Embracing God's Blessings in 2023

Introduction

Tonight, I would like to share with you something that has been on my heart for the last few weeks concerning the blessings of God. It has occured to me that many people don’t know how to be blessed. Furthermore, we have concluded that there are some that are not even aware of what it means to be blessed.

Now, we don’t have time to go over the individual strategies you must embrace to be blessed. However, I do want to present to you the approach one may used to develop the strategies that will lead them to all of God’s blessings for them. This is God’s will for all His people. He desires and has created it to be that we would live in His providential blessings.

I must say before proceeding—now is the time to be a Bible student. It is so important that we obtain and cultivate an understanding of Scripture that allows us to not only read the word, but experience it. Now, I have developed the following arguments for the approach that I feel should be used to gain the blessings of God:

God does not change (Malachi 3:6)

God’s Word does not change

What God requires from us does not change.

Since God does not change and His Word does not change and what He requires from us does not change, then this means we must approach the Scriptures in a way that reflects the consistency of God’s nature and behavior. Now, our traditional reading of Scripture has taught us to read the Bible as two books: one book is made of the Old Testament and the second is made of the New Testament. However, if Scripture declares the consistency of God, we should investigate and view the nature and behavior of God in a way that respects His nature.

Therefore, I suggest the only way to study Scripture in a way that makes His blessings available to us is by studying the entirety of Scripture to determine the principles that lead the life God has intended for His people. This means, we must study both the old and new testament to determine the overall message the Holy Spirit provides about how God intervenes and interacts with mankind. We know this approach to Scripture is reliable, because of the passage we considered earlier. Hebrews 4 uses an example for the Old Testament passages to convey a modern point.

Now, before we investigate our passage for this evening, we must understand there is a difference between blessings and reward.

The reward is heaven (Matthew 5:12, Matthew 6:1, Luke 6:23)

The word μισθός in the references above should not be mistaken for the word ἀποδίδωμι. ἀποδίδωμι is the action God renders based on human participation. However, μισθός is the very essence of the reward itself and Jesus teaches it is in heaven. It is a way of saying one is giving the act of receiving, but in heaven is the actual thing that one receives (verb vs. noun).

The blessings are those things that can be inherited on earth.

The Hebrew word for blessings as in Deuteronomy 28:2 means prosperity and life. It is a vow or an oath that results in prosperity. This means, God will make promises to you that will lead to your prosperity and life (see John 10:10).

Furthermore, there are two ways to receive blessings

By faithful obedience to God’s Word

By supernatural providence.

Most people live on one end of two spectrums. They either live to be blessed or they live to get the reward. This is to say, they live to go to heaven or they live to get all of heaven on earth. Tonight, I want us to develop the approach to Scripture that will allow us to live to receive the blessings as we make our way to heaven, which is the reward.

Now the reward is like a carnival cruise. My wife and I reached 9 years of marriage yesterday, and we went to dinner to celebrate. As we sat at dinner we begin to think about what we will be doing to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. So, we decided we would travel out of the country and take a cruise. What we discovered as we were searching for destinations is that there are options to get what is called an “all-inclusive” trip, which includes all of the amenities.

This is how heaven must be. It is a place with many experiences. For the reward is singular, but the heaven is filled with experiences and amenities, because of the plurality of fortunes granted to those who inherit it.

So tonight, we will focus on the blessings that are afforded to us and how they might be gained. We will look at specific examples and principles within Scripture that convey the consistent nature of God and His participation in the affairs of man. We will also see the two ways in which a person might gain the blessings of God.

Hebrews 4:12-13 Explanation

Now, before we begin our study, we must establish the fact that God has always intended for His people to be blessed. God never intended for His people to live in want or lack. Rather, He established the proper means by which we can take advantage of His power to have everything we need.

It has always been God’s principle that we obtain the providential blessings of God as we faithfully obey His Word/ commandments (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:20-24).

Now, Hebrews 4:12-13 is rooted in this principle and a context that uses the Old Testament as an example for how one should live in the modern day. This is common in Scripture. The Old Testament is the blueprint for the living in the New Testament/ New Covenant era.

In this passage the writer uses the example of Israel’s failure to enter the Promised Land because of their lack of faith (Hebrews 4:1-3, 5). That is, God prepared blessings for those who did not enter the Promised Land before the foundation of the world. Yet, they did not receive it, because of their disobedience (Hebrews 4:6).

The writer’s admonishment to the church is to hear the Lord’s voice, which is the Word of God (Hebrews 4:7, c.f. Hebrews 4:12-13). By hearing the Word of the God, we are able to enter “another” rest, so we won’t fall into disobedience. We should not be mistaken to think that rest means no work at all. Rather, it means to obediently work in response to what God has designed and intended; to not work in accordance to our own plan and ideas (see Hebrews 4:11).

The word κατάπαυσις means a change of state from activity or work to cessation from work that robs us from any feeling of refreshing or tranquility; the absence of tension and worry.

In other words death is working with worry and tension. Rest is doing the will of God in refreshment and tranquility. The only way to live in the rest of God is through the obedience of His Word. Now, what is His Word? How can we know it?

God’s Word is the thing He has spoken throughout all of Scripture. We know that we are no longer under the law, but yet all of Scripture remains relevant to the believer. All of Scripture is the λόγος or logic of God for living in this creation. Even more, He has these qualities:

Quick (vs. 12)- alive; without beginning of days, always existing

Powerful (vs. 12)- productive/ producing an intended result

Piercing/ Sharp (vs. 12)- divider/ separater

Discerner (vs. 12)- critical, able to evaluate and judge as one who is in the court of law

As we look at these characteristics, the Word is able to discern our intentions and our deepest secrets. So, when we apply Him to our lives, we get the exact results He intended because He knows so much about us. In other words, this is not a magic trick! These are principles for a life given by God.

