Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
7 Characteristics Of The Blessing
What if the secret to thriving in tough times lies not in external solutions, but in the depth of our faith and trust in the divine? On this episode of 7 Characteristics of the Blessing, we embark on an inspiring journey, exploring how scripture illuminates our path through life's adversities.
And why don't we start with a faith confession and then you can just say this out loud after me. Let your brain hear what your mouth is saying, because it's just straight out of the Word. Say this with me. Say my delight is in the law of the Lord. My meat is to do His Word and to finish his work. I delight greatly in his commandments, and so my life looks like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and I'm going to bear forth fruit and I'm not going to wither, and everything I do shall prosper in Jesus name. Jesus name. Well, thank you for saying that with me.
Speaker 1:That is an amalgamation of a few verses, some of which we'll cover tonight, but I just wanted to meditate and make sure our mindset is strong right now as we're going in to this time. It's a historic time in our nation. I believe it's a historic time for all of us. I believe there will be days in our lives where we look back on this time and say, wow, look what God did, look what God used us to do. But we have to be strong in our faith during this time, and so just last time I was able to minister to you it was earlier this month and we talked about things to put off and things to put on. We talked about being dressed for success. That mindset, the mindset that we need to put off certain things, put off doubt and unbelief and depression and you know, but put on love and joy and put on Jesus himself, you know, put off the filthy rags. And so there's just this mindset. And the mindset of the world does so much try to creep in on us, especially when we're looking at our phones today, when we're seeing the news, even if we watch good news, even if we watch approved news you might watch the Victory Network, that's a great source of news but still we see the challenges of the world around us and I want to keep our church right here in the mindset of the blessing. So here are seven things we can dwell on that will mark our lives when we are the blessed, and that's you and that's me, if we choose that.
Speaker 1:So let's just start out real quick in Jeremiah 17, and then we'll move quickly. But here is a good little litmus test. When you look at your life and things don't seem to line up with the Word, you can ask yourself who am I trusting in? Am I trusting in, truly in the Lord, or have I accidentally started to trust in myself, started to trust in a person around me, my spouse, my child, somebody else I'm leaning on really heavily? Am I trusting too much in a person or am I really trusting in the Lord? So listen to this.
Speaker 1:Jeremiah 17, five says cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord, for he shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. That sounds like an awful, terrible place and if we're not careful we can accidentally fall into this time and I believe it'll be a short time. But sometimes we are tempted to trust in man and when we do that it says we won't even see when the good comes. There's something about looking to the wrong source that all of a sudden now we can't see the blessings that we already have all around us. But then it says in verse seven let's go here. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord.
Speaker 1:Everybody say my hope is the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. There is nothing that can stop you from yielding fruit if you will put all your trust in the Lord. There is nothing that can stop you if you will trust the Lord. It doesn't say that the heat wouldn't come. It said that when the heat comes, when the heat comes, we will be immune to it because our roots are spread out by the river of God. We are feasting and feeding on the moisture that no one else can see because it's way down, deep, deep underground, and that river could be miles away. Nobody might even see that river. But our roots are so established that they are down there, tapped into that underground river, and we can still be nourished, we can still bear fruit when all the trees around us, when the shrubs in the desert, have dried up, we have a source. Everybody say I have a source, amen, all right. So back to our seven characteristics.
Speaker 1:From that we're going to get, we're going to go to Psalm 112, which is a wonderful and familiar song, psalm, I will be interested to see. For those of you who are watching on Facebook Live, I can actually read your comments and so I know that these are very familiar scriptures, and so I'm going to be trying to watch and see if you have a time that you have applied these scriptures, because I can look at these and go, yep, I've applied this. I've seen us apply this in the church, I've seen my dad apply this over here. So, interesting, if you have ever used any of these verses out of this chapter right here in your own life, let me know. But we'll just start right now. Praise the Lord, verse one. Praise the Lord, verse 1. Praise the Lord, psalm 112.
