Do we really understand when we say “Bless me, God?”

The word for bless in the Greek New Testament is eulogéo, which means to speak well of.

We are really quite daring when we ask God to speak well of us. When we bless God we are eulogizing or speaking well of Him, and He indeed is worthy of being well spoken of. But how dare we ask Him to speak well of us? In the Bible, God’s words are God’s actions. The Lord created the world with His word. So when we ask God to speak well of us, it is the same as asking Him to act in our lives.

So many of us have the wrong idea about the blessing of God. We have a tendency to believe that God should hold a rubber stamp and automatically approve our plans.

“How can you look so pleasant tonight?” a man asked his friend. “You have had a score of interruptions this afternoon, when you had plans to accomplish so much.” “That is all right,” was the answer. “Every morning I give my day to Christ. I take what He sends. These interruptions came in the way of duty. Why should I complain about the service He has appointed?”

Would you really ask God to bless you if you knew that He might interrupt your planning?

–Copied

He is risen—-Mark 16:6

At the University of Chicago Divinity School, each year they have what is called “Baptist Day.” On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every “Baptist Day” the school would invite one of the “greatest minds” to lecture in the theological education center. One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for 2 and  a half hours, attempting to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions.

After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, wooly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. “Docta Tillich, I got one question.” All eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. “Docta Tillich”…CRUNCH, MUNCH…”My question is a simple question.”…CRUNCH, MUNCH…”Now, I ain’t never read them books you read”… CRUNCH, MUNCH… “and I can’t recite the Scriptures in original Greek”… CRUNCH, MUNCH… “I don’t know nothin’ about Neibuhr and Heidegger”… CRUNCH, MUNCH… and then held up the core of the apple he had just finished, “All I wanna know is” This apple I just ate-was it bitter or sweet?”

Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: “I cannot possible answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple.” The white hair preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, “Neither have you tasted my Jesus.” The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. (From a sermon by Ken Trivette)

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficent unto the day is the evil thereof. –Matthew 6:34

It doesn’t matter if you’re asleep or wide awake, there are two thieves that often try to creep into your heart and mind to rob you of your peace and joy. They are known as “yesterday” and “tomorrow.” Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow because He knew we would have more than enough to handle today. He doesn’t want you to dwell on past mistakes or tomorrow’s potential difficulties. Even though this seems to be a simple concept, most people have difficulty in grasping it.

Before you know it, they suddenly catch a bad case of the “what ifs.” What if I can’t pay my bills next month? Where is my next meal going to come from? What if the medicine and treatments don’t work? It can be maddening to those who are overwhelmed by the “what if” syndrome, commonly known as worry. But this only covers the thief named “tomorrow.”

“Yesterday” is a completely different kind of bandit. People find themselves engulfed with the regrets of yesterday. We must realize everyone makes mistakes for “every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:5)-big, small, medium-sized-they are all sin in the eyes of God. He doesn’t judge you any more or less, because Christ’s blood covered all sins equally.

Everyone has his load of difficulties in life stemming from yesterday, actively working today, or building for tomorrow’s explosion. But, as believers we must understand that the only way to free ourselves of worry and experience true peace is to have faith that God will work everything out in His time. Consider Him your heart’s anti-theft system-He cleanses past mistakes and has every detail carefully planned out for your future.

Ask the Lord to help you focus on today and serving Him at this very moment, rather than worrying about your past or future. (From Senior Living, Scripture references changed to KJV)

“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”–Ephesians 4:3   Unity in a church doesn’t “just happen”, it is the result of much effort on the part of it’s members. Churches aren’t destroyed from without, but from within. Pride produces strife, which causes divisions that lead to destruction. The Bible commands us to work for peace. Sometimes that means you can’t have things your way. The following story serves as a good illustration of what our attitude should be:   A little church in the country was voting on building a new church. Everyone in the church wanted to build, except one older couple that always sat on the front row. They were very much opposed and told all who were in the church that their present arrangement was adequate, and God was not in favor of them building a new church. But the vote was finally taken and the church decided to build, starting the next Monday morning, on the cite already chosen. All volunteers were to show up at 8 a.m. The appointed day came and the first man on the job was the very man who had voted against the building. He had his shovel, hammer, saw, overalls–and a good spirit. At lunch time his wife had all the workmen over to her house for a homemade hot lunch. And the same man showed up everyday, until the building was completed. That’s what a Spirit-filled believer would do. What would you have done?

These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
Acts 17:6

The first Christians were walking torches who weren’t afraid to share their faith, spread their news, praise their Lord, and set the world on fire. They’d discovered a secret that had turned them inside out. Gone were their inhibitions, failures, sins, and temporal concerns. The risen Christ was living within them, walking among them, and working through them. They were filled with the Spirit, and they shared the Word with boldness, though it sometimes brought the lash down on their backs and the government down on their heads. They didn’t expect to be here long, so they made the most of every opportunity.

There are still Christians like that, but the majority of us are content with being middle-of-the-roaders whose lukewarm Laodicean faith won’t even cause the world to tilt a little.

The Gospel isn’t going to turn the world upside down until it turns us inside out and rightside up, and we’ll not set others on fire until we become walking torches. But when the zeal of Christ sets a church afire, people will say of us as was said of old: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” (From Turning Point)

The Christians who have turned the world upside down have been men and women with vision in their hearts and the Bible in their hands.
T. B. Maston