Statements of Faith - Blessed By God

 

EPHESIANS 1:3

I am Blessed by The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed me in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly realms. 

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from The Father of lights, with Whom there is no variableness (change), nor shifting shadow.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

1 By our faithful obedience to God's Word, He will set us on high above all nations of the earth.

2 We are to pay attention, be attentive to, God's Word and seek to know (with understanding and spiritual wisdom) and obey His will in every situation and decision.

 3 Wherever we live and whatever our work, it is blessed

4 Our children, our gardens, our livestocks will be blessed

5 God will supply all our needs

6 We will be blessed when we enter our homes and blessed when we leave them

7 We will have victory over our enemies and prosper in all we do; our enemies will fear us and our God, endeavouring to stay in our good graces

8 Our storehouses/barns/accounts will be prosper that we may bless others

9 We will be established as God's holy people, IF we keep His commandments and walk in His Way

10 They will know us by The Name of our God and be in awe of who we are 

11 Reiterates verse four 

12 We will prosper so well that many nations will borrow from us but we will never have need to borrow from them

13 We will rise above our enemies in the power and Promise of God, being the head (wise leaders); moving upward (as one does when mountain climbing, for example) but never downward.

14 As long as we remain in Him and follow Him, not allowing ourselves to be distracted by what tries to draw our attention away from Him, we will obtain every blessing He has herein promised His holy people. 

 In Christ, Who is God's Word in the flesh, I am forever truly blessed, indeed. In Christ, I am forgiven of my sins and redeemed by His blood, which He shed on Calvary. 

 In Christ, I am made whole and complete through His sanctification process through God's Holy Spirit. In Christ, I am not alone, nor will I ever be lonely, for He is my all in all. 

 In Christ, I am blessed beyond measure because He loves me. In Christ, I am God's adopted child because I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

  In Christ I live and Christ lives in me. 

The Cup of Blessing

 

The Cup of Blessing

PS 16:5

LORD, You are my Portion and my Cup of Blessing; You hold my future.

1 COR 10:16

The Cup of Blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

What is in the Cup of Blessing that we should desire to drink of it? What was in Christ’s Cup? 

PS 116:13

I will lift the Cup of Salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

PS 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my Cup overflows.

The first sip we take is BETRAYAL. Betrayal is bitter when tasted. It dissolves loyalties and gives a false empowerment to the ones who have prepared to betray another person for whatever reason. People who have been with us will turn us into the authorities. Plus betrayal always involves some kind of reward. Judas Iscariot, the treasurer of Jesus’ following, was given thirty pieces of silver to betray The Teacher he followed. Money was more dear to him than people and greed won out over loyalty. 

Judas made the decision to betray Jesus before the Last Supper took place. But it was during the Last Supper that he followed through on his volunteering to betray Jesus. This wasn’t a random amount of money. It was an insulting value of services rendered for a prophet’s work. Zechariah 11:12,13; Matthew 27:9. 

The second portion of blessing in our cups is COMMUNION with Christ. Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. COMMUNION is joint partnership, a sharing in of the work that is to be done. COMMUNION is fellowship with Christ, with God and with other saints. We cannot have communion with the world and the world’s many beliefs and gods. Nor can we have communion with unbelievers. 

COMMUNION requires steadfast loyalty: no matter how tough it gets we remain in Christ and He has promised to remain in us. John 15:4. 

COMMUNION with Christ demands Faithfulness on our part. Not just blind loyalty - following because we are compelled to do so - but eyes and ears open to the hearing of The Word of God and the receiving thereof. Job 42:5; Romans 10:17. 

COMMUNION demands holy living, a righteous lifestyle in Christ through The Holy Spirit on us. 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 1:15. 

COMMUNION demands loving obedience to The Truth. 1 Peter 1:22; 2 John 1:6; Deuteronomy 10:12,13. 

As we see the bottom of our cup, we are aware there are dregs in this cup. Dregs are the bitterest to swallow. They are the sediments or grounds left in the cup. In a societal sense dregs refers to some people as “worthless, the worst kind of people, the ‘undesirables’. This is our drink. 

We have been deemed UNDESIRABLE. For our insolence in rejecting the demands of this world, we will be hated: some of us will be arrested, judged, punished and even killed. Matthew 24:9-13; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:10-19. 

Jesus was an UNDESIRABLE to Israel’s religious leaders and council leaders. Isaiah 53:1-8; Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; John 18:19-24; 1 Peter 2:21-25. 

We will remain silent, as Christ before us remained silent in the presence of His accusers. The Lord’s Silence: Isaiah 53:7; Mark 14:61. Our Silence: Hebrews 12:3; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 3:9.   

And, yet, it is brought to our remembrance by The Holy Spirit of God that the Cup of Blessing is ours to drink by choice and affiliation. We choose to believe God. We choose to believe and obey God’s Word. We choose to follow Christ Jesus wherever He leads us. We choose to love one another the way Christ loves us: unswervingly, unconditionally, unchangingly. We choose to drink this Cup. 

