Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Be Blessed With The Blessings Of Deuteronomy 28!

The Lord wants New Creation Church to know that the year 2008 will be a year of His manifested blessings, especially the blessings of Deuteronomy 28!

God’s desire is for us, His children, to enjoy every single blessing that He has for us. And I want you to know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the reason you can receive all of God’s blessings today — Jesus’ finished work on the cross. He died and rose again to bring us to a place where we have right standing with God.

More than 400 years before the Ten Commandments were given, God promised Abraham that He would bless him, and that the nations of the earth would be blessed in his seed:

Genesis 22:17–18
17… blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
18In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

This seed is the source of our blessing, so we need to know who this seed is.

Galatians 3:16
16Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

Galatians 3:16 tells us that this seed is Christ! And in Him, all the nations of the earth are blessed. By Christ’s obedience, we, who have received Him, are pronounced righteous!

My friend, the devil will come to you and say, “What Pastor Prince says about God blessing you in the year 2008 is not for you! Look at your behaviour, your unclean habits, your bad temper…” But know that all that cannot disqualify you from the blessings of Abraham that came first.

Galatians 3:18, 29
18For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Today, we are no longer under the law, but under grace, and heirs of the promise in Christ. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of keeping all of God’s commandments and statutes for us. So it is not our obedience, but Jesus’ obedience, that entitles us to the blessings!

Now that we have established the basis we can receive all of God’s blessings, let’s look at some of these blessings listed in Deuteronomy 28.

The blessings start with God giving us a position. In Deuteronomy 28:1, He says He will “set you high above all nations of the earth”. Today, that’s where Christ is, and as believers, we are in Him!

Ephesians 2:4–6
4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

So, God has fulfilled His promise — you have been set high above all nations of the earth where you are blessed with every blessing!

God declared that the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 will “come upon you and overtake you”. (Deuteronomy 28:2) Do you know what that means? It means that you cannot run fast enough to escape them!

And the blessing is not in your location — it is on you. The Lord says, “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.” (Deuteronomy 28:3) When God blesses you, the blessing rests on you regardless of where you are. You, child of God, are blessed and will be a blessing everywhere you go!

Every area of your life has been covered in the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. Your family, children, career, finances, health — the Lord wants you to know that He has them all covered!

Deuteronomy 28:4-6, 8, 11
4Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 5Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out… 8The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand… 11And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground...

Fruit here represents all the fruit of your body. That includes your children, as well as the function of every organ in your physical body. God increases the quality of your life in every way.

In the following verse, the basket and kneading bowl refer to your means of livelihood. God blesses your provisions, no matter where you are or which company you are in.

And notice that “blessed when you come in” comes before “blessed when you go out”? It’s because family comes before work. You are blessed coming into your house, and then you are blessed going out. Before the blessing comes on your work, it comes on your household.

Verse 8 talks about “commanded blessings” — the Lord will command the blessings on you in your storehouses (in modern terms, these are your bank accounts) and in everything that you set out to do! You have no choice but to receive! And lastly, in verse 11, God promises us plenty, so we need never fear lack.

Victory Over Our Enemies

Deuteronomy 28:7
7The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

Notice when God defeats the enemy? When he is before your face.

If God does things for you long before you reach there, you won’t even thank Him. You wouldn’t even know that He was the one who delivered you! But when you are confronted with trouble, God will cause your enemies to be defeated before your face, so that you will know that He has delivered you. And you will give Him all the glory!

The second half of the verse, “… they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways”, is so beautiful! The Lord told me, “Son, take courage. All the enemies of your life, all the devils in this world, can only come against you one way, not many ways.”

First Peter 5:7–8 implies that the devil can only devour people who are full of worries and cares. But God wants us to cast our cares on Him and to live care-free in the year 2008! He says, “Guard only one thing — your heart — and I will guard everything else.” When you guard the inside, God will guard the outside!

Deuteronomy 28:13
13And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath…

The list of God’s blessings ends the same way it began! Above only and not beneath. That’s very telling. God is saying to us, “Stay high. Don’t come down from your high place.”

When you try by your efforts to be justified, to get the blessings of God, that’s when you fall from grace. (Galatians 5:4) But because you have been made righteous, you are already blessed in Christ.

Nothing to prove, nothing to hide and nothing to defend — that’s the kind of attitude you need to have! My friend, the devil may try to tell you that you are not healed by putting lying symptoms on your body. He will tell you that you are not blessed by pointing you to your lack, and trying to make you forget all of God’s goodness.

But remain in rest, in Jesus’ name, and see all of God’s blessings in Deuteronomy 28 manifest in your life!


This article is excerpted from the messages
The Promised Seed And Your Inheritance
and The Key To Walking In The Blessings of Deuteronomy 28

preached by Pastor Joseph Prince on 23 and 30 December 2007 respectively.

Copyright © 2006–2008 New Creation Church

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