Know What Your Blessings Are
My desire for you and for your family is that you may be blessed. And not just blessed, but blessed to overflowing. It took me a long time to come to the understanding that in God's kingdom, you can only be blessed to the extent of the blessings that you know are available to you. In other words, you are blessed according to what you know and not what you don't. And that is why the Bible says in Psalm 103:2 says, "Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all His benefits." You have to know about a matter before you can forget it. The kingdom benefit that you forget, or the one you do not know anything about, is the BLESSING you will not enjoy. Another way of stating this is 'What you do not know can destroy you'.
Go to your Bible, and go to the Book of Hosea chapter 4 and verse 6, you will see that the Bible states clearly that My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. So I say to you my brother, my sister, my friend, do not be ignorant of your kingdom blessings. Therefore, study to know, and the Spirit of the Lord will open the eyes of your understanding and show you marvelous things that will change your life forever.
Make that life-changing decision today to know all the blessings that are available to you and to walk in them. The Bible tells you in Psalm 103 what the 7 areas of blessings are, these include forgiveness of sin - that you may remain under an 'open heaven', healing, deliverance, protection, provision, youthfulness, and the Lord's execution of rightness of judicial verdict for all His people who are oppressed.
There Is Hardship All Around, How Can I Be Blessed?
Your confidence in being blessed when all those around you are losing theirs is found in the covenant that God established with you in Christ. It will make a world of difference if you will take the time to understand what this covenent is all about. And as it is a contract made in blood, it is absolutely trustworthy. Trust in the covenent and your future will always be bright. It will not matter what part of the world you live in, all your ways will be blessed. You will be blessed in the city, and blessed in the fields. You will be blessed in your going out and in your comming in. Now do not misunderstand what I am saying and do not get the wrong impression. It will not necessarily be an easy walk but the blessing of goodness and mercy will follow you wherever you go and in whatever you do. Whether you live in what we call the first, second or third world, the covenent of peace will work for you wherever you are.
The Shield And The sword
You may wonder when I say I now consider it more a privilege to have experienced the various forms of difficulties and hardships and seemingly impossible situations that I have experienced over the past several years.
You might start to think I'm crazy or I've got a skrew loose somewhare but that truely is not the case, and I certainly would not want to go through such hard times again. However, all what I have learned of God which have enabled me to go through these tests and trials and yet not be derailed from my purpose, is priceless.
I still remember several years ago when the Lord gave me the vision of the shield and the sword. I believe that at that crutial time when things looked really bad and it seemed there was no way farward, the purpose of showing me the sword and shield was to get it through to me that the only way I will ever successfully get through the trials in this life is by using His methods and not mine nor anyone elses for that matter.
As God is not a respecter of persons, you will find that the Bible tells you in the Book of Ephesians chapter 6, verses 13 to 18 to use the complete armour, including the shield and the sword to overcome in life. God did not show me something special just for me. No, no, no. He was showing me what He had shown many generations before me what to do and how to do it. He was giving me equal opportunity to fight, obtain and enjoy the blessings He has provided.
So I encourage you today, get up out of that dump. Cast off that garment of depression. Put on the right kind of glasses and open your eyes. Look in the right place and you will see that all can be right and all can be bright because you're a child of light. You have the power to prosper. Set your eyes on that which will set you free. Focus your mind on that which makes for your peace of heart. Act upon the Word in faith and you will see things will begin to change.
Remember the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 11:12, "...the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force." Jesus was not talking about physical violence but spiritual. Spiritual warfare is violent, hence the need for the armour the shield and the sword. So take up your God given spiritual weapons and fight. Trust in God, and speak the Word that will set you free.