The blessed year!

Psalm 5:12 – For you Lord will bless the righteous; with favor, you will surround him as a shield.
Matthew 6:33 - Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

What is 2010 going to look like for you? If you are like me you are believing God for the greatest year of your life! I found out by reading the Bible that blessing comes as a result of righteousness. Are you righteous? I didn't ask if you were perfect...nobody can live up to that standard. But are you righteous? Three times in God's word we are reminded of the model for righteousness from the thoughts inception in Genesis 15:6; Galatians3:6; James 2:23 we read this statement regarding the Father of our faith Abraham. "He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." So we see here that faith is the model to be accounted by God as righteous, which simply means in right standing with God. God isn't looking for perfection he's looking for people who will believe him and have a Godward attitude all the time. The Bible tells us all have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard which is perfection but if we will make it and act of our will to have faith in God we will be declared as righteous. Which as we see in Psalms places a demand upon the blessing of God for our lives! However we've got to understand that true faith always produces action that backs up the fact that we truly believe what we say we believe. James 2:20 says "faith without corresponding action is dead" or it's not really faith at all. We can say we believe for a healing, or believe that a bad situation is going to turn around, or believe that God wants to prosper us, but if we do nothing about it then we never release that faith we say we have and it stays relegated to the realm of nice words. Words are good and words are powerful, BUT that's only because they generally lead to actions. Knowledge is not power...action is. So when you break down the Psalm that tells us the righteous will be blessed and surrounded with favor from God...you can really break it down to the point of righteous action...are you doing what God says to do in his word? Because that's what qualifies you for blessing...not a prayer you repeated five years ago, or the fact that you attend church regularly, OR even the fact that you read the Bible daily....all those things are good but if it never produces action on your part, then it never really produces the results of blessing on your life.

That's why I like Matthew 6:33 so much - What you do first is important!!! Why is seeking the kingdom important? Because without the knowledge of the Kingdom, you can't get the results of the blessing of the Kingdom. My Pastor is discussing the Kingdom of God on Sunday mornings at our church...I love it. The culture of Christianity needs a dynamic shift from a culture that is very much currently made up of the traditions of men, and traditions of denominations, and the opinions of the board of elders to a culture that is truly Kingdom! It's important to give a legitimate definition to Kingdom...or else it just becomes another christian cliche' that holds no weight, and induces no real change in the hearts and minds of people. Jesus constantly throughout the gospels makes this statement "the kingdom of God is like..." then he goes on to give an allegorical (story like) definition of how God's world operates. The most simple and basic definition I can give to the Kingdom of God that I think holds true however your mind may operate is this: GODS WAY OF DOING THINGS. The kingdom of God is God's way of doing things. Doing things the way God instructs ALWAYS produces good long term results...Now and in eternity!

So how do we command the blessing of God on our own life in 2010? Praying for blessing is wonderful, but God is saying "I heard your prayer, start qualifying yourself". We command the blessing of God on our life by finding out what God's word says and operating in accordance with it! Hearing what God's word is saying to your spirit, and operating in accordance with it (as long as your ear is truly turned into God that is! God's spoken word will never contradict or go against the principals of his written word). So let's be doers of the word not just hearers...not just talkers...let's have the greatest year of our lives! Who's with me baby...Who's with me???!!!??? Glory follows order!

Chad