Blessings and REal life

By William R. Cunningham
July 5, 2008

Introduction

You are blessed!  You may ask, “How am I blessed.”  You are blessed if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  You do not have to worry about everlasting torment.  You instead have an eternity with the Father to look forward too.  That good news shouldn’t be a reason to remove yourself from the living now, but rather it should be a source of encouragement to endure the things that occur in everyday life—both good and bad.

It’s really a great thing that we are saved.  It’s really a great thing that we have passed from death to life and that I have eternity with the Father to look forward to and as a source of hope.  However, what about the here and now?  What should I do in the mean time?  What should I do when bills have to be paid and I’m short on funds?  What should I do if I’m laid off from my job or a big expense arises out of nowhere, e.g. you need a new roof?  This is where the rubber meets the road and where hype is shown for what it really is—meaningless.

What should we do in normal everyday situations with regard to God?  Does being saved assure me of any advantage with regard to my financial situation?  I would like to investigate those questions at this time.  I would like to use the lessons that I have leaned in my own life as a backdrop.  However, we will investigate what the scriptures have to say to us to answer those questions or to a least point us in the direction to the answers.

Faith

Let’s not forget faith.  Consider the following scripture.

Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV) -- {22} So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. {23} For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. {24} Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

This incident followed Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree as described in Mark 11:12-14.  When they were leaving Jerusalem Peter commented on the withered fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before.  This became an object lesson for Jesus’ disciples.  Notice what Jesus said first.  He said to have faith in God.  Jesus then goes on to say that they could do what is physically impossible (or seemingly so) if they believe what they say in their hearts.

Now here we have to be careful not to read more into what Jesus is teaching here than what is actually present.  Jesus is in no way saying that if we have great faith that we can do the impossible.  Remember that he said to first have faith in God.  This means that we are leaning on God and putting our confidence in God for whatever it is we believe.  However, that faith would be meaningless if God did not promise it or say that he would do it (what we believe him for and therefore what we say in prayer).  It’s like having confidence that the bus will be at the bus stop at 3:00 when the schedule doesn’t indicate that it will be there at that time.  True faith is like looking at the bus schedule, noting that the bus will be at the station at 5:00 and you fully expect it to be there at that time and therefore plan your travel around that.

The first and last then we need is faith in God.  Now again we have to be careful.  My faith in God isn’t a blanket faith.  In other words, I can’t blindly believe God for a new computer and expect to receive one miraculously—by faith.  I can only put my confidence in God in the things that he has committed to so to speak.  For example, I can fully put my faith in Jesus Christ for salvation because the bible teaches us that Jesus is the way to the Father and faith in him is how we are saved.  So I have complete confidence that my salvation is based on faith and I fully expect to be with the Lord for all eternity.  I don’t have to fear death, but look forward to eternal life.  Again, I can do this because that is what God committed to, i.e., promised.  So the point is that our faith has to be in God.

I can’t dream something up and then claim to have faith in God.  But how do I know when I should put my faith in God and when I should not?  For example, how do I know that God will help me with my mortgage or if I should prepare to sell my house?  I believe that we should simply put our confidence in God to help us in whatever the situation is.  We should also watch as well as pray.  Consider the following scripture.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) -- {5} Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; {6} In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

The key word for me in the above passage is “path.”  Also of importance is that it says, “Your paths.”  What are your paths?  The word path here refers to your way of life.  God will smooth out your way of life, which should be centered on him and his ways.  Note that it is your paths.  What are you doing?  Where are you going?  Do you even have a path?  Consider the following scripture.