For in this Cup is our salvation: Psalm 116:13. In this Cup is our redemption. In this Cup is eternal life. For in this Cup is Christ: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Having drunk this Cup, though our bodies cease to exist, our soul lives forever; we will not taste death. “When we draw our last breath here, we draw our first breath in heaven.” ~ Rev. Billy Graham. 

And when we drink from our cup faithfully, our cup overflows into the lives of those around us. With whomever we come into contact with the contents of our cup is made known to them. Psalm 23:5. 

It is a Joy to drink from our Cup of Blessing. For the rewards of following Christ are to be enjoyed and shared. But woe to the people who drink of this Cup unworthily! For they will be punished for their arrogance and judged by God for their unfaithfulness. 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. 

Are you ready to take hold of your Cup, lift it to your mouth and drink of your Cup of Blessing? You know your own heart. Only you can know if you are ready to drink of it. 

These songs went through me as I studied this morning:

 FILL MY CUP - Andrew Ripp (I've been singing this one since it came out)

WE ARE BLESSED - All Sons & Daughters (this one was on mental repeat)

MY PORTION - Isla Vista Worship (You must know by now how much I love this song)

 

Blessed By The Maker

March 2

All The Days of Creation

March 3

Blessed By The Lord

March 4

Blessed By The Faithful God

March 5

Servants Bless The Maker

March 6

Maker Determines Level of Wealth

March 7

The Maker of Constellations

The Blessed_February 24 thru February 29

Monday February 24

Blessed and Holy

Tuesday February 25

Blessed Prophecy Keeper

Wednesday February 26

Blessed Entrance

Thursday February 27

Blessed Blessers

Friday February 28

Blessed and Prospered

Saturday February 29

Blessed In His Presence

The Blessed _February 17 thru February 22

Monday February 17

Blessed Endurers

Tuesday February 18

Blessed Seeker

Wednesday February 19

Blessed Word-Keepers

Thursday February 20

Blessed Laborers

Friday February 21

Blessed Garment-Keeper

Saturday February 22

Blessed Called to Supper

The Blessed: February 10-15

Monday, February 10

Tuesday, February 11

Wednesday, February 12

Thursday, February 13

Friday, February 14

Saturday, February 15

Blessed Reckoning

BLESSED RECKONING
Romans 4:8
(Berean Study Bible)
Blessed s the man whose sin will never count against him.
NASB
"BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."
KJV
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“And blessed is the man to whom God will not reckon his sins.”

All of these verses are saying the same thing, for though the wording is different, the root meaning is the same: logizomai which means

to take an inventory
reason with
number among
account
reckon
logical decision

Now, this word logizomai has its roots in logos, which we understand to mean "expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Son".
How beautiful to know that when the sin which we have committed against God no longer is counted by Him against us! He does not see the forgiven sin due to the blood of His Son Jesus Christ covering that forgiven sin. It's gone. 

Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Blessed am I, for the sin that covered me will not be counted against me!

Blessed Repenter(s)

BLESSED REPENTER(S)
ROMANS 4:7
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, 

and whose sins are covered.
To be envied are we whose iniquities (lawless deeds: utter disregard for God's Written and Living WORD) are forgiven, and whose sins (self-empowered nature, sinful deeds, failure to hit the mark) are covered (pardoned).

Blessed of God Series Feb 4-Feb 8

MONDAY FEBRUARY 3

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 4

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 5

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8

Blessed of God Series-Jan 27 Through Feb 1

Blessed Tithers

MALACHI 3:10, 12
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

All blessings from God come with prerequisites. In order for God's people to receive this blessing, their tithes had to be put into God's storehouse, the treasury room in the sanctuary.
When this is done properly, God opens the windows of heaven and pours out a blessing upon His chosen and called people.
ISAIAH 44:3
"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, 
And floods upon the dry ground:
I will pour out My Spirit upon thy seed,
And My blessing upon thine offspring."

Then every nation will see that this holy nation is Blessed of the LORD. 
This is the last Blessing Of God that we see in the Old Testament. 

Blessed At the End of Days

BLESSED AT THE END OF DAYS

Daniel 12:12
Blessed is he who waits (on the LORD), and come to (attains, reaches) the end of the 1,335 days.
This blessing is specific. It is only for the people who have chosen to follow Christ after the Church, the bride of Christ, has been removed from the earth.

But it is even more specific than that, because while some will come to the knowledge of saving grace after the rapture takes place, not all will make it to the end of the 1,335 days.

Blessed Trusters

Jeremiah 17:7
Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose Hope the LORD is. 

I decided to use this blue cross with the water across it because of the next verse which emphasizes this one visually: Jeremiah 17:8
"For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit."
A tree planted by waters that is not afraid or anxious but continues to be fruitful even in the hard times.
The cross is a tree of humiliation, for only those designated criminals by the government were hung on them to die. But Jesus Christ was not a criminal and though the government refused to condemn Him, they hung Him on a cross anyway, by giving into the crowd's demands, "His blood be upon us and our children!" Matthew 27:24-25.
And, truly, when He died on the cross for the sins of the people, with the weight of sin upon His shoulders, that declaration was fulfilled in every one who believes that Jesus Christ is LORD and died for them.
BLESSED am I for trusting in the LORD, He Is my Hope.

