Pattern of Blessings of the Lord

UV 2838/10000 Pattern of Blessings of the Lord
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Genesis 12 v 2

The Lord desires that we who are His creations and new creations in Christ do not hanker after success, wealth, fame, pleasure and power. Rather, He wants us to be zealous for His blessings. From the loins of one man, Abraham, the Lord God demonstrated to the world that He can draw forth a nation. No other nation in history can be traced back biologically to one man as Israel is traced back to the seed of Abraham. The Lord blessed Abraham in his lifetime but also turned his faith into an inspiration and confidence for generations of his family. Therein, He fulfilled His promise to Abraham to bless him and make his name great as well as to make him a blessing. The Lord also promised to make him a father of many nations and all Arab nations trace their ancestry to him through Ishmael. Most other persons who are called “Father” of their nations like Kemal Ataturk of Turkey are only metaphorical fathers or persons who contributed to building a particular nation.

Jacob, a grandson of Abraham was initially zealous to get his earthly father, Isaac’s blessings but his stratagem to outwit his older twin( older by a few seconds or minutes but yet older),Esau got him into much trouble and drove him out of his house and away from his family. During his sojourn, thereafter, he too learnt to be zealous for the blessing of the God of his grandfather, Abraham. The Lord in the coming generations drew many kings and rulers out of the lineage of Abraham. One such king was David but the greatest of the descendants of Abraham, far greater than him is Jesus, the one ordained to be both Messiah and King of Kings. Through the spiritual and faith lineage of Jesus, the Lord has raised many children of faith in all nations in the past two thousand years plus. Now, each of us is an inheritor by faith, by grace and not by law or entitlement, of the very same Abrahamic blessing.
The Lord promises to make of us a great nation. He promises to bless us and make us a channel of blessing. He will make our names great or in other words, He will enlarge our influence, our impact, our legacy to the generations. Like Abraham, we need to hold onto these promises and wait with patient expectation for the fulfilment in His time. When we are zealous for the blessings of the Lord, He adds unto us all that which we need. Our attitude should be like that of the chastened Jacob, to wrestle with the Lord in prayer till He blesses us. The simple blessing given to Abraham is elaborated in much detail in the first fourteen verses of Deuteronomy chapter 28. It is echoed in Matthew chapter 28 verse 33 which can be paraphrased in the context of the above uni-verse as: “Seek first His rule and His directions and all these blessings will be added unto you.” Abraham had obeyed the directions of the Lord in leaving the comfort and familiarity of his father’s land to move to a foreign land- Canaan. The Lord wanted to birth a new nation there to bless the whole world. Likewise, when we implicitly and enthusiastically obey the directions we receive from the Lord and believe His promises, we are greatly blessed. We manifest our zeal for the blessings of the Lord in obeying Him willingly, enthusiastically and implicitly even if it means giving up what is comfortable and familiar to us. Ultimately, faith is not just mental belief but belief from the heart that leads to an action in obedience or compliance with who or what we believe. The blessings of the Lord that follow such zeal and obedience, unlike earthly good fortune, are comprehensive, balanced, holistic, unpredictable and awesome.
Prateep V Philip