God wants to bless you so that you can be a blessings, a conduit of blessing, if you will. Those blessings will be more than you need, more than you deserve and more than you can handle. But remember, the blessings God gives you are to bless him by blessing others in a way that furthers his fame and fulfills his purposes on earth. God wants to bless you—so let him!
The Journey // Focus: Genesis 35:2-3, 9-12
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” … After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”
God was bound and determined to bless Jacob. And God is determined to bless all his people—and that includes you.
God had appeared to Jacob at a place Jacob later named Bethel, which means the house of God, and there the Lord blessed him. (Genesis 28:10-22) It was at this time that God established a covenant of blessing with him that he had made with his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. The divine pledge was to protect him, provide for him and to prosper him, turning his seed into a nation of untold number that would be a conduit of blessing to the entire world. Jacob’s end of the bargain was to follow wherever God led, trust the Lord alone, and serve the purpose of God in the world.
Now God reappears to Jacob here in Genesis 35 and reaffirms the covenant, once again at Bethel, the house of God. God blesses him once again and reminds him that his seed will multiply beyond number, and that his descendants will greatly influence the entire world. God is bound and determined to bless Jacob.
And God is bound and determined to bless you. Certainly not in the same way as Jacob—it is not likely that out of your lineage will come a nation. But blessings nevertheless are reserved in God’s treasury for you, me and all of God’s people.
Now it is critical to keep in mind that the blessings of God were not for Jacob only; God had a larger purpose to fulfill his kingdom plans throughout the earth and throughout history—and Jacob was the conduit. Of course, as those blessings flowed through the pipeline, the residue of blessing would be left—more blessing than Jacob needed, deserved or could even handle.
Likewise, God’s plans to bless us are not for our pure enjoyment only. God desires to fulfill his purposes through us in our world and beyond our lives by these blessings he bestows upon us. We must learn to align ourselves to receive his blessings, and we must never forget that our blessings should be leveraged to further God’s kingdom through our lives to our world—and that the proper use of our blessings will impact lives beyond our own lifespan.
Jacob aligned his life to receive the blessing. In this case, he jettisoned all the gods his people had maintained. Obviously, he was aware of these since he now called for them to be brought to him. Perhaps he maintained a god or two himself. But he knew it was now necessary to remove anything that stood between him and full allegiance and full devotion to God—which is the essence of a false god. He recognized that to enter into his new identity, Israel—one who prevails with God, and therefore, one who is bless-able before God (Genesis 35:10), he would need to remove any vestige of the old life of deceit and manipulation—which was fundamental to his former identity as Jacob. And now, having purified himself and aligned himself with God’s purposes, he again set up an altar at Bethel (Genesis 35:7,14) to be a continual reminder of his new identity, a continual commitment to God’s purpose, and a continual plumb-line for alignment to the blessings of God.
God wants to make you a conduit of blessing, too. Those blessings will be more than you need, more than you deserve and more than you can handle (in the best sense of uncontainable blessings). But remember, the blessings are to bless God by blessings others in a way that furthers God’s fame and fulfills his purposes in the earth.
What a thought, and what a privilege to be a conduit of God. And the only fitting response to that divine generosity is to sanctify yourself as a holy conduit and to build a sacred altar in your memory as a reminder of God’s covenant with you, lest you begin to think the blessings are for you and a result of you.
God is bound and determined to bless you—don’t mess that up!
Going Deeper: I’m sure, just as I do, that you want God’s uncontainable blessing poured out in your life, too. A man named Jabez prayed a simple prayer for those blessings (1 Chronicles 4:9-11) that I invite you to pray with me today: “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” May God grant that humble request.
God was bound and determined to bless Jacob. And God is determined to bless all his people—and that includes you.
God had appeared to Jacob at a place Jacob later named Bethel, which means the house of God, and there the Lord blessed him. (Genesis 28:10-22) It was at this time that God established a covenant of blessing with him that he had made with his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. The divine pledge was to protect him, provide for him and to prosper him, turning his seed into a nation of untold number that would be a conduit of blessing to the entire world. Jacob’s end of the bargain was to follow wherever God led, trust the Lord alone, and serve the purpose of God in the world.
Now God reappears to Jacob here in Genesis 35 and reaffirms the covenant, once again at Bethel, the house of God. God blesses him once again and reminds him that his seed will multiply beyond number, and that his descendants will greatly influence the entire world. God is bound and determined to bless Jacob.
And God is bound and determined to bless you. Certainly not in the same way as Jacob—it is not likely that out of your lineage will come a nation. But blessings nevertheless are reserved in God’s treasury for you, me and all of God’s people.
Now it is critical to keep in mind that the blessings of God were not for Jacob only; God had a larger purpose to fulfill his kingdom plans throughout the earth and throughout history—and Jacob was the conduit. Of course, as those blessings flowed through the pipeline, the residue of blessing would be left—more blessing than Jacob needed, deserved or could even handle.
Likewise, God’s plans to bless us are not for our pure enjoyment only. God desires to fulfill his purposes through us in our world and beyond our lives by these blessings he bestows upon us. We must learn to align ourselves to receive his blessings, and we must never forget that our blessings should be leveraged to further God’s kingdom through our lives to our world—and that the proper use of our blessings will impact lives beyond our own lifespan.
Jacob aligned his life to receive the blessing. In this case, he jettisoned all the gods his people had maintained. Obviously, he was aware of these since he now called for them to be brought to him. Perhaps he maintained a god or two himself. But he knew it was now necessary to remove anything that stood between him and full allegiance and full devotion to God—which is the essence of a false god. He recognized that to enter into his new identity, Israel—one who prevails with God, and therefore, one who is bless-able before God (Genesis 35:10), he would need to remove any vestige of the old life of deceit and manipulation—which was fundamental to his former identity as Jacob. And now, having purified himself and aligned himself with God’s purposes, he again set up an altar at Bethel (Genesis 35:7,14) to be a continual reminder of his new identity, a continual commitment to God’s purpose, and a continual plumb-line for alignment to the blessings of God.
God wants to make you a conduit of blessing, too. Those blessings will be more than you need, more than you deserve and more than you can handle (in the best sense of uncontainable blessings). But remember, the blessings are to bless God by blessings others in a way that furthers God’s fame and fulfills his purposes in the earth.
What a thought, and what a privilege to be a conduit of God. And the only fitting response to that divine generosity is to sanctify yourself as a holy conduit and to build a sacred altar in your memory as a reminder of God’s covenant with you, lest you begin to think the blessings are for you and a result of you.
God is bound and determined to bless you—don’t mess that up!
Going Deeper: I’m sure, just as I do, that you want God’s uncontainable blessing poured out in your life, too. A man named Jabez prayed a simple prayer for those blessings (1 Chronicles 4:9-11) that I invite you to pray with me today: “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” May God grant that humble request.
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