We may be waiting on our blessing, when our blessing is already here. We just have to go possess it.
God has many teaching moments, and I pray I don’t miss any of them. Over the last few days I, along with many other people throughout Jamaica, have been experiencing internet issues. It finally came back yesterday afternoon, but it went again. I had to put data on my phone to get a little internet usage. Thankfully, I had recently bought a little transistor radio which came in quite handy to keep me occupied as I usually do a lot on the internet and having minimum access made me have a bit more time on my hands. This morning I checked in with my neighbor and shockingly she told me she had internet. I instantly went over to my router and rebooted. All the lights finally lit up after nearly a day, and I had immediate access to the internet. I had a good laugh at myself because sometimes I reboot up to ten times a day, but there I was not even thinking of doing what I would normally do. Nevertheless, God knew I was going to mess up beforehand, so He had prepared me with my transistor radio and data plan on my phones to help me get through this period. I rarely listen to the radio, but was happy to hear broadcasters on a popular secular show call on a pastor to help them work through a complicated domestic issue, I was amazed at how deeply the children prayed on one Christian radio station and encouraged by the testimony of the believers on another. I encountered God’s move and got a greater perspective of His mighty work in Jamaica.
Moreover, I was enriched by the spiritual lessons He taught me when I thought I had “lost” the internet. Firstly, sometimes there are hindrances to our connection with Jesus and we need to reboot. We may feel we can’t hear Him or He is not listening, but are we connected to Him through His Word, prayer and our actions?
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5
I could do very little without my internet connection and I can do nothing without abiding in Jesus, who connects me to the Father. We may seem to be doing a lot, but wise King Solomon says those deeds are like chasing after the wind. Abiding in The Vine enables us to bear much fruit. If we aren’t being fruitful, we may need to check our connection with Jesus, and restart to get back our connectivity and to resume our full operating capabilities to carry out the Father’s purpose.
Secondly, the internet was there for the taking, but I didn’t receive it because I didn’t reboot. I was praying for the internet to come back, believing that God would do it. And He did it. He had done it before I prayed. This sure gives more meaning to Isaiah 65:24 in which God states that before we call, He will answer. God had already answered my prayers. It’s like the disciples petitioning the Lord for Peter to be released from prison. After a miraculous escape, Peter comes knocking at the door and when Rhoda, the servant girl, heard that it was him, she ran to tell the disciples in amazement and left their answered prayers still standing on the other side of the door. (See Acts 12:5-16.) Sometimes our blessing comes knocking at our door, but we don’t get up to open it.
“I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of the night.’ “I have taken off my dress, How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet, How can I dirty them again? “My beloved extended his hand through the opening, And my feelings were aroused for him. “I arose to open to my beloved; And my hands dripped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the bolt. “I opened to my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and had gone! My heart went out to him as he spoke. I searched for him but I did not find him; I called him but he did not answer me. Song of Solomon 5:2-6
Are you kidding me?!!! This lady must be crazy. How hard was it to put back on her dress, wash her feet and go open the door? Okay, may it was a bit more difficult to get water back in those days, but she procrastinated and then there goes her blessing. But, fret not. I suggest you read the Song of Solomon for that happy ending.
Even seven tribes of Israel did not divide their inheritance when they reached the Promised Land, so Joshua asked them, “How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?” Joshua 18:3. God has given many of us blessings that we are not taking. Do not leave God’s blessings unpossessed today. Resist your fears, reignite your passion, recognize your identity in Christ, and go boldly to receive your blessing. We may look at God's favor and see that we have to fight off some giants to get it. But we don’t have to worry because the battle is the Lord’s and greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world. We should ask the Father to open up our spiritual eyes to see that those who are with us are greater than those who are against us. God is not going to leave us or forsake us. He got this. We need to get that.
There are those of us who forfeit what is rightfully ours because we want to temporarily satisfy our worldly desires. We are like Esau giving up his birthright for a bowl of stew. No matter how good that stew was, it wasn’t worth giving up his blessing. (See Genesis 25:29-34.) Yet, too many of us do not place enough value on God’s blessing, so we easily exchange it for something less worthy. If we stop and think, we may recognize a few examples as we look back on our lives. Fortunately, we have a Father who restores the years the locusts have stolen. We just need to go back to Him in repentance and He will greet us with open arms ready to pour out His love on us and bless us.
I am currently fully connected to the internet since I have rebooted. Now, I can upload this article and pray that it a blessing to you. You see, your blessing is not just for you, it is also to bless others, so don’t leave unpossessed blessings because you are blessed to be a blessing.
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