The Mind Is A Terrible Vessel To Waste:Understanding the Plans of God for Man

But you make use of them by applying them to your body. God provided the blood of Jesus as the means of cleansing us from all our sins 1 John 1: There is a sense in which we are completely clean the moment that we trust in Christ as Savior. But we walk in the world, where we get defiled. When we confess our sins, we apply the blood of Jesus to our dirty lives. To be a vessel for honor, you must walk in the light, confessing all known sin to God.

Vessels of dishonor walk in the darkness and do not cleanse themselves from sin. So, you must choose the type of vessel you will be. Cleansing yourself to become a vessel of honor is your responsibility. It is used three ways in the Bible. There is positional sanctification. Through the death of Christ, believers have been sanctified once for all 1 Cor. There is also progressive sanctification. As we grow in Christ, we are progressively conformed to His image 2 Cor. Finally, when we see Jesus, we will be like Him, which is ultimate sanctification 1 John 3: In our text, Paul is talking about the process of progressive sanctification.

You would rightly demand a clean fork or plate. The dirty one is not useful. In the same way, if our minds embrace false teaching and our lives are tainted by sin, we are not useful to our Master. Prepared has the idea of being willing and ready. The cleansed vessel is waiting for the Master to pull it off the shelf and put it to honorable use. Dirty vessels are not ready to be used. Have you ever been angry when suddenly you have an opportunity to bear witness for Christ?

Or have you ever been grumbling about something when you encountered a brother or sister who needed a word of encouragement? He goes on to show what this looks like in practice:. There are two commands, flee and pursue. We are to flee from youthful lusts and pursue what we may sum up as godliness, broken down under four qualities: Rather, Paul was probably referring to wrong desires that younger men are more prone to than older men are.

So Paul was telling Timothy that while it is right to defend the faith against serious errors and to stand firm on the central doctrines of Scripture, there is a right and a wrong way to go about it. He will go on 2: Here, he is warning against the wrong way, which is to be arrogant about how much you know, impatiently to blast those in error, and to be quarrelsome and self-assertive. The fruits of the Spirit include patience, kindness, and gentleness, along with self-control Gal. Youthful impetuosity is not on the list! Paul says to flee from these youthful temptations.

The Bible commands us to flee from some other sins. If it comes knocking, run for your life! You never allow watching TV or playing computer games to usurp the time that you should spend alone with God or serving Him? Run from anything that pulls you away from full devotion to God! Are you tempted to gamble? Are you tempted to steal or cheat on your taxes or be greedy rather than generous?

Cleansed people flee from sin. Fleeing and pursuing are opposites. It is not enough just to flee from sin. Also, you must pursue godly character qualities. Run hard after these four aspects of godliness:. It gives us the commandments of God, which are for our good Deut. Years ago, an elder in my church in California told me that people like his wife, who grew up under austere, authoritarian religious fathers, could not relate to my preaching.

But he insisted that people such as his wife, who grew up in these authoritarian homes, could not relate well to my emphasis on obedience. It means that you are trustworthy or reliable. When someone gives you a job, you can be counted on to do it. Faith is related to your concept of God. Does He hear the prayers of His people and act on their behalf? Do you trust Him to do far more than you are able to do in your strength?

He could read, as I remember, more than 30 Semitic languages! One time about twelve years after Donald Grey Barnhouse had graduated, he went back to the seminary to preach to the students. Wilson sat down near the front. They have a little god and I call them little-godders. Then there are those who have a great God. He speaks and it is done. He commands and it stands fast. He knows how to show Himself strong on behalf of them that fear Him. It means giving your time to listen to someone who is hurting. It means befriending someone who is lonely. Sometimes it means having the courage to talk to a brother or sister who is in sin with the aim of restoring him to the Lord.

It means being patient, kind, considerate, and not easily provoked see the complete list, 1 Cor. Pursuing love means investing constant effort to love others. You have to pursue it deliberately, sometimes with much effort. The implication of the command is that even though Christians all call upon the name of the Lord out of hearts that have been cleansed from sin, they still will have conflicts and misunderstandings with each other. Thus they need to pursue peace with one another. Jesus said that this is so important that even if you are worshiping, leave your worship and first be reconciled to your brother or sister; Matt.