Therefore, our goal is to activate the Word of God for in our lives as we learn the principles that are given. This year, our lives will improve substantially if we activate the Word of God. The goal is to improve our spiritual life, health, finances, families, and overall state of being. So, let us consider the biblical approach for understanding how to be blessed in 2023.

Two Ways to Be Blessed in 2023

Now, it has been established that there are two ways to be blessed:

By faithful obedience to God’s Word

By supernatural providence.

Faithful Obedience to God’s Word

Exodus 15:22-26 “22 Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. 23 They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—that is why it was named Marah. 24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there. 26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.””

Exodus 23:20-22 “20 “I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Be attentive to him and listen to him. Do not defy him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for my name is in him. 22 But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.”

Leviticus 26:1–13 CSB

1 “Do not make worthless idols for yourselves, set up a carved image or sacred pillar for yourselves, or place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 Keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary; I am the Lord. 3 “If you follow my statutes and faithfully observe my commands, 4 I will give you rain at the right time, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have plenty of food to eat and live securely in your land. 6 I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to frighten you. I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand; your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 “I will turn to you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and confirm my covenant with you. 10 You will eat the old grain of the previous year and will clear out the old to make room for the new. 11 I will place my residence among you, and I will not reject you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom.

Deuteronomy 10:12–11:32 (CSB)

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?

13 Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

14 The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

15 Yet the Lord had his heart set on your ancestors and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing.

19 You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

20 You are to fear the Lord your God and worship him. Remain faithful to him and take oaths in his name.

21 He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awe-inspiring works your eyes have seen.

22 Your ancestors went down to Egypt, seventy people in all, and now the Lord your God has made you numerous, like the stars of the sky.

1 “Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep his mandate and his statutes, ordinances, and commands.

2 Understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of the Lord your God: His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;

3 his signs and the works he did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;

4 what he did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots, when he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and he destroyed them completely;

5 what he did to you in the wilderness until you reached this place;

6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite camp the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.

7 Your own eyes have seen every great work the Lord has done.

8 “Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

9 and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as in a vegetable garden.

11 But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky.

12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for. He is always watching over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

13 “If you carefully obey my commands I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and worship him with all your heart and all your soul,

14 I will provide rain for your land in the proper time, the autumn and spring rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and fresh oil.

15 I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied.

16 Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, serve, and bow in worship to other gods.

17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land the Lord is giving you.

18 “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.

19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates,

21 so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

22 For if you carefully observe every one of these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, and remain faithful to him—

23 the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will drive out nations greater and stronger than you are.

24 Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.

25 No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, as he has promised you.

26 “Look, today I set before you a blessing and a curse:

27 there will be a blessing, if you obey the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you today,

28 and a curse, if you do not obey the commands of the Lord your God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.

29 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

30 Aren’t these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?

31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you possess it and settle in it,

32 be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances I set before you today.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 “1 “Now if you faithfully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all his commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God:”

All of the things that God has given to Israel to do is for their good. It is to prove that they can handle the blessings that are given to them with integrity and competence. There are two questions I ask:

How bad do you want to be blessed?

Are you willing to obey God for it?

Now, there are obviously consequences to disobeying God just as in the garden.

Leviticus 26:14-17 “14 “But if you do not obey me and observe all these commands—15 if you reject my statutes and despise my ordinances, and do not observe all my commands—and break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring terror on you—wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you.”

Ezekiel 39:21-24 “21 “I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment I have executed and the hand I have laid on them. 22 From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. 23 And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile on account of their iniquity, because they dealt unfaithfully with me. Therefore, I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and transgressions, and I hid my face from them.”

2 Kings 2:7–20 CSB

7 Fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood observing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water, which parted to the right and left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.” 10 Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won’t.” 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind. 12 As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” When he could see him no longer, he took hold of his own clothes, tore them in two, 13 picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle Elijah had dropped, and he struck the water. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the water himself, and it parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over. 15 When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were observing saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him. 16 Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Since there are fifty strong men here with your servants, please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.” He answered, “Don’t send them.” 17 However, they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” They sent fifty men, who looked for three days but did not find him. 18 When they returned to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” 19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “My lord can see that even though the city’s location is good, the water is bad and the land unfruitful.” 20 He replied, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” After they had brought him one,

Daniel 9:11-14 “11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him. 12 He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. 14 So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.”

Here’s the startling reality…not everything is a work of the devil. Some blessings are results of our obedience and some curses are results of our disobedience (see Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

Supernatural Providence

When man exhausts the natural, God invokes the supernatural!

Luke 5:12–15 CSB

12 While he was in one of the towns, a man was there who had leprosy all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13 Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean,” and immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then he ordered him to tell no one: “But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.” 15 But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

See Leviticus 13 on the laws of the lepers. Lepers were to keep away, announce their uncleaness, and report to the priest for occasional inspection.

Mark 5:24–34 CSB

24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him. 25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. 27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. 28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” 29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But he was looking around to see who had done this. 33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

Conclusion

God has called us to live responsibly in this world, but not without His supernatural providence. As we obey and activate God’s Word He proves that His Word cannot return void.