The Holy Bible is a collection of testimonies about blessings, which presents God as the source of blessings. God, the embodiment of blessings, has brought us into this world to bless. That is why he blessed a people who had been in slavery for 430 years, with all kinds of riches by giving them his promised land of Canaan.
When we refer to a person and say that he or she is blessed, we mean that God has blessed the person. True blessing is from God. In the Bible, the word “blessing” refers to the reward that God gives to a person who stands with God.
It may be asked whether the devil and his brooding plagues also do reward. The answer to that is that wealth can be bought also from the devil. But it is not called “blessing”. What God gives is eternal. It will last as long as the blessed person stays with God. But that of the devil is different. He who possesses it will not have peace. As time goes by, he will also destroy everything. Someday, at least the next generation will have to give back what they got from the devil.
The word ‘bruk’ in Hebrew means to bless or bless. This word is used when any person, society or thing is filled with goodness and prosperity.
Just as God is love, God is also blessing. When God loves a person, God’s vitality the source of that love, is poured into him. One becomes blessed by God only when God’s life force is poured into him.
That is why some individuals can bless others. Individuals indwelling the divine life force can impart that life force to others. Thus the persons who become God’s representatives and mediators can bless others. It is another blessing from God; is a gift
God wants man, his most beloved creature, to be a part of his blessed life. God is trying to do that. There are no other shortcuts to attain God’s grace. The important thing is to connect with God, the source of life and blessing. God’s blessings are easily obtained by the person who keeps in touch with God through constant prayer, organizes his life according to God.
God created Adam to be the storehouse of His blessings. God filled him with blessings. Look at how God blessed him after the creation: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:26-30).
According to the Bible, man was created last in God’s creation. If you look at the verses given above, God has given a series of blessings to men. God created man in His image and likeness. This means that man was created with God-like individuality, rationality, and moral consciousness. They were given the gift to multiply.
God has given man the blessing to rule the whole earth. God gave him glory and honour. And he put all things under his feet.
God created Adam to be blessed with His blessings. But Adam failed to live a life under God’s control, full of divine blessings. How did he fail?
Blessings are not free from God. Man is filled with divine goodness when he stands and builds his life with obedient to his covenant. In the garden of Eden, God made a covenant with the first man. Along with the blessing, it also included the rules for obtaining those blessings. Those promises and conditions are as follows:
- Be fruitful.
- Fill the earth.
- Subdue all things in the earth, sky and sea.
- Cultivate the Garden of Eden.
- Protect the garden from enemies,
- Eat the fruit of the trees of the garden as you like,
- Do not eat only the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- The penalty for disobeying him is death.
God only commanded not to eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil. God did not say why. God demands obedience without questioning. The reward for that has also been said –
What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him.
1 Corinthians 2:9
In this situation, the devil took the form of a snake and went to their residence. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Genesis 3 : 1-6)
This is what caused the primitive man to distance himself from God, the giver of blessings. With this, the blessings from God also became limited.
God commanded: Do not eat of the tree of knowledge. But the devil said: If you eat it, you will be like God. Whose promise of these entices the human heart? The devil’s promise. By obeying the serpent, they disobeyed God’s command and trusted the devil. This is exactly what we are doing. If you obey God, you will receive guidance from God. If you obey man and the devil, you will get a reward from them. Decide for yourself which is your preference. God has given everyone the full power of choice. We will get the reward based on our decision.
Abraham, one of the first characters in the Bible, is known as the father of believers. When Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared when he did not have any child from his wife Sarah and said: “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” (Genesis 17:1-2). Here, the promise given to Abraham is that that he will be greatly increased. God asked only one thing for that – you walk before me and stand innocent. Only an innocent can find God. Others will claim that they know God and are wise in divine matters. Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3).
Once one realizes that he is spiritually poor, he will not act in a wise manner in divine things. He will give God a place in the heart and start searching for him. God will reveal Himself to those who seek God with all their heart. He will respect those who respect him and there is also a divine promise that He will come to those who seek Him. Jesus also said that He will uplift those who uplift Him. Jesus also said that God has hidden the spiritual things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Luke 10:21).
Look at the list of blessings God promises to Abraham after asking him to walk innocently before him: “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:1-10).
This blessing was given to a people who had been slaves in Egypt, descendants of Abraham, more than 400 years later. The land of Canaan (Israel) was promised to Abraham’s descendants. As a result of this, the children of Israel were able to pass from curse to blessing.
Jesus said that it is impossible to please both God and mammon. Mammon is an idol worshiped as the god of wealth. He who has his eyes fixed on wealth the whole time cannot worship God. That is why Jesus said that the rich man’s way to heaven would be like going through the eye of a needle.
According to God’s promise, Abraham had a child at the age of 100. It was from that promised seed that many nations and kings were said to spring. However, when the child grew up, God asked Abraham to sacrifice the child for him. Abraham obeyed God and went to Mount Moriah with the child. There he prepared for the sacrifice. But in due time, God Himself dispensed with the sacrifice by substituting a lamb.
Here’s what happened. Abraham knew that God would not withdraw from the blessings He had promised to give him. Abraham had full faith in God. Abraham believed that if he offered his son as a sacrifice as God asked, God would give him descendants even from the ashes burned in those fiery furnaces. Adverse circumstances could not break Abraham’s faith in God, because God gave Abraham the promised seed when he was too old to have a child.
The assets of Abraham were firstly faith, the second being obedience. Abraham did not cry when God asked for the child back, He had given him; He did not hesitate to do so. Abraham showed extreme obedience. Here Abraham triumphed in faith and obedience; God was pleased. With that, he became a vessel of blessings.
The secret of the blessings that Abraham received is that he completely obeyed God without arguing, questioning or asking advice from men.
But Adam and Eve failed in the life of faith and obedience in the garden of Eden. They did not believe in God; did not obey. At the same time, they believed in the devil and obeyed the devil by eating the forbidden fruit.
God created Adam and Eve and took them to the Garden of Eden to be enveloped in His blessings. By rejecting God’s word and believing in the devil, they became accursed. In fact they were abandoning God, the source of blessings. No blessings were received from the devil. There is no history of receiving a blessing from the devil!
The most important of the blessings is the salvation of the soul. We should always have the sense that it can come only from God. The devil can never grow us spiritually. Salvation of the soul is with God alone. I believe that if the soul is handed over to the devil while alive and after death, no action can save that person. The Holy Bible also affirms it.
So don’t… don’t… buy anything from the devil. Do not keep anything that belongs to plagues in your life so that you can claim it.
God is the source of blessings. Follow God. Don’t even look back at the devil.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17
Thank you for guiding us through this study. It’s been a valuable learning experience.