Recognizing that it is difficult, Paul said Rom. But even greater than the honor of being used by the coach is to be used by God. You have to be a cleansed person who constantly flees from sin and pursues godliness. Handing Off the Baton 2 Timothy 4: Walking the Romans Road. He is omniscient—our circumstances have a purpose. That is where I agree with you again. What do we do with it? We are here to do His will.

Where your treasure is your heart is also. I worship God, my treasure…. It comes from my heart, not my mind. I cannot take the salt out of the water nor can I remove the word and emotion of being blessed from my heart. During death and sickness and struggling, I have said over and over…. I feel it can be a warning to one but not an absolute for all. I felt like a faker, just making sure to throw blessings into everyday life. To say my new shoes or an internship is a blessing seems to cheapen those other more genuine blessings.

You toss that around in your head a bit and you will see trials completely different. Whom the Lord loveth, he blesseth. He is in the work of building strong and amazing men and women of God … not making our lives easier…. Reblogged this on Spotts in the Valley of the Sun. I am grateful to have found your blog through Glennon at Momastery. Your blog has cleared a cloud that I had in my faith journey. I have a clearer understanding of my responsibility as a believer to non-believers. I strive to look for the good in all and show love in all that I do. It made me feel a little stabby.

I agree with others that an overuse of the word has cheapened the meaning and more so the experience. And I believe you bring up a lot of truth here. There must be something in the water. I just wrote about this in regards to pregnancy and parenting. We need to better understand what blessing is and means and your article is a great glimpse into that dialogue.

Thank you for writing! I also understand the idea of this language material blessings being off-putting to nonbelievers. I AM blessed…in so many ways. Kind of reminds me of how my mother taught me to pray. My father traveled a lot when I was a kid and she used to worry like crazy that something would happen to him, that the boogeyman would come and break in the house while he was gone, etc. Instead of praying for all of these unknown things to not happen, she should be praying for God to take the worry from her.

For God to help her find her strength and her ability to cope. She could finally sleep in peace after that. That story has always stuck with me and definitely affects how I talk to God. This article is so refreshing! Do we really believe that God only heals people because of their faith? Is that really who we think Jesus is?

Must we always judge through the mask of spirituality? How dare we make these judgements in Jesus name? I was hit by a car while cycling in the fall, yet miraculously sustained no broken bones. While I was left with a multitude of symptoms, it truly could have been much worse, and eventually I will recover. However, I have felt so frustrated with people in general…. I have seen so much brokenness in the North American church. I see your point, but I disagree. All good things come from The Lord.

I agree that grateful is also appropriate. Your blessings are different from mine, but they are still blessings. You lost me at the dumb luck part. Of course you were born when and where God placed you! Blessings come from God because he is filled with grace. He sees the bigger picture and there is a reason for all of it.

Our questions will be answered after death. The best we can do is have a relationship with Jesus and seek Him in all that we do. He will lead us and help us to fulfill our purpose.

What If My Heart Is Telling Me That I Married the Wrong Person?

We can change the world in His name! This is a beautiful post for all religions and for all of us who are lucky and grateful for it. First let me say, you are blessed above most people simply because you are Jewish. G-d will never give up on you. As long as you have breath in your body, you still have the chance and opportunity to be with Him throughout all eternity.

But know that this will not promise you eternity with G-d. Only accepting His Son, Yeshua, will do this. Then you are truly blessed for all eternity. I agree with Lisa that no one who names the name of Christian should dishonor any Jewish person because the person is a Jew. I realize there are fake Jews just like fake Christians and the fakes cause a lot of trouble. I also realize there are ignorant people. I am of the household of faith for without faith it is impossible to please God.

I honor the position God gave the Jewish people but recognize that He selected them from among nations to be His and to extend the hope God gave them to all people. The Jews were to be the evangelists of the day, not to horde God and scorn others but to represent God and to make believers of others. Sure the non-Jewish believer was not part of the culture of lineage of Abraham but God loved them also. To the Jew first and then to the gentile makes sense. They were to obey God and do right with God and man by following the 10 commandments.

