PROGRAM W-1772 – Part II
I have mentioned some of the reasons that you can miss out on the good blessings God has for your life:
- Laziness and lack of discipline
- Rebellion and disobedience
- Refusal to believe God has good things for you
Now I want to examine some of the blessings you may be missing.
1. Relationship Blessings
Is there an important relationship in your life which is broken or wounded? Perhaps it’s a relationship with a family member, a mate, a child, a boss, or a coworker. Did you know that God wants to bless you by healing that relationship? Why hasn’t that happened?
It’s possible that you are willing to mend the relationship but the other person isn’t. In Romans 12:18 we read, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” So, we know that it’s not always possible to live at peace with others. But more often than not, there’s a problem on both sides when a relationship is broken. It could be a 90/10 problem or an 80/20 problem, but even if the problem is only ten or twenty percent your fault, you still need to do whatever you can to live at peace.
Maybe you haven’t claimed this blessing of a healed relationship because you haven’t been willing to apologize. Oh, I know—the other person needs to apologize, too, and maybe more than you do. But you could make the first move, couldn’t you? I think of a woman who hasn’t spoken to her brother in several years because of a past hurt. She refuses to go to family occasions if he’s going to be there, which messes up Christmas and many other things. But she refuses to be the first to apologize, and so the hurt continues.
What about your relationship with your mate? Are you waiting for him or her to change before you change? Are you blaming all the problem on your mate? Has bitterness begun to dig its roots down deep in your heart and make that relationship worse? What blessing in your relationship does God want to pour on you? Maybe you want it exactly your way, so you’re not receiving any blessings in that marriage relationship.
Lots of couples are missing out on some good blessings in their marriages because they refuse to settle for anything less than exactly what they want and in the way they want it. Think about it and ask yourself if you’ve been stubbornly refusing God’s blessings in your marriage by insisting on something more.
Maybe your relationship with your boss is difficult. Could it be that God is unable to heal that relationship because you haven’t been willing to follow biblical instruction concerning submission to authorities, as found in Romans 13? Sometimes our stubbornness keeps us from doing what we know we should do, and that stops God’s blessing on our lives in that area.
Recently God impressed on me to make an apology in order to try to heal or at least improve a relationship. I had to swallow my pride to do that; I had to humble myself, because I felt the other person was the one who truly owed the apology. But I decided that I didn’t want to block God’s blessings in my life by something so silly as refusing to be the one to apologize.
Let me hasten to add that I’m not suggesting we become doormats in any relationship. Abusive relationships are never to be tolerated, and sometimes there is no way to live at peace with another person. We just need to make sure that we have done all that God wants us to do to receive his blessings on that relationship.
2. Blessings of Success
Have you been trying and trying to achieve success in some area, and nothing seems to work? Maybe it’s your career; you had great hopes of moving ahead and doing well, but you seem to be stymied somewhere along the way. Check out the obedience factor. Is there some area in your life where you are knowingly living in disobedience, refusing to listen to the Lord and follow his ways?
Perhaps you have your priorities confused. Perhaps your motives for wanting success are not pure. Maybe you want success without working for it. Maybe you aren’t willing to have delayed rewards; you want everything now.
Maybe God wants to give you success in some other area, but you keep on insisting on having it in the exact form that you want it in. I can just see the Lord, sitting in heaven with blessings of success which he can’t give us because we want the success we want instead of the success he has to give us. His is better than yours, by the way. That may be why he’s not giving you the success you want—because he knows he has something better for you. But you can miss that blessing of success when you are in the front seat dictating to the Lord, instead of giving him the blank piece of paper and asking him to write the plan.
3. Financial Blessings
I wonder, how’s your financial health right now? Let’s face it, money is an important part of our lives and all of us need and want financial security—a little extra for rainy days, a good retirement kitty, or just enough to make ends meet. If you’re in a financial squeeze right now, it might help to investigate the causes.
Listen to what God tells the children of Israel in the book of Malachi:
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:8-10)
Money is the only area where God challenges us to test him by giving our tithes and offerings. That will unlock the floodgates of heaven so that he can pour our great blessings on us. Now, I’m not saying that you will be rich if you give God tithes and offerings. These blessings can take many forms. But I will tell you that God will meet your needs and your finances will be in much better shape if you will obey God and give back some of the money he has given to you.
I think of so many people I know who have proven this true in their lives. Some have achieved greater financial success than others, but in every case, as they’ve given generously to the Lord—not only the ten percent tithe but offerings above that—they have known many blessings in their lives.
If you’re waiting until your finances are in good shape before you start giving to God, I hope you have tons of patience. The faith must precede the blessings. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. When you give of your finances to the Lord in a sacrificial way, he is honor-bound to bless you.
I wonder how many unclaimed blessings we have in heaven waiting to be given to us if and when we give our money to the Lord as we should. You see, our money indicates where our heart is. That’s why our obedience in this matter of money is so critical. If you’re willing to give God your money, then your heart is in good condition and God can open up the door for blessings.
Here are three things that will unleash the blessings of heaven on your life:
Humility
Jesus said whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. True humility brings honor and exaltation.
What does true humility look like? You don’t talk about yourself all the time. You don’t run yourself down or puff yourself up. You truly care about other people. You are teachable; you’re able to admit you’re wrong and ask for forgiveness.
How do we become truly humble? 1 Peter 5:5-6 says this: “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Humble yourself; don’t wait for God to do it. When you humble yourself, God will start pouring blessings on you.
Hard Work
Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Look around and you’ll see that any person who is admired and accomplished is a hard-working person. God blesses hard work.
Helping Others
Proverbs 11:25 tells us the following: “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
It’s amazing how blessed you will be when you start reaching out to other people and pouring your life, energy, and resources into others. For one thing, it will bring you great joy and reduced stress. I promise you this: There are blessings unnumbered for those who are focused on helping others.
Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they were not willing to come to him, he must shake his head as he sits in heaven at the right hand of God, looking at all the unclaimed blessings he has for us that we have never claimed. I challenge you to examine your life and determine to do what you need to do to open up the doors of heaven so that you can be blessed. God wants to be gracious to you; don’t block the gifts of heaven in your life.