Positioning Yourself
for Blessing
Chris Demetriou
In
order to experience the supernatural life in Christ Jesus, you need to
correctly position yourself to receive the full benefits of God’s
wonderful promises. The first thing is to position yourself to hear from
Him.
Whatever your situation is, you cannot be free from
fear or anxiety unless you hear from God.
Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Notice,
no hearing no faith! What’s more, “Without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
When
you position yourself to hear from God you also position yourself to
build faith, and this is pleasing to God. Hearing from God is essential to your
success and wellbeing! It makes way for God’s blessing.
Every
time you position yourself correctly – God responds. God is a God of
intimate relationships. He wants to converse with us – one on one. Conversation
is a blessing that He pours out.
So
to hear from God, we must position ourselves for “conversation.” In
doing that, we need to position ourselves to hear and react to
God, rather than telling Him when to meet with us. No wonder we feel powerless!
I would highly recommend that you do not schedule a
“quiet time.”
We’re not trying to put God into our schedules. We’re
trying to make God’s schedule ours. If you’re just starting out listening to
God you must discipline yourself to listen to the “still small voice” inside
you – the Holy Spirit. God does not yell at you.
In 1
Kings 19, the Lord was not to be found in any great and spectacular
manifestations, but in a ‘gentle whisper’.
Remember,
you need to be able to clearly hear that “gentle whisper” in a crowd,
above your worries, and in spite of the enemy’s accusations.
You
need to train yourself to hear God at any moment. So instead of
scheduling a quiet time, you need to practice becoming still and doing what He
says - whenever He says it.
The
question is, How badly do you need direction? How tired are you of being
conquered rather than conquering?
Well, your faith demands action. The best way to start is by studying His Word. Why? Because you must
first become very familiar with His voice, if you are going to recognize it, especially
in the midst of a crisis!
President Franklin D. Roosevelt got tired of smiling
that big smile and saying the usual things at all those White House receptions.
So, one evening he decided to find out whether anybody was paying attention to
what he was saying.
As each person came up to him with extended hand, he
flashed that big smile and said, "I murdered my grandmother this
morning." People would automatically respond with comments such
as "How lovely!" or "Just continue with your
great work!"
Nobody listened to what he was saying, except one
foreign diplomat. When the president said, "I murdered my grandmother
this morning," The diplomat responded softly, "I'm sure she
had it coming to her."
Note,
just having the ability to hear doesn't guarantee an accurate
reception of a message. Jesus said, "He who has ears to
hear, let him hear."
The
trouble with “hearing” is that often what we believe and feel comfortable with
affects how we hear. We endeavour to interpret everything we hear in
the light of what we already know. This kind of hearing rejects what is not
consistent with what you already believe.
Such
hearing is dangerous when you are trying to position yourself correctly with
God. It is little wonder that Jesus warns us to take heed as to how we
hear.
How
we hear is identified in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word (“rhema”) of God.”
“Rhema”
is the revealed word - a word that God has brought to light, which is
specifically directed at you. And this word will always line up with the words
He has already written (by His Spirit) in the Bible.
For
that reason, your “hearing” has to be measured against the Holy
Scriptures. Quite simply, how you start off hearing is
to study the Word and then let God breath life on a verse (a word) He has for
you.
So the first thing you must do is to position yourself
to hear from God.
The next is to position yourself to receive from
God. In order to receive
In verse 3 we notice that Zacchaeus sought to see Jesus
(to see who He was).
Zacchaeus was a rich man who had heard about the Lord.
People were lined up along the road to see Jesus as he passed by.
Zacchaeus being short, could not find a place where he
could see, so he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree. This man
was rich and probably wore fine clothes, but he did not care if he messed up
his £1000 suit.
A sycamore tree has bark that will leave a white
powdery substance on your clothes. It is hard to climb because the
bark is also slippery and the branches are far apart because of its size.
Nevertheless, Zacchaeus had to see who Jesus
was. The Lord had never met the man, yet when He passed under the tree He
looked up and called him by his name, “Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down for today I must visit your house.”
When Jesus called Zacchaeus by name He quickly got his
attention. So Zacchaeus climbed down from that tree as fast as he could
and received Jesus into his home joyfully.
Now observe what Zacchaeus said, “Look,
Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have
cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
This was not a faith statement of what he intended to
do. He actually did it right there and then!
He said, “Look
Lord! Here and now I give...” Talk is cheap but actions will
bring abundant blessings to your households.
Notice, Zacchaeus called Jesus LORD. He
came to see a man but found the Lord.
Zacchaeus passed the test that the rich
young ruler failed. He made Jesus Lord over His wealth. And in doing so He
positioned himself correctly to receive salvation and more!