God knew they could not do it so He got them to symbolically sacrifice animals for their sins, and often had a barbeque left over for the priests and people. Some Jews feel superior and that they are better than anyone else. It is not tradition that saves it is the Messiah. Be blessed and always honor God with the blessing He bestows on all and especially those who trust Him and seek Him — will find Him. Our adult Sunday School class had a very similar conversation and then proceeded to do a Beatitudes study. Modern Christians love to glam on to phrases without really thinking about what it really means.

We all can be blessed whether we have a new car or not. Yes, we definitely need to separate the tie between being blessed and material wealth. If your blessing really is to know God, then that is true whether you are homeless or in a castle. I agree totally, Christina. If a Christian is not blessed who is. Not just in the sense of material things but all things. We have a Savior who bled and died for us so we might live!

Thanks for your comment! Thank you so much for this. Reblogged this on Closer to Lola and commented: I just love love love this! I am feeling Grateful tonight for each and every one of you. It is impossible for anyone to define or speak for God, as clearly you are not claiming to. However, I think it is great that you were convicted by the HS to write about such a debatable notion. His ways are completely opposite to this world. I pray for His will to become my will. Regardless of the outcome.

Easier said than done! Thank you for sharing this. I AM blessed, not by your terms, not by finances. I often through trials and uncertainty in my life say it. Regardless if the outcome is as I wanted. I am blessed because I am a sinner who has a Father who loves me more, and forgives me every day. I was chosen by him long ago when he gave his sons life for me. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. I agree with you that my Blessing, with a capital B, is my Lord. But I respectfully disagree with you about not crediting every good thing I have to The Lord.

He is my blessing!!! But God is a generous giver and he delights in giving. He gave his only Son!!!! There are christians out there that are incredibly rich. I appreciate your post, but I think that sometimes we must learn to receive as God always wills to give, and give for his glory alone! There was a young man, about 30, who was a chain smoker and he was not a Christian. He worked with us 3 Christians remodeling homes. If your G-d is so powerful and good, can He heal me and take the addiction of these cigarettes away from me?

The next morning about 5am, the young man called and could hardly talk for all the coughing. The next day, the young man came to work and we quietly watched him all morning, and he never smoked one cigarette. He went outside and tried to smoke a cigarette. We watched as he lit 3 cigarettes and threw each one down, coughing and gagging at the taste. And he knelt down to pray. He thanked G-d for the smoking habit, because without the smoking, he would have never gotten saved. Then he thanked G-d for saving him and for delivering him from the cigarettes, and… for cleaning out his lungs from years of smoking.

Yes he was, he was blessed with the bad things as well as in the good things. If you think that being healed by G-d is not being blessed by G-d, then you have never had a disease that will or could take your life.

I am blessed, every single day, by the talents God has given me, by the love God has given me, by the people God has placed in my life both good and bad. And I will continue to tell of my blessings that God gives me daily. He is our Blessing, our ultimate Blessing. But, He certainly does bless us, continually, in our lives.

That seems to be a very dangerous place to be in. To be admonished and corrected by the word of G-d is also being blessed by G-d. Standing on the backs of poor countries to gain material wealth is EVIL. Much of our wealth has not come through godly channels. Every gift from God is received with blood-covered hands. The essence of the Gospel is that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God, despite our wickedness, gave us his greatest gift — His Son — so that we might live. If God can give the greatest gift of all to wicked, blood-guilty people, then He can do the same with the lesser gifts.

We are all wicked and deserve nothing. We cannot earn favor from God. If a gift is earned it is no longer a gift, it is a wage. This is an area that I find really difficult to navigate, especially with other Christians. We, as a nation, have more wealth than just about anywhere, yet expect to get everything cheaply. For example, there is a reason that clothing at Target costs so little, you know? Someone had to endure a low-cost existence to provide us with that, but very few people consider that. Tish, my exact thoughts! I too believe God is a very giving God and a very loving and jealous God.

He wants us to love Him and follow Him so He can take care of us. Very valid points — and well-said. It reminds me of another phrase that has always bothered me.

