The Blessed Life 3.3.11

The Blessed Life What does it mean to be ‘blessed’? Generally when someone says they are blessed it is due to a circumstance in the world working out in their favor… that the result was ‘good’ and not ‘bad’. There is a fable that provides the truth regarding "good" or "bad". A farmer had one old horse that he used for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills and when all the farmer’s neighbors heard about it, they sympathized with the old man over his bad luck. “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” said the farmer. A week later, the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” said the farmer. Then, when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone agreed that this was very bad luck. Not the farmer, who replied, “Bad Luck? Good luck? Who knows?” Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and forced every able-bodied young man to go fight in a bloody war. When they saw that the farmer’s son had a broken leg, they let him stay. Everyone was very happy at the farmer’s good luck. - We are not called to determine good or bad – rather, we are asked to determine true. · Honestly, whenever we determine good or bad we have established the end of a matter. By establishing the end we remove the eternal. By removing the eternal we have removed God and by removing God we are left without hope. So what is a life that is blessed? Is it a life in which every day is sunny? You know what they call that … a desert! Let’s go with this working definition: “A blessed life is a life filled with divine coincidences in which you have supernatural power working for you. You have favor because God’s presence is both in AND upon your life as a result of how you handle revelation.” A blessed person may or may not be wealthy by the world’s standards By contrast, a life that is ‘cursed’ has supernatural power working against you. God’s presence may be “in” but it is not “upon” your life due to the mishandling of revelation. Meaning: There is blessing and favor that is untapped because of the way revelation (truth) is handled. You may or may not walk around oppressed however there is the conviction that revelation is not being handled appropriately. Again, this person may or may not be wealthy by the world’s standards. “God’s presence is in me for my sake – but it is upon me for yours.” Being blessed is not something that “just happens” – God would not place eternity in the atmosphere of chance. Rather blessing is found in process so when we have a mindset that only considers the outcome of a matter we have erected a barrier to living a blessed life. It's unwise to pick and choose what determines a blessing. Most people say, “Show me the baby don’t tell me about the labor…." But how many of you know that having a baby is NOT the end of the matter? Having supernatural power working for you begins with circumstance: How I see circumstance determines the system with which I will broker revelation – how I choose to “see” reality (from an eternal perspective or an immediate perspective). The power of God’s prophetic word manifests in proportion to our response to circumsance. Here is the progression: - How I handle my circumstances determines my revelation. - How I handle revelation determines my breakthrough. - How I handle breakthrough determines my blessing (supernatural power working for me). - How I handle my blessing (supernatural power working for me) determines my increase and favor. This process is repeated over again throughout scripture: For instance – Mark 8:7 - Jesus took the fish and loaves and blessed them and they increased (he brought the supernatural to the natural). He considered the circumstance and progressed through process. - He saw the potential in the insignificant. - There is a seed of Kingdom explosion in every circumstance. 2 Samuel 5:19-21 David did not consider his recent victory as a sanction to embark into other battles without seeking revelation from God. He regarded the circumstance and again, progressed through process. Jesus increased in favor with God and man – Luke 2:52 · Favor with man was due to the way he handled circumstances that brought – revelation. That revelation brought breakthrough (in their lives) – because of the breakthrough in their lives – that gave Him favor with man. Most of us can increase in favor with man… if we “help” them we gain their favor. · How he handled the revelation (truth) brought increased blessing – the way he handled blessing brought favor from the Father (how he handled what was placed in His life each day) – the more he handled blessing correctly the greater the manifestation. Increased blessing (supernatural power working in your favor) is determined by how you broker circumstance and the revelation today. So How do you see 'today'?