Commanding Blessings Every Day: Manifesting God’s Word through Principles and Prayer

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Jacob struggled with Laban see Genesis Jacob saw much strife in his family and suffered much over the loss of Joseph and then Benjamin. In summing up his life before Pharaoh, Jacob gave an account not of unceasing bliss but of much affliction:. Later Judah and his brothers suffered much over their ill-treatment of Joseph see Genesis The Israelites were greatly blessed in number while they sojourned in Egypt Exodus 1: Their numerical growth concerned the Egyptians and brought about a time of great persecution and affliction.

Foolishly, they sought to keep the Israelites subject to them as slaves and to keep them from leaving their land Exodus 1: The trials and afflictions of the Israelites did not end with their exodus from Egypt. Their journey to the promised land held many trials. These trials came from the hand of the God who had promised to bless them:.

And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

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Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him Deuteronomy 8: If His people forsook the Law, then earthly cursings were promised:. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish.

You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them Deuteronomy If a nation repented of its sin and turned to God, its threatened judgment could be averted.

If a nation turned from God, its promised blessings would be taken away:.

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At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. These were much more perplexing times as we see from the agony of this psalmist:. Through Thee we will push back our adversaries; Through Thy name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me.

But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And Thou hast put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Thy name forever. Yet Thou hast rejected us and brought us to dishonor, And dost not go out with our armies. Thou dost cause us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. Thou dost give us as sheep to be eaten, And hast scattered us among the nations. Thou dost sell Thy people cheaply, And hast not profited by their sale.

Thou dost make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to those around us. Thou dost make us a byword among the nations, A laughingstock among the peoples. All day long my dishonor is before me, And my humiliation has overwhelmed me, Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten Thee, And we have not dealt falsely with Thy covenant. Our heart has not turned back, And our steps have not deviated from Thy way, Yet Thou hast crushed us in a place of jackals, And covered us with the shadow of death.

If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or extended our hands to a strange god; Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. But for Thy sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Arouse Thyself, why dost Thou sleep, O Lord?

Awake, do not reject us forever. Why dost Thou hide Thy face, And forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul has sunk down into the dust; Our body cleaves to the earth. Rise up, be our help, And redeem us for the sake of Thy lovingkindness Psalm Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling; My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For there are no pains in their death; And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men; Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth.

Therefore his people return to this place; And waters of abundance are drunk by them. And is there knowledge with the Most High? Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, And washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long, And chastened every morning. Surely Thou dost set them in slippery places; Thou dost cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, Thou wilt despise their form.

When my heart was embittered, And I was pierced within, Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before Thee. Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou hast taken hold of my right hand. With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from Thee will perish; Thou hast destroyed all those who are unfaithful to Thee.

If Thy law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction Psalm All of the prophets of Israel were resisted, rejected, and persecuted because they spoke to men for God:. And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy 2 Chronicles The prophets suffered themselves and also spoke of the Messiah to come as the One who would suffer for the sins of men Isaiah The blessings of God are not inconsistent with suffering.

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it Proverbs The full and final blessing of God is not accompanied with sorrow. Thus, the blessings of the Old Testament are partial and provisional. Only with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ does permanent blessing come into clear focus. His teaching was radically different from that of the Jewish religious leaders of His day.

When Jesus began to teach His disciples concerning His coming rejection, suffering, and death in Jerusalem, even His disciples reacted. Peter rebuked our Lord for speaking of His own suffering see Matthew And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Cindy Trimm: "Speak Life Into Your Situation"

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets. Jesus turned the teaching of the Jews upside-down.

The accursed were those who were rich, well-fed, and happy. All of this made no sense to the Jews. Paul later put it this way:. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

So death works in us, but life in you. For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Corinthians 4: To those who equated wealth and ease with piety and the blessing of God, the story of the rich man and Lazarus Luke Death turned earthly, external appearances upside-down.

The rich man spent eternity in hell while Lazarus spent eternity enjoying the blessings God promised in Abraham. From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.

This shall never happen to You. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

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How could it be that the blessed Son of God could suffer? Peter rejected the thought out of hand. For what does the Scripture say? But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: Christ is the source of all our blessings; indeed, He is the blessing: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is , the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Peter, who once rejected the idea of suffering, later has much to say about suffering in his epistles.

Just as our Lord suffered because of His identification with sinful men, so God has purposed that we who trust in Him should suffer because of our identification with Him. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps 1 Peter 2: To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing 1 Peter 3: And who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong 1 Peter 3: If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God 1 Peter 4: Through suffering we are blessed in many ways:. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us Romans 5: Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him James 1: While not a pleasant experience in itself, suffering can be the source of comfort and assurance. When we struggle with sin and the flesh Romans 7 , we know it is because we have become a new creation in Christ. We now loathe that which we once loved. We now desire that which we once found offensive and repulsive.