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It implies that in some way, that person deserves that suffering. I know this is probably a small semantics issue, but I really wish people would stop saying that! Darcy, I just had a conversation about this phrase with my 16 yr old daughter last week. I like your suggested alternatives. I do agree with most of what you said about our overuse and maybe inappropriate use of the word blessed. I just do not believe in luck. Some of us take longer to find where we fit in, some of us do like where we fit in and try to make our place where we do not belong, but God does have a perfect plan and it will come together.

I do agree with using grateful as you suggest. Your thesis is wrong. Christians should understand and recognize that the physical rewards of hard work and good effort both very biblical are indeed blessings from God. However we must not replace God our true source of happiness with the physical entrapments of wealth. You seem to take a decidedly unbiblical worldview when you flatly say: Here a a few verses that seem to contradict that thought… — — Psalm our children are a specific blessing from the Lord — Psalm Purposely made by God for His purposes — no luck involved.

God uses it to display His love. I could go on but the point is likely made. Our lives are not the results of some cosmic lottery. God is sovereign and we are placed in this world to both do and experience the will of God. Since I have never knowingly oppressed anyone but have knowingly opposed those who do I reject the idea that I should feel ashamed of the physical blessings I have received from God. I am responsible to God to use whatever circumstances God has placed me in to the best of my ability and to the highest of His glory.

A Christian must be able to do both or they misrepresent God. When a goat herder in Africa improves his economic situation by selling his goats and buying a cell phone business which makes money by charging fellow goat herders we rejoice and call it economic development. But, when middle-class Americans make financial profits from wise investment in the stock exchange we call it capitalistic greed. Yanks God down to our level, which is par for the course. As Twain said, God created us in His image and we immediately returned the favor. It should have read:.

A Christian must be able to do both receive blessings with gratitude and care for the less fortunate or they misrepresent God in his sovereignty.

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To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. And — yes — they are often physical blessings. And I fully agree — From the gift of Christ we can clearly see God chooses grace and mercy over destruction when it comes to the saving and blessing of His people. But those verse are there non-the-less. But in case someone reads this and get the wrong idea, I firmly believe God — through the Holy Spirit — calls all people no longer just one ethnic group to come to Him.

In fact, one of the underlying truths of the New Testament is this — God no longer has any earthly enemies. But back to the authors point — God alone understands why some are blessed with human comforts in this life and others are not. I cannot fathom the reasoning that goes into such a decision. It is beyond my human capacity to understand Isaiah God moves and removes blessing on those He alone pleases.

Good analogy and showing the truth from the word. Our opinions are simply that, our opinions… but the word of G-d is truth. One thing we must do in this life, is truly get to know who G-d is and His character. I needed this today. I am a missionary home on furlough. We came back completely wiped out from working in an area facing war and loss.

Thanks for the reminder. There is great danger in that theology and I respect and encourage your desire to stay away from it. However, material blessing is from God, and He blesses those as He chooses.

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There is just as much danger in not attributing the blessing of God to God as there is only attributing the blessing of God to financial blessing. I have in my short life been blessed with an abundance of material wealth, and I have been blessed with losing almost all of it. I am currently blessed by making just enough to get by, and I have to seek help from family and friends sometimes. Yes, that is a blessing, but it is also a blessing to have much.

I have had the privilege of spending the past almost three years studying the Old Testament, and one of the major emphases all throughout is on the blessing of Yahweh. In the covenant God has with Israel, material blessing is a direct result of them serving and obeying Him as a nation. Still, by way of application, even though power and wealth have the potentiality to corrupt, the Bible is clear that both poverty and wealth come from God as a blessing, that we may use whatever blessing we have to bless others. Perhaps this is where I should have started; with the simple truth that blessing is a responsibility, blessing is NOT intended to just make us comfortable and make our own lives nice.

It is indeed a good thing to wrestle through, and I may be off in my thinking, but I would challenge you to study the Scripture for yourself to see if what I say is true or not. With love from one brother to another, Just a student of the Word, also trying to figure it out. And thank you for allowing me to comment on your thoughts.

