Exploring the Blessings of God: A Journey of Faith and Renewal, Lecture notes of English Literature

Download Exploring the Blessings of God: A Journey of Faith and Renewal and more Lecture notes English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! IntroductIon Have you ever wondered why we say “God bless you” to people when they sneeze? There was a time when sneezing was a symp- tom of the deathly plague. And because getting the plague was con- sidered a sign of God’s displeasure, saying, “God bless you” when someone sneezed was offering a prayer that the person would re- ceive the blessing of God—ongoing life—rather than dying from the plague. To be blessed is to have life—abundant, overflowing life. In the best-known blessing from the Bible , we read that the Lord instructed Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing: May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace. (Numbers 6:24-26) God wanted his people to enjoy the assurance of his intention to bless them. From this special blessing we learn that to be blessed is to see the smile of God over our lives rather than to live under his frown. It is to experience his ongoing grace rather than expect his condemnation. It is to enjoy God’s favor rather than endure his rejection. It is to be at peace with him rather than being his enemy. Experiencing God’s blessing is not merely getting good things from God. The essence of blessing is God himself. When we begin to see how much God has given to us in Christ, and how much he is worth, we realize that all of the things we were hoping to get from God—good health, loving relationships, protection from harm, material provision—are only temporary, tangible reminders of all we have in Christ. As blessed people we can say along with the psalmist: I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. (Psalm 73:25-26) As we begin this journey together over the next year, there are two important things you must know. First, while I’ve taken great liberty in writing these blessings as if they are God speaking to you, the only aspect of each day’s blessing that has the authority of God is the Word of God quoted at the top of each page. Writing as if it is God who is speaking is only a device employed for the purpose of helping you hear him speak his blessing personally to you. My hope is that it will serve to make the Scripture come alive and become even more precious to you. I have sought to be faithful to God’s Word in expounding on it and applying it using this literary device, and have done so with a sense of holy fear, prayerfully seeking to be one “who correctly explains the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Second, you need to know that the Bible makes it clear that while God offers his goodness to all who will embrace Christ by faith, he does not force his blessing on those who do not desire him. But if you want him, he will freely give himself to you. You do not have to earn God’s blessing (in fact, you can’t earn it!). You do not have to deserve God’s blessing (in fact, no one deserves it!). You cannot twist God’s arm or wrestle his blessing from his reluctant grasp us- ing the right technique or the right prayer. This life with God is not about what he wants you to do for him, but what he has done for you through Christ. If you have lingered away from God, fearing what he will de- mand of you, unsure of all it will mean for you, you need not stay away any longer. If you have settled for trying to be a good person or a spiritual person, you can become a completely new person. You can turn to Christ and take hold of him by faith. Tell him that you want to belong to him, to know him and be known by him, to be changed by him. He “is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9) Then you’ll be able to celebrate that “he has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light ” (Colossians 1:12). That is what this book is about—the blessing and inheritance that belong to God’s people. I invite you to celebrate that blessing and revel in that inheritance. I invite you to drench your soul in this steady stream of God’s blessing given to you freely and fully in Christ. I hope that you’ll open this book day after day along with God’s Word, and that you’ll open your life to all that God has given to us in Christ, confident that because “he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, [he will] also give us everything else” (Romans 8:32). Nancy Guthrie