Follow The Blessing... Walk with God

Follow The Blessing... Walk with God

In modern western society, and therefore in modern western churches, we use the word BLESS lightly. We don't really mean much by it. Someone sneezes and we say "Bless you!" We see someone at church and we greet each other with it:"Bless you brother." But what is it, what does it mean, and most importantly what does it mean to you and I today?

There is a thing called "The Law of First Mention". It means that the very first time that a word or theme is mentioned in the Word of God/Bible it sets the tone and definition of that word/theme throughout the Word of God/Bible. Further use of that word/theme will only serve to enhance or deepen our understanding of it, but never contradict it's first mention.

So when we want to take a look at a word/theme the more often it's mentioned the deeper understanding we can gain in it, and the more God wants us to. If he takes space in His Word to mention a word many times than he is endeavoring to get something across to us. So let's examine this word: "BLESS". We find it first in Genesis 1:28.

Define BLESS

Genesis 1:28 (New King James Version) 
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Now we see how God views this word. It means:

• To Be Fruitful (Parah)
• Cause to bear much fruit (Sound like Jesus' words to us?)
• To Multiply (Rabah)
• Be or Become great or many
• Increase greatly or exceedingly
• Fill (Male') The Earth ('Erets)
• Fill: Be Filled, Armed, Satisfied, Fullness, Abundance, Replenish, Accomplished, bring a thing to it's proper end. 
• Earth: Earth, Land, Territory, Ground, Domain, Country, Nation
• Subdue (Kabash) the Earth
• Subdue: Put Down, Bring Into Bondage, Dominate, 
• Have Dominion (Radah) over the earth and all it's living matter (all except other men/women). 
• Dominion: Rule, Subjugate, Tread Down, Have Authority over. 

So Adam was given this Authority over the earth, and this authority has never left the hands of his descendants either. Satan only has power as long as he operates that power through man. This is also one of the reasons Jesus the Son of God had to come as a man, because it is only through man that Authority on this earth is rightly exercised.

Curse

So Adam never lost the Authority, however at the fall that authority was twisted. Authority to do something can be placed in the hands of a good or bad person. The result/fruit of that Authority will be determined by the heart of the person in that place of Authority. We see this at work now in the USA with the Presidents of the USA using their Authority for or against God as they see fit. So in Adam this Authority to Bless became a Curse. His mind was darkened, his heart was darkened, being disconnected from God. God is light, so without God Adam had no light. "There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is death" Prov. 14:12. This way that seems right but leads to death came from being disconnected from God.

It is this disconnectedness that causes men to say that Murdering Babies is good because it protects a woman's right to choose. To choose what? It's not about her body. The choice she is making is about another's life. Darkened man says it's her right to choose to kill an innocent child. All such curse arrives not because God curses man, but because Man curses man through the authority that God gave him. God said that Disobedience would cause death (Gen 2:16-17; Deut 30:19 ; Rom 6:23); He gives us instructions on how to walk Blessed or Cursed and gives us the choice. All cursing or blessing is a direct or indirect result of the choices of mankind. God will not override it.

So the BLESSING got turned into darkness and By Genesis 6 the hearts of men were do darkened that only one family on the earth was walking with God in any way. They were not perfect as call perfection. They were not without fault or sinless. They were however righteous: In right standing with God. It says in Genesis 6:9 it says that Noah "...walked with God..." This is the same term used of his great grandfather Enoch who "walked with God and he was no more because God took him..." (Gen 5:24) We make our walk with God about "Do's" and "Don'ts", about rites and rituals. All God is looking for is a friend. Notice what it says God did with Adam. Law of first mention makes this important. Gen 3:8; God went walking in the Garden looking for Adam. The inference is that this was a regular thing for Him to do. He's been looking for those who will walk with him ever since. Enoch walked with God, and God was SO happy to find a man that would walk with Him that he couldn't even wait until he died a natural death, he just TOOK HIM!

BLESSING Restored

So Noah walked with God, now God has another man who walks with Him. God starts over the entire population of earth with this one man who walked with Him. Notice, the first three instances of "walking with God" involve significant incidents in human history and God making something of these situations. In one case it involves man choosing NOT to walk with God, bringing Curse. In the other cases Man walked WITH God and it brought blessing? Why?

Because that authority that is innate to mankind only works to bring blessing when it is rooted in and attached to the Source of all Blessing and Light. It's a natural outflow of walking with God. The reason so many of us fail in our walk of faith is that we fail to "Walk With God." We turn this faith walk into formulas, rites, and rituals. Witchcraft is darkness, but all dark acts have a root in God somewhere, because only God can create. The Devil cannot create, he has no creative authority, never has. Angels don't have creative authority. Only God and Man have that authority. Religion, mostly, is another form of witchcraft. Think about it. Rules, Rites, Rituals, Formulas... It's all forms of godliness denying the power thereof. 2 Tim 3:1-10. Even the walk of faith can be turned into this dry, lifeless, form. "If I confess 30 times a day, for X days..." But there is rarely any fruit from it. Why? How can two people DO the same things but GET different results?

It's a heart issue. Are you confessing the Word of God because it's a formula? Or is your confession of the Word because it's a way for you to walk with God and deepen your relationship with Him? Now, it may seem to you that I've completely switched topics here. Weren't we talking about THE BLESSING? How did we get onto Walking with God. The Blessing is attached to Walking with God. Noah Walked with God, and God Blessed Him. Enoch Walked with God and God TOOK HIM! Just look up "walk" in the bible and see the interesting accounts of where it occurs and how God uses it.  What do we see next?