On using the term blessed — yes, it is most often used to describe earthly riches. It is shortsighted to miss the many blessings that God gives us that, to the world, seem tragic. Pain and suffering can be a great blessing. We must learn to embrace the paradox that everything that happens to us is both a blessing and a curse. We can, with our hearts and our actions, take anything in our lives and make it one or the other. If our purpose in this life is to become children of God, then that which draws us closer to God is a blessing, and that which pushes us away from God is a curse.

It is our choice. Do we deserve to grow up in America with tons of junk because of some merit we possesst? He knows exactly what I need to grow the most. Thank you Thank you Thank you! That was 15 years ago. Here is one of my favorite passages that confirms my blessing! For alzheimers and parkinsons it passes the blood brain barrier and feeds the brain. I know this is way off subject. I really appreciated this post. I see prosperity as a blessing meant not so much for the person who has it, but a blessing meant to be shared with others.

I feel like many of the problems in the world today come from countries or people who have forgotten that every blessing was meant to be shared and who allow their brothers and sisters throughout the world to go hungry, naked, homeless, sick, or otherwise without the necessities of life. I completely understand what you are saying. I thought this was really a great article until I read that statement. Hard to explain that to a 6 year homeless orphan wandering the streets of Calcutta.

So then I earned myself? I would consider my home a gift, or a blessing from God. You, over so many millions of unfortunate people, have been favored? While I agree with some of the sentiment behind the thoughts here, so many people loosely toss around blessings because they do, in fact, treat God like a genie. I do believe, however, that God is just waiting to pour out blessings and, yes, sometimes these are material in nature upon his children.

While our greatest rewards await us in Heaven at the great wedding feast, he enjoys giving good gifts now as well. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Here you have what is yours. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

You see, what we do with the blessings God has poured out on our lives is so crucial. This also does not mean that God somehow loves us who have much more than those who have little. There is no sense of God loving that one who was given 5 talents more than the one who was given 1 talent. I know this is just a parable, but Jesus is painting an intentional picture that I believe applies very much to us today. Look at Simon of Cyrene and Joseph of Aramathea. These were two of the most prominent wealthy men in scripture. They had many material blessings and what did they do with them?

They sacrificed them for Christ — they did not hoard them for themselves. On the other hand, you have the rich young ruler — what did he do? He said he could not part with his material blessings. He took the gifts given by God and was not willing to recognize where these gifts came from and what the giver expected him to do with them.

I kind of wish us Christians could get away from telling everyone what to do and what not to do. I understand your point about realizing the needs of the rest of the world. However, God blesses each of us in different ways. I like your post in that it is thoughtful and makes us think about what it means to be blessed. Then I lost everything and knew … In a knowing deep place…. That the losing of the stuff was part of an overall lesson god provided for me about my pride. About being quiet and listening to and respecting his voice in my life.

When I see someone with an SUV and a mortgage and children and pretty clothes and they say they are blessed, they look sanctimonious and plastic. It is not a way to draw people to your faith. Unless they have the things you have and use the words you do. At this moment in time, I feel unlucky. I have felt blessed in times of prosperity and having the ability to share my blessings. I may lose my home and possessions.

And I will be happy, despite my earthly shortcomings. However, I would like to say…that all good things come from above. There is also a dangerous idea permeating here. There is a weighted judgement in the article you wrote. As if having abundance is not from God. True, He is not a genie in a bottle…granting wishes, but He is actively moved by our faith. And in our faith, and our faithfulness to be good stewards…He can and still does give us resources to be responsible for. Spiritual maturity cannot be bought.

It is more valuable than anything the world can physically offer. We are not meant to chase after physical things, because He knows what we need and He does provide for it. The love of money is evil, not money itself. Material good fortune can and is given by God, there are multiple examples in the Bible.

God blesses us in any number of ways according to our needs and circumstances. Agree with you Colleen! Everything I have is a blessing from God. Say what you want I will never see it any other way. We still thanked God for blessing us! Never assume you even know what a blessing is. Buddhist nonattachment looking pretty good right now. Material and financial blessings may not be the most important ones in life compared to spiritual and relational ones, etc, but they are still blessings nonetheless. Why manufacture reasons not to give glory to God? I agree with Colleen. I appreciate this article.

