YOU CAN’T MEAN ME

Some of you reading this  may believe that God can’t possibly bless you
because you have failed Him too much or because you are too weak or because you have done something terribly wrong.

Perhaps you have a chronic problem
with a vile temper or a wandering eye. You wonder, **How can God bless me when I yell at my kids? How can God bless me when I’m so rotten? How can
God bless me when I am this or that?

** Your problem is that you are looking
for a blessing on the basis of your own performance. You are trapped in the
kind of thinking that says, «When I become so good and so perfect, then He
can bless me.»
But that is so misguided!

We must get into our heads that God wants to fill our lives with the Holy
Spirit the moment we say, «Lord, I really desire to have this power and I
ask You to fill me.»

But I must warn you. It is undeniable that at precisely this point,
spiritual warfare erupts. When you pray for God’s filling, instantly satan
will begin to throw all kinds of lies and accusations into your mind. He
will distract you. He will make you feel guilty or unworthy. «What are you
doing asking God for that?» he’ll sneer. «You should be ashamed of
yourself. You have no right! Look at what you are. Look what you have done. How could God possibly fill you with His Holy Spirit?»

Ironically, many times satan will use *Christian* people to deliver this
lie. Any person on a self-righteous trip will inevitably heap blame on you.
«It’s your own fault, you know», he’ll announce. «If only you had a little
more faith. If only you were a little more spiritual. If only you were a
little more like me.» A little of such spiritual bombardment, and many of
us decide to retract the whole thing. «Forget it, Lord,» we say.

What a tragedy! I know I don’t deserve the blessings of God, but God
doesn’t bless me because I deserve it. God blesses me on the basis of His
love towards me and of His grace towards me in Christ Jesus. That is the
basis of the blessing - not my goodness, not my righteousness and not my
perfection. If we could just get this through our tender skulls, we’d start
being blessed beyond our imagination.

The *blessings are there*. God wants to bless you. All you have to do is
simply believe Him to bless you, though you know full well you don’t
deserve it. The blessings don’t come because of your works, they come
because of your belief - because you trust and believe God will bless you.

Failure to grasp this truth is exactly why a lot of people have real
problems in their Christian experience. «I don’t know why God blessed
him-he smokes cigars!» someone says. «Why, I don’t do that. Yet look at all
his blessings! I can’t understand why God blesses people who smoke cigars.»
But of course, God’s blessings are not predicated on smoking habits.
They’re only predicated upon our believing God to bless us because we are
God’s children.

God *wants* to bless His people today. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro
throughout the entire earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose
hearts are perfect towards Him (see 2 Chronicles 16:9). Just turn your
heart towards God, believe in His Word, and trust that He will do as He
promises. Say, "Lord, bless me now.» And receive it.

I know that such freewheeling grace is almost an affront to us. The moment
I say «Oh, Lord, lay a real blessing on me. I really want a fantastic
blessing tonight,» my mind objects: *What do you mean, asking God for a
blessing? With what you were thinking this afternoon, how can you ask God
to bless you*?

It is so hard for us to repudiate the idea of deserving a blessing. Simply
to believe and expect God to bless us-though we have been failures and
don’t deserve it-is extremely difficult for us. But when we finally get
over that barrier and come to expect God to bless us simply because He has
promised to bless us, there is nothing that can stop His blessings from
touching our lives.

Chuck Smith (from the book «Why Grace changes everything»)
Brought to me through:

THE JOURNAL OF BIBLE ACCURACY