Thursday, May 6, 2010

I am truly blessed!

King David said it with such straightforward certainty:  "For You, O Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing shall the house of Your servant be blessed forever" (2 Samuel 7:29).  David had just heard through the prophet Nathan of the Lord's plans to bless his family line.  And with no clue regarding the global and eternal implications of that messianic prophetic word, David responded with a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact confidence in God's perpetual blessing on his family.  He took the gift of God's extravagant blessing at face value with a "You said it, I believe it" kind of certainty.

Well, if David could be so unwaveringly sure of such significant blessings after a single prophetic word from Nathan the prophet, then, by God's grace, I ought to be able to walk in a state of continual and absolute certainty of God's promised blessings for my family based on the great work Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross and on all that we know about God from His Word (not to mention all the prophetic words we've received as well)!

Think of it.  I could say, For you, O Lord, have spoken!  Your Word tells me that all of God's promises find their Yes in You, Lord Jesus! (2 Corinthians 1:20).  And that God has rescued me from sin's hold on me, forgiving me for all my wrongs, because every one of them was nailed to the cross on which You died! (Colossians 1:13-14; 2:13-14). And Your Word tells me that because the grave couldn't hold You, You caused me to come alive with You -- to be born again as a new creation! (1 Corinthians 15:22-23; 2 Corinthians 5:17).  And You've promised that God's Spirit will dwell in me as the Spirit of adoption, making me God's son (Romans 8:15) -- "chosen of God, holy and beloved"! (Colossians 3:12).  And that same God has blessed me in You with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).  In fact, Your divine power has provided me with everything I need for life and godliness! (2 Peter 1:3).  Your Word even tells me that God has raised me up with You and seated me with You in heavenly places!  All this so that in the ages to come, God can show me the infinite riches of His grace and kindness that He has expressed through You, Lord Jesus! (Ephesians 2:6-7).  In other words, I should be able to say with David, "with your blessing shall the house of Your servant be blessed forever!"

God has spoken.  It's the truth.  And I believe it.

I realize that the mistake we sometimes make is to make these blessings our focus in place of seeking the loving God who has given them to us.  But to be clear, I believe that "if we don't want God above all things [including "redemption, forgiveness, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven"], we have not been converted by the Gospel." (John Piper, "God is the Gospel").  But when we, like King David, are people who seek after God's own heart above all else (1 Samuel 13:14), all these promises simply become the myriad of blessings that we're meant to walk in as children of God!  And that's meant to encourage us.  That's why they're called blessings!  Such promises ought to impact how we well we can face the challenges that come our way, as we remember what Jesus has done for us on the cross and realize what living a life of confidence in Him accomplishes in our hearts.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

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