Christians also call the loving relationships they have blessings. When your own family betrays and abuses you, when you find you must protect yourself from violence and even rape in your own household, it stings more than I can say to listen to Christians discussing their blessings as if they believe those blessings are a result of their superior faith or worse, of His superior favor. I agree that it does have to stop.

God would not agree that my life experience has been a result of my lack of faith, but many Christians do. There is nothing like assuming out loud in front of hurting people that God loves you best. I find that most Christians do not desire fellowship with those who are in pain. Gladly, my Jesus is nothing like them. Thank you for this article. Such deep truths, with such a good sense of humour. I really liked it — and feel blessed. I lost my house in Are you reading the Bible? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you make regular contact with your home church, or any church to receive the assistance you need?

How are you being a blessing to others? I am blessed because this life is not all there is. None of that was fun, none of it felt like any kind of blessing at the time. But God had plans to bless me through those experiences and to give me an opportunity to grow in my faith and trust Him and praise Him regardless of difficult circumstances. How much money there is in my bank account has not one thing to do with that. As I sit here with one of my newborn sons on my chest I relate this to saying I am blessed or they are gifts from God.

And both are just words that may or may not reflect the actual heart understanding. Or it could imply a belief that I am grateful to God for my windfall that he orchestrated on my behalf, choosing to bless me among the billions with my sweet new ride. My actions, generosity, and treatment of others will speak louder than my choice of words. But I get your point. Reblogged this on Zera Today Blog.

Thank you for putting into words what I so clumsily try to share. My husband has cancer, not the curable kind.

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Does it mean that God chose not to heal one over the healing of another? I know that God can and does heal. I do not think that we are healed by our own righteousness. Maybe just semantics but to me, an important distinction. Are you related to Kathie Dannemiller? And you brought up a great point, I had not considered: Thanks for the food for thought. I get almost angry when I hear people say that.

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Great article by the way!!! Saying those things while life seems to be going good seems nothing more than boasting. Have such an issue with this phrase as well! God IS God even if a diagnosis is bad, indeed. I feel blessed for man reasons and if it is appropriate to say so, I will. I think appropriate may be the key word here for me.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. God does give and God does take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Always searching, as I think of my persecuted and impoverished brothers and sisters in Christ, praying for us. God does NOT give and take away. He is not schizophrenic. Job was a man outside of covenant with God. He was pre-Mosaic covenant serving God to the best of his understanding. He did say, the thing that I feared most has come upon me.

That was the invitation and open door for the enemy to move upon his life. Notice that it was the devil that stole, killed and destroyed, not God. In the end, as he was humbled, repented and obeyed the voice of the Lord, God restored to him double of everything. As you are seeing empty pews in your church, you must ask yourself how many have you witnessed to, wept over in prayer and sought to win to the Lord? Are you praying daily that God would send laborers into His harvest and presenting yourself as available for that purpose?

May God give you great boldness and wisdom as you win souls. It is a blessing that you have a facility to come together and worship the Lord. Please take a look at the First Christian Church of Acts if you need an example of whats right or wrong. After the Holy Ghost fell and the true promise from God spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem, the very next thing which occurred was this: This they ALL done in direct obedience to a commandment of Jesus..

Do people forget the calling of God so quickly, remember when the apostles were called.. And he arose and followed him. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. It says they immediately left. You may shun what I am saying but whenever you rely on the things of this world to supply the needs in your life, you sweep under the carpet the opportunity to be humbled and to see the true power of God.

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. God Bless in Jesus Name. A few years ago, I was looking for a verse related to luck for the March calendar insert for the church bulletin. My realization then is that there is no such thing as luck. That is not to say that because I am more faithful, I have more material things than someone else.

He is the almighty. He is what makes this world what it is, in whatever country, culture, tribe, or person. We are all here for different reasons, and He provides what we need as individuals at the proper time in the proper amount. Search the Old Testament and find Luck is for the heathen, but the people of God are blessed. I understand what he is saying, but God is always in control and Jesus said he came that we may have life and life more abundantly.

