Seize the Moment – Day 819
Blessed to be a Blessing!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, June 14.
The word “blessed” has become common place in our culture recently. There is nothing wrong with using it if you know that God’s blessings always come with a stewardship responsibility – a charge from God to be a blessing!
There was a big celebration in Jerusalem, and throughout Israel, as the ark of God was relocated to the temple. As it was placed inside the most holy place, the cloud, the glory of God, filled the house of the Lord (1 Kings 8:1-11). God was with them! King Solomon spoke (12-21), gave a prayer of dedication (22-54), and then in verses 56-61, he blessed the people:
Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.
Solomon’s blessing was filled with gratitude and faith, yet it also charged the people to live for God wholeheartedlyaccording to His commandments, and to bless the nations for His glory.
Seize the moment and walk in God’s blessing by living out God’s charge upon your life – you have been blessed to a blessing!