How do we live in His blessings?

After my last post on 'A Debtors Ethic' the next obvious question must be "If we don't live under Fathers blessings by giving to receive, how do we live under His blessing?" Lets face it, all of us want to live in blessing and abundance.

I think the first thing that has to be said is that God himself is the ultimate prize. His presence, His voice and His touch are the greatest blessing we can have on this earth. In Genesis 15:2 God says to Abram "I am your very great reward". There is no greater reward we can have, and we can have this no matter what our circumstance are. We simply spend time with Him, cultivate our relationship with Him and our reward increases. The more we experience this the more we know it to be true. Verses like "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere(Ps 84:10)" or "as the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after you (Ps 42:1)" used to be merely theory to me, words that might have meant something to someone else but not my reality. However, as I have learned to spend time in Fathers presence, I am beginning, slowly, to understand what the writer is talking about. He is the ultimate prize.

Having said that, the bible speaks too often and too emphatically about us living in material blessing for us to settle for the rewards Jesus spoke of being confined to the spiritual. In some ways, settling for our rewards just being spiritual, means we don't have faith for the tangible, just the intangible.

So how do we have faith for and experience the tangible outpouring of Father's blessings? I believe the two keys are position and positioning. Let me explain with an analogy. As I said last time, I believe Father's hands are always fully open to bless. I deliberately used the word 'outpouring'. If you imagine Fathers blessings being poured out like a flow of water. The flow never changes but I've got to stand under the flow to get wet. How do I position myself under the flow?

Position - Firstly, as I grow in revelation and understanding of my status as a son (or daughter), as I gaze into my Fathers face and am filled by His love and affection, His light illuminates dark corners of my heart and I can recognise them and allow Him in to heal, restore and set me free. Me being confronted with a debtors ethic lurking deep within is a pertinent example. As I was spending time with Father, He reminded me of some things and then showed me the thought processes behind them. As I spend time with Him and allow Him to change me, I become more like Him, I become more a son in experience, not just in status, and this ongoing process brings me continually closer to Him and therefore more under the flow of His outpouring.

Positioning - Secondly, as a son, spending time in my Father's presence, my will is transformed to align with His. I increasingly do things His way and think His way. I submit my will to His will, not because I am afraid of the consequences if I don't, but because I love Him and want to do what He wants. As I think His way and do thing His way, I walk closer to Him and so come under a greater measure of His outpouring. Jesus said in Mat 5:5 "Blesses are the meek for they will inherit the earth". Inheriting the earth sounds like material blessings now and that goes to those who are meek, bridled to and submitted to a greater Authority.

Jesus said in Jn 15:7 "if you remain, live, dwell and are rooted in my love, and my words remain, live, dwell and take root in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." This remaining is not a once for all, static and passive status. It is an ongoing cultivation of a relationship as with any human relationship.

Often we think that Father is withholding His blessings from us when actually the reality is He is still pouring out His blessings, we are just not correctly positioned to receive it.

So to summarise, we come under Father's outpoured blessing, not by doing things to try and get Him to adjust His aim, but rather by pressing into Him understanding who we are. As we get closer to Him, in experience as well as status, we come under His outpouring. Which takes us nicely back to where we started. He is our very great reward. When we pursue Him, we experience His benefits. When we pursue the benefits we can end up missing out on everything.

Jesus said in Matt 6:33 "seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the other things will be added to you". Search for the Giver and you'll find you get the gifts. Search for the gifts and you get neither the Giver nor the gifts.