THE WAY OF BLESSING

Lesson 1 - The Way of Blessing

Genesis 24:1: Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

Galatians 3:13: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Ephesians 1:3: Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

What does the word blessing or blessed mean to you? When you hear that word, does it produce in your mind a picture of being poor, beat up, weak, neglected, lonely, sickly? Are those all the pictures that come to your mind? Blessed - you can just see it can’t you? Can you just see this poor beaten up old person? Is that what blessed brings to your mind?

By the same token what does the word curse or cursed bring to your mind? What does it mean to you? Does it produce this picture of somebody smiling, full of happiness, a picture of prosperity and good health? Is that what the word cursed brings to your mind? I do not think so! When was the last time you heard someone pray, "And Father we ask you to curse us today in Jesus name."? no! Blessing means something good, and we all know that God is the source of all blessing. That is why we are always praying and saying, "Lord, we ask you to bless us today, in Jesus name.

God, the Source of Blessing

God is the author and the source of all blessing. Never yet has somebody greeted another person and said, "God curse you." God is not the author of cursing. I want to look here at the way of blessing; the way of blessing that God has ordained for each one of us, His children.

In Ephesians 1:3 Paul said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." That one little verse is packed with so much power, that I am going to be sharing on it in quite a good few messages.

God is Blessed

Let’s look at what Paul is saying here. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." God is blessed. Do you know that? That is why He can bless. Hey, If I am going to bless somebody, by giving them out of my abundance, I had better have been blessed in the first place.

You want to find the most blessed person in the universe? His name is God. If you want to find any kind of blessing there is available, you are going to find it there. He has them all, every single one of them. You are not going to find them anywhere else. You are certainly not going to find them in the devil's camp. Hey, the Devil is not blessed. That is where the curse comes from. God is the fountain of all blessing.

He Has Blessed Us

And Paul says, "… the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us …". He does not say, "… is blessing us." He does not say, "… is going to bless us." He does not say, "… might bless us if He feels like it." He does not say, "… will bless you if you are good enough." He says, "He has blessed us." And if you look into the Greek there you will see something very interesting. The Greek tense that is used there for ‘has blessed’, that Greek tense is a tense known as the Aorist tense.

In our English language we have a present, a past and a future. But the Greek Aorist tense was a very special kind of past tense. It was a past tense, which indicated something which took place in the past and happened and does not need to be repeated. It happened and completed itself. So when Paul says here, "God blessed us," he is saying, "God gave us the blessing. It is done, it is over, and it is not to be repeated. It does not need to be repeated because it is complete."

We have been blessed. So why do we pray and say, "Lord, bless us today."? Why do we pray and say, "Lord, bless this person who is suffering with sickness and bless them with healing."? Why do we pray and say, "Father, this person is battling financially. Please bless them and prosper them."? Why do we keep asking God to bless, when according to this verse God has blessed once and for all in the past?

How We are Blessed

Paul tells us that God has blessed us in four different ways.

1. With All Blessings

First he says, "…with all blessings." Now when the Word tells us that God has blessed us with all blessings, I want you to realize that there is no blessing that God does not have. There is no such thing as, "God might have some of them, and maybe some of them are somewhere else, so we can at least get all of God’s blessings. But He doesn't cover all of them, so we are going to have to go somewhere else to get some of the other blessings." No. No! God has them all. You do not have to go anywhere else. If He has not got them it is not to be had. He has all blessings!

Well, can you think of some blessings? Sickness? No God is not sick. Poverty? God is not poor. Hey those are not blessings are they? Just let your mind go and think of blessing. Think of a person that you would call blessed. The world calls them successful. Is success a blessing, or is it a curse? Think about it. Every blessing that you could possibly think about is contained in God, and has been given to each one of us, past tense completed.

2. With Every Spiritual Blessing

Next Paul says, "…with every spiritual blessing". Well what does that mean? Does that mean that we are only allowed to get blessed spiritually? "Things are not spiritual, so we can’t expect for God to bless us with things. We must remain poor. Healing is a physical thing. It is not spiritual, so we can’t expect God to give us healing because that’s not spiritual." Is that true? Of course not!

3. From the Heavenly Realm

Thirdly, He has, "…blessed us with the blessings that are in the heavenly realm." I have heard a lot of people who have seen visions of angels. I see angels quite often in the Spirit, and I have never seen one that is sick yet. They are normally pretty well dressed, so I do not think they are poor. Can you imagine there being a curse in the heavenly realm where God lives? Well every description I have ever heard about heaven indicates that they have so much gold to go round they just pave the streets with it. Every blessing that comes from the realm of God has been given to you as a believer.

4. In Christ

Finally, the fourth way that God has blessed us is, "…in Christ." It is not available to you outside of Christ. If you are not a born again, child of the living God, what I am speaking about does not apply to you, because the blessings have been given to us in Christ and in Him alone. And outside of Christ we do not have access to God, or to His realm, or to His blessings.

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