Dear Friends, 

            We seem to be living in a time of turmoil on the earth today. Financially the reports are not looking good. There are rumors of war, not only of nation against nation, but also tribes within nations are rising up against one another. Pressures are increasing, troubles are growing, and difficulties seem to be the normal way of living. Yet, despite all that is coming upon the world, there is a better way for the church, and the promise of God still remains the same.

           In the book of Hebrews, we see this statement in chapter 4, verse one, “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.” The promises of God are to help us to enter into a life of rest. He does not want us to live a life of pressure, difficulty, or trouble. His promises never change, they have stood the test of time. His promises are for us today, just as much as when they were first spoken. He never changes. God’s plan for man has never changed. He desires us to have increase on our minds and in our lives.

           Genesis 9:1 “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” God’s words to Noah are words of blessing just as He spoke to Adam. God spoke to Abram in Genesis 12 saying, “I will bless you.” To be blessed is to have the favor of God in your life. Abram was increasing in every area of his life. The blessing was upon him, and it was showing up. No one could deny that increase was happening in Abram’s life. They may not have known what, or why, it was happening, but they couldn’t deny that it was happening.

           Then the promise of the Lord to Abram was passed on to us. Genesis 17:7 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.” Therefore, the covenant of blessing was not to stop with Abram but was to be passed on to us. Genesis 3:29 goes on to tell us, “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” We belong to Christ because we have received Him as Lord of our life. We are born of Him and therefore we are Abraham’s descendants. So, the promise made to Abram was also made to us. As Abram had to believe and receive what the Lord was telling him, we also have to believe and receive His promise to us.

           Abraham’s son, Isaac, was blessed. His son, Jacob, was blessed. His son, Joseph, was blessed. And the blessing is passed on down to whoever is the descendant of Abraham. Thank God the blessing didn’t stop with Isaac but has been passed down to us also. You might be thinking, “I wish I would see some of this blessing.” If you read the account of Abraham, you will see he believed God, and obeyed God, even before he had seen any of this blessing. We need to do the same.   Psalm 115:13-15 “He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small together with the great. May the Lord give you increase, you and your children. May you be blessed of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.”

           To fear the Lord is to reverence Him. It does not matter if we are small or great, there is no partiality with God. He will bless whoever reverences Him. One way we reverence God is to believe His Word, to trust Him, and to act accordingly.

           Some would think, “Why do I have to reverence God? Why won’t He just bless me?” If God could bless you without your reverencing Him, then He would be obligated to bless Satan also, because Satan would never reverence God. That means your adversary that would be standing against you, would be doing it with the blessing of the Lord on him. None of us would want that to happen. The blessing of God on us gives us the advantage over our adversary.

           God’s desire is to increase us. It always has been, and it always will be. He never changes. The promise has been passed on to us, the descendants of Abraham, as an everlasting covenant. All we have to do; is to do what the devil can’t do – reverence God. If we only do what the devil does, we’ll only have what the devil has. Let’s go beyond his ability, to the ability God has given us and reverence the Lord.

            The more I have seen the things of the world go downhill through the years the more I understand that ‘I am in the world, but I am not of the world.’ (John 17.15-16) The world system will do what the world system does, but I will continue on in the blessing of the Lord. It is time to go on to the blessing of God in our lives.

                                                                                            Pastor Bob