Episode 26: The Benediction

To bring up our past before God is an attempt to remind Him of something He's already forgotten. It's impossible. Forgive yourself.

Let me be clear, we'll never be worthy or deserving of any blessing God has lined up for us. However, we can receive them with gladness because God placed His benediction upon us. We are blessed without merit, whether the blessing reveals itself miraculously or by the hand of God's chosen vessel.

When we talk ourselves out of our blessing, we block God's favor in our lives.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Welcome to the barber cap.
I am your host,
Nao mckay.
Thank you for listening.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,
speak to Aaron and his sons saying this is the way you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them,
the Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

(00:35):
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
So Aaron and his sons shall put my name upon the Children of Israel and I will bless them.
A few weeks ago,
I performed a service for a customer and it wasn't an arduous service,
but the task required time and careful attention.

(00:55):
She paid a percentage of the payment for the service up front while the remainder of the payment was to be paid after I had given her the final product.
Well,
the time came for the final exchange and I approached the customer.
She applauded my presentation and showed appreciation for completing the task so quickly what she did next revealed something in me.

(01:20):
I had no idea.
I was suffering from the inability to receive what I so often give to others a blessing.
My client mentioned she had gone online and submitted the final payment but desired to give me more for such a job.
Well done.
She wasn't sure if the additional funds went through considering the platform of the online payment system I responded with.

(01:46):
Oh,
I probably did,
although I knew the only money I received was the final payment.
Now,
while we're going through this exchange,
the client was holding out her hand to me to give me a small wad of cash.
I lifted up my hand to take the money.
Then I took my hand back immediately,

(02:06):
the Lord convicted me.
The 6th chapter of the book of numbers deals with the vow of the NASA writes.
It's a covenant between God and Israelites,
both men and women who desire to separate themselves and dedicate themselves to God.
Throughout the chapter,
God gives Moses explicit instructions on how men and women should behave themselves.

(02:31):
When they take the vow.
He deals with everything from alcohol consumption to appearance and cleanliness.
Then God closes out the instructions and the chapter by advising Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to command a benediction over the Israelites.
He said,

(02:51):
this is how you shall bless them.
The Lord bless and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and they shall put my name upon the Children of Israel and I will bless them.
The amplified study Bible breaks it down this way.

(03:15):
The Lord bless you and keep you.
He will protect,
sustain and guard you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you.
He will give you favor something you did not earn and be gracious to you.
God will surround you with his loving kindness.

(03:36):
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you.
You have his eternal support and to give you peace.
You can live this life without worrying.
The Lord convicted me in my meeting with my customer because I was blocking his benediction over my life.

(03:56):
I've always found it easy to bless people,
whether with money things or my time.
However,
it wasn't until this transaction with this generous customer that I realized I struggled with receiving blessings.
And that's because I didn't feel worthy enough to receive them.
And so many people struggle with the same issue.

(04:19):
Feelings of unworthiness stem from unforgiveness.
Sometime in your past,
you committed an egregious sin.
Although God forgave you,
you still feel the need to punish yourself for committing the sin.
So walking under a cloud of unworthiness is that punishment?
That is a sin.

(04:41):
The Bible says in Micah seven,
that God will have compassion on those who have sinned.
He will take our sins,
crush them and cast them into the depths of the sea.
Some saints like to say he'll take our sins and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness to bring up our past before God is an attempt to remind him of something he's already forgotten and that's impossible,

(05:08):
forgive yourself.
Let me be clear.
We will never be worthy or deserving of any blessing.
God has lined up for us.
However,
we can receive every blessing with gladness because God has placed His benediction upon us.
We are blessed without merit,
whether the blessing reveals itself miraculously or by the hand of God's chosen vessel.

(05:34):
When we talk ourselves out of our blessing,
we blocked God's favor in our lives.
Thankfully,
I responded to the conviction of the Lord and put my hand back out to receive my blessing through his chosen vessel,
my customer and she was all too glad to watch me receive it.
Giving is a part of living a Godly lifestyle,

(05:55):
whether giving to God or people.
As a matter of fact,
God takes pleasure in those who give cheerfully to advance the kingdom of God.
On the other hand,
equally.
He wants you to feel deserving enough to receive the blessing in return except God's been addiction over your life because his favor leads to better and bigger things in your life.

(06:22):
Thank you for listening.