You
too must put yourself in a position to see the Lord and for Him
to see you. For when you see the Lord you are close
enough to receive a blessing! How do you do this? You see Jesus
in the Word of God – He is the Living Word!
To recap, we must position ourselves to hear from
God, and position ourselves to receive from God.
Consequently, we position ourselves for a blessing and
we become blessed.
Blessing! For
many, no other word is more confusing. What is a blessing? What does it mean to
be blessed? How do we receive a blessing?
It’s
so simple. I'm often amazed that most of people don't get it. It comes down to
one simple, very sound principle: "Position yourself for
blessing, and you will be blessed."
A little research will quickly reveal that this whole
idea of blessing has its roots in ancient beginnings — in Judaism.
The concept of blessing appears first in the pages of
the Old Testament. There, blessing is closely linked with thanksgiving. Blessing
was received only when someone had something worthy of giving thanks for.
Gifts were "blessed" as a way of giving
thanks for them. God was blessed because He was to be appreciated and is worthy
of thanks.
People became a blessing to others when they provided
some material or spiritual graces worthy of thanks. To be “blessed” means that
something to be thankful for has already been received.
This is why we must first be positioned to hear and
then positioned to receive, so that we can be blessed.
To
be blessed means to be in a happy, healthy state of body, mind
and spirit. A blessing is desirable, something we all should want and need.
Blessing
is favourable, to our credit, a hope for wholeness, and an expression of
thanks. So we bless food before a meal as a way of giving thanks.
We
bless the Communion bread and wine in an act of great thanksgiving for all our
gifts and favours at the Eucharist (the Greek word for “thanksgiving”).
We
bless gifts we have received, thanking God for His generosity. Pastors bless
congregations as a show of desiring and hoping for only the best gifts for
them.
How do we become blessed? It’s fairly simple. "Position yourself for blessing, and
you will be blessed.”
It’s
not that you need to wait for God to decide to bless you. God wants to bless
you right now! God will bless you now, if you position yourself for blessing.
Not
"maybe" you'll be blessed. Not, “You'll be blessed if God happens to
feel like it today.” Position yourself for blessing and you WILL be
blessed.
Have you positioned yourself for blessing today? Don't knock it until you've tried it. It’s guaranteed! How many
things these days come with a guarantee signed by God.
Maybe
your positioning in one area will bring blessing in another. That often
happens. Position yourself for blessing, and you will be blessed –
spiritual blessing, physical blessing, moral blessing, financial
blessing.
However,
when we don't bless God (with “thanksgiving”); by acknowledging
It
shouldn't surprise us – but it does! Blessing is not magic ... It’s not chance
... It’s not a throw of the dice or a spin of the wheel. If there's an area of
your life in which you are not being blessed, could it be that you
haven't positioned yourself for blessing? It’s often that straight
forward.
With
this in mind, remember to
(a) position yourself to hear from God, then
(b) position yourself to receive from God,
and consequently you will be correctly positioned for a wonderful blessing.
And
when you are positioned for blessing – you WILL be blessed! But don’t
forget, whenever you are blessed, to bless God with thanksgiving!
Are you bearing much
fruit and so proving to be a disciple of Jesus? Is the power of Christ at work
within you evident?
Will they see the fruit
of the Spirit abundant and at work through you? Would they see Jesus through
you?
Will you let your life speak of Christ?
Ask
God to show you what to do. Pray the following prayer:
“Heavenly
Father,
I
admit that I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You. I now want to
turn away from my past sinful life and begin a new life with you.
Please
forgive me. I now receive Your Son, Jesus Christ as my Savior, my Master and my
Lord. I believe and confess that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried, and
rose from the dead.
I
want to receive all that Jesus Christ has provided for me as my Savior. Your
Word says, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
saved.” (Romans 10:13)
I
believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and
no man comes unto the Father, but by Him.
Lord
Jesus, I pray and ask You, to come into my heart and be Lord of my life. I
thank You that You have given me eternal life.
Heavenly
Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit that is in me now. I
surrender my life to You. I promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Use
me for Your glory.
In
Jesus Name. Amen.”
.
.
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lyrics
To bless your heart Lord God is my desire
To let you touch my life and set my heart afire
To see your hand of love in all that comes my way
To learn your hear your voice each moment of the day,
To bless your
heart Lord God is my desire
To let you touch my life and set my heart afire
To see your hand with love in all that comes my way
To learn to hear your voice each moment of the day,
To bless your
heart Lord God is my desire
To let you touch my life and set my life a fire
To see your hand of love in all it comes my way
To learn to hear your voice each moment of the day
To learn hear your voice each moment of the day,
Chris Demetriou, CTC & Life-Matters
Chris Demetriou, CTC & Life-Matters
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