Speaker 1:Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. Everyone say that's me, who delights greatly in his commandments. He delights greatly, you know. Psalm 1 talks about that too. My delight is in the law of the Lord. Delight greatly in his commandments. What does it mean to delight Well, to just love and cherish above all things, to draw your comfort and joy, and every part of your being is enriched by having this relationship with the Lord.
Speaker 1:It is the Hebrew word chafetz, chafetz, c-h-a-f-e-t-z, chafetz, and it is there's actually a derivative of that word that is used to describe the land of Israel itself. So if you think about it, it's just such a because it you know, god says that that land would be a delightsome land. So in other words, there's a delight that we have in God and as his covenant people. Israel is also his covenant people, but we have a covenant with God through Jesus Christ. We're his covenant people, so he also delights in us. He sings over us. The Bible says he delights over us with singing.
Speaker 1:He has such a delight in you, no matter what you've done. He chose to love you, to give his life, to give his son, to shed his blood for you, and he loves you so much and you're so delighted in by God himself. So when we delight in him back by feeding on his word, by getting excited about what he wrote us, this love letter that he wrote us, now we have like this delightful love relationship with almighty God and you can see right there how, just taking that relationship and just making it the center of your entire life, you can see how good things would come from that right, how the devil could not attack. He tried to attack but he would never get through because he cannot break that bond, that closeness that you have, that you get from God when you delight in him, and so you. That's how we qualify for all of these seven blessings that we're going to talk about in a minute. Just by loving on the Lord, just by focusing on His Word and making it the most important thing in our life and cultivating. You know, dad's been preaching on that on Sunday mornings, about eating the bread of life. Eating it, just feasting on it, just making it the center and making it so important that, whatever the word says, it outshines any problem, it outshines any attack. So that's that mindset that we have right now.
Speaker 1:And so what are the seven things? Okay, number one thing. Number one thing y'all can read ahead and even know, but I have some. This is a close thing to me right now His descendants will be mighty on the earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Speaker 1:So there is an attack right now in this culture on the next generation, and we see it. It is taking the form of politics, but it is not a political battle. It is a long time spiritual struggle against good and evil, because the generation, our generation, our kids, are supposed to be mighty on the earth, our kids, as covenant people of God. Our kids are supposed to be blessed, and the generation that follows us is supposed to be blessed. But you can see the enemy coming in and trying to convince people, even people that call themselves Christians. I see this especially in women, and I caution us. But there is this mindset of evil that wants to kill the next generation, that wants to convince women that killing our offspring, and men that killing our offspring is the way to blessing, is the way to achieve our dreams.
Speaker 1:And the Word says the exact opposite of that. In Psalm 127, it says that children are a heritage of the Lord and that they're a blessing, and the fruit of the womb is a reward from him. It's a reward. All children are a blessing and a reward if we will treat them as such. And so then God says that our descendants are supposed to be mighty, and yet the next generation is actually shrinking, because either it's being killed off through abortion or people are willingly sterilizing their own children or themselves through this lie of transgenderism. They're sterilizing. So the next generation is actually shrinking in this culture right now. And yet God said it's supposed to be blessed. So we wanna pray the blessing back on our land by being a land again that delights in the law of the Lord and that puts His law first place over the laws of man, amen.
Speaker 1:And so you know, we sing that song here, that this favor, may His favor be upon you in a thousand generations. How many of you are thinking in that song right now? A thousand generations and your family and your children. I mean, god's blessing is for the generations and we have to pass that down, we have to show that to them. And you say, maybe you don't have kids, maybe you don't have kids on this earth, that does not disqualify you from finding and building and making a purposeful effort to build relationships with other people, to find somebody to care about and pour into and to bless and to care about like you would your own child. And then we have many people like that in this church who have poured their lives into helping other kids or other people younger than them and help them, disciple them, bring them along in the faith, and then you're blessed, then your descendants are mighty on the earth, amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's number one, mighty descendants. Number two wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever Wealth. And so number two is prosperity, prosperity. And you might say but, claire, business endures forever Wealth. And so number two is prosperity, prosperity. And you might say but, claire, I don't have wealth and riches in my house yet. I've been praying, I'm a tither, I'm giving. Well, that's good. If you're tithing, you're proving that you are trusting in the Lord, that your hope is in the Lord, and now you can delight in this commandment that says you are entitled in the Lord, that your hope is in the Lord. And now you can delight in this commandment that says you are entitled to wealth and riches in your house. And you might not see it yet, but you are absolutely entitled and you can use this scripture to do warfare in your own financial world. You can do warfare in the spirit, and I just believe that God's sending that.
