DOES GOD WANT TO BLESS YOU?

Is it God’s Intention to Bless you?​

I believe that one of God’s primary desires is to Bless His own. 

​God’s first and greatest Blessing is the Blessing of Salvation by His Grace though faith in Jesus, His Son.  Then, there are His blessings of love and mercy and prosperity toward those who believe.

Some years ago, I became a serious advocate of God’s intentions to Bless His own people.  That is, God intends to Bless those who seek Him diligently.

Some people just don’t like to hear (or think) that God Blesses people beyond the Greatest of Blessing, that is His Blessing of Salvation through faith in Christ, for those who call upon His name.

But, I say it is true.

I have also been reflecting on what some people have said to me, over these years, regarding the “Blessings of God”. 

Some people have told me “Yeah.  God may have done ‘this or that’ for you or for others, but that does not mean He will do ‘this or that’ for everyone.  You are just making me feel bad saying God will do ‘this or that’ when He hasn’t done it for me.”

It also seems obvious that not everyone who says they believe, are being blessed!  It seems many are suffering some form of trial or tribulation. God allows us, and at times causes us to go through trials and tribulations, but He is always with us IN and THROUGH times of trouble. The Bible teaches us that (1), “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but He rescues us from them all; (Psalms 34:19). (2), “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45). (3), God uses trials and tribulations to conform us to His image. (1 Peter 1:6-9).

We have to remember that God, through His judgments, separates us from sin, so that sin does not separate us from Him.

God’s judgment is an extreme act of mercy.  An act of Devine love, justice and mercy.

For an example, look at Adam and Eve.  They were expelled from the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience, sinful attitude and behavior. 

First, God places the blame squarely where it belongs, on Satan.  Look at what God said in casting Adam and Eve from the Garden:

“The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you…” Genesis 3:14

Because Adam and Eve had gained the “knowledge of good and evil” they would now live forever in their fallen condition.  So, God, by His great mercy said,  “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” — 

“Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden” (Genesis 3:23-24)

God was showing extreme mercy using extreme methods for extreme circumstances.  God always has a Plan.  God’s plan for humankind was Jesus Christ.  He was our future as our redeemer.  

But, we had to be taught about His great love through various trials.

It is important that we remember that God was not angry with Adam and Eve and God is not angry with you as His child.  God was displeased.  But His anger was, and always will be, toward sin.  This is another of God’s principals which never changes. 

God, through His righteous judgments of “exile and captivity”, separates sin from our lives so sin does not separate us from Him.

(By the way, we as, Christians, must adopt this principal for our lives.  Jesus tells us “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:14-15)

Coincidentally, someone I know who is going through a difficult time, posted verses regarding God’s intended Blessings toward Believers from Jeremiah chapter 29:11, ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”.  I imagine he posted them to remind himself of God’s kind and generous intentions toward all Believers, and perhaps to gain strength and to keep hope alive for his future.

This is a TRUTH from God’s Word, but, it can easily be taken out of context.  And when God’s Word is taken out of context it is usually improperly applied and rarely comes to pass.  Hence, we have an example of how people level unjust criticisms of God’s intention to Bless those who seek Him and to grant them His Favor.

Here is the context these verses: 

Most of Israel has been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies and the Jewish people have been taken into captivity and sent to Babylon.  This is a picture of extreme trouble and distress which has come upon the Jewish people and nation because of their sin and rebellion toward God.  God’s principals found in Jeremiah 29, never change.  You and I can and do suffer because of our sinful rebellion toward God, just like Israel.  

Remember, however, that there is a remedy for sin and God’s judgment.  But also remember, there was a just CAUSE for God’s judgment.

Jeremiah 29:1 ¶  Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

​Verse 2. “(This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)

Verse 3. “The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

Verse 4. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

Verse 5. ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.

Verse 6. ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.

Verse 7. ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

Verse 8. “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.

Verse 9. ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.

Verse 10 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

Verse 11. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Verse 12. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Verse 13. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Verse 14. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into .’

We can see what happened to Israel.  But, what is God’s intended meaning of this “EXILE” and “CAPTIVITY”? 

NOTE:  This word, “EXILE”, literally means

• “to uncover oneself,

• to be removed from where you have been,

• to be disclosed and discovered,

• to uncover your nakedness,

• to be revealed, to lay bare”.

 
The CAUSE of the EXILE was the people’s sin.

The RESULT of the EXILE was to expose the people’s sin and rebellion.

The REMEDY of this EXILE can be seen in verses TEN through FOURTEEN:  

Jeremiah 29:10  “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

Verse 11. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Verse 12. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Verse 13. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Verse 14. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

God warns his people, however, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.

Jeremiah 29:9,  ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.”

God’s intention is to expose their sins and to make them aware of their condition, so they can repent and be restored.  But many of their preachers and prophets were deceiving them.  They were telling them what they wanted to hear.  They were telling them, in essence, that “God loves you too much to love you any less”, regardless of your sinful behavior and rebellion toward God and His laws.  And, while this may sound right, it is only half-true, which is actually a LIE.

The people were conducting their lives based on subtle lies about God’s Law.  They were being taught by false prophets.  THIS IS THE REASON THE PEOPLE OF GOD FELL DEEPER INTO SIN AND REBELLIION and eventually suffered God’s Judgment for correction.

The current condition of the church in America could be considered to be similar.  The preachers (prophets) are using the same words contained in the Bible but they are only “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” (2Timothy 3:5)

God warns us, the “New Testament Christians” to beware…

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” 2 Peter 2:1

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:4

Read these verses from  Jeremiah 29:10-14, again: 

“For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”

Do you want the Blessing of God?  I know I do.

If you are in a difficult situation that is the result of your behavior or for reasons you don’t understand, just accept God’s correction for your “Seventy years”

“Seventy Years” literally and symbolically means

• • • “to take an oath;

    • be a lover of God over being a hater of God. 

    • The number Seven is a number of completion and perfection “ten times over”. 

​

So, the result of your “Seventy Years” of “exile” brings you to ‘swear a perfect and complete oath of love and obedience in your heart’ toward God, ).

Know and have faith that He “will visit you again and He will fulfill His Good Word to you, to bring you back to your place.”

Always have faith; know in your heart that God “know(s) the plans He has for you, and those plans are for your welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope”. That promise never changes.

Then, after your “Seventy Years of exile”, you WILL “call upon Him and go to Him and pray to Him, and He will listen to you when you seek Him with all your heart.  You will find Him and He will restore your fortunes”.

Thus says the Lord.

Now, Go and Be Blessed.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young