How to Be Blessed
Part Seven
Our threefold definition of being blessed remains:
1) To be especially happy and content
2) To have inner peace within
3) To be confident and fulfilled
This morning’s message begins in II Chronicles chapter 7. The background is the dedication of the temple and God’s appearance to Solomon. Our focus will be verse 14, very familiar to most believers. As we look at this let me point out that this is a promise to the Jews, not to the believer. However, it is demonstrative of a pattern that God uses and therefore we can apply it to the believer.
The Lord appears to Solomon and is pleased with all Solomon has done. God then expresses His desire to make the temple the center of Jewish worship. The first thing God says in his appearance to Solomon is that He has heard Solomon’s prayers and would be responsive to prayers offered in that place.
Notice, however, how quickly God gets down to business. He describes Holy Discipline, the removal of His blessing. He indicates that the people need to respond properly to this discipline, which he describes as a loss of blessing by drought, plague or locust. Then He gives them a formula to follow which I believe is a proper pattern for believers to follow.
I have to take a moment to point out that God does discipline his children. In Hebrews 13 we are told not to despise the chastening of the Lord because he chastens us out of love, like a father chastens or disciplines the son he loves. God WILL discipline you. Do not think you can easily escape the judgment of God because it always begins with the believers first. Judgment begins in the house of God. It would be unfair of God to discipline unbelievers before He deals with His own children.
We are not to despise God’s chastening. It will come, but it comes for our good. God doesn’t discipline us to be mean or arbitrary, but always in order to mold us into His image and to minister to our character.
The first response to God’s discipline should be humility. Humility is admitting our need of God and God’s great superiority. It is the opposite of being full of pride and an independent spirit. It is where we kneel and confess, “Lord, I need you! I am nothing without you.” It is where we indicate our complete and absolute dependence upon His support and His leadership.
There are two kings I want to discuss to provide a contrast. First, King Jehosophat. When his kingdom was threatened, he fell upon his face in the presence of God’s people and cried out to God. Then he went out to battle, putting his choir in the front, praising God by raising their hands (comical, an army marching out to battle with their hands raised!) and went they got to the battlefield they found that battle was already over and God had already defeated their enemies. That’s humility.
Then there was King Asa. Asa built up the nation and brought about a great deal of religious reform. When a conflict arose between his kingdom (Judah) and Israel, he took the silver and gold items from the temple, melted them down and sent them to the Syrian (Aramean) king and asked him to go and attack Israel so that his borders would not be in conflict. When the prophet condemned him and reminded him that God had fought his battles (much as he had for Jehosophat) in times past he tossed the prophet in jail. When others joined the prophet in dissent he persecuted and oppressed them. King Asa’s end was the opposite of humility, but pride and selfishness.
Humility is realizing that we must depend on God. Every single time we read in the Old Testament of a king trying to accomplish God’s will in his own strength and without depending upon God we find sin. There used to be an old radio program and later a television program called “Father knows best.” It was pretty funny, because most of the time Father didn’t really know best. Oh, once in awhile he got it right and was spot on, but usually he was bumbling about trying to solve problems and usually made them worse. If you believe YOU know best, beware, you are probably just bumbling about.
The next part of the right response to God’s discipline is prayer. I saw a recent episode of “The King of Queens” where Doug and Carrie, the two main characters, begin to pray like mad after Carrie receives what she believes to be an answer to prayer. Before long, they are praying over football, raises at work, and even getting the last piece of their favorite fish at the supermarket. In a cleverly written episode, the idea of abusing prayer is demonstrated in broadly comedic fashion. Remember, prayer isn’t so much about things as it is about submission. Prayer means nothing if we act like God is a Genie in a bottle waiting for us to make our wish.
The third part of a right response to God’s discipline is seeking God’s face. To seek God’s face is to seek His approval. If you will, think of the kid in the baseball game who looks to the bleachers for his father’s approval for the way he fielded a ball, ran the bases, or tagged out a runner. He does his best and then looks for dad to nod, smile, or even shout “That’s my boy!”
To seek God’s face is to live in such a way as to seek his approval. There are attitudes, actions, words, and practices that are clearly outside of God’s will. One cannot find God’s blessing living within those sinful attitudes, actions, words, or practices.
One way to seek God’s face is to simply ask Him to lead you by His Holy Spirit. You need to say, “God, what do I need to do to win your approval? What can I do to please you?” I believe God will tell you exactly what you need to do.
For example, let’s suppose Jett comes to Jesse and says, “Hey, Dad… What can I do to be a better son?” I don’t think Jesse is going to say, “Well, hey there, Jett, don’t you know that you are perfect? There is nothing you need to change!” Nope! I bet he will have something to share. He might ask him to keep his room cleaner, to work harder in school, to be kinder to his sister, or to take the trash out more regularly. What father wouldn’t want his child to sincerely come and ask, “How can I be a better child?” God, as our Heavenly Father is not some uncommunicative ogre who wants you to have to figure it out. We just need to get into the habit of seeking His face, asking Him how we can make him happy.
The fourth part of the proper response to God’s discipline is repentance. Repentance is more than being sorry for our sin, but turning away from that sin. It is a bit more than turning FROM sin, though. It is turning from sin to righteousness. It is turning away from withholding love to demonstrating love. It is turning away from wrong speech to right speech. It is turning away from gossiping about people to praying for people. It is turning from an unforgiving attitude and maintaining a grudge and turning towards forgiveness.
God promises to bring healing to the land if his people would utilize these principles. If we as believers will follow this pattern in response to His discipline then God will bless us.
THE PATTERN:
Humble Yourself
Pray
Look for ways to please God
Turn away from wickedness and towards righteousness
