Living in the Fullness of the Blessing Page 5

  I told him that I was just visiting and that I hadn’t bought the tie in his town. I told him that I had bought it in London while preaching there.

  He said, “I wish my wife was here. My birthday’s coming up and if I could find a tie like that I’d tell her that’s what I want for my birthday.”

  Well, I reached up, untied it, and gave it to him. I said, “You really like this tie?”

  He said, “I do.”

  I said, “Well, here. I’d like to bless you with it.”

  “Oh no. I couldn’t do that. I didn’t mean that I wanted you to give it to me.”

  “No. No. No. I want you to understand you are an answer to my prayer.”

  He said, “What?”

  I said, “You are an answer to my prayer. I got up this morning, and I said, ‘Lord, give me an opportunity to sow some seed. Bring me an opportunity to sow some seed.’ You’re an answer to my prayer. I have been looking all day for an opportunity to sow and you’re the answer to my prayer. Here. Receive it.”

  I believe we should look for opportunities to sow every day!

  A rich young ruler came to Jesus one time and he wanted something. He wanted to acquire something. “How may I inherit eternal life?” (author’s paraphrase). He wanted something that he didn’t have (Matthew 19:16).

  Jesus said, “Go and sell what you have and give.” Matthew 19:21 (author’s paraphrase)

  Notice, to acquire something that you want, you have to first of all be willing to sow something you already have.

  LOOK FOR THE OPPORTUNITIES

  This is another key the Lord shared with me about positioning ourselves for walking in the fullness of the blessing: Look for every opportunity that you can to sow towards the fulfillment of this.

  Carolyn and I learned years ago that when we see something in the Word that we believe is about to take us to another level, the first thing we do is sow a seed in faith toward the fulfillment of that.

  You can’t have a harvest without sowing. Harvests just don’t happen. They are the results of sowing. And if you want manifestations of the fullness of the blessing in your life, then you should sow toward that.

  I asked the Lord to show me an example of this, and of course, the first thing He said to me was this, “The entire earth revolves around this principle.”

  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, shall not cease.

  – Genesis 8:22 (Amplified)

  The whole earth revolves around the principle of sowing and reaping. The world calls it cause and effect. For every action, there is a reaction.

  Then, He took me to Genesis 12.

  In Genesis 12, God told Abraham that He would bless him. God said, “I will bless you. I will make you a blessing. I will make your name great. I will make a nation out of you and that through you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

  This is what God promised Abraham when He first introduced Himself to him. He was known as Abram at that time. God also told him that if he would arise and walk through the land, that He would give him the length of it and the breadth of it. He told him that He would give him a son and that this son would come from his wife, Sarah. Now, at this time, it was impossible for Sarah to conceive, but God told him, “She will bare you a son and from this son, your seed will be as many as the stars in the heaven and the pebbles of sand on the seashore.”

  But did Abraham wait until all of those promises were manifested before he started sowing? No. He did not.

  God is talking about these promises in Genesis 12, 13, and 14. By chapter 15, for the first time mentioned in the Bible, it says that Abraham gave Melchizedek tithes of all. Once again, the promises that God gave Abraham haven’t been fulfilled yet.

  What was Abraham doing?

  He was not only giving God tithes of all, showing his appreciation for God being his source and showing appreciation for the blessing that was on his life, but he is sowing towards the fulfillment of the promises that God had given him.

  Over the years, I have learned to follow that example. And if you want to live in the fullness of the blessing, then let me encourage you to begin to look for every opportunity that you can to sow towards the fulfillment of it. If you do, then you won’t be disappointed. I can tell you without any reservations that God has never let me down.

  Abraham was sowing out of his love for God. He was sowing out of his respect for God. But, he was also sowing towards the fulfillment of those promises.

  Let me encourage you to do the same thing. Sow toward the fulfillment of living in the fullness of the blessing. And don’t just sow every once in a while but do it every opportunity you can find.

  The Bible says in Galatians 6 that we are to look for opportunities to be a blessing, to be a sower, and to get some seed into someone else’s life.

  IT’S NOT SUBTRACTION, IT’S ADDITION

  I have found that a lot of people look at giving to God as God taking something away from them. That’s not true. Even though what you give may leave your hand, it never leaves your life.

