THE BLESSING OF GOD
“The Head And
Not The Tail!”
--- Missionary-Evangelist Esther Thornton---
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How does a woman know when it’s going to be a
good day? “I know it’s going to be a good day when all the wheels on my
shopping cart turn the same way.”
A long-time member of St. John’s church
scolded the new pastor for his radical new ideas and changes: “Reverend, if
God were alive today, He would be shocked at the changes in this church!”
Three burly fellows on huge motorcycles pulled
up to a highway café where a truck driver, just a little guy, was perched on a
stool quietly eating his lunch. As the three fellows came in, they spotted him,
grabbed his food away from him and laughed in his face. The truck driver said
nothing. He got up, paid for his food, and walked out.
One of the three cyclists, unhappy that they
hadn’t succeeded in provoking the little man into a fight, commented to the
waitress, “Boy, he sure wasn’t much of a man, was he?” The waitress replied,
“Well, I guess not.” Then looking out the window, she added, “I guess he’s not
much of a truck driver, either. He just ran over three motorcycles.”
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Deut. 28:1-13 LB
“If you fully obey all of these commandments
of the Lord your God, the laws I am declaring to you today, God will transform
you into the greatest nation in the world. These are the blessings that will
come upon you:
Blessings in the city; blessings in the field;
many children; ample crops; large flocks and herds; blessings of fruit and
bread blessings when you come in; blessings when you go out.
The Lord will defeat your enemies before you;
they will march out together against you but scatter before you in seven
directions. The Lord will bless you with good crops and healthy cattle and
prosper everything you do when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is
giving you. He will change you into a holy people dedicated to Himself; this He
has promised to do if you will only obey Him and walk in His ways. All the
nations in the world shall see that you belong to the Lord, and they will stand
in awe. The Lord will give you an abundance of good things in the land, just as
He promised many children, many cattle, and abundant crops. He will open to you
his wonderful treasury of rain in the heavens to give you fine crops every
season. He will bless everything you do and you shall lend to many nations, but
shall not borrow from them. I you will only listen and obey the commandments of
the Lord your God that I am giving you today, He will make you the head and not
the tail, and you shall always have the upper hand.
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Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and
he addeth no sorrow with it.
The passage of scripture that we have read in
Dt. 28, states the 21 blessings of obedience as proclaimed on Mt. Gerizim (ger-ise-em).
Deut. 11:29
And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy
God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that
thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.
(Gerizim and Ebal are mountains west of the Jordan River in the wasteland near
Gilgal, where the oaks of Moreh are.
Dt. 11:31 LB For you are to cross the Jordan
and live in the land the Lord is giving you.
We have a choice of “blessing or cursing” in
our lives. And, if we choose “blessing”, we will be the “head and not the
tail”! If we are not obedient to God, we are automatically choosing defeat.
1. Blessings of obedience:
God’s greatness in our lives; prosperity;
fruitfulness; Victory over enemy - the blessing of God wherever we go.
Fruits of the Holy Spirit manifest in our
lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance.
2. Don’t Let Satan Steal Your Joy!
How can we tell when we are turning away from
obedience? Usually the first thing we lose in our joy. Jerry Savelle wrote a
book called, “If the Devil Can’t Steal Your Joy, He Can’t Get Your Goods”.
Joyce Meyer wrote a book called, “Things That
Steal Your Joy”. She listed 7 things that steal our joy:
(1) Living and serving God in our flesh
instead of being led by the Spirit - that will make you feel “tied hand and
foot” and you will lose your joy through worry and human effort.
(2) Religious legalism instead of being free
in Christ
A strict set of rules does not bring true
obedience or joy.
Feeling guilty and condemned most of the time
is not freedom. Being in mental and emotional turmoil is not freedom. Being sad
and depressed is not freedom.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do them.
God’s Word will free us and we can walk in
freedom and joy. God wants us to enjoy life and not be in bondage all of the
time. Some people are so serious that a smile would crack their face in half!
They wear a frown so much that they would have to stand on their head to be
smiling! We can put ourselves into bondage but Jesus wants to set us free!
Joyce Meyer said that she used to have to have
a perfect house and she cleaned it every day. One day her friends were going
some place and invited her to go along, but she declined because she had to
clean her house that day. Later she realized that she was missing enjoyment and
blessings because of being so radical and living by stringent rules.
(3) Complicating simple issues, instead of
being uncomplicated - If we live a simple life, we will be free to obey God at
a moment’s notice. We will then not be hindered from joy and blessing through
obedience and walking in the Spirit, day-by-day. Some of the greatest things
you and I will ever do for God will be done in simplicity. For they will be
done through Him and not from our complicated planning.
(4) Excessive Reasoning, instead of being
confident in God. Are we trusting or worrying? Instead of trying to figure
everything out, we need to leave them in God’s capable hands.
We need to rest our minds from worry.
“Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear
and worship the Lord and turn (entirely) away from evil. It shall be health to
your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones.” (Prov.
3:7-8).
In 2 Chr. 20:12, King Jehosophat prayed, “For
we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us.
We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.”
The Lord answered him in vs. 17, “You shall
not need to fight in this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the
deliverance of the Lord.”
Depending upon God, instead of our own selves,
will benefit our whole being: body, soul, and spirit.
(5) Ungodly Anger instead of being quick to
forgive.
