Christian Crier
We are blessed by God in so many ways. What are some of the top Bible verses on blessings? What is your favorite?
Blessings from God
All good things come from God and so when we receive blessings why shouldn’t we thank Him for them? In the Bible we can find the word “blessings” over seven thousand times so it is hard to decide which seven Bible verses about blessings are my favorites. Here are those Bible verses on blessings which stand out to me.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
This is one of the most favorite blessing verses in all the Bible and one that some of the orthodox Jews still use today. The Hebrew word for bless is “barak” and it means to kneel, to be blessed, or to cause to kneel.” I find that interesting because when the patriarchs blessed their children the children always knelt before the patriarch so to be blessed is to kneel and today if we bend the knee and humble ourselves before the Lord He will bless us. If the Lord shines His face upon you and is gracious to you, that is a blessing. When Moses caught a glimpse of God the Lord caused Moses’ face to shine from the Shekinah glory of God. He made Moses’ face shine when “the Lord [turned] his face toward [him] and God was certainly gracious to Moses as He still is to His own children today.
Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”
This seems to be contrary to the ways of man. How can a person be blessed when they are reviled, when they are persecuted, and when the say all kinds of evil things against you which are false? Here is how. You are blessed for being persecuted, reviled, and lied about when it is “for [Jesus’] sake.” How is it possible to be blessed for being hated? It is because they also persecuted Jesus and the prophets and that puts you in excellent company. The Greek word for blessed is “makarios” which means to be made happy. Here is why I can say that. When Peter and the apostles were beaten for preaching the gospel, did they go and ask the church to pray for them? Did they ask the Lord to stop their beatings and persecution? No, “they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). These men were reviled, persecuted, and beaten and yet they rejoiced…because they were blessed! They were very happy about it because they were “considered worthy to suffer shame for [Jesus’] sake.” Persecution and joy actually go together or at least they should.
James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”
Once more we see blessings are the results of something we might not associate with them…trials. The man or woman who perseveres or endures under trials…whether they are persecutions, name calling, gossip or lies, or bodily sufferings, when they stand the test (persevere) they “will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” We tend to think of blessings only in the form of money, home, family, friends, and other such tangible things but trials is not one of those things we normally associated with blessings but blessings they are even though our rewards will not fully come in this life.
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”
Here the word bless is used three times…which emphasizes the importance of them. Of course God the Father is our blessed God and He has blessed us in Christ and these blessings include “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” What does Paul mean by writing that we are blessed “in the heavenly places?” That is because we can “rejoice that [our] names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20), our “hope [is] stored up for [us] in heaven” (Col 1:5) and we have “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for [us]” (1 Pet 1:4). Our names, our hope and our inheritance and “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” await us. Now aren’t these things awesome blessings to ponder?
Deuteronomy 7:13 “He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.”
This may be one of the greatest blessings found in the Bible but it is only for those who are obedient to God, and even though this was written to Israel, since God is no respecter of persons, He would most certainly bless those nations and peoples who are striving to obey God and live a righteous life. This blessing is conditional and it is only “If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them” (Duet 7:12). Even though we are not saved by the law Jesus said that “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23).
Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
Here God actually wants us to test us and then to bless us if we have faith in Him. If we give back to God a portion of what is already His He says to us “see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” God’s desire is to bless us but we must have the faith to give before these blessings can be poured out through “the floodgates of heaven and pour [them] out” on us, then there will be “so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” That’s a good problem to have. The “floodgates of heaven” is a great image of just how much God can poor out because floodgates are like the wall of a great dam and when they are opened, there is a flood of blessings that can come in such measure that we won’t even have “room enough to store it!”
Second Corinthians 9:8-9 “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”
Paul was writing to the Corinthians about generous giving and ensuring the church that God is more than “able to bless [them] abundantly” and so much “so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” That about covers it doesn’t it? What more could a person need? Paul ties in giving to the person who “freely scattered their gifts to the poor” being blessed and the result is that “their righteousness [endures] forever.”
Conclusion
If the Lord God has saved you, then you are blessed above most of those who live on the earth. If you are not saved then you only have the curse of judgment to come (Rev 20:11-15) and this curse cannot be reversed. If today you will repent and trust in Christ as your Savior, your blessings will be awaiting you in heaven because they will be reserved for you there (Eph 1:3) and what greater blessing is there in all the universe than to have eternal life in Christ?
Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon
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