THE FAITH FACTOR - GO GET YOUR BLESSING!
We are all familiar with the story of Moses and the
children of Israel. After Moses led the Israelites out of
slavery in Egypt, they spent forty, very difficult years
wandering in the desert before they could enter the
promised land. The Bible presents us with a detailed
picture of this period of trial and testing, that has become
known as "the wilderness experience."
While most Christians today will probably never get
lost in a literal desert, many of us have struggled with
chronic physical illness, financial problems, or bondage to
some besetting sin. Some of you in here today may know what it means to lose
sight of your heart’s desire. Your goals, your promised land,
can seem just as unreachable at times unattainable (Not able to be reached or achieved) just as the land of Canaan must have seemed to the children of Israel.
Like the children of Israel, we have escaped from
slavery. When we accepted Jesus Christ, we were set free from
bondage to sin and to our old nature. But, like the children
of Israel, many today seem incapable of living the abundant
life.
It is one thing to be set free from slavery; it is quite
another thing to be free enough from our former way of
thinking to be able to enter the promised land! Like the
children of Israel before us, we often choose to live in the
wilderness because we do not believe God is able to lead us
into the promised land. Look at your neighbor and tell them, "I'm not about to get stuck or caught, I'm not about to be baffled,perplexed,confused or bewildered about where God is taking me."
As a matter of fact repeat this after me (WITH EXCITEMENT):
He wrote in MY DESTINY That my name is VICTORY He said that I've OVERCOME I know I've ALREADY WON He
wrote in my DESTINY That my name is VICTORY..... I know who I am God wrote it in His plan for me Oh, Oh-Oh, Oh, Oh...MY NAME IS VICTORY! I know my identity, my name is victory!! Victory...That's my name... Victory....I KNOW WHO I AM!!!!
IF YOUR GOING TO TAKE THE LIMITS OFF OF GOD YOUR GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THIS NEGATIVE MIND SET AND CAST IT OFF..... YOU SHOULD BE TIRED OF BEING LOST IN THE WILDERNESS, YOU SHOULD BE TIRED OF BEING STUCK IN YOUR DEAD SITUATION, YOU SHOULD BE TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED, YOU SHOULD BE TIRED OF BEING CONFUSED, PERPLEXED AND BEWILDERED. AM I TALKING SOMEBODY IN HERE?
I know my identity, my name is victory!! I'M NOT DUMB, STUPID, OR CONFUSED....I KNOW WHO I AM!
When we look at Psalm 78:41 in the Bible it gives us some insight into the wilderness
mentality: " Yea, they turned back and tested (tempted) God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." The Message Bible say's,"Time and again they pushed him to the limit," They refused to believe the promise was for them. They did not believe God was really able to give them the abundant life. Since they did not believe the promise, they were unable to receive it. The Psalmist goes on to say, "THEY LIMITED THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL."
When the Bible says they "tempted God," it means they put God on trial. Instead of believing His promises and
testing His Word to see if it would work, they put Him on trial as if in a court of law. They did not believe God was
able to perform His promises. They tried Him and found Him guilty of lying. Since they did not believe God's
promises, they did not obey His Word. As a result, they found themselves wandering in the wilderness.
1st of all let me say this that Titus 1:2 say's "God CANNOT LIE" Hebrews 6:18 say's " IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO LIE"
The children of Israel saw great miracles performed on their behalf in the land of Egypt. They witnessed the
plagues against the Egyptians.They saw the Red Sea part.They ate the manna from heaven every day. They had an
intellectual understanding that God could do anything, yet when they saw the size of the enemy in the land of Canaan
(there were giants in the land!), they were unable to believe that God could give them victory over their circumstances.
Like the children of Israel, we turn our backs on God and limit the Holy One of Israel. Hebrews 4:2 say's "For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
Like the Israelites, we look at the size of the enemy holding our inheritance and we feel inadequate in our own eyes (Numbers 13:33). We limit God in the same way the children of Israel did.
We say, "Oh, I know God can do anything." But we are not convinced that He will do it in our lives and in our circumstances.
It is possible to be saved, called, and chosen of God, yet like the children of Israel, to live and die without ever
entering into your promised inheritance. It is possible for your entire Christian walk to be one of wondering and
wavering, trials and temptations, never knowing exactly where you are or where you are going.
Somebody should be tired of going around in circles.
Yet Jesus came to set us free from these things.
So why is it so difficult for us to lay hold of that freedom? I believe it is because we have been taught to put
restrictions on God in such areas as healing, prosperity, deliverance, and living in victory. There are many today
who actually believe that the wilderness experience is a normal part of the Christian life. Some have even come to
embrace it as necessary for Christian growth. Because of unscriptural, religious thinking, some people feel the wilderness is somehow ordained of God.
Let me help you get free......You need to stop limiting what God can do in your life.
When God called the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, it was not His plan to make them wander in the wilderness for forty years. He intended for that generation of His people to immediately receive their promised inheritance. And yet, that whole generation died without ever seeing it.
What went wrong?
