How to Be Blessed

The terms blessed and cursed are covenant words. God works through covenant to bless people. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are blessed through the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20-21). By faith in Christ, believers enter a covenant relationship with God. Those who reject salvation in Christ are cursed, cut off from a covenant relationship with God.

Be blessed by God, as Abraham was in Genesis. He was justified before God by faith. And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it unto him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Be blessed by God today through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be blessed receiving the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God promised to bless Abraham and make him a blessing through the covenant promise in Genesis 12:1-3. God gave him this promise: In you all the nations shall be blessed. God promised to bless the nations through Abraham's Seed who is Christ (Galatians 3:16).

Old Testament believers were blessed by the promise of the Messiah who was coming. As believers today, we know that He has come that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14). Be blessed with every spiritual blessing, believing in Jesus Christ our Lord (Ephesians 1:3).

Is Your Guilt Gone?

Guilt is a cruel master. Guilt attacks our memory, with constant reminders of all that we have done wrong. Guilt has no solution and gives us no hope. Guilt not only condemns us, but prods us to condemn ourselves. Guilt will not go away, but day and night its work continues without end.

God's saving grace is greater than all of our sin (Romans 5:20). Grace is the sure solution for our guilt. Grace sets us free from all condemnation (Romans 8:1). Grace releases us from guilt. Grace will not fail, because grace comes from God. Guilt becomes helpless in the face of grace. God's saving grace sets us free from all guilt in Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's saving grace is at the cross where Jesus died in our place. Grace shows us the Savior of sinners, who suffered in our place. Grace teaches us that Christ died for all our sins."But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone"(Hebrews 2:9). That's God's saving grace for you.

God's saving grace introduces us personally to Christ risen from the dead. Grace will bring us into union and communion with Christ. Then we can say, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). God's saving grace redeems believers in Christ from the guilt of sin.

The Circumcised Heart

John Owen wrote, "What is it to have the heart circumcised, the apostle declares, 'It is the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ' (Colossians 2:11); that is, our conversion to God. It is the giving 'a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear (Deuteronomy 29:4)."

In the Old Testament, circumcision was a sign of entering into a covenant relationship with God. It was performed by man in the flesh. However, only the Spirit of God can circumcise the heart. The New Testament teaches circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit (Romans 2:29). Circumcision here is used as a metaphorical expression for a change of heart.

Your circumcised heart makes you a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your heart is a symbol of your inward person. It's your mind, will, and emotions. Your mind is transformed to understand the will of God (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 2:16). Your will is changed with a desire to do God's good will (Philippians 2:13). Then, you love the LORD your God with all your heart (Deuteronomy 30:6). 

Your circumcised heart becomes responsive to the things of God (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2:14). Our hearts are changed to become responsive to God's word and will. The mind, will, and emotions are changed by the grace of God in Christ. How about your heart?

God's Adopted Children

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). He was begotten by the Holy Spirit through the virgin birth. All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are God's adopted children. In Christ alone, God adopts believers into His family. Believers are redeemed, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:5).

Adoption of believers in Christ is freedom from the bondage of sin. At the cross, Jesus died to redeem us from the slavery of sin. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son (Galatians 4:7). We are adopted as children of God, because of redemption in God's only begotten Son. In Christ alone, we are adopted as children of God.

Adoption of believers is a personal relationship with our heavenly Father. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba Father (Galatians 4:6). The Holy Spirit indwells every believer to confirm our adoption. We experience God the Father's love in our hearts as His adopted child (Romans 5:5).

Adoption makes every believer an heir of God in Christ (Galatians 4:7). We have a blessed hope for the future. We have a predestined inheritance to be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Galatians 4:7). For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). That is our glorification in Christ, as God's adopted children. 

The City of God

Revelation 21:12-21 gives a detailed description of God's city, the New Jerusalem. This is the place Jesus went to prepare (John 14:1-3). This is the city that comes down out of heaven from God. It is the eternal dwelling of God with His people. The number twelve is repetitious with meaning in the city of God. There are twelve gates with twelve angels. There are twelve foundations of the city, with walls filled with twelve types of precious stones.

The number twelve represents the redeemed people of God. There were twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament. We see the twelve apostles of the Lamb in the New Testament. The number represents all of God's people. The inhabitants of the city are God's covenant people. They are the redeemed of the Lord.

The twelve gates represent the entrance to the city by all of God's people. The twelve angels represent the heavenly host who ministered to those who are heirs of salvation. There is no need for the gates to be closed. That's because all that have done evil to them have been cast into the lake of fire.

Twelve precious stones or jewels compose the walls of the city. They represent the twelve stones in the breastplate of the High Priest of Israel in the Old Testament. He foreshadowed our Lord Jesus Christ, the great High Priest of the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20-21). That testifies to our redemption from sin by the blood of the Lamb (John 1:29).

All to God's Glory

The purpose of life is all to God's glory. He is at work in all things. No event, great or small, is beyond God's purpose. However, it is not a passive purpose. God works in all things according to a purpose. That purpose is good for those who love God (Romans 8:28). The purpose of our lives is to the praise of God's glory.

We were created for a purpose. That purpose is to the glory of God. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Believers in Jesus Christ our Lord are saved from the condemnation of sin to the praise of God's glory (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). 

The purpose of our salvation is to God's glory. God knew that we would sin. The mercy, grace, and love of God in Christ for sinners is to the praise of God's glory. Our salvation in Christ is to the glory of God's grace. Give God the glory for the grace that saved you in Christ. Our purpose in life through Christ is to the glory of God.

The purpose of worship is to God's glory. The word for glory in the Greek New Testament is doxa, from which we get our English word doxology. That word speaks of our worship as praise to God. We give God all the glory, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below." He is worthy of our praise! We give God all the glory, now and forever more.