Gen 13:8
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. NKJV
- Abraham didn’t want to live in strife. He wasn’t just looking to be right; he was looking to stop the arguing. I think I need to remember that. I like to be right too much I think. It is nice to be right, but it isn’t worth ruining a relationship to be right about everything. Gen 16:5
- Ps 133:1; Acts 1:14; God’s blessing comes where there is unity, not where there is strife.
Prov 26:2
2 An undeserved curse has no effect. Its intended victim will be no more harmed by it than by a sparrow or swallow flitting through the sky. (TLB)
- Prov 30:10; Gal 3:13; Those who don’t deserve a curse will not be affected by it. Those who earned the curse will receive it. We are deserving of a curse for our sins, BUT Jesus redeemed us from the curse by taking our deserved curse upon Himself.
- We are to pray for and bless those who curse us Matt 5:44; Luke 6:28; Rom 12:14. Their curse has no power over us, but if we show them God’s love they too may turn and be redeemed from the curse. 1 Peter 3:9 we are to walk in God’s blessing, regardless of what others do and say. Our blessing doesn’t come from them; it is from God. So, don’t worry about them. Live for God.
- As a believer, I participate in Abraham’s blessing Gen 12:3; God will bless those who bless me and curse those who curse me.
- Who did God Curse
- God cursed Israel for refusing to honor him with their possessions Mal 3:9;
- Jesus cursed the Pharisees for keeping others from coming to God Matt 23:13,15-16, 23-29; Luke 11:43-52;
- He cursed cities that heard, and saw but refused to repent Luke 10:13.
- There are different curses
- Curse of the fall Gen 3:16-19
- Curse of the law Deut 28:
1 Cor 1:7
7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ESV
- Eph 1:3; We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. It is funny how often we can wish for God to use us to place His hand on us and pour out His anointing. God already has. We are not lacking in any spiritual gift, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. What then keeps us from operating in all of them? Is it a faith issue? Jesus constantly said “your faith” “have faith”. If God said we have every blessing, if He says “we aren’t lacking” then it is not on His end that there is a problem. Lord, help me to be so full of your word that it becomes more real to me then the world I live in. I want to see your hand at work. I want to be apart of what you are doing on earth. Lord, help me to become all that you have for me to be and don’t let anything hold me back from what you have for me.
Rom 11:9
And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. NIV
- Ps 62:10; Prov 30:9; 1 Tim 6:10
- So often it is the good times that mess us up. We forget that we need God’s help. It is God who gives the ability to get wealth Deut 8:18. When we forget and think we can do it on our own, our blessings have become our stumbling block.
Zech 3: 7
7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.” ESV
- “If you will”, is a condition to the promise that will follow. “And” is a conjunction adding a second condition to the promise. God’s blessing always comes with following God’s word. Prov 2:8; you can’t get God’s blessing your way.
- The word “if” appears in the NKJV 1,637 times. Not every “if” is a condition coming from God to us. God does make a lot of promises based on the condition of listening to Him. Eph 6:2 says that honoring your father and mother is the first commandment with a promise. It seems that a lot of the “ifs” are God telling you the laws that He has put in place, not actually making up conditions you must follow. If you step off a cliff you will fall; that is a condition due to the law of gravity. Honor your father and mother that it will go well with you… is a condition of the laws God wrote. Ps 119:105 says that God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. God has given us the secrets to the world that He created. What we doing with them? We cannot ignore God’s conditions and laws and expect God’s blessings and protection. Deut 28:1-2, & 3-14.
Num 6:24-26
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. ESV
- Lord, I ask that your blessing would be on myself and upon my family. I pray that it wouldn’t just be my famil, but the 180 and all its leaders, Res and all its members, upon those who follow you far and wide. I ask that as we seek you, your blessing would be poured out on us that we may be a blessing to those around us.
Ex 1:17
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. ESV
- Prov 8:13; Fearing God changed the way they lived. What was right was more important to them then what Pharaoh wanted them to do.
Ex 1:21
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ESV
- Ex 1:17; Prov 8:13; God rewarded them for fearing him. Along with obeying God comes his blessing.
- This doesn’t mean that if you follow God everything will be a cake walk. They still had to face an unhappy pharaoh. Joseph out of fear of God refused to sin with Potiphar’s wife Gen 39:9. This choice wasn’t easy, in fact it took him to jail for a few years, but even in the midst of a mess God’s favor was on him. The character that got him in prison opened up doors for him to be over all the rest of the prisoners and eventually set him in charge of Egypt. Following God is filled with a different set of challenges. You will have opposition, but you will have God’s blessing and his favor when you do things his way.
Gen 13:2
2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ESV
- Gen 12:2; God said he would bless Abram. In Prov 10:22 it says the blessing of the Lord makes one rich. People tend to either reduce God’s blessing to finances alone or try to completely cut them out of God’s blessings. Both extremes are wrong and out of balance. Prov 17:1 tells us if all that you have is what money can buy you are missing out. It shows us that peace and healthy relationships are worth more then status and the things money can buy. In 1 Tim 6:17 we are reminded that God is our provider for everything we need, not money.
Gen 12:1
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ESV
- The call of Abraham. The first part of his call was instructions to leave things behind. I think that following God always requires leaving something behind. Are you willing to leave things behind? It may be your friends, it may be your pride, it may be your time, or habits that you have had or just simply doing things your own way. Are you willing to leave behind your old life? 2 Cor 5:17;
Gen 12:2
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ESV
- “And” is a conjunction. It ties Abraham’s leaving to his receiving the benefits of the promise. If we want to receive the blessings God has for us we to will have to leave some things behind.
- God will bless you. Gen 13:2;
Gen 39:3
3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. NKJV
- Ps 128:2; God’s blessing didn’t come in the form of hand outs. Everything that he did was blessed. God blessed his work. Are you giving God something to bless? Do you work with all you have? If God’s blessing comes after you exert all your strength would you ever see God’s blessing? Are you working with all your might as unto the Lord or waiting for God to do everything for you? Col 3:23;
