Bless or Curse? | BLESS | Pastor Johnny Mitcham
BLESS
Bless or Curse
Blessing: flourish, thrive abundance, multiplication (Genesis 1:22)
Cursing: scarcity, isolation, death
Soul Tattoo #1: God’s Blessings come from trust and obedience
Soul Tattoo: #2 Bless or Curse : your choice
The “SHEMA”
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
LISTEN= Hear (pay attention) + Respond = Obey
LOVE = Emotion + Decision = Devotion
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! Psalms 27:7
“Giving respect of the person speaking to you and doing what they say”
15 “Today I have given you a choice between life and death, success and disaster.[a] 16 I command you today to love the Lord your God. I command you to follow him and to obey his commands, laws, and rules. Then you will live, and your nation will grow larger. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take for your own. 17 But if you turn away from your God and refuse to listen, if you are led away to worship and serve other gods, 18 you will be destroyed. I am warning you today, if you turn away from God, you will not live long in that land across the Jordan River that you are ready to enter and take for your own. 19 “Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live. 20 You must love the Lord your God and obey him. Never leave him, because he is your life. And he will give you a long life in the land that he, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (Easy to Read)
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.
18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. Deuteronomy 11:13-21
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.[a Proverbs 3:5-6
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10
How does God want to bless me??
Finances
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. Malachi 3:10
Relationships
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] Ephesians 5:25 -27
21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Colossians 3:21
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
Health and Wellness:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:31-34
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalms 91:2
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Psalms 27:14
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalms 46:10
Soul Tattoo #1: God’s Blessings come from trust and obedience
Soul Tattoo: #2 Bless or Curse : your choice
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Matthew 7:24-26