Psalm 1:1-3 (NKJV) -- {1} Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; {2} But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. {3} He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

I found it very interesting that David said, “Whatever he does shall prosper.”  God will prosper the things that you do.  This isn’t referring to salvation, but just life in general as far as I understand it.  Of course we note that this happens because one does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, or sits in the seat of the scornful.  This happens because one delights in the word of God and one meditates on that day and night.  This reminds me of something that Jesus Christ said.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) -- {33} But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
And,

Matthew 22:36-40 (NKJV) -- {36} “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” {37} Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ {38} This is the first and great commandment. {39} And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ {40} On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Our relationship with the Lord is the number one priority.  Seek the Lord with your whole heart and you will be blessed.  This blessing may not look like what you might expect, but it is there nonetheless.  We seek the Lord and then we live according to his ways.  We can’t just learn the word, but rather we must do what it says.

James 1:22 (NKJV) -- {22} But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

It is impossible for us to truly have faith in God if we don’t know what God says.  It is impossible to have faith in God if we don’t do what he says.  Faith in God is based on knowledge of his word and a relationship with him.  Faith in God requires some form of confidence (either from personal experience or through the testimony of someone else whom you trust).

What Does Faith Look Like?

It is a wonderful thing when you are in a church service and the minister says to have faith in God and you will go through it and you will be blessed.  That’s great and many times we get caught up in the hype of the moment.  However, when we go home we wonder what this faith looks like.  What should I do to have faith in God?  Should I sign the dotted line even though I can’t afford it?  Should I say that I will be able to do it even though I know I can’t?  How do I have faith in God?  How would I know if I am exercising faith in God?  Therefore, what does faith look like so that I could judge accordingly?

That has been a question of mine for many years.  I have come to the conclusion that we need to stop spiritualizing everything and just live our lives the best we can as we pursue God.  What else could we possibly do?  Is God going to give you a secret message and tell you exactly what to do?  Well it is possible that God will speak to you and guide you, but for the most part according to my experiences and observations, I find that we have to discern which way to go based on our relationship with God and knowledge of his word.

Perhaps you may have a dream that will provide you with a message as to what God wants you to do. However, how would you know if that dream was really the word of God or the result of anxiety or something else going on in your mind?  Consider the following scripture.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 (NKJV) -- {3} For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.

Similar to how a busy mind can produce dreams, so doe the many words of can reveal the fool.  The point I wanted to focus on here is that the business of our lifestyle can cause our minds to race and produce dreams.  How would you know if a dream is truly God speaking to you or merely the result of the business of your life?  I suspect that you wouldn’t know the difference.  I dare say that many have wrongly interpreted dreams as coming from God when in affect they were merely the result of many things going on in the head at that time.

I think we can fall into similar traps of the mind if we don not build a relationship with God.  We think faith looks like the dream when faith in God is something very different.  I recall Charles Stanley of In touch Ministries stating, to the best of my recollection, that true faith is when we believe God no matter what.  That is much more consistent with the bible than what I’ve heard from various ministers.  For example, it still amazes me that Elisha died of an illness (2 Kings 13:14-19).  I expected that a great man of God like Elisha would surely live to a great old age being fulfilled and dying in his sleep or something, but not of a sickness.  However, that is the way it is and that is the revelation that we should accept from the Lord.

What does faith look like?  We only need look at our bible to see what it looks like.  We will find the faith of Abraham, Moses, Elisha, Elijah, the apostles, and many more.  They were normal people like you and I who simply trusted God and did what he said to do.  They believed God and had confidence in him.  We should be the same.  For example, consider Abraham’s adventure.

Genesis 15:1-6 (NKJV) -- {1} After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” {2} But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” {3} Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” {4} And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” {5} Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” {6} And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

God gave Abraham a promise and Abraham believed God.  Why did Abraham believe God?  How did Abraham know he was indeed speaking with God as opposed to his own subconscious or some other spirit?  I believe the answer is found by reading Geneses chapters 12-15.  What I found was that Abraham had a relationship with God.  He had experiences with God and therefore his confidence in God was established when he was ninety years old given the promise of numerous descendants.  In other words Abraham didn’t blindly believe God.  He had a reason to believe God.  He saw Gad as trustworthy and therefore put his faith in God’s words.