Walk of Abram

Abram is living in Haran, his Father has just died. Now what happens next? God tells the man to take a walk...

Genesis 12
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

We constantly see God taking relationship WITH Abram to new levels. It because God working WITH him. There are no DO's and DON'TS. There is simply this interactive relationship.

Genesis 13
1 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. 2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journey...

6 Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together....

14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are--northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you."

Then God takes it to another level. God gives Tithe Of All to God's priest and representative on Earth at the time. Here again this BLESSING is mentioned.

Genesis 14
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of all.

Notice what the priest calls Abram. "Possessor of heaven and earth." Some might say that it was calling God that. But that's not what the grammar here says. Example: "Darrell of Texas possessor of a Ford Escort." The understood context of this sentence is Darrell has an Escort. "Of Texas" indicates where is if from or what is of. He's a Texan. So given this syntax, Abram is OF GOD and possesses heaven and earth. Why? Because he is Covenant with God. In a Covenant all that each has belongs to the other person. We don't understand blood covenants in the Western world. But in the context of the life of Abram, a Blood Covenant means there is no separation any longer. All that belongs to one now belongs to the other, and visa versa. They are walking together as one.

Expanding the Blessing

So we see this BLESSING expanding in mankind, those that walk with God. Then God lays it out in detail for us. He says that Blessing and Cursing is laid before us and that we get to choose which we will have (Deut 30:19), He even tells us HIS choice! Who does it come to? It will come to those who are diligent to obey his VOICE:

Deuteronomy 28
1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

15 "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you...

How do you obey the voice of the Lord your God? Notice, it doesn't say to obey dry laws written in a book that you've memorized, or formulas, rules, rites, or rituals. It says to obey his VOICE. You can't obey his VOICE unless you are hearing Him. You can't hear Him unless you are talking with Him. You can't be talking with Him unless you are...? Walking with Him. How do we do this walking, talking and hearing?

He has given us three things:

• Word: He has given us His WORD in a book we call the Bible. It is alive, sharper than any two edged sword! (Heb 4:12) His Word is inspired by Him for our benefit. (2 Tim 3:16) We are to meditate his Word day and night that we may observe to do all that is written there, and as a result we will be prosperous and have good success! (Josh 1:8)
• Spirit: The Comforter who will testify of Jesus' Word to us. (John 15:26) He will guide us, speak to us, and speak the Words of Jesus. (John 16:13-15) "Praying in the Spirit" is praying in tongues, and it is one way we have of connecting to the things of God and hearing his voice. Through Praying in the Spirit we speak the mysteries of God, and He prays through us even when we don't know how to pray. (1 Cor 14:2, 1 Cor 14:13-15, Romans 8:26-27, Ephesians 6:18, Jude 1:20)
• Listening: Hear His Voice. Jesus is the good shepherd and His sheep know and hear his Voice. (John 10:27) He is always knocking on the hearts of men, hoping they will hear his voice and let him in, so that he can be with them. (Rev 3:20) Everyone who is of truth hears his Voice (John 18:37). 

But again... it's not about formulas. You can set aside 1 hour every morning and night, pray, study, read, sit quiet and still get NOTHING for your time if it's done as a ritual or dry exercise. Your heart must be in it. You see you cannot just seek the hand of God. It's fine to come to God because He has what you need. That's normal and natural for the baby to be attached to the mother because the mother is it's source of provision. But eventually as the child grows, and relationship deepens, there must be more to it than that. Relationship is about the person not the provision.

The True Reward

Genesis 15:1
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."

What does it say? What/Who is the reward? It's not the BLESSING or Provision that is the reward. GOD IS the reward! HE is! Yes Abraham, I am your shield (provision) but I am also your Reward! When you have God you have everything He is and everything He has. Seeking the hand of God means that He can give you something and it will meet that one need. But seeking God himself means that you never have to worry or fret over anything ever again, provision just comes in the course of your normal daily interaction.

So if I'm struggling with life, and I'm lacking things, and I'm not seeing as much provision as I expected I would... maybe I need to ask, have I been seeking the provision or the provider? Maybe it means my relationship gas tank is running on Empty?

Taking a long walk with God has a way of changing you. These changes are subtle. You don't become a faith giant over night, although there are things we can do to shorten and lengthen the growth we have in certain areas, typically through obedience or disobedience. After many long miles with God we look back and realize how much we've grown and changed, and if we go many miles without God we will look back and realize how we've reverted and changed. This video of a mans' walk through China illustrates how changes can occur subtly over time.

Have questions about anything I said here? Want to share your story? Comment Below!

I call you empowered 2 prosper with good success!

N2 Good SuccessDarrell G. Wolfe
Blog: http://empoweredtooprosper.blogspot.com/
Facebook: Facebook.Com/EmpoweredTooProsper
Twitter: http://twitter.com/n2goodsuccess

See Also:
Books by Darrell G. Wolfe: Amazon.com/author/darrellgwolfe 
Book Suggestions from the N2 Good Success Amazon Store
Brand and Product Offerings from N2 Good Success Zazzle Store
Other Blogs and Sites by the Wolfe Family: http://wfconceptions.wordpress.com/