In the spiritual realm and in the natural one. I do not think it is wrong to say you are blessed for material things either. God does bless us with material things as well as Spiritual ones. Scientifically, there is no such thing as luck. It took ma a long time to understand that, and maybe most scientitsts would disagree. However, only one outcome is possible on any given event. Yet, for each event, only one outcome is possible, and is, by physics, pre-determined.

I trust God, the master of all science. I think luck is exactly the right word. Many people work hard for as long as they can and have noble hearts and faith. Realizing the randomness in experience but the steadfastness of faith to complete and shape our spirits is an awareness of grace and learning. Opportunity and ability are not equal to all. Being born middle class or upper middle class in America gives you far more opportunities than being born poor in North Korea.

Thanks for writing this. How can I call myself blessed for having so much when my brothers and sisters in other countries, example Ethiopia, have such physical oppression. I am burdened to try to send what I can to help them out. Physical stuff is material that is immaterial. Jehovah Jirah is our provider, indeed. The sermon on the mount is perfect to hear what The Lord sees as important; our spiritual condition…. Instead, we pray and trust He will provide spiritually, emotionally, monetarily and so on, as we trust and remain close. I do dislike an over emphasis on material blessing and those things can indeed be burdens many times for many reasons.

I know that first hand. I believe in a God who is responsible for every good thing in my life. In that, I give Him all the glory. Why do bad things happen to good people. Why do bad things happen to good people? That happened once in history, and He chose it. We are all sinners, so bad things happen to us. I did not understand what it truly meant to be blessed until we lost our 25 year old son. God can bless one person thru poverty, and curse another with riches. It would have been a happier story if Job had died and rested in peace until the day of his eternal reward.

But the purpose of the story, and the purpose of material blessings is to enrich the spirit. My husband and I have questioned this response vocabulary people use and thank you for bringing the misuse to the forefront. There are countless stories in the Bible about God blessing people with material wealth to bring about His long-range plan, especially in Genesis.

There are also places where God says that He is the one who makes people blind or deaf, etc. Blessings come in all kinds of packages. Sorry, but I think your article is way too simplistic. And if I continue to get lucky, and take advantage of the opportunities, a comfortable life may come my way.

You lost me there. Your life was planned before you were formed in the womb. This prosperity gospel is killing the truth about God and His Son, Jesus. There is nothing we have, can say or do that will bring us closer to him. He comes to us when we have given full control of our lives to him. Thank you, Rob, for correcting someone who does not know Christ and all that He has done, and will continue to do. The longer I live, the more I see the plans God had for me, e. I worked in one phenomenal law office in a state different from that in which I now live. There, I learned so much and have been able to get myself on disability with the knowledge I gained.

And, those 2 items are only a very small example of how blessed I truly am. It would be a monumental task, but it is achievable. God did that with the Big Bang and the number of hairs on your head. Yes you are splitting hairs, but I totally agree. The American Christian has a warped idea of what blessed is.

Good article and I was blessed to read it! I believe that saying I am grateful is the best response. God bestowing blessings of material nature on some but not others. There are evil people who have wealth and good people who love God with all their heart who have wealth. There are evil,self centered poor people and people who are angels here on earth that have nothing to their name and are so grateful in their hearts for all God has done for them!

We can all find blessings in many things, nature,family,good health,great friends and yes, even material things giving to you, from hard work,education,luck or the generosity or others. They have vandalized, and have had vandalized, my yard, my grass, my hedge, my clothes lines and poles, multiple times.

My blessing is that I have a yard, and grass, and hedge, and clothes line, and clothes poles. Yes, all these are responsibilities, but the alternative is being in the street and that that situation entails. Blessed, indeed, I am. Your words are very tough to swallow. It may take several days for the sermon to appear. There should also be an audio recording. I have not yet found it in me to turn the other cheek.

As long as I do not lower myself to their level and lie about everything, to everyone, I will be able to look in the mirror with a clear conscience. I hate the prosperity gospel but i feel that that is not the same thing as feeling blessed and recognizing that we are blessed by the things tangible and not that God has given us. The bible never EVER mentions or even eludes to luck.

