All in Blessing

Forgetting the pain of trial, and remembering the reward of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Blessing

When Joseph had been through all his boyhood suffering, been sold into slavery, and had risen to power in Egypt, he was blessed with two sons. The first he named after God’s mercy for allowing him to forget those hardships, and the second he named for the blessings God poured out on him after his afflictions. We should take note that although we face trouble in our lives the Lord is merciful in them, and that blessings rise from their ashes. Do we look at our lives like a burning house, and forget this short lived suffering while seeing what our Father is preparing to build for us on that very spot?

Receiving Blessings from Life’s Trials, and our Transformation

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Trials , Transformed, Blessing

When we fear the Lord and seek after Him, we receive His blessings throughout our journey, but even this doesn’t mean we will not be without pain and suffering. We can strive to obey the commandments of our Heavenly Father, but in doing so, we pay a price in sacrifice. Before iron can be reshaped into something useful, or beautiful it must enter the furnace, and before clay can become fixed in its new shape, it must be fired. So it is with us as Christians... our redemption comes with a price, and our rebirth into a new creature requires an often uncomfortable transformation. So we rejoice in our trials, and claim the blessings they make real in us.

Why Should I give, and what does Giving really mean?

Richard Forbes
Blessing, Giving, Christian, Daily Devotion

Are you wealthy? Maybe you are rich in earthly land, goods, and gold, but then again maybe you have been given much spiritually and your treasure is being amassed in heaven. Whichever our fortune is, we should always remember that all we have comes from God, and that His intention is not for us to horde His gifts but to share them. We are not the owners, but just the managers, or stewards of God’s provision.

Was that a Blessing, or a Thank You I Heard?

Richard Forbes
Christian, Blessing, Daily Devotion

Someone does you a good deed, and if you are a believer you might say “thank you”, but some might respond by wrongly saying “you have blessed me”, or “that was such a blessing!” In fact, no man can bless... only God. When Isaac gave his blessing to his son Jacob he couldn’t take it back because he had conceded to Jacob his own favored status with God. Who do you bestow your blessing on, or do you understand how important that is?

Where are We among the Details of God?

Richard Forbes
Sin, Faith, Details of Faith, Obedience, Christian, Blessing, Daily Devotion

Have you ever been living out your life and suddenly realized that something you were doing wasn’t what Jesus would have done? In our early years of faith this might be an obvious diversion from a major teaching of Jesus, but as we grow in faith it will most likely be subtle... yet the blessing we gain from this realization, and changing how we behave to be in obedience to Christ in it, is just as strong as when we first believed. The sin of disobedience just as abhorrent.

Much Sin, Much Forgiven, Much Love

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotion, Forgiveness, Mercy, Love, Joy, Grace, Sin, Blessing

I read this week about realizing the depth of our sins, but it took a different view of them, and turned the depravity of our wrongdoing from the heartbreak of remorse into the amazing heights to which they are raised by our forgiveness. This author encouraged those with the darkest of sins to confess them, repent from them, and ask the Lord for forgiveness because the love they would feel between themselves and God at the moment of their relief would be amazingly great.