I will try to make this as simple as possible.
Is what the dictionary says an accurate definition of what it means to be blessed?
No.
For the purpose of this article and your understanding, let's find out what the bible says.
But first...
We need to start where we establish God's word as the final authority and not our experiences or the experiences of our area of influence.
Nothing will ever be as powerful as the gospel.
Although this is perfectly true, if you do not believe it, you will continually conform to the world instead of standing on God's word.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you can approve the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
A true believer is transformed by God's word.
Never underestimate the power of renewing your mind to God's word daily.
From the part of Africa where I come from, almost everyone believes that you can be cursed even when you have confessed Jesus as Lord.
This is so untrue.
If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life, you are blessed even if you don't believe it.
If you have made Jesus Lord of your life, you are blessed even if others don't believe it.
If you have made Jesus Lord of your life, you are blessed even if your father, mother, brother, sister, pastor, boss or neighbor curses you.
You are blessed because Jesus is more powerful than anyone else.
What does the bible say about you?
Let us pick five scriptures for the purpose of this study:
#1
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
This scripture is Paul talking to the believer in Christ Jesus who lived in Ephesus.
If you are a believer who lives in Lagos, New York or Paris, this scripture applies to you too. You are blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
#2
Galatians 3:13-14
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
See the first verse:
God redeemed us from the curse of the law.
God is speaking to the Christians who live in Galatia. The curse of the law being talked about here is the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28.
If you go to Deuteronomy, you will first encounter the blessings that would come to the Jews if they obeyed the voice of God (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).
Then afterwards, the curses that would come to the Jews if they disobeyed the voice of God and did not hearken unto Him (Deuteronomy 28: 15-68).
Guess what? The Jews were unable to keep this covenant and enjoyed the goodness of God when they kept the covenant and suffered the curses when they were unable to keep covenant.
Jesus came to redeem the one who believes in Christ Jesus by buying them back into a new covenant, one where they did not have to suffer curses because He paid for the punishment God needed to mete out for sin when He died on the cross of Calvary.
To redeem.
It means to buy back.
As though you were purchasing one who was a slave so that they could now live free of the bondage the law put them in.
The second verse verse 14, says that Christ took the curse so that the blessings promised to Abraham would come to Gentiles in Christ Jesus.
Does this sound familiar?
Gentiles in Christ Jesus means you and I.
How do we receive this blessing?
By faith.
So that by faith, we might receive the promise of the Spirit...
Faith helps the believer receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, and in essence everything else available in Christ Jesus.
#3
Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
This is God's original design for the blessing.
He gave this to Adam and Eve.
The power to be fruitful.
The power to multiply.
The power to subdue the earth.
The power to replenish the earth and have dominion.
This was the blessing God gave mankind, Adam and Eve.
#4
Genesis 12:2-3
I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
God decided to start a nation through Abraham of people who are blessed by Him on the earth.
Hear the power of His utterances:
I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you...
The power of the blessing.
Even people who attempted to curse Abraham would get a response from heaven from the God who protected them.
This was a fulfilment of a man living in the blessing God had earlier given Adam and Eve in Genesis 1.
#5
James 1:25
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it.
He who is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
This is a fulfilment of the blessing God gave Adam and Eve but this time Christ was a model of how man was to live in the blessing.
Christ is our ultimate model of the blessing.
This is how you are blessed.
Believe Jesus and then continue to believe.
Do not be overcome by religious thinking or the experience of others or philosophy.
There is nothing greater than the word of God. It is the power of God.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is raw power if you believe it.
Do you believe the gospel?
Roman 1:16-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “ The righteous will live by faith.”
Are you ready to live by faith?
Will you choose to live by faith?
If you choose to live by faith, you will see the power of God everyday.
The bible says, the righteous will live by faith.
Who is the righteous?
The one who believe in Jesus Christ is the righteous one.
The righteous one does not live by sight.
The righteous one lives by faith.
Choose life today.
Choose Jesus today.
As you do this daily, you will find out that you start looking very different from the world around you, and living different from them.
You may even suffer some persecution from time to time. Not may, you will.
But never mind, you will also enjoy separation from the world and the tribulations, recessions and troubles they go through.
2 Peter 1:3-4
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Yes, you will enjoy exemption from the recession, diseases like COVID, and many other things the world suffers.
Choose Jesus.
Serving the Lord Jesus rightly is worth it.
Ride on, Christian soldier.
The grace of God is available for you.
It is also sufficient for you.
Shalom!
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