Speaker 1:But we do have to in every one of these situations, if you say, wait a minute, claire, these things aren't materialized in my life, I don't see my mighty descendants yet, I don't see my wealth and riches in my house yet, then we have to go back and ask ourselves just for a second did we trust in man or are we trusting in God? Because when we trust in the Lord, when we delight in him. That's where all these blessings take place. All right, so you are blessed, you have prosperity. That is a hallmark of the blessing Unto the upright. There arises light in the darkness. People say I don't know what to do. It's such a dark time. God didn't say look how dark it is. He hovered over the waters and he said let there be light. So expect that light to come, expect that there would be light in this time of gross darkness. God said arise, shine, for your light has come. So there's light for you. All right. So now the number three.
Speaker 1:He is gracious. Who? The man who fears the Lord, the man who delights. He is gracious, he is full of compassion, he's righteous. That means he has right, standing with God. But he's also right about stuff. He takes the time to dig in and find the right viewpoint on every situation. Why? Because he's delighting in the commandment, so he can be right and not wrong.
Speaker 1:When we corrected our kids when they were little, we would say do you want to be right or do you want to be wrong? And if they and they would always grudgingly well, I want to be right, I want to be. Well, good, I'm helping you be right. I'm going to align your. I want you to see what the word says about this or that behavior and so, or whatever it is, but let God just put his character, his stamp of character, on you. He is gracious, he is full of compassion and he's righteous. And then it says a good man deals graciously and lends. So praise God. We have something to lend to other people. We have something because we had that wealth and riches back there. We got that prosperity thing that we're trusting God for, and now we have good character by sharing it with others, by exhibiting compassion to others. So that's hallmark number three a good character. Okay. And then number four listen to this he will guide his affairs. End of verse five. He will guide his affairs with discretion. I love that.
Speaker 1:There is a part we have to play when we are guiding our business. What are we? Are we considering all the different points of when I, when we make a decision, we can ask the Lord. He's so awesome, he's so, when we don't know what to do, he is the one. If we can ask Him. The word says in James that He'll. If we lack wisdom, we can ask Him and He'll give it to us liberally, so we can by leaning on the Holy Spirit, we can see all the points of the argument so that we can use discretion and good judgment in making that final decision. And that's how we're going to guide our affairs, not by what we feel like at the moment, not by what our flesh wants, not by what our kids are begging us for, not by the demands of our boss. But when we guide our business, we can do so with the discretion of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has. He's got the bird's eye view. We might be down in the jungle, but he is way far above and he can see. He can see the different pathway for you out, and so we can listen to him and get that direction from him.
Speaker 1:So discretion in business is hallmark number four. You know the word says that if you see a man diligent in his business, then he'll stand before kings and he won't stand before mean men, or what it means is like lackluster intelligence people. He will stand before people who know their stuff. He will fit right in with that, and so that's what the Holy Spirit ushers us into. We can be in the room with people because the Holy Spirit is an expert in all legal matters and all protocol and procedure and he will make us y'all know that. He will make us look like a genius if we will ask Him. So you can stand in a room with some heavy hitters and you can fit right in and you don't have to be intimidated because the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you.
