KEEPING THE BLESSING- PART 2

I feel some urgency in my spirit on the subject matter of keeping the blessing. We serve a God that is so desirous of blessing His people. But He is not wasteful, you know. Scriptures say our LORD has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant (Psalm 35:27). In other words, God delights in blessing His people. But we must develop the capacity to keep the blessings of God. In Malachi we see that God is ever eager to bless us, and we can never have room enough for it. (Malachi 3:10b). It reminds me of the widow that God blessed through Elijah. The oil went as far as the numbers of the jars. Except God Himself is your cup as David said in Psalm 15: 5-6, no matter the size of your container, it will run over when God blesses you. And when it does run over, it is because there are other lives to bless through your own life. David had to make God the ‘Maintainer’ of His lot; even then lines still fell for him. God had to tell Abraham ‘I am your exceedingly great reward’ (Genesis 15: 1). It is more than enough if He is your ‘Rewarder’, what about He being your ‘Reward’- and an exceeding one at that? I like the word ‘exceed’. It is from the word ‘excellence’. If God is your exceeding reward, blessings overlap in your life. Exceed implies that it keeps surpassing expectations. You cannot set a line for excellence. God is so eager to bless. Let’s talk about keeping the blessing.
What can you keep, really? Do you keep promises? God said He has more regard for His words than His name. Do you keep personal resolutions? If you cannot keep your own promise to your own self, how do you keep your word to another? Do you keep secrets? How much can one confide in you? Do you keep appointments? Is time ever against you? Do you keep to time? Do you meet deadlines? Are you constantly behind schedules? Now, can you keep your cool? Are your toes where every Dick, Tom and Harry can step on? Do you keep to instructions? Let’s see how much we keep these things, for it takes so much discipline to keep God’s blessing.
In the previous series, we talked about Adam who did not keep the garden. In Jude, as pointed out also in the previous series, a mention was made of angels that did not keep their ‘estates’. Men and angels alike have failed severally in this business of keeping the blessing of God. As much as we try, we must also accept that we will need God Himself to help us keep His blessing in our lives. So Aaron was taught to pray thus for the children of Israel; ‘May the LORD bless you and keep you’. I remember Olumide just now. In 1999, when I came to know the LORD as my savior and Lord, I shared my experience passionately with Olumide one day and he told me ‘Deolu, this is only an initial excitement that will wane with time, you will still come back’. That night, I cried to God in prayers because I know several people have ‘gone back’. And I knew only God could keep me from going back. I signed God on as the ‘Keeper of my soul’ that day. David wrote that our God is a Keeper. (see Psalm 121:5). You can make Him your Keeper. In that same Scripture, David told us by inspiration that He who keeps us will not slumber nor sleep- just like we have a restless enemy constantly seeking whom to devour. (see I Peter 5:8). The devil comes to steal, to kill and to destroy, isn’t it? (John 10:10). But our God is the Good Shepherd; the Good Sheep-Keeper. The God we serve does not take chances; He keeps whatsoever is committed into His hands. He is able to keep you from falling because ‘underneath are the Everlasting Hands’.
If this God can keep your life and preserve your very soul, what else should you restrain from putting into His hands? He blesses you and keeps you blessed. His guaranty is for eternity.