Chased By God's Blessings

Chased By God’s Blessings

Sunday, November 14, 2010 – AM

By Pastor James May

Our God has many characteristics. He is so great, in so many ways, that he is truly greater than our ability to fully discover just how great he really is. Only when we receive that glorified body, with its glorified mind, and we are fully like him, will we finally discover the fullness of God. Only then will we know him as he is. Down here all we can see is shadows and partial images of God’s greatness. We are trying to discover the attributes of an awesome eternal God but our vision is limited because we are trying to see him through eyes that are looking through a dark glass. We can only catch a glimpse, a shimmer of light, or a ray of knowledge here and there. Yet even our limited understanding, our limited vision and finite minds can see that God is truly awesome. I cannot wait until that day when we can finally see Jesus in the fullness of his glory.

We can barely tolerate his presence in this mortal body when he comes into our midst. The presence of God and the little portion of his glory that comes upon us will make us shout, dance, even be slain in the Spirit because this mortal body of flesh can’t handle the true glory of God. That’s why we are told that no man can look upon God fully in this mortal body and live. God is all spirit, glory and power; and mortal bodies of flesh, tainted by sin; simply cannot exist in his presence.

Only two people have ever been taken to heaven in their mortal body. God, in his infinite power, has managed to keep them alive and living in Heaven for thousands of years. I don’t know how he does it, but I know he has. Elijah, taken in a chariot of fire; and Enoch, who just took one step and was in Heaven, are both there today; still in their mortal bodies from what I have studied. Even so, I believe that these are God’s two witnesses who will return in the last days to preach the gospel in the time of the Tribulation.

One of the things about God that I am so thankful for is his great love that is extended to those who will serve him and love him in return. The Bible tells us that God is Love; He is all Love; He is pure love; and since God is Love he is always finding ways to show his love to his people. God’s will is that all men should love him and serve him; and in so doing, they can become the recipients of all of the blessings that God desires to pour out upon his children.

I wonder this morning if you know just how blessed you really are? I wonder if we are not leaving some of those blessings laying unclaimed by the side of the pathway of life simply because we might walk out of that path of righteousness from time to time.

God has given us some truly great promises in his word. One of the greatest passages on God’s blessings is found in his dealings with Israel. Israel was God’s chosen nation; a special people, chosen from all of the nations of the earth, to present to all mankind the knowledge of the One True God. Let’s look at the promises that God gave to Israel, and keep in mind that God never changes and God never fails to bring his word to pass. What ever God promises to one nation, he will do for all who will serve him. Whatever God has done for any one man in the Bible, he will do for all men, if they will serve and obey him as that one did who was so blessed.

In this passage of scripture that I’m going to take you too, there is a sense that mankind is running just as fast as he can through life, living every day as the clock ticks away the seconds of his lifetime. One day goes in weeks, into months and years and finally that life is over. As the word says, our life is but a vapor of smoke, a puff of air in the eternal realms. We are truly in a “rat race”, rushing headlong into eternity, trying to get all that we can out of life, and yet we know that there is always so much more that could have been done.

One thing that we have always heard is that when we come to the end of our days, we don’t want to have written in our epitaph, “If Only I Could Have Had More Time to Do all that I wanted to do”. And yet, there has never been one person to leave this world having accomplished everything that they ever dreamed of doing. There’s always a lot that is left on the table.