We seek to obey God when we used to delight in disobedience. Satan, once our master, has now become our enemy. Living in the midst of a fallen world itself suffering from the curse of sin Romans 8: Like Lot, we find our righteous souls vexed by sin 2 Peter 2: For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Cindy Trimm: "Speak Life Into Your Situation"

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained it , or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus Philippians 3: In fact, suffering can be a blessing in the hand of God. If we are a child of God, we know His eternal plan allows only those things into our lives which result in our ultimate and eternal good:. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose Romans 8: These blessings fit the definition laid down in Proverbs These blessings are not fulfilled in this life, but in the next.

They are not experienced in time, but in eternity. These are the blessings our Lord Himself brings to pass in His second coming. They are based upon His sacrifice at Calvary but are realized in His coming to judge the earth:. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever Revelation The Book of Hebrews brings the Old Testament faith into focus and clearly describes the nature of the blessings God promised and for which believers waited in faith.

Their identification with Jesus Christ had brought on them the reproach of Christ and the opposition and persecution of unbelieving Jews. Things were bad and about to get worse. Some toyed with the thought of turning back into Judaism to escape persecution. The unnamed author of this epistle reminds these Christians of their Old Testament roots. He points them to the true blessings which are in Christ. It is the blessing to which Abraham and every other Old Testament saint looked forward. They understood that the blessings God promised were not material, but spiritual, and that they were not temporal, but eternal.

They knew these blessings would not come in life, but after death and resurrection:. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. Cindy gives us some practical guidelines and then speaks some powerful declarations. I'd receive them if I were you, and just watch how your circumstances change as you also speak powerful declarations full of LIFE over every circumstance you are facing.

You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways. Scriptures are replete with principles that support the power of the tongue. This Scripture refers to your royal anointing—the favor God has poured over you because you belong to Him. It reminds me of the story when Samuel went to David and poured anointing oil over his head to signify he would be the next king of Israel. Samuel didn't bring him a crown, but anointed him with oil—a symbol of the Holy Spirit and God's blessings and approval.

It was many years later before David actually wore that crown, but from the moment he was anointed, he was already a king in God's eyes. Good things began to happen to him almost immediately because he started looking at his world through eyes of blessing rather than eyes of failure. Even as he overcame the lion and the bear, he knew he could overcome giants. And just as he took authority and overcame everything that threatened his ascent to the throne, you must take authority and overcome everything that threatens your ascent into the realm of success and prosperity.

A king does not beg and cry for anything. He does not have to.

He declares something and that thing is established. A king has the legal power to decree, which is an old English word for "legislate. Peter tells us we belong to "a royal priesthood" 1 Peter 2: The word royal speaks of our kingly attributes as Believers. You must manifest your royal anointing to decree blessings over your marriage, family, business, ministry, and every other realm of your life.

The whole universe is waiting for us to give it instruction. As the Bible says, "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God" Romans 8: The whole universe waits in anticipation for the sons and daughters of God to manifest themselves and bring it back into alignment with God's original intent for them. Every word you speak is pregnant with regal, creative power. The first to illustrate this was God Himself.

According to Hebrews God spoke, and from "nothingness" came everything that exists in the physical universe. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

Look at the ships also: So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. When a ship sets sail to cross the sea, the pilot plots out the course. Then he determines the times he will need to adjust the direction of the ship to follow the course he has set. He checks his calculations from time to time to ensure he is always headed in the right direction, and then he keeps the steering as steady as possible heading towards his predetermined destination.

Certainly along the way he may have to adjust the helm to go around storms, navigate currents, or avoid obstacles in the water, but he always steers with his focus more on where he is going than what he is going through. If he constantly changes the steering from one minute to the next fixated on his present circumstances, the ship is more likely to go in circles than it is to arrive at the desired port of call.

For the pilot, the course is created first in his thoughts, communicated through the rudder, and then realized as the rest of the ship lines up with his intent. For us, our lives only arrive at our desired goals if we line up our thoughts, words, habits, and actions in a similar way.

You must take the time to carefully consider your course. Where are you heading? What will it look like when you get there? Let your imagination take over. Spend time daydreaming about where you want to be in life. Write about it in your journal. Let your mind run free with the possibilities of what you could attain.

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What will it take to get there? Are there skills you will need to acquire? Are there people who live in that place that you can learn from? How did they get there? What paths did they take? Are there habits that you should form that will keep you on course? Now talk about it.

Line up your mouth—the rudder of your life—with where you are going. Then keep it steady and on course.

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