Living from Blessing Not for Blessing

Genesis 1:28 (NIV) 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and

over every living creature that moves on the ground."

1. Focus on the person & not on a principle.

Ephesians 1:3 (GW) 3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Through Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer.

Luke 4:19 (TLB) 19 and that God is ready to give blessings to all who

come to him.“

Romans 5:10 (TLB) 10 And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his

friends and he is living within us!

2. Give thanks for what is already in your hand

Story of the 10 lepers

Story of the feeding of the 5000

3. Expect God’s blessing by faith – just because God is good.

Hebrews 11:1 (TLB) 1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the

certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.

Hebrews 11:1 (NJB) 1 Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope

for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen.

Job 1:22 (NIV) 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with

wrongdoing.

Job 27:3-5 (NIV) 3 as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in

my nostrils, 4 my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will utter no deceit. 5 I will never admit you are in

the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity.

Job 42:2 (NIV) 2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can

be thwarted.

4. Be a giver

2 Corinthians 9:8 (TLB) 8 God is able to make it up to you by giving you

everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left

over to give joyfully to others.

Acts 20:35 (CEV) 35 … that our Lord Jesus said, "More blessings come

from giving than from receiving."

John 1:16 (NIV) 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received

one blessing after another.

Romans 5:11 (TLB) 11 Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins—making us friends of

God.