Blessings in the Kingdom of God (part 2)

Welcome back to part 2 of our series on blessings in the Kingdom of God. Last week we saw how much God cares for us, which can be a sticking-point for people who see God as more of a judge than a loving Father.

We also saw how the Kingdom of God is not something that we strive toward or reach for, but in-fact the Kingdom comes to us, through Jesus Christ. If you haven’t yet watched the previous study, I would encourage you to see that study first as we will be continuing upon that foundation today.

In this study, we will be looking at blessings and how they come to us, and also in what measure they come to us – the reality is greater than what we often think.

Blessings in the Kingdom of God (part 1)

The definition of blessing is God’s favor and protection; a beneficial thing which God gives to His people. God’s favor and protection is what many of us want, and quite honestly, we need it. But how exactly do blessings come into our lives? By what channel do they flow?

This is an aspect of the works versus grace debate that often confuses people, because even among some grace circles you will hear people make the claim that we are saved by grace but blessed by our works. And this has the effect of shifting our focus off of Jesus and back onto ourselves and our own performance.

Want to be blessed? Well, you got to work for it! Maybe if you do well enough God will toss some scraps your way.

Of course they don’t say it like that, but that’s the idea that comes out of it.

So today we are going to discuss blessings in the New Covenant; do they come by works, or by grace? Let’s find out together!

The Kingdom is Within You

Jesus made several interesting statements regarding the Kingdom of God, and as we have studied previously, He even tells us to seek the Kingdom of God first, and all the other things would be added to us.

Yet if you ask the typical believer what the Kingdom of God is, many of them will struggle to give an answer. Simply put, most people aren’t sure what the Kingdom of God is. How can we seek for something if we don’t know what it is? How do we know when we’ve found it, if we don’t know what we are looking for?

Today we are going to answer these questions. We will begin by examining what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God; we will begin to form a picture of what the Kingdom looks like, and then we will see what it actually is, and we will see an amazing picture of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us, and what he has Given to us.

Your Father Knows What You Need

Take a few seconds, and think about what you need, right now. Go ahead I’ll wait…

Got it? You may have at some point shared this need with someone. Perhaps a Christian brother or sister. Someone who claims to be a believer in Jesus, and they may have given you this advice, or something similar to this: Oh, just keep praying, just keep pressing in. Just keep at it. You’ll get your answer! Remember that God already knows!

It sounds like good advice, and I’m sure that such advice is given with the very best of innocent intentions, but what does it actually mean? And also, what picture is this advice really painting of God? Well, in this study today, we’re going to explore that, and what it really means when Jesus said that the Father in Heaven, your Father, already knows what you need.

Don’t Fear the Shadows

When I was a young child, I used to be afraid of the dark. I would look at the walls, or outside my window and see shadows which I presumed to be monsters. I didn’t recognize the shapes, and the sizes of the things seemed to be very large. It was a troubling sight to my young mind.

Later in life, as I became more mature, I understood that those things were just shadows without substance, and they could not actually hurt me in any way. The perception of danger was a false perception, and that the fear of them was doing me more harm than anything else.

This simple realization carries with it a spiritual truth as well – more than one in-fact, as many believers today are held captive by the fear of things which also are just shadows. Spiritual shadows that cannot actually hurt them; yet just as when I was held in bondage to fear of the shadows as a young boy, these precious believers are likewise held in bondage by fear of things which are just as false and empty as the shadows on the wall.