  When you sow your tithes and offerings on Sunday your

  attitude shouldn’t be: “Bye. Nice to have had you for a while.” No. What you gave did leave your hand, but it

  didn’t leave your life. God never forgets a seed sown. You are sowing towards your future. You are sowing towards

  the fulfillment of the promises that God has said are yours.

  When you wake up in the morning, your attitude should be, “I live to give.” Remember the law of seedtime and harvest is the principle that the whole earth revolves around.

  Always give in joy. If you don’t give in joy, then you aren’t doing it in faith either.

  . . . God loveth a cheerful giver . . .

  – 2 Corinthians 9:7

  “Well, the Lord’s making me give this up.” If that is your attitude, then that’s not giving in joy. That’s not giving in faith. You should be joyful in your giving. Why? Because you are making an investment in your future. You can’t out give God. The more you sow, then the greater the measure of the fullness of the blessing that you will walk in.

  CHAPTER 8

  Blessing Blockers

  By now you understand that God wants you living in the fullness of the blessing. No matter what level of that blessing you are walking in now, He wants you experiencing more in your life. We have spent the last several chapters talking about what you need to do to get into position for experiencing the fullness of the blessing. Now I want to talk to you about some things that can block you from living in it.

  I like to call them blessing blockers. If we can discover the things in our lives that are keeping us from experiencing

  the fullness of the blessing, then we can remove them. We can correct it so that we can get on with enjoying God’s best.

  As the bird by wandering, and as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

  – Proverbs 26:2

  . . . the curse causeless shall not come. In other words, curses do not have a right to operate in your life without a cause.

  I want to refer to the “curse” as a blocked blessing. That is what a curse is. It is something that is keeping you from experiencing the blessing of God in your life.

  So, a curse or a blessing blocker has to have some kind of foundation. It has to have some kind of reason or explanation. There has to be a cause for it or it can’t take place.

  DISOBEDIENCE

  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee . . .

  – Deuteronomy 28:1-2

  If you continue to read on, it becomes obvious that God wants to bless us in every area of our lives. He wants to bless us financially, physically, mentally, and socially. But, there is a condition – if you will hearken dili
gently unto the voice of the Lord thy God and obey.

  Obedience brings living in the fullness of the blessing. Disobedience gives the curse a cause.

  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.

  – Deuteronomy 28:15

  Obedience opens the door to the blessings, and disobedience blocks the blessings.

  Jesus tells us the same thing in John 10:27. He says, My sheep hear my voice . . . and they follow me. Jesus is saying that His people hear His voice and they follow Him. To follow would mean they obey Him.

  Another example would be Mary, the mother of Jesus. She said it this way, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. (John 2:5).

  The basic requirement for being blessed is still the same today as it was under the old covenant – obedience. Disobedience is a major problem in the body of Christ today.

  Jesus once asked His disciples in Luke 6:46 (Amplified), Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord and do not [practice] what I tell you? Why do you keep saying that I am your Lord, but you don’t do what I tell you? (author’s paraphrase)

  How many times do you suppose that you have ignored God’s instructions? You know what I am talking about. God tells you to do something and you decide that you will do it later or not at all. How many times has God spoken to you about giving to someone and you hesitated or you fussed with it or you came up with a better idea or you sent a lower figure?

  How many times do you suppose we disobey and don’t even think twice about it? Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him. In other words, they are obedient. They do what He tells them to do.

  In the book of James, we see that obedience is a vital key for the blessings of God to flow your way. James 1:22, But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only . . . . Then, he said if you are a hearer only, then you are deceiving yourself.

  But in James 1:25, he says, that the doer will be blessed in his deeds. So notice that obedience is just as important in the New Testament as it was in the Old Testament.

  The psalmist tells us that if we are doers of the Word, then we will prosper in whatsoever we do (Psalm 1:3). On the other hand, Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 28 that disobedience will block our blessings. Disobedience will block God’s best for our lives.

  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in all thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore . . .

  – Deuteronomy 28:29

  “Spoiled evermore” would mean that you just gave the devil a right to steal everything you have. He is a thief and he will steal everything you have when you open the door through disobedience.

  Therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things . . .