Speaker 1:Discretion in business is a hallmark of the blessing. So if we keep reading, it says surely he will never be shaken. The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. God says he never forgets, in Hebrews. It says he never forgets. In Hebrews. It says he never forgets your work and your labor of love which you've poured out on the saints, which you do labor for them. He's not unjust and he will not forget it. And so the righteous are in everlasting remembrance, first of all by the Father, god. And that person will not be afraid of evil tidings. Everybody say I will not be afraid of evil tidings. Everybody say I will not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established. He will not be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies. Praise God Many times. It says it right there, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, he won't be afraid. Why? Because he's not focused on the problem, he's focused on the word, the solution. And so it did not say once again, it did not say that the evil tidings would not come. It just said we would not be afraid of them. We would not be afraid of them.
Speaker 1:So we have some things in our society right now that we're dealing with, and let me just tell you, I know God has a wonderful plan for this nation. I know that things are working out for our good, but I know that there will be some violence coming up. I don't see a way around that. It would be an absolute miracle if there weren't. I'm not prophesying that right now. I hope there's not, but I see that there are people that are just seething right now with rage against God. But we're not afraid of the evil tidings. Is there inflation? Yes, is it going to get better? I don't know how it ever could, but I'm not afraid of that because the Lord, I'm trusting in him, I am clinging to him. I know his word is true and it's awesome, and it has been so good to me always. And God will never fail me. He will never fail you. If we trust him, he will always come through for us.
Speaker 1:So I know I've used this scripture many times. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, his heart is established. It says in the New King James. In the King James it says the heart is fixed. Well, you know, my dad claimed that scripture for years, you know, as he was dealing with atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. He would say my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed. Well, you know, fixed can mean a lot of things and in the King James I know it means established. It didn't actually mean that it was like repaired, but it was a fun way that God speaks to him. It was a rhema word for him. He said my heart. He read that. He said my heart is fixed. The word says my heart is fixed, and uh, and so he just applied it. And some somebody out there might say, oh well, he is misapplied the meaning of that word. The Hebrew didn't say that. The Hebrew didn't say this or what. He had a rhema from God and it came while he was praying and while he was reading his word praise God and his heart is fixed. He's got great numbers now. He was able to get in. Did he need surgery? Yes, at the time he needed surgery.
Speaker 1:So it's not like our life is perfect because we, you know, because we, it's just, it's a panacea for everything. No, if you look at the early church, if you look like, if you look at the apostles, apostle Paul, he said I know how to abound and I know how to suffer, want I know how like I've been starving and I've been on the top of the barrel. There were times when even the Apostle Paul was so holy and yet we said you know, well, he could have said well, wealth and riches is gonna be in my house. He could have said well, I'm, you know, evil, tiny, I don't have to be afraid of them. Well, he lived through some stuff and so we're going to fight through some stuff. But we just know that we have the victory on the other side. You know it's funny.
Speaker 1:My son, ben is applying to colleges and universities and God is guiding his path, and so we know that he will end up answering the high call of God on his life, end up answering the high call of God on his life. But anyway, one of the universities asked them a question and he said what are your life aspirations. What are your life aspirations? You know, if you ask most 17 year old boys about that, they are not. That's a stumper for them. But I might ask you that what are your life aspirations? And I think the older we get, the more we want our life to mirror the Psalm 112. It is just the whole thing just kind of describes what we would want somebody to look back at the end of our lives, when we are old and rich in years when we can say I finished my course, my race, and it's laid up for me a crown. I can look back at these verses and say, yes, our family has achieved, we have trusted in the Lord through thick and through thin and he has brought us through into rich fulfillment. And these are verses that characterize this. So this is a wonderful life aspiration. This is a wonderful thing to pray on your life.
Speaker 1:But he will not be afraid of evil tidings. Are there evil tidings? Yes. So when we come to church, we see clarity. When we are out there by ourselves, sometimes we get fearful. When we are out there by ourselves, sometimes we get fearful. We see, you know the bad things, what bad things can happen. But let's not be afraid in this time. Let's never, ever be afraid. Let's never give a voice to that fear that is from the evil one.
