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BETTER THAN BEING BLESSED Friday 8 April

Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye


MEMORIZE: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:” (Gen. 12:2).

READ: Genesis 12:1-3

A state of being truly blessed is when you receive blessings with no curse to negate them. The presence of a curse in one’s blessing can gradually erode all of one’s gains and put that fellow in the same state with the cursed. That shall not be your portion in Jesus name. When you are blessed, not only will your efforts be crowned with great harvest, but lost opportunities will also be restored (Joel 2:23-27). The blessings on the blessed have a way of attracting lost blessings and opportunities. This is why the so-called losses of the blessed are only temporary. In the process of time, they are recovered. It is my prayer that you will be so blessed to the point of recovering lost opportunities of several years this season.

It is so wonderful to be blessed, but being a blessing is far greater. Being blessed is just an addition of blessings to you. On the other hand, being a blessing means you have become the headquarters of blessings—that is, you are so full of it that the blessings you are carrying overflows to others. In today’s reading, there is a list of seven blessings the Lord gave to Abraham. It is possible that my training as a Mathematician motivated me to scrutinize the arrangement of these blessings. After carefully listing them, I discovered that being a blessing was right at the middle of them all. That is every other blessing in that passage revolves around it. It is better to be a blessing than being blessed. The one who is a blessing is characterized by an overflow. If there is no overflow, that person is yet to experience what it means to be a blessing. Let’s take David as an example. In Psalm 23, he listed several blessings of the blessed – no lack, plenty to eat, good sleep, thirst quenched, provision of guidance and direction, restoration of the soul, protection in time of danger, access to provision in the presence of enemy, being anointed, then cup overflowing. When your cup overflows, the focus is no longer you but others. If you observe God’s order of blessing His children, you will find out that He first blesses before making the fellow a blessing. The way you handle the blessings is of keen interest to God and it will determine whether you will move to next level—being a blessing. If you are stingy, tight-fisted or covetous, you may never become a blessing. If money is like god to you, you cannot be a blessing.


KEY POINT
In the life of the blessed, a blessing is a visitor. In the life of the one who is a blessing, a blessing is a permanent resident. Is blessing a visitor or a permanent resident in your life?

Bible in One year: Isa. 37-39

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