THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS AND HIS BLESSINGS - by Pastor E.A Adeboye
Daily provision and refreshment is what a child of God should have. God can give you abundance of food and other necessities of life if you can trust and believe Him. The hand of God can make you to be daily refreshed under the unction and the anointing of God.
The final blessing we can see from the obedience of Jesus Christ is that of His lordship. Every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord at all time and in every age. For you to –experience the open doors that will lead to irreversible blessing, the name of the Lord should be praised and worshipped in truthfulness and sincerity. The Bible makes this clear to us in the verse below:
“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised!” Psalms 113:3.
Your life should likewise bear eloquent testimony to the wonder working name of Jesus. God can make your life to be so decked with glory and honour that it will be a point of reference to the people around you. For your life to truly praise the name of the Lord, it should stand as the light that will point sinners to the cross of Calvary.
AN ALL EMBRACING BLESSING
There is another blessing known as an all embracing blessing. This, of course goes beyond an area of blessing. The book of psalms captures what is known as an all embracing blessing in the Scriptures.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalms 23
God’s blessings do not come with sorrow, trouble and heartache. An all embracing blessing is the one you will have and be happy to have. The blessing from God comes with rest. In other words, you will be able to rest from the labour of life. Do you know that there are some people that the agents of darkness have taken their sleep?
This reminds me of a man who was not able to sleep for six months. All efforts to regain his sleep proved abortive and he decided to commit suicide. He, however, switched on his television to view the last television programme before his death. As he switched on the T.V, it happened that I was preaching on Psalms 23 and I specifically made mention of his problem. I led him to Christ at the same spot and he regained his sleep.
Daily provision and refreshment is what a child of God should have. God can give you abundance of food and other necessities of life if you can trust and believe Him. The hand of God can make you to be daily refreshed under the unction and the anointing of God.
There is also room for all round restoration in an all embracing blessing. That is, you can be physically, spiritually, financially, maritally and materially restored. The good news I have for you is that every opportunity you think you have lost forever will be restored in Jesus name. The promise of restoration is seen below.
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. Joel 2:25
TYPES OF BLESSINGS
Blessings can be of different types and forms. We will examine the types of blessings that we have at this juncture.
- LIMITED BLESSING
There are times when we sometimes make the blessing of God to be limited in our lives. For instance, the widow in 2 Kings 4 was commanded by Elisha the servant of God to borrow vessels (containers) from every quarter. She was specifically told to borrow not a few vessels. God miraculously gave her a divine supply but the blessings of God over her life could no more be contained in the containers she had borrowed. God surprised her and miraculously provided for her needs.
And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 2 kings 4:6
The blessing of this woman was limited by the number of empty vessels that she collected. I want to appeal to you never to limit God’s blessings. There are people who will be satisfied beyond imagination if God should provide a Mercedes Benz car for them. But, little did they know that God can likewise provide a jet for them and even fleets of jets.
Why must you stop as a millionaire? Why can’t you believe God to make you a billionaire? Why must your billions be in naira and not in pounds sterling? Of course, I understand that you cannot sleep in two houses at the same time neither can you be in all the rooms in a house at once. I also understand that it will be impossible for you to be in two jets or cars at the same time. It will be difficult for you to wear more than one dress at a time, or even eat more than three meals in a day (as that might make you a glutton). But, you need to be rich and wealthy so that you can invest your money in propagating the gospel throughout every nooks and crannies of the world.
- UNLIMITED BLESSING
The widow of Zarephath followed the principle of unlimited blessing and God surprised her. She obeyed the servant of God who told her to prepare him the food that herself and her son would eat before death, because of the famine in the land. And as a result of her obedience, she never experienced hunger or thirst anymore. Obedience to the word of the prophet of God fetched her the blessing.
And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah. 1 kings 17:15-16
- EVER-INCREASING BLESSING
It is possible to receive an ever-increasing blessing from the Lord. The ever-increasing blessings of God can be yours if only you can ask in faith. Let’s read the account of Isaac and how God gave him an ever-increasing blessing.
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possessions of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. Gen. 26:12-14
The secret of the ever-increasing blessing of Isaac lies in the way he gave to the Lord. He continued to sow in plenty and God blessed him greatly and richly. If you too can be committed to observing the kingdom principles and rendering selfless services to the Lord, you will definitely keep growing and increasing.
- OVERFLOWING BLESSING
This is another type of blessing that can be yours if you can ask in faith. David testified to the overflowing blessings of God upon his life in the verse below.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Psalms 23:5
The express way to receive the blessings of God is by honouring the Lord through your tithes and offerings. When you faithfully and regularly pay your tithes and offerings, God’s overflowing blessings will be yours.
Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Prov. 3:9-10
It is when the blessing is small that you may not want to share. But, the blessings that God wants to give you will be great and unquantified. God can so bless you that you will be a channel of blessings to feeding thousands of families.
- REVERSIBLE BLESSING
Another type of blessing is known as reversible blessing. There are people who disappoint God and thereby have their blessings reversed. The surest path to reversible blessing is disobedience to the word of God. Eli disobeyed God by not allowing his children to walk after the commandments of God and God’s blessings were reversed in his life.
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel with, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. I Samuel 2:30
God knows your worth and He usually deals with people on individual basis. You should know that there are some people who would give God ₦100 and it will be an accepted sacrifice before Him. While there are people who would give God ₦1 million and it will be a kind of insult to the Almighty. God will not ask you to do what He knows you cannot do. He, however, knows your worth.
- BLESSING TURNED TO CURSE
Do you know that there is a type of blessing that can be turned to a curse? Ephraim received the favour of God and the blessings of his elder brother were transferred to him. As soon as God began to prosper him, he quickly forgot the source of his blessings (God). The blessings he received became an idol to him and God declared desolation as his lot.
Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. Hosea 5:9
It is a damnable thing for any man to idolize the blessings of the Lord. God is jealous and He does not want to share you with the blessings He brings on your way. Humility must therefore characterize the life of those whom God has blessed in a way or the other. You should always know that the blessings you get from God are not by mere chance or by your effort. Always learn to put God first in everything you do.
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