Permission To Be Blessed!

Do you believe God is the giver of good gifts to you? I hope you said a resounding “Yes!”

Sometimes the gifts he has for us sit around gathering dust, as we don’t realize they’re there, or forget to look for them.

Open your gifts! They are piling up waiting for you. If you don’t accept them as they come, they go away forever.

But never fear, as there are always new ones coming your way…

You just have to say YES! I receive them! You are giving yourself permission to be blessed!

How often are you turning away gifts, feeling that you don’t deserve them or that you’re not worthy of them? Perhaps not consciously, but I find that deep down there are root issues and false beliefs or assumptions that can keep you stuck in different places because you just don’t believe you deserve to have certain kinds of blessings in that area in particular.

Take for example money. Now that’s a hot topic! Who would like to come up on stage and talk about all the issues they have around money?! Not many, I’m sure! This is a place where God has a lot of work to do in us. Here are a few examples…

The way you’ve been conditioned to think about money could include – Money is evil, rich people are bad, money is not spiritual, it is more pleasing to God that I am poor than rich, I don’t want to have to think about money, I don’t do it for the money – I just love helping people, I don’t deserve to be wealthy, it is selfish to want to make lots of money, etc., etc. Some of these might sound good or true in your life, but when you hold them up to Scriptures and the kind of life God has planned for you in all areas – even financially – they just don’t add up to bring in all the blessings he has planned for your life. This is important to get your head around because he wants you to be blessed so you can be a greater blessing to others as you share God’s love for them unencumbered by your lack and sad money story.

What if I used the phrase “Permission to Prosper?” What does this bring up for you? It widens the door to so many more things than just money. But money is tied into it and part of prospering. Think about what it is God really desires to bless you with.

You’ve heard the saying: “As your soul prospers, so will you prosper.”

The actual passage is here: Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. – 3 John 2, NKJV

What does this really mean?

1. God wants you to have a fat and happy soul! That is a prosperous man or woman – someone who is prosperous in ALL his ways – not just money, but health, wealth, relationships – job, career, gifts you are giving – all of it! As your soul is fat and happy and prosperous, you will show up in the world with a generous giving attitude, an open loving heart. Not a stingy person, thinking lack in all areas. Lack denotes poverty, a lean, hungry, needy, even desperate soul. They usually have a selfish agenda, as they are grasping to survive, not thinking about thriving and definitely not living from a place of creativity and generosity.
2. God wants cheerful givers. That applies to money, yes, but so much more! And he wants us to be in an attitude of thanksgiving, realizing he is the Source of it all. Since it all belongs to him anyway, honoring him and acknowledging that fact by gladly allocating at least the top ten percent of our income, and maybe even 10% of your time to his purposes! – plus giving back in gratitude to a gracious, good and loving God – certainly is a wise practice to keep the floodgates of blessings wide open and constantly flowing. Wouldn’t you agree?

Are you ready to throw open the floodgates to all the blessings God has so lovingly and graciously allocated to YOU?

Just in case you need a little more encouragement to do so, here are a few more of his promises to help fatten up your soul to prosper in the world through Kingdom principles.

• That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. – Psalm 1:3, NIV 
• Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. – Proverbs 16:20, NIV 
• Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” – Jeremiah 29:7, NIV

Choose to walk in your blessings as you say “YES!” to God’s best for you today!