  – Deuteronomy 28:48

  Notice that Moses was also telling us that disobedience opens the door to continual financial lack. If there is continual financial lack in your life, then I would suggest searching your heart and asking yourself where you have been disobedient.

  Someone once told me, “When it seems like nothing is working and it seems like your mountains are not moving but they appear to be getting bigger, check up on yourself and make sure you did the last thing God told you to do.”

  I like to write down what the Lord tells me to do so that I can go back and use it as a checklist. If you will write a list, then you can use it to make sure that you have done everything God told you to do.

  TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

  We have to take full responsibility for ourselves. Don’t be looking everywhere else. Where have I been disobedient?

  If “in want of all things” describes your life today, this can be corrected. It is not a permanent situation. Search your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where you have missed it. Where you have been disobedient?

  THE BIG THREE

  Let’s take a look at three different areas where you might have been disobedient or where maybe you have failed to be a doer of the Word.

  #1. Ask yourself if you are putting God first place in your life or have you let things become more important to you.

  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

  – Matthew 6:33

  We live in a world where we need a lot of things. We need the material necessities of life like food, clothing, and shelter. But most of the time food, clothing, and shelter are not enough. We want other things. God is not against you having things but He is against things having you.

  We are told in the Scripture to “love God with all our hearts, all our might, and all our strength.” Are you obeying this command? If you are, then Satan does not have the right to block your blessings. If you can truly say that your primary pursuit in life is God and not things, then that door has been shut and Satan cannot use that avenue to block your blessings.

  #2. Are you walking in love or is there strife and unforgiveness in your heart?

  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

  – John 13:34

  Jesus said we are to love one another. Are you doing that? We cannot walk in the fullness of the blessing when we refuse to walk in love. No matter how difficult it might seem, forgive. Stay out of strife. Get rid of bitterness. It is a blessing blocker.

  #3. Are you honoring God with your tithes and your offerings or are you robbing Him?

  In Zechariah 5:3, God declares that a curse comes on the house of a person who is a thief. Now, you might be thinking, “I am not a thief, Jerry. He is just talking about people who rob from other people.” No. He just said a thief.

  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse . . .

  – Malachi 3:8-9

  In other words, because you don’t honor God with your tithes and offerings, living in the fullness of the blessing has been blocked. God calls the tithes holy, and He also says, “It is Mine.” He lays claim to it. So if you are using it for other things, then you are being disobedient.

  The proper attitude for tithing is to set it aside first. Don’t pay everybody else and then if there is anything left over bring it to God. That is not being a doer of the Word, and that kind of attitude will block your blessings.

  . . . let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him . . .

  – 1 Corinthians 16:2

  Put aside something and save it up as he has prospered...

  – 1 Corinthians 16:2 (Amplified)

  Maybe you need to get a special checking account and call it your “tithing account” or “giving account.” Get it out of your everyday usage so that you are not tempted to use it for something else. Get the tithe out of your general account. It does not belong to you.

  If you don’t begin to discipline yourself to take the tithe out first, then you will always struggle with this. Tithing is something you must be consistent about. If you only tithe when it’s convenient, it will not bring the fullness of the blessing in your life.

  I can promise you that your money will go a lot farther on 90% and giving God his 10% than it will when you keep 100%. So, giving to God consistently has got to become part of your lifestyle. It should be first nature to you.

  WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN

  When your blessing seems to be blocked, then go through this checklist. Be honest with yourself and then make whatever corrections you need to make.

  Ask God to forgive you. Say what David said in Psalm 67:1, God be merciful unto us. And then he said, . . . and bless us.

  In other words, “God I am asking You to wipe the slate clean and then bless me. God, thank you for forgiving me. I am sorry for being disobedient.
I stand corrected, and now let Your blessings flow once again in my life.”

  ...And God, even our God, shall bless us.

  – Psalm 67:6

  When you can ask for forgiveness, God will forgive you, and the barriers will be removed. The cause for the curse will be removed and the blessings will flow.

  CHAPTER 9

  Catch The Vision

  The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision. – Helen Keller

  Let me ask you today: What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror? Do you see somebody living in the fullness of the blessing or do you see somebody who is struggling just to get by. Do you see yourself always coming up short and always in debt or do you see somebody who is living in the fullness of the blessing like God has planned for them?