(Blessings) 3- God's Nature is to Bless

Numbers 6:24-27
The Lord bless you and keep you;... (v.24)
 
 
Maybe when you pray you're still talking to a stingy, storybook God you made up when you were little. Maybe the God in your head is a clone of a meanm angry person in your life. Maybe you've never really asked God to introduce Himself to you.
     Moses did.He asked God, "Please, show me Your glory" (Exodus 33:18), and God answered. Listen to how God described Himself:"[I am] the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). This is God's self-potrait, and it's incredible, isn't it? He is the most wonderful person to be around in the entire universe. If you took  all the best qualities in all your frieends and multiplied them by a thousand, you would just be getting started on having  friend like God!
    Jabez had grown up hearing about this God of Moses---the God who had freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, brought them safely through the Red Sea, and given them the Promised Land. If God could doall that, surelyHe could make something out of one boy's ordinary life.
     Because Jabez knew the truth about who his God was, he didn't tell God what to give him. He let God decide what his blessings would be. In the same way, we can confidently ask God to bless us and leave the details up to Him.
     God wants to bless you and me because it is in His nature to bless. That's why you need to make a life-long commitment to ask God every day to bless you---and while He's at it, bless you a lot!
     Maybe you think your name could be just another word for pain or trouble. (Just like Jabez, his mother called him Jabez because she bore him in pain. In Hebrew, the word Jabez means "pain"). Friend, the prayer of Jabez is for you. Jabez---Mr.Pain himself---changed his life because he refused to let any obstacle, person, or opinion loom larger than God's true personality.
     And God's personality is to give---and give again--- to someone just like you!
     With a simple prayer, you can escape your past. You can change what happens, starting now.
 
The Prayer of Jabez--> 1 Chronicles 4:10.
 

Reflect: Do you want God's blessings? Ever allow God to bless you? Did you receive His blessings in full measure? Why or why not? Have you prayed the Prayer of Jabez? If yes, how did it affect your life? If not, would you commit yourself to say that prayer?

 
May the Lord bless you indeed! In Jesus name, Amen!
 

---

Share your beautiful moments with Photo Gallery. Windows Live Photo Gallery

---

See all the ways you can stay connected to friends and family

(Blessings) 2- You have to ask

James 4:2c
You do not have because you do not ask.
 
John 16:23-24
Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete. (v24b)
 
 
What if you found out that God had it in mind to send you twenty-three specific blessings today, but you got only one? What do you suppose the reason would be?
     There's a story about a Mr.Jones who dies and goes to heaven. St.Peter is waiting at the gates to give him a tiur. Heaven is quite an amazing place, but in the middle of all the stunning sights, Jones notices a weird looking building---sort of an enormous warehouse. When he asks Peter to see inside, Peter hesitates. "Ah, you really don't want to look in there," he tells the new arrival.
     But Jones can't stand not knowing a secret. What could be waiting for me in there? he wonders. So he argues until his tour guide gives in.
     When Peter opens the door, Mr.Jones almost knocks himself over in his hurry to get in. What he sees is row after row of shelves, floor to ceiling, each stacked neatly with white boxes tied with red ribbons.
     "These boxes all have names on them," Jones mutters aloud. Then turning to Peter he asks, "Do I have one?"
     "Oh, sure," Peter says. Then he tries to get Jones to leave. But Jones won't be stopped. He dashes toward the J aisle. There are only 640 billion Joneses in heaven, so it doesn't takek him long to find his box. Peter catches up with him just as he is slipping the red ribbon off his box and popping the lid. Looking inside, Jones had a moment of instant recognition. Then he lets out a deep sigh like the ones Peter has heard so many times before.
     Because there in Mr.Jones's white box are all the blessings that God wanted to give him while he was on earth, but Mr.Jones never asked.
     Don't miss the big idea in this story!
     "You don't have because you do not ask," the bible says in James 4:2. "Ask," promised Jesus, "and it will be given to you... What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?... If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:7, 9, 11, emphasis added).
     You see, even though there is no limit to God's goodness, if you didn't ask Him for a blessing yesterday, you didn't get all that He wanted to give you.
     That's the catch---if you don't ask for His blessing, you forfeit those that will come to you only by asking. God's blessings in our lives are limited only by us, not by His resources, power, or willingness to give.
     If you doubt that God could be that giving, maybe you need to meet the real God...

Reflect: Have you asked God for His blessings yesterday? If you have not, you have missed it. Do you feel God's blessings being limited? Why? How about today---Have you asked for His blessings?
 

(to be continued...)

---

Enrich your blog with Windows Live Writer. Windows Live Writer

---

Share your beautiful moments with Photo Gallery. Windows Live Photo Gallery

---

Add maps and directions to your party Show them the way!