Did Abraham have hardships?  Of course he did just like any other person living on this earth.  However, he still believed God because of his acquired confidence in God.  What experiences have you had with the Lord such that your confidence in him grows?

Are You Willing To Obey?

What do you expect when you pray to God to heal you?  What do you expect when you pray to God for a financial blessing?  Many of us believe that we will wake up one morning and the illness will be gone or that a financial breakthrough will occur.  Fortunately it doesn’t happen that way.  I say fortunately instead of unfortunately because if God were to miraculously remove all pain from our lives whenever we asked then we would be spoiled useless brats.  Think of a parent that spoils the child.  That child becomes a menace to society unless somehow he or she is rescued from the curse of the parent.  I have observed parents of my generation and have noticed a trend.  Each generation brings about more cursing than the previous.  We call parents in my parents’ generation and before old school parents.  The old school worked.  Haven’t you noticed that things get worse from generation to generation?  Parents appease their children now and try to be their friend in stead of training them in the way they should go, which is towards and with God.  Therefore we have an increasing number of insensitive brats who grow up to be the bane of the earth.

Now that is just a human perspective.  What if God operated that way?  We would be hopeless.  Therefore, fortunately he doesn’t operate that way.  Therefore, I should expect a miracle when I pray to God for something.  That’s not to say a miracle would come, though I believe it is unlikely that it will.  I believe that God will operate just the way that the bible says he will.  He will make our paths straight.  It doesn’t say that he will snap his fingers and all will be well.  The Israelites had to go to war to claim the Promised Land.  It just didn’t happen.  So I believe that when we pray that we should look for God’s guidance and the path that will lead to the answer.

There is no need to look for a miracle.  Just move on with your life seeking God and striving to live his way.  Allow the wisdom of God to help you make the decisions that you should make.  Ask God for wisdom and he will give it to you (James 1:5).  This means that there is a lot of responsibility on you.  That is my point.  We would love for all of the responsibility to be on God, but that would quickly make us spoiled and useless brats.  Instead, we have to obey and actively live our lives in righteousness.

So when you pray to God for financial help then you should expect money to drop out of the sky.  You have to do what is necessary and according to God’s will to receive the financial blessing.  For the most part that is going to require work.  You are going to have to actively pursue what you want and the Lord with bless what you do.  Does this mean that everyone can be rich?  Not really.  What it does mean is that if we want something then we have to work for it.  Sure it is God who gives the increase, but “nothing” cannot be blessed.

So what is it that you are striving for?  What works can God bless of yours?  If you do not work then you will not eat (See 2 Thess. 3:10).  Are you willing to obey?  Are you willing to do what you have to do to carry out the will of God?  Are you willing to do what you have to do to obtain the blessings of God?  I by no means am suggesting that we can work to receive God’s blessings.  My point here is that God’s blessings come through work.  For example, if you pray for patience will all of a sudden you have patience?  Won’t you have to work at being more and more patient?  If you ask God to improve your marriage do you expect that you will wake up the next day and everything will be fresh and new and the troubled marriage will be beautiful?  I doubt it.  Instead, you will find that you will have to work at the things that you want as God has already answered your prayer.  So you may say, “God please give us a financial breakthrough” and God says, “Yes.  Now go to school.”  Do you see?  The financial breakthrough is yours, but you have to go get it in the same way that the Promised Land was given to the Israelites long before they actually inhabited the land.

Your Blessing

You have to be willing to do what it takes to live according to God’s way and to obey God.  You are blessed if you are in Christ.  You are blessed if you have been saved.  So begin to live like it.  Expect God to prosper you according to his will.  Expect God to help you get through the trials and tribulations of life.  Expect God to be with you even though things fall through.  Expect God to be with you when things are going so well that you think you are in heaven.

We are blessed.  Don’t let life steal that revelation from you.  Pray to God and expect the best, but accept what he does.  Pray to God for what you desire, what you need, and what you want and expect the best.  Sometimes it goes as you hoped and sometimes it doesn’t.  Just know that God is with you and has blessed you.