07/10/2024
God Blesses the Spiritually Aggressive
Two men in the Bible asked God to bless them. They were Jacob in Genesis 32:26 and Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10.
When I first read their prayers, I was surprised at what I viewed as bold, brash, selfish, greediness. Come on. How often do we look down on people who have selfish-sounding requests?
I expected God to blast them for it.
I was wrong.
Instead, God gave them what they asked for. God blessed them with manifold blessings.
The blessing of God does not necessarily rest on the passive or the lax. I think that somewhere along the line we have developed a mistaken notion that Christianity is all about being nice, quiet, almost wimpy people.
Nothing could be further from the truth. While we are to be gracious and kind, God wants us to be more than merely nice people. He dreams of His people winning battles, relishing adventures, and enjoying all He has for us.
An old preacher once described it this way,
“Prayer is not a lovely sedan for a sightseeing trip around the city. Prayer is a truck that goes straight to the warehouse, backs up, loads, and comes home with the goods. Too many people rattle their trucks all over town and never back up to the warehouse! They do not go after something when they pray. They do not ask therefore they do not receive.”
If you are walking with God and living for Him, I encourage you to ask the Lord to bless you