There are so many Psalms, Proverbs, and testimonies throughout scripture that explain how to obtain the blessing of the Lord. Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
First, what I mean by blessing is NOT “the American Dream!” because God will never give us something which will hurt us, and the American dream will hurt us.
What I do mean is, being certain you are abiding in the perfect will of God SO THAT whatever comes your way is according to His plan and not because of your disobedience. Because it is true that “God causes ALL things to work together for the good of those who LOVE GOD” And in this context it is talking about forming you more into the image of His Son, Jesus, which is His perfect will.
But, the way to obtain the blessing of God is first…DON’T COMPROMISE by manipulating the system. What I mean is don’t strive to take care of yourself by believing you are supposed to take care of yourself, and then creating a system by which to create “security for yourself and your family financially”. The key words here are Security and YOURSELF. I know it is a common belief that one is to go to college and get a job, save for the future, make a five or ten year plan, and “build a kingdom here” That is called “planting yourself in the earth”. Am I saying “be lazy and rely on the government” NO. I am simply saying exactly what Jesus said: “Seek First the Kingdom of God…” So, if you want security and to not worry about your finances, then seek first His Kingdom
Let me explain what I mean child of God. Let us look over the history of God’s dealings with His people throughout the Old Testament. Whether it was the Garden of Eden, or Noah’s Ark, or Israel leaving Egypt with all the plunder, or the Nations who God gave into the hands of Israel along with all the plunder, or whether it was the Jews leaving Babylon with the blessing of Cyrus and all supplies for the rebuilding of the Temple. Or Solomon’s wealth, or….get my point. There are many I missed here but these are just “patterns of prophecy” regarding God’s promise to PROVIDE. Throughout the scriptures you will find (now take a deep breath) that God takes from the world to provide for His children!!! Sounds kinda like Robinhood. God has always done it this way. Remember when God sent them into the Promised Land, it was all prepared for them by the Gentiles, who had planted and cultivated it for years! Then God removed the Gentiles and gave it to Israel. This is our Lord’s track record.
BUT, if we go seeking our own way and scheming, planning, worrying, USING OUR OWN WISDOM AND STRENGTH to find financial security then we will lose it, or we will be enslaved to “providing for ourselves” with all the worry and anxiety that comes with it.
So, all this has just been about financial security. What about everything else? What about “relational, physical, emotional, psychological, circumstances that go on every day”? The answer is the same. God WILL PROVIDE. HOW??
Seek first the Kingdom and glory of God in your every day life and God will take care of the rest. For real. To seek first the Kingdom means to live with an eternal hope and perspective in everything. It means looking up. It means you begin your day with God and you end your day there. You strive for one thing and one thing only…HIM. This is called continuous worship. And those who worship God for a living, just like the priests did in the Old Testament, God provided for. We in the New Testament are called a “Kingdom of Priests”. This life I am talking about is only acquired by true, absolute, complete, surrender of everything, and I mean everything to the Lord. The very weird thing is that sounds strange to many Christians, and something we are to strive for, but actually from the beginning this was just called being a “Christian” which means, little Christ, or Christ follower. A Christian is someone who lives like Jesus. Jesus got all his daily “food” physical and spiritual from His Father. He began His day with His Dad and He walked by the Spirit and lived in obedience to His Father and He didn’t worry or fear, but He did have real needs and real emotions which….He took to His Father!
Many of you already live like this because I see your posts on Facebook and recognize you walk with God. But for those who struggle and live with fear and uncertainty and lack faith. The answer for you is only one thing if you desire to “BE FREE” of man’s expectations, human competition/comparison, financial worry, insecurity, doubt, fear, anxiety, etc. The ONE THING is this simple statement: you have to be walking in accordance with His will, and His will is His glory. Therefore commit your entire life to serving the Lord. Sounds simple right? So, give up everything standing in the way of God being glorified in your daily life. For some this may mean you get away on a mountain retreat for a weekend of deep searching with God. For all it means stepping back, reassessing priorities, allowing the Holy Spirit to search hearts, and “checking if it is worth it” (a real question). The Lord knows our hearts and what is in them. Right now He is calling all His children to take a break and step back and reassess their relationship with Him. The Lord calls us to live lives of worship, not just Sunday, but continually. Just as the priests in the Old Testament continually maintained the worship at the Temple, now that we are that Temple we are to continually present our hearts and bodies to Christ (Rom. 12:1-2). All the Lord is asking for is…EVERYTHING ….Then go and read and receive Psalm 91!
Lastly,
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matt. 6:25-33).
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust...[And the LORD says regarding that statement] Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation” (Ps. 91: 1-2,14-16).
Walk by faith...
Aletheia: Truth in the Darkness 