessings he has received. God even goes so far as to warn His ministers that, if we fail to take to heart His warning about due diligence in serving Him with integrity, He will curse us (Malachi 2:1-2).
Christ calls, "Follow Me!" (Matthew 4:19; 8:22; Luke 18:22), but following is not easy because, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34).
Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing Two Blind Men (Part One)Related Topics: Blessings | Diligence | Following Christ | Healing of Blind Men | Healing of Two Blind Men | Seeking Blessings | Self Denial | Spiritual Blindness | Taking up Cross
Mary's cousin Elizabeth is inspired to recognize that Mary's baby is not just an ordinary baby, and she calls both Mary and her unborn Son "blessed." Blessed literally means "to speak well of." It signifies celebrating with praises and invoking blessings upon a person. The New Testament uses it frequently, sometimes in relation to Christ, but often in relation to inanimate objects such as fish and loaves of bread. The Amplified Bible translates it as "favored of God." Again, nothing in the wording indicates that Mary is worthy of worship.
Mary is not the only woman to be given the title of "blessed" in the Bible. In the Song of Deborah, Jael—the woman who invited the fleeing Sisera into her tent, encouraged him to sleep, and then drove a tent peg through his skull—is accorded this same honor: "Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed is she among women in tents" (Judges 5:24). Here, she is lauded as "blessed"—even "most blessed"—but there is no record of a shrine dedicated to her or of anybody worshipping her. She is simply recognized with a very honorable mention for the part she played in carrying out God's plan.
David C. Grabbe
Is Mary Worthy of Worship?Related Topics: Blessed | Blessing | Blessings | Honor | Mary | Mary Worship | Mary, God's Blessing upon | Worship of Mary
Jesus takes the opportunity of this miracle to call His disciples into a Teacher - student relationship with Him. He figuratively catches Peter in His net before commanding him to "catch men" for the Kingdom of God. Immediately, Peter, Andrew, James, and John leave their boats and nets behind and follow Him. They now understand that Jesus is more than capable of supplying their every need.
We are to apply this lesson in our own lives. When Christ speaks, it is always about obedience to God's way of life. In this case, His teaching affected the disciples' livelihoods. Worship and work form major parts of our lives, too, and in both we must consistently maintain righteousness.
Had Peter failed to obey Christ's command, he would have failed to experience both the miracle and the resulting blessing. No one serves God without being compensated for his service. When we serve, sacrifice, testify, or stand for Him, He will suitably reward our efforts. When God asks us to invest our time, effort, talent, or anything else, we must not resent the opportunity. No one pays dividends on an investment as abundantly as God does - "good measure, pressed down, and running over will be put into your bosom" (Luke 6:38).
Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: The Great Catch of FishRelated Topics: Blessing | Blessings | Disciple | Disciples, Making | Disciples, Role of | Disciples, The | Discipleship | Discipleship, Cost of | Dragging imagery | Fish as Metaphor | Fishers of Men | Jesus Christ's Miracles | Miracles | Miracles and Faith | Miracles of Jesus Christ | Obedience | Obeying | Sacrifice | Sacrificial Attitude | Sacrificial Giving
Most of us do not spend our time speaking blessings continually or pronouncing curses without end; our words and lives are spent somewhere in the middle. We may be nice most of the time, yet on occasion our words will fly out in anger or defensiveness.
No one likes to think of himself as an uncaged brute, wreaking havoc, hurt, and destruction on his fellow man by the words he utters. Poets have long expressed themselves with terms of love and adoration. Great orators stir men and women to courage and confidence. No individual truly wants to cut his loved ones down with his words as with a sharp scythe. James makes it clear, though, that we each possess the ability to effect such destruction on each other's lives.
Staff
Are You Sharp-Tongued? (Part One)Related Topics: Blessings | Blessings and Cursings | Cursing | Sharp Tongue | Tongue | Tongue, Control of | Tongue, Taming the | Words, Controlling our | Words, Power of