MONSOON OF BLESSINGS

MONSOON OF BLESSINGS – Devotion for Friday, 29 April 2016 Anno Domini

25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. Ezek 34:25-26 (KJV)

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8 (KJV)

            In the sub-continent of Asia, the land is bathed by an abundance of rain during certain seasons of the year in India and the nations of Indochina such as Vietnam. The rains arise suddenly out of a sky that just moments ago was clear and sunny. The rains may cause flooding at times and are a detriment to pleasure, but a blessing to the abundance of crop production. It is the rain that is often cursed by the people and not the winds that have caused the rain. The southwesterly winds build over the sea of the Indian Ocean bringing the moisture-laden air masses over land where they discharge that moisture in torrential rains. It is the wind that brings the blessings of the rain, for the rain is not the cause of itself – IT IS THE WIND – the Monsoon!

            The blessings accruing to the Elect of God are not the Giver of themselves, but the gift of the Giver. Those blessings often come in torrential floods in the Monsoon Season of God. It may seem awkward that we seldom wonder from when blessings come – we may not even acknowledge them but rather consider them well-deserved. But when hardship and affliction occur, we always wonder why God is doing this to us. We are fickle and our natures are sometimes like the will-o-the-wisp. The Winds of God (by way of His Holy Spirit) are the means by which God sends showers of blessing upon us, but we often believe that the blessings are delivered either by happenstance, or by the simple and routine workings of nature. But God is the Giver of all spiritual blessings and graces as well as those of the temporal need of the Elect. God not only blesses the Elect with temporal blessings, but all people and creatures of His good earth. But the spiritual blessings are broadcast upon the Elect alone since they are the only ones able to receive them.

            Today, I ask each of us to take a moment to consider what a blessing is life itself – to have opened our eyes on the day of our birth to the blinding beauty of God’s green earth. Do you ever wonder why the earth is covered with green vegetation? According to scientists, green is the most relaxing and peaceful of colors. So God puts the best before His creatures – a color with which we will never become bored. Many are heart-broken at the loss of a loved one, a pet, or a small son or daughter. They question the loving god who gave the gift. Even a child is a temporal gift that is time-dated. But a child is also a spiritual gift through which we propagate the family, the church, and the nation. If a precious little daughter is taken by the Lord at the tender age of six years, should we mourn so much more deeply the loss of future years of the gift, or should we give profound thanks to our Father in Heaven who gave us those six years? But not those six years only, for the child is even presently enjoying eternal bliss with the Father as we speak.

            It is important for us to remember that God is not only the Giver of blessings, but the Father of every blessing and is the personification of BLESSED! Let us review, briefly, many spiritual blessings revealed in Ephesians 1 & 2. But before I began, I wish to thank God for His blessings in allowing me to daily meditate and share my commentary on His beautiful Person and Word. He gives me the greatest joy and comfort when I am studying His precious Word. I hope you will feel the same blessing.

            We read in Ephesians how The Giver of Blessings and the blessed are so jointly partakers of that state of Blessing that God is: “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” Eph 1:3 (KJV) Please note some of the profound blessings we enjoy in Christ:

  1. We are chosen and elected in Christ in eternity and not temporarily, of without the security of future promise. Christ did not lose a single soul placed in His hands by the Father, except that “son of perdition’ who was Judas. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” Eph 1:4 (KJV) Can you see what an amazing gift salvation is to you, having been chosen in Christ before the worlds were made?

  2. The soul’s security in Christ in a covenant inviolate. God never breaks His Word even if we are weak in faith at moments of distress or sore temptation. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” Eph 1:5 (KJV) There is further confirmation of this great promise in 2nd Timothy: “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Tim 1:12 (KJV)

  3. It is the work of Christ that has made us acceptable to God – not any of our own works that are as filthy rags. “6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”Eph 1:6 (KJV) We could never clean our hearts of sin – only Christ could do so through His imputed righteousness.

  4. We have a grant and title that can never be annulled. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”Eph 1:7 (KJV)

  5. There is no shadow of turning with our Lord. (James 1:17) James is making reference, before the Pope realized the earth was a sphere, to the turning of the earth on its axis bringing the shadow of night upon the earth. Jesus has no night – only brilliant Light of Day! “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Heb 13:8 (KJV) We have redemption in reality and not a ‘maybe.’ God will not do as our friends do – forgive us our sins one day and remind us of them the next.

  6. The union of the Christian with his Lord is an indissoluble union. “10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” Eph 1:10 (KJV) Becoming One with the Lord means to take His Mind upon us and surrender our own disparate wills to His. Then are we One with Christ, One with the Church, and One with God the Father & God the Holy Ghost!

  7. There are times when the treasured gift of a friend is a thing of cherished beauty, but age blemishes the luster, and we view the gift as a lesser treasure; but the blessings of God actually mount in value as time passes since they are eternal in nature. “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” Eph 1:11. But wait, we havealready received that inheritance, have we not? When the Testator dies, do the recipients not receive His grant of inheritance at that moment? YES!

  8. The salvation we have received cannot be disowned by us, why? Because we are sealed by the Royal Seal of God. The seal of Pontius Pilate was not sufficient to keep the stone over the entrance to the tomb of Christ. But the seal of God on your life cannot be broken. “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” Eph 1:13 (KJV)

  9. That seal of God is a bond floated as our earnest on the wings of the Holy Ghost to stand as earnest of our everlasting hope and salvation in Christ. “14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Eph 1:14 (KJV)

  10. I love the 2nd chapter of Ephesians for its clarity in describing our total lack or ability to amend our lives and come to Christ, and stresses that it is Christ whose works have brought us to the exit of the tomb. “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;” Eph 2:5 (KJV) A dead man can do NOTHING to awaken himself from the dead, Neither could Lazarus. He lay dead and putrifying in the tomb for four days ere his cold, dead heart heart the Voice resounding from one wnd of Eternity to the other saying, “Lazarus, come forth!”  And Lazarus came forth from the dead, as you and I have done at the moment of hearing that same Voice. He came forth trailing the filthy rags of his own sin, but Christ commanded them to “loose him, and let him go!” (John 11:44) He has done the same for us while we were the walking dead (dead in trespasses and sin). Being unable to awaken ourselves from that death, Christ called, and we heeded the Voice.

  11. When the devil has recognized his ancient defeat and capitulates leaving the field to the Victor, there will be that continuing “peace that passeth all understanding.” That peace is not a truce, or an armistice, but a permanent and eternal peace resulting from the unconditional surrender of the Enemy of our Souls. “14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” Eph 2:14 (KJV)

  12. That permanent peace will rest upon that Rock of our Salvation – a Foundation that can never be removed. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” This is only short list of blessings. “Count your blessings and see what the Lord hath done!”

By |2016-05-02T14:56:54+00:00May 2nd, 2016|Blog|Comments Off on MONSOON OF BLESSINGS

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