INSPIRATION

By Paula McBride

What do you say when someone sneezes? If you are like me, you were taught from a young age to say, “God bless you” or “Bless you” in the same way you were taught to say please and thank you. It became a habit. Has the use of the word bless and all its forms become a casual add-on to express any and all good things that come our way?

Blogger Jake Thurston says, “ #Blessed is an internet sensation for anyone to proclaim the great things they have going for them for the entire world to see.” After giving numerous examples of decent or ridiculous things users are #blessed about, Jake goes on to say, “Despite most people’s good intentions, this simple hashtag actually reveals a construed reality of the human heart. This is because more often than not, #blessed really means #bragging. Culture has turned the definition of blessing upside down.” Where culture says blessedness is about how good you’ve got it, the Bible reveals that it’s all about how good God is.

In God’s vocabulary, blessed means to be the privileged recipient of God’s favor and to be fortunate and happy because of it. The Amplified Bible describes it as being happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous— with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation regardless of

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Did You Know?

Sheep are the animals mentioned most often in the Bible.

A man named Ben-Hur (son of Hur) was once an officer over Israel (1 Kings 4:7-8 NKJV)

In the day, Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3).

Zechariah 6:14 mentions a man named Hen.

The king of Babylon tried to foretell the future by examining liver (Ezekiel 21:21) outward conditions.

The definition above describes the blessings that flow from God to man. I relate to these with thankfulness (not bragging) when I consider the green lights during my commute, the convenient parking space, protection from a near accident, and so much more. In addition, I am blessed with salvation, purpose, and the hope of eternity in Heaven. Again, there is so much more. Actually, when I give thanks to God for His blessings to me, I am blessing Him in return. We call this praise. We don’t praise in order to seek further blessing, but rather to thank God for the blessing He has already bestowed. The Psalms are filled with examples of the blessings that flow from man to God.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits” (Psalm 103:2 KJV) is one of them.

Other blessings flow from man to man. In the Bible, they were offered as a greeting as when Jacob greeted Pharoah or Boaz greeted his reapers. Others were the benediction of a dying father. Importantly, they were pronounced by priests to a congregation. Now, when I say “bless you” to another, I really mean that I desire that person to be a privileged recipient of God’s favor. When I ask God to “bless” my loved ones when I pray, I deeply long for them to be fortunate and happy, even through tests and trials.

As we walk into the new season of spring, let’s renew our identity as privileged recipients of God’s favor, bless Him with praise continually, and extend blessing to others regardless of circumstances. If you need to post to social media, be sure to use #blessed “He is risen!” He is risen indeed, the greatest blessing of all.

The Ambassador

The Ambassador is a free, monthly publication promoting unity and revival among the local Yuba-Sutter area Bible-believing churches

The Ambassador has a circulation 3,700 - 5,500 and is distributed in local churches and businesses in the community.

When the angel of the Lord delivered a pestilence upon the land of Israel, he could actually be seen in the sky holding a sword in his hand (2 Samuel 24:15-17; 1 Chronicles 21:14-17).

King Solomon built God's temple in seven years but took thirteen years to build his own palace (1 Kings 6:38; 7:1).

Editor/Publisher - Seth Halpern Advisory - Dave Kugelman

Layout/Design - Teresa Davis - -