Speaker 1:All right, so we made it through. Oh, so number five. Number five is, through all that strength under pressure, I'm established. I'm established in the word 1 Peter 5.10. Let's just go there and read that, 1 Peter 5.10. I love this, I love this.
Speaker 1:Verse eight, actually, let's back up to verse eight. Be sober and vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That's the evil tidings. Okay, he does. It's true, though it's true, the devil wants to. He wants to eat people up, but resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world, all Christians. We have an enemy, we have an attacker, but may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you've suffered a little bit from this stuff. God didn't send the suffering, but we just have to live in the world, and then the world is a fallen world and the devil's there and we're fighting against him after you suffered a while. But may he do this.
Speaker 1:This is a wonderful prayer to pray over your life. May he perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. May he say that, with me, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle was made. Perfect, establish, strengthen and settle. Perfect, establish, strengthen and settle those are four things that you want God to always be doing for you and for your loved ones. You can pray this over them Perfect not means that they're complete. They're not lacking anything. They don't have a big hole in their heart from some trauma that they've walked through in their life. No, god has filled that hole with all of his goodness and they're complete. They feel complete and not halfway, not dependent on some person, no, no. So that the Lord Jesus Christ, who's called you, you, that he would perfect, establish, I mean plant you, put you on the rock, make you on a foundation that is unshakable. May he establish you in a place and give you that place. That is your place, and he strengthens you in that place and he settles you in that place. And he settles you in that place and no devil can come and steal it from you. May he do those things for you.
Speaker 1:That is a wonderful Holy Ghost prayer to pray from first Peter, but so strength and adversity is our characteristic number five, and then generosity comes next. Listen to this he is dispersed abroad. He's given to the poor His right. There is that statement again his righteousness endures forever and his horn will be exalted with honor. The person who humbles himself, who gives, who puts other people before himself, who seeks first the kingdom of God, will be honored, will be exalted, will have all these things be added unto him, so much so that this verse was actually quoted in 2 Corinthians 9 by the Apostle Paul.
Speaker 1:About that verse, about the cheerful giver. Remember the cheerful giver? He has dispersed abroad, verse 9. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. And then it talks about that all grace and all sufficiency and you'll have abundance for every good word and work, and that your seed will be multiplied. And then there's this whole ripple effect of blessing that happens.
Speaker 1:So generosity is definitely a hallmark, a wonderful characteristic of the person who is blessed, that they are always giving, they're always giving. I got to be in the presence of somebody like that this week. Of course I get to meet all of y'all, but man I mean just such a generous person whose life is characterized by their giving, who they are a paymaster into the kingdom of God. What an awesome, awesome high call of God, and many of us aspire to that. I believe it's in our future. Amen, we're walking it out now, all right.
Speaker 1:And finally, the last characteristic, and we've kind of already covered this We've all these great blessings, and then it says the wicked. The wicked will see it and be grieved, and he will gnash his teeth and melt away. And then it says the wicked. The wicked will see it and be grieved, and he will gnash his teeth and melt away, and the desire of the wicked shall perish. So the last characteristic is opposition by the wicked, and they're gnashing their teeth and they're angry and they're pulling out their blue hair and they're mad and they're this and they're that, but in the end, their desire will perish and all of that wickedness will melt away. It will be overcome with victory.
Speaker 1:We know, though, that if we're not being opposed by the wicked one, we must not be doing anything that is noticed by the devil. I want him to notice me as an enemy. I don't mind having some opposition in this world, because I know my God is greater than that, and you know your God is greater than that, and you know your God is greater than that. So if you are persecuted for his namesake, be joyful, rejoice and be glad and dance the jig, because your God is moving through you and he is all powerful. Amen, amen, amen. It's so good to hear from all of you. I know y'all are applying the word, but I hope that you will keep that blessing mindset in the weeks to come. We are less than six days out from election day and I'm telling you God's people are winning in Jesus' name.