shalom

After my Bible study this morning, I went to the feed store to get some little ducklings.  I brought them home and put them into their new pen. I gave them some food and a pan of water to play in. It made me so happy to watch them enjoying their food and mini-pool.  I could've sat there watching them all day! All of a sudden, the Lord reminded me of my Bible study I had just finished. He had spoken to my heart that He so wants to bless His children.  Ps. 35:27 says, "God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant". The Hebrew translation for prosperity is SHALOM. It means safety, favor, welfare (God's, not govt. welfare), health, and financial prosperity.  It's important to know that if we are His loving and obedient children, then we can and should expect Him to take care of us.  In fact, He wants to shower us with abundant blessings. As a matter of fact, Jesus said that He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10)  Haggai 2:4-9 reveals some conditions for receiving the blessings of God. In this passage, God commands us to BE STRONG, ALERT, and COURAGEOUS. He says here that we must WORK (and be in expectation) BECAUSE HE IS WITH US!  He says that this is because of HIS COVENANT He made with us when we came out of Egypt (signifying our conversion), and because His Holy Spirit stands and abides with us. He goes on to mention here that the starry heavens, the earth, the dry land, and all nations will shake. Does this shaking nullify His covenant blessings?  On the contrary!  God warns us in this same passage to NOT FEAR!  He goes on to say some pretty amazing and encouraging things!   He tells us that the desirable and precious things of ALL NATIONS SHALL COME IN to us.  He says here that HE WILL FILL THIS HOUSE (His loving and trusting children's lives) with splendor and glory!  Wow! Now that's some good news! His Covenant makes a way for us to receive what He desires to give us. And if that's not enough, He goes on to declare that, "...THE SILVER AND GOLD ARE MINE, says the Lord of hosts...the latter GLORY SHALL BE GREATER THAN THE FORMER...AND IN THIS PLACE I WILL GIVE PEACE (HEBREW: SHALOM-safety; favor; welfare (God's, not govt.);  health; prosperity). I want to submit to you that if we entertain fear, we might just miss out on what God is offering us. He has promised and He will be faithful. Now we must believe and take possession of our inheritance.   There are so many scriptures that confirm the fact He wants us blessed.  In Genesis 12 we see God blessing Abram (Abraham).  Later on we see God telling him that he was blessed to be a blessing and would bless the nations of the earth through him because he obeyed God's voice. We see in Galatians that Christians can also have the Abrahamic blessing in our lives (Galatians 3:14; Heb. 6,12, etc).  Just from these passages, it is obvious to me that we can live in God's blessing regardless of the circumstances that surround us in this world. The most important thing to remember is why we're blessed.  #1.) Because our loving heavenly Father wants us to be.  #2.) He wants us to be a blessing to others.  In  Matthew, Jesus exhorts us to seek His kingdom first and to make sure our heart is for His kingdom's purpose, because our treasure ($) will be where our heart is. I've decided to be strong, alert, and courageous as I seek first His kingdom, expecting His blessings to be abundant in my life, and being sure to somehow bless others!  As a result, God will be thanked, praised, and glorified!!  How about you?