And the water? Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Being born again is when the Word of God washes the sin from our hearts and the Spirit makes new the soul of the believer. 
It is not something we could ever accomplish in a thousand lifetimes: Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." and again in
1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 "We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us...And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words...The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." 
Only the power of God through His Word and His Spirit can change a person's heart and destination. But we must each make that individual choice on our own. We can choose to believe God and receive eternal life through Jesus Christ or we can choose not to believe and then receive death twice over and eternal damnation from God. 
I choose to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. I choose to follow Christ where He leads me. I choose to be filled with God's Holy Spirit, and am thankful God chose to fill me and refill me, for when my well begins to run dry, I know I can turn to Him again and again to be filled and refilled that the Spirit of God would not be quenched within me. 
I choose to live a life pleasing to God; a life of obedience and humility; a life of trust and hope. My life. My choice. 

Blessed Who Wait For Him

Isaiah 30:18
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:15
Consider also that our Lord's patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.


Isaiah 26:8
Yes, we wait for You, O LORD; we walk in the path of Your judgments. Your name and renown are the desire of our souls.

I used this shade of blue as it was the closest to sapphire blue I could make. There are two verses in Ezekiel that describe the throne of the LORD as being sapphire or lapis lazuli (depending on which version of the Bible you read). And while sapphire comes in more colors than blue, I have always been drawn to blue sapphires. 
Ezekiel 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. And, again, in Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

Blue is the color of grace. It is the shade of bruising upon Christ's body and face as He was beaten in the courtyards before being whipped 39 times across His back. Blue, cerulean blue, is one of the colors of thread used in the curtains in the tabernacle which separated the holy of holies from the rest of the tabernacle rooms. 

So, when I picture a sapphire throne on which The LORD sits, that is the color I see. And why does He sit on that particular throne at this time? He is seated at the right hand of The Father, interceding on behalf of His people. Why do we need interceding? We are not perfect, we are sinners, all of us. We make mistakes, errors in judgment and fall short of the glory of God. 

We needed a Savior who would know that we are feeble and unable to make it on our own, so God sent us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to live and example for us, and die in our stead that we would not die in our sins. After Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave in that two day period in which He was sealed in the tomb, God rolled away the stone and Jesus walked out of the grave, having risen from the dead, giving all who believe this eternal life through Him. 

And after a few days, Jesus ascended into heaven to be with His Father again, waiting until that day when God says, "Go". "Go get Your church, Your people and bring her home." 

Isaiah 25:9


And in that day it will be said, "Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

Blessed Is Egypt Assyria & Israel

In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the earth. 
The LORD of Hosts will BLESS them, saying, BLESSED be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, Israel My inheritance.
ISAIAH 19:24-25

Studying through this I see that the names of these countries are all people and their descendants. We know Israel is Jacob and Jacob's descendants. But how many of us knew that Egypt is Ham (a son of Noah) and Ham's descendants? Or that Assyria is Ashur, Shem's second son? Granted I have read through my Bible several times, but I had not realize this part before. And I love the study of naming.

When the 'that day' happened and will happen, the Truth of the Word of God would forever change some of the people who lived in these three countries. Why only some? Not everyone would believe in the God of Israel. But those who do are forever blessed.

• The Name of The Lord would be their refuge
• The Word of The Lord would be their strength
• The Truth of The Lord would be their blessing

All nations involved would in turn be able to bless the lands around them. When refuges from Israel would flee to Assyria and Egypt, they would bring the gospel with them. 

Have you ever thought about how God removes idol worship from a person's heart? He doesn't just yank it out and leave a gaping hole. No, first the hearts have to be shown that the idols are useless. And how does He do that? God causes great disasters to happen and when people turn to their idols for help which never comes, they turn to God, who will be their help, their deliverer. 

But God delivers us from so much more than disasters of the land: The Lord Is Deliverer (2 Samuel 22:2) YAHWEH-PALAT. 

God delivers us from the punishment for sin which is death. He did this great deliverance through the obedience of His only begotten Son who died on the cross in our place: Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Isaiah 53 describes the awful ways in which God's only begotten Son was treated by us, the people He came to save. Isaiah 53:5 "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; And with His stripes we are healed." 

His stripes could only be upon His back through His back being torn apart by a whip, a leather strap which had pieces of bone and lead  intertwined in the leather braids. The whip was made of several straps of such combinations, not just one. Picture that and think on these things. Our Deliverer took a beating none of us would have survived and still was made to carry His cross through the city and up the hill to where He would be crucified and die. For us. Thank You, Jesus, for taking my place in death. 

But God wasn't finished. Beyond the cross was the grave and Between the cross and the grave was death and hell. For our sins were upon Christ Jesus and with these sins on Him He must first need to enter hell and conquer that. Then He arose from death, conquering that. God rolled away the stone and Jesus walked out of the grave, conquering that, too. Woo-hoo! He is risen!! 

Our Deliverer. God made a Way, a high Way, in which all who believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son who died on the cross and walked out of the grave may traverse. In that day.

In that day in which you believe, you, too, will walk in the Way.