God’s Blessings in Our Lives
A friend of mine went to a conference not long ago and told me about how the speaker was wrestling with certain situations in her life and asking God to do something about them. She said that while she was praying about these things, she heard God say something like, “I’m not going to bless you if you can’t spend at least 20 minutes a day with Me! I’ll just move on to someone else!” These comments were met with a loud round of applause from those in attendance to confirm their agreement with those statements as truth.
But is that really how God works?
Is God scouring the earth looking for those who are having a quiet time? Is He blessing those people with better situations and circumstances when He finds them? Is He passing over those who do not have one?
OH THE BONDAGE
Where do we draw the line? If you only spend 15 minutes, do you not get blessed then? If you spend 25 minutes, do you get more blessed than if you spent 20 minutes?
Does our demonstration of love for God or lack thereof, affect others? What if the blessing we pray for involves our kids or someone we love? Are we really saying that if I don’t spend enough quality time with God, He is making life miserable for the people that I love? Do we really believe that if I start spending enough time with God, He is going to now make their lives better somehow?
If this is true, then that seems like bondage, not freedom! It feels like God is a drill sergeant, and I am going to have to constantly be looking over my shoulder to see if I’m doing it right. “Are you proud of me now?” “Did I show you how much I loved You that time?” “Have I done enough for You to bless me now?”
THE TRUTH ABOUT BLESSING
What is the meaning of blessing in the Bible?
We are not blessed based on what we do but rather by what Jesus has done for us! We don’t earn a blessing. . . we receive Jesus as our blessing.
The moment we put our faith and trust in Jesus for salvation, we receive complete forgiveness and enter into a spiritual union with Him. We become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We receive a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). We are made complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).
In Christ, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3).
In Christ, we have abundant life (John 10:10; 1 John 5:12).
In Christ, we have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).
In Christ, we have been granted all things that pertain to life and godliness and have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Jesus is our blessing, and we are in a forever union with Him. He does not leave us and then move on to bless others who are showing Him that they love Him more than us.
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR US TO REST AND RECEIVE?
I think the reason we like to hear people tell us that God will withhold a blessing from us if we aren’t doing something is because we feel better when we are earning something rather than receiving it.
It’s so difficult to just receive something from someone else. We want to feel like we earned it.
When we spend 20 minutes reading our Bibles, we feel justified. We can point to something we did to feel good about ourselves. In our minds, we feel like God must be more proud of us now. We feel like we deserve better situations and circumstances after doing something.
On the flip side, it’s easier to point to our lack of religious activity when things are going badly for us. We don’t want things to be going badly in the circumstances of life “just because.” That means that we can’t control them.
We are okay if things go badly in our lives as a result of not doing good things because that means we can fix it by doing good things. But sometimes God allows us to walk through difficult situations and circumstances to cause us to lean into Him and discover that the real blessing is Him, not the things we are pursuing.
CONCLUSION
I am certainly not saying that having a quiet time is a bad thing. Reading your Bible is a great thing to do! It reveals the truth about Jesus Christ, His finished work on the cross, and all of the blessings you have in Him and Him alone.
We just don’t read our Bibles or do anything to show God how much we love Him and expect more from Him in return.
If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, you are blessed. You’ve received into your life the One who is before all things and holds all things together in His hands.
Continue to receive from Him. Don’t turn His grace into something you are trying to earn. Quit feeling like you have to prove yourself and your love for Him.
Rest in Jesus and all the blessings you have in Him.