There are tons of verses and stories that blatantly say otherwise. The story of Joseph. What his brothers intended for evil, God intended for good. The story of Esther. The fact that our future is already planned out Revelation. Just to name a few. Being comfortable is just your cross to bear in this life I guess. Should we not acknowledge that our children are a blessing from God because some people can not have them? Feeling blessed is a matter of perspective.

And, the Bible tells is to be thankful in All things. While I wholeheartedly agree that money and goods are not the way to measure our true wealth, we are blessed that God handles our daily bread. Without it, it becomes much harder to be a blessing to others, but certainly not impossible. Many times I say, rightfully so, that God has blessed me by allowing me to pay the mortgage after falling five months behind. This is a true blessing to me, because of the lesson of trust that it reinforced. I gave everything I had to help others, and God still made sure I got my daily bread.

Is this not also in the Sermon on the Mount? I am currently living higher than I was a year ago and for many years before that. I thank God for Blessing me because He has lifted the burden of heaviness off my shoulders a bit. This is something I have prayed for and received. It doesnt in anyway make me holier than those who are not living as I am But i will continue to Praise God for my home and easier way of life. The inmates I know have 20 or more years. They eat low quality food, live with a high percentage of mentally ill men, do not see their children grow up or spend time with their wives.

Because we give to those during our time of plenty, so that in our time of need, they can give back to us…God uses his people to care for one another. I am grateful for having the article come across my desk this day. And he had 14, sheep, 6, camels, 1, yoke and oxen, and 1, female donkeys.

I think the distinction we need to make is that God never promises to bless us in this way. Indeed, he makes it clear we will likely suffer for the sake of Christ. Being thankful for what God provides does not lead to a prosperity Gospel message. That being said, our satisfaction should be in Christ alone, so our joy is never dependent upon material blessings.

Material wealth is a blessing that is to be used to glorify God, just like any other blessing God gives. Thanks for the thought-provoking post. Thank you paying close attention to the Word. REAL and merciful ones!!!!!!! My wife and I live and work in Malawi, where the average rural income is under 50 cents a day. We will never stop saying we are blessed; re Psalm 1, Matthew 5, which you quoted in the article, as well as a host of other scriptures.

As for our place of birth, talents, and skills, they have nothing to do with dumb luck, something my seventy years on this Earth have taught me to totally reject. If God is truly in charge of my life, luck has no place. Material wealth in and of itself is, I believe, neither bad or good. Our work here is supported by a handful of churches and friends. They are blessed, and in return bless us and others in their work for the sake of the Gospel.

I so wish that we would not reduce blog comments to picking apart the details and wording in every article someone posts but instead listen for the intent and the heart of the message. I believe scripture would confirm, too, that Christ looks at the condition of our hearts, not our ability to write a precisely worded sentence that everyone else agrees with. Thanks for this article! Just curious…why did you start your post by saying you had a conversation where you disparaged your mother? Any explanation would be helpful. Some of the most blessed people in this world are Christians living in poverty.

Thank you for posting this. Reblogged this on Restlessbusinessman and commented: Wonderful post that defeats the prosperity Gospel message flooding our society… sorry Joel Osteen and Joyce Myer. Of course, itmight just be my opinion. Balance in our walk needs reminders. Thankfulness of heart is a good thing. Every good gift comes from the Father of light. I do think our thinking is not clear on what a good gift is. As difficult as it is to do, remember Romans 5: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Fantastic and thought provoking. There is no such thing as luck. If God is sovereign then my blessings and my trials are His will and I live inside of them. Thank you for your words.

I hope you will hear mine in the same spirit as that in which you wrote yours. Two thoughts I have that come from my studies: This segues into my unintentional, but no less necessary thought, that we are to bless The Lord at all times, giving thanks for everything in every situation in all the places of our life. Paul was praising and thanking God while in prison even. Maybe that is a nitpick, but to me it is no more or less a nitpick than to remind ourselves that love is not a feeling either, but an act of other-directed willing.