The reason that generation of the children of Israel did not receive the promise is found plainly in Hebrews 3.19:
“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please
God.” This Bible kind of faith believes that . . .He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” They did not believe God would keep His Word and it was their unbelief that kept them out of the promised land!
Hebrews 11:13 says that the men and women of faith . . .saw the promises afar off. That is exactly how many
Christians today see the promises--afar off. They acknowledge that the promises are true, but they see them
as meant for the distant future. The writer of Hebrews warned the church about the need to enter into the
promises of God (Hebrews 4:1). "There remaineth a rest to the people of God . . . Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest." Hebrews 4:9,11. We should desire to enter into the abundant life, not out of a motivation of greed, but because it is a Bible mandate that we are commanded to enter in.
Moses realized that if the children of Israel did not enter the land as God had promised them, surrounding heathen nations
would say that God did not keep His Word or that He was unable to deliver His people. In the same way, the world today is looking at the church and saying that it is failing to enter into the abundant life, and they have come to the conclusion that faith does not work or God is not able.
The writer of the book of Hebrews warns us in Hebrews 4:1 and say's "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it."
The REST spoken of in the Old Testament was the land of Canaan ( the PROMISE),flowing with milk and honey (ABUNDANCE), but this rest was only a type of the rest God has for the New Testament believer.
Our rest is in the abundant life, which Jesus promised us in John 10:10
SO I COMMAND YOU TO GO GET YOUR BLESSING! IT'S YOUR TIME!
NUMBERS 23:19 SAY'S "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
SOME OF YOU THIS MORNING HAVE LOST YOUR HOPE THE BIBLE SAYS IN ROMANS 5:5
"hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
BUT GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW THAT HE IS OBLIGATED TO YOU BY THE PROMISE HE MADE. WHEN GOD TOLD YOU HE WAS GOING TO BLESS YOU HE SAY'S NOW I HAVE TO GET YOU IN A POSITION TO RECIEVE MY BLESSING, MY FAVOR.
CAN I TELL YOU ABOUT THE BLESSING?
THE BLESSING - Gods intention and desire to bless humanity is a central focus of his covenant relationships. For this reason, the concept of blessing pervades the biblical record.
There are 2 distinct ideas that are present when we talk about the blessing.
1. It was a public declaration of a favored status with God.
2. The Blessing was an endowment of power for prosperity and success.
The Blessing served as a guide and motivation to pursue a course of life within the blessing.
In the Old Testament when the blessing was given one would have to "kneel" to receive it.
The history of Israel begins with the promise of blessing. God countered the Curse, which had dominated the early chapters of the biblical story In Genesis. When God called Abraham and made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12
He said , "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulatedand the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
My area of focus is verse 3 where God say's ," I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
So Israel's past is best understood as an out working of blessing and cursing in Deuteronomy Chapters 27 and 28
So THE BLESSING was a means by which ceremonial blessings were received. Remember now with the Blessing came the ability to be endowed with power for prosperity and success.
This is why Esau cried when his brother Jacob stole The Blessing from him in Genesis 27
Later on in Genesis 49 When Jacob was getting ready to die before he left the earth he Blessed his 12 sons and spoke prophetically over there lives each the BLESSING that pertained to each of them.
So we see that there are 3 common themes that were present in O.T. Blessings when it came to pronouncing the BLESSING upon someone:
1.) The Greater always blesses the Lesser - Example.... The writer of the Book of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of Melchizedek to Abraham (Hebrews 7:6,7)
2.) The Blessing was a sign of special favor that is intended to result in prosperity and success. Deut. 28:3-7
3.) The Blessing is an invocation for God's blessing: " May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful" Genesis 28:3.
Those who are obedient to Gods commands are blessed with affluence and victory. Deut 28: 1- 14.
On the other hand those who are disobedient are cursed. Deut 28:15-68 and suffer the consequences of drought,disease, and deprivation.
The parallels between the Old and New Testament usages of blessing are striking. To be blessed is to be granted special favor by God with resulting joy and prosperity.
* Elaborate on THE STORY ABOUT BOAZ AND RUTH with the emphasis on FAVOR
CAN SOMEBODY SAY FAVOR =WE ALWAYS SAY THAT FAVOR AINT EASY BUT IT ALSO AINT FAIR!
WHEN YOU HAVE FAVOR IT MEANS THAT YOU HAVE GAINED APPROVAL, ACCEPTANCE, SPECIAL BENEFITS OR BLESSINGS
Ephesians 1:3 say's Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
The Blessing is a part of your Inheritance!
Go get your Blessing !
You say I haven't received it yet well then my words to you are wait patiently on the LORD.
There are some people who may feel rejected like Esau but the Bible say's in Galatians 3:13 We have been Redeemed from the curse of the law JESUS became a curse for us.
Go get your Blessing!
Like Noah in the Bible, You have found FAVOR in the eyes of the Lord!
Like Joseph, You have found FAVOR and God is getting ready to promote you!
GO get your Blessing!
Psalms 30:5 say's "For his anger endureth but for a moment; his favor is for life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
