Showers of Blessings 041766
Showers of Blessings
041766
Sunday. PRAYER. “The prayer of a good person accomplishes a lot.” God gives liberally to us if we ask in faith for blessings that accord with his will. He is approachable. When we pray, he will not rebuke us for being so presumptuous as to ask him for something. (Read James 1:5-6; 4:3; 5:16b; Matthew 7:7.)
Monday. WORK. When we pray for spiritual blessings, there are things we must do. The condition for the fulfillment of any appropriate request is “If you do your part.” There is no value in asking God for new clothes if we’re not willing to work to buy them. Prayer never serves as a shortcut or substitute for work. (Read James 2:14-26.)
Tuesday. PATIENCE. After much prayer and hard work, a desired blessing may not come. God’s response to our prayers and work may not be “No” so much as “Not now.” The blessing we look for may hinder our spiritual maturity at this time. Besides, some things operate like planted seeds that call for patience until the harvest. (Read James 5:7-8.)
Wednesday. PERSEVERANCE. We need to keep our eyes on one goal in order to receive blessings. We cannot have one eye on heaven and the other on the world and think we’ll be receiving the Lord’s blessings. There’s also the type of perseverance that carries us through temptation, trials, and even persecution for righteousness’ sake. The blessing in such cases is the “crown of life.” (Read 1:2-4, 6-8, 12; 5:10-11.)
Thursday. OBEDIENCE. Knowing our needs, God has laid down principles for us to follow to be happy. When we disregard these commandments, we are not living in harmony with our nature and needs or his purposes. Consequently, we don’t feel happy or fulfilled. We need to obey to have a “full” life of blessings here and eternal life of blessings hereafter. (Read James 1:22-25.)
Friday. SHARING. All blessings come ultimately from God, but he may channel them through other people. Whether the blessings from God through others reach us depends on whether the ones coming through us reach them. If they don’t receive theirs from us, we may not receive ours from them. In addition, some things like love increase in our own experience only by giving them away to other people. Blessings increase by passing through some to others. (Read Luke 6:38; Matthew 7:12.)
Saturday. CONTENTMENT. Being satisfied with what we have is a practical way of being blessed with what we need. Happiness, the real blessing we are looking for, often does not come otherwise. (Read James 1:9; 1 Timothy 6:5-6.)
Virgil Warren, Straight, April 17, 1966, p6