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Provoking The Blessings of God

  • Pastor Seven
Date preached

God is in the business of blessing His people but many Christians struggle with how to take hold of these
blessings. God gives us clues in His word time and again to unlocking His blessings. One of the main clues
is found in Psalm 112:1 which says, “Blessed is the man that fears the Lord, that delights greatly in His
commandments” Note first that we are blessed if we fear God and it not only ends there, for us to be
blessed we also need to delight in His commands.
We see in Genesis 12 that God wanted to bless Abram (later Abraham) but could only do that until Abram
moved from his people and father’s house. Abram’s people, including his father Terah, worshipped false
gods (Joshua 24:2). Ur and Haran, Abram’s homes, were centers of idol worship. Prior to his calling by God,
Abram was pagan.
Abram could not stay where he was and still obeyed God. He was being called to leave His pagan culture
in order to commit himself to the Lord He was to go to an unnamed land which God would show to him. In
following God’s command, God promised to do great things for Abram.
There are times that as Christians we sit under wrong roofs and that can be a deterrent from receiving God’s
blessings. These roofs can sometimes be the roofs of our forefathers, sometimes it can be the roofs of our
churches or even those of our spiritual father’s. This is because some pastors do not submit to the altars
of God and because of this most children of God miss their blessings. God cannot bless anyone who is
under wrong altars knowing that once He blesses you, you will glorify the altars of demons. He wants to
keep His glory and cannot share (Isaiah 42:8) and He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5-6; Exodus 34:14).
Principles to attract God’s blessings
1. Obedience
Obedience is key to receiving God’s blessings. Obedience to God’s commands is a true sign of our love for
Him. God says in His word that He can only bless those who truly love Him (Romans 8:28). Abram obeyed
the word of God when He commanded him to leave his father’s house and his own people. Where God
wants you to be that’s where your blessings are. Doing what God orders us to do will provoke Him to release
His blessings. Just like any earthly parent would delight in and bless those children who show obedience,
God is always happy with those who obey Him and when God is happy with you, it will definitely attract
blessings to you.
Scripture says in Luke 11: 28
” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it”
2. Believing God
Abram believed God and that was counted as righteousness. God didn’t immediately bless Abram after
His declaration but the blessing was for the future and only if Abram remained believing. God’s blessing
can be missed when we fail to believe and follow. He declares the blessing and how you get it is entirely up
to you to believe Him and make the right choices. God says:
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on
heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your
descendants might live!” –Deuteronomy 30:19
Even when you can’t understand the promise or can’t see how it will come to pass, you can hold on to the
Promiser. You can have faith in knowing that the One who made a promise to you will be faithful to see that
promise come to pass in your life.
3. Repentance
Abram submitted to God and repented from idol worshipping and it is through this repentance that God
was moved to bless Him. True repentance can transform our lives! No matter what your past has been like,
no matter the sins you have committed, no matter the kind of life you lived or are still living today. If you
truly repent, God will bless your present and change your future. It is through repentance that the course
of Abram’s live was changed.
4. Giving
Abraham cared for everyone despite who they were. When three strangers came visiting him, he ran
towards them to invite them into his house and to offer them water. Blessed is he who gives but the blessing
will not be provoked by us giving to a pastor or to a church, no, but the manifestation of the blessing
depends on your giving life, giving with our hearts and out of obedience. When Abraham and Sarah gave a
meal to the three strangers, they did not know they were Angels of God. Only after they had their meal did
the revelation of who they were came out. Many are the days that because of mistreating people we don’t
know we have chased Angels. When the Bible says give, it does not talk about giving to the people we know.
Jesus says when we care for the less fortunate, for the strangers and the needy we care for Him. Sometimes
for the blessing of God to come through your life, it will be through total strangers. God will bring people
you do not know into your life to manifest His blessings.
5. Serving
The Lord says if we love him, we shall serve Him and He will bless us (Exodus 23:25). We serve God by
serving others. As we serve, we draw closer to God. We come to know Him in ways that we otherwise might
not. Our faith in Him increases and this provokes His blessings on our lives.
6. Waiting on God
When God pronounces His blessing there will be a journey to take and principles to follow and if we fail we
might miss the blessing. Although the blessing will not be forfeited, it will still be waiting for you in the
future, waiting for you to get God’s principles and precepts right.
If God has put you in a period of waiting, wait. Ignore everyone else around you who wants to push you into
speeding up the manifestation of the blessing. Through their ignorance they will make you to start looking
for ways to speed up the waiting period and you end up making mistakes. Abraham failed to wait for God
and listened to Sarah and an Ishmael was created. Waiting is a period of your preparation for whatever
blessings God has pronounced in your life.
Sometimes when the blessing takes long, we forget about the promises. Our believe that God will deliver
as He promised starts to diminish. We then begin to doubt if even we heard God right. We forget that waiting
on God is not a posture of passivity but it’s a posture of power

In series Blessings