There is a commercial where a man is raving
mad because his garbage bag breaks and spills everywhere! But, the lady with
the funny voice says, “Don’t get mad - get Glad!”
She is advertising the durability of Glad
bags.
It is easy to get mad. Anyone can do it
quickly with circumstances that we face in life. But, God has a better way for
us. His Word says that when you get angry, sin not, nor let the sun go down
upon your wrath. He wants us to seek Him and find that better way that He has
for us. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is temperance, which is self
control.
When someone does wrong to us, instead of
dwelling on what they have done in our minds, we should be as children. Have
you ever seen how children act? They can be mad one minute and not play
together - but the next, they have already forgiven and forgotten and are back
playing together again!
(6) Jealousy and envy, instead of being
outrageously blessed (When you delight yourself in the Lord, God will give you
the desires of your heart, Psa. 37 tells us.). You won’t have to be jealous of
anyone else, for you will have your own blessing.
God will bless you in every way when you are
being obedient to Him. You will be prosperous when He sees that it is not
harming you and you are putting Him first in your life.
And, though the greatest prosperity is that of
the soul, yet, God will prosper you in material things as well.
Some practical examples of this that I have
experienced:
I used to go every week, when we lived in
Portland, to visit an elderly man who had 3 disabling diseases. He was flat in
bed and couldn’t do anything for himself. I used to rub lotion on his feet and
it relaxed him. Well, Bob began to give me foot rubs on a continual basis, and
I wondered why. God showed me myself rubbing this man’s feet. When Bob quit
rubbing my feet, I said to myself, “I think this has expired and I need to find
someone else to bless like this!”
This years ago, we had a babysitter who was
our pastor’s daughter. One night she had worn an old, stained coat of mine home
because it was late and she didn’t bring a coat. It hung in their closet a long
time and one day her mom noticed it and called me. She said, “I see that you
are not wearing this coat. I know a pastor’s wife about your size that this
coat looks better than hers. Would you mind if I gave it to her?”
I said, “No” but then was troubled. I ended up
giving her 3 coats - even my best one! I said, “She needs it more than I do.”
Yet, I did not ask Bob to buy me another one.
I have never had this happen before, as
leather coats are expensive, but Bob bought me 3 leather coats at one time! I
felt so guilty at first, but then God brought to my mind that pastor’s wife
years earlier, that I had given the 3 coats to! God has a good memory and always
remembers to bless us!
I also gave a fur jacket to an evangelist’s
daughter and God gave me back a full length leather coat!
Since the time of giving away all of these
coats, a lady of means gave me a mink coat!
You can’t out-give God! He always gives back
way more in return than we have ever given Him!
As I mentioned earlier, of course, the
greatest prosperity is that of the soul. Some envy those who are ministers or
who have a ministry or gifts. So, they try in the flesh to have the same thing
and really mess up the ministry, as well as their own lives and happiness.
Do those things that bring prosperity in your
life, first in the spiritual realm and the natural will follow.
What are some of these things that bring
spiritual prosperity?
Put God first in your life and His will for
your life; Don’t try to copy others.
Walk in obedience and the joy of the Lord
(7) Habitual discontentment instead of being
content
Resentment of your situation or of seeing how
others can live can bring discontentment. We need to be content as children -
live a simple life and be thankful for what we have. When God sees that we are
content with what we have and are thankful, He is waiting to bless us.
We can’t fix everything in life. There are
many situations and people that only God can deal with. So, it is wisdom to
leave these things to Him and just live in peace and contentment, knowing that
He will take care of everything that concerns us.
Don’t wait until you get to where you’re
going, to be content and have joy! Be content and joyful on the way! Otherwise,
you will always be striving and not enjoying life!
Being content doesn’t mean that we have to
settle for everything in our life but it means that we have child-like faith in
God that He will bring to pass what is needed in due time.
Psalm 37:5
Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in
him; and he shall bring it to pass.
3. We Can Choose Blessing:
(1) We must determine that we are going to
walk in full obedience to God and let Him be in control of our lives; not
ourselves.
(2) We must be willing to lay down anything
and everything that has hindered His will and purpose for our lives. Anything
we hang onto, will hold us back to a degree from all that He has for us.
(3) We must be open to Him to pour out upon us
all that He has for us. Then, we will be of good success and our joy will be
full.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of
thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest
observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
CONCLUSION: How badly do we want God’s
blessing upon our lives? Are we willing to sacrifice ourselves and our own
ideas in order to receive it?
Do we want to walk in joy or are we going to
just go on as usual with constant feelings of discontentment, anger at people
or the way things are, or envious of others who have found the blessing?
No, let’s determine right now that we are
going to get all that God has for us! Let’s not look at circumstances or
people, but only to God.
And, even if we have been in the fire of
trials, let’s trust Him and keep our heart right with Him.
Zech. 13:9
And I will bring (them) through the fire, and
will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they
shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and
they shall say, The Lord is my God.
1 Peter 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Rev. 3:18
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the
fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with
eye salve, that thou mayest see.
And, when we stand before Him soon, when Jesus
comes, we want to hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
You did what I called you to do. You fulfilled the reason that you were born
into this world. “Enter into the joy of thy Lord!”
References: The Living Bible & “Things That Steal
Your Joy” by Joyce Meyer
Esther Thornton
