Blessed Wherever You Are

Deuteronomy 28:3                       

3“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

You may have heard of people who think that to have better “luck”, they have to move to a new home, work for a certain company or even migrate to another country.

The truth is that it is not the place that gets you the blessings, but whether God’s blessings are on you. And for you, child of God, you are already blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:20) He has paid for your blessings with His blood. So the blessing is not on the land but on the man!

It was in the city of Jerusalem that Jesus was whipped, cursed and spat on. And it was outside the city on Calvary’s hill that He was pierced and crucified. That is why you are blessed in the city as well as outside in the country! In fact, you are blessed regardless of the location. 

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Down But Not Out

2 Corinthians 4:8–9

⁸We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

Before you were a Christian, when something sad or bad happened to you, you cried until you had no more tears left. Your heart simply broke into pieces, and you felt trapped, depressed and totally defeated.

But after you became a Christian, even when something worse happens to you, you still cry, but you feel comforted inside. You are sad outwardly, but your heart isn’t heavy. You don’t understand why, but deep down inside you, there is something lifting you up. That something buoyant, which is rising from the inside of you, is the life of Christ in you!

You cannot be completely distressed because Christ in you is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) who says to you, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

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‘All That I Have Is Yours’ - Luke 15:31

Luke 15:31
³¹And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”

After running a few errands for his parents, a little boy went to his father and said, “I know why you and mummy had me.”

“Why?” his father asked. 

“So that you will have someone to run errands and work for you!” exclaimed the boy.

Like the little boy, do you see God as a Father who demands obedience and service from you? Have you ever felt that unless you obey God and keep all His commandments, you don’t have a right to be blessed by Him?

Jesus told the story of the prodigal son to show how some of us call God “Father” and yet don’t know the Father’s heart. There are two sons in this parable. We know what happened to the prodigal son, but we can also learn something about the older son. This is what he said to his father when he discovered that his father had thrown a party to celebrate the return of his irresponsible, spendthrift brother: “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.” (Luke 15:29) 

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