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in its truth and hope, increases our understanding of Who God is to us, His
marvellous ways and His promises concerning us.
Now, watch how the BLESSING goes to work! While we are filling our hearts
and minds with the truth of God’s Word, by His Spirit that indwells us, at the
very same time, His presence encamps around us! Psalm 34:7, says, “The
Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him [who revere and
worship Him with awe] and each of them He delivers. O taste and see that
the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the
man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.”
I recently read a friends blog on this very scripture. That word encamp is a
military term meaning to settle. So, because we choose to settle into the
Word of God, with a heart of love and respect for Him, He surrounds us,
with His fortress of protection and peace! This, my dear friend, is part of the His people! Just like those mountains, God Himself is an ever present, im-
BLESSING! We are placed in the centre of His settlement, the safest place
there is! You see, while we are centred on the Word of God, the enemy can-
not infiltrate our minds with thoughts or fear or discouragement or failure!
Psalms 32:7 says that He becomes our hiding place and surrounds us with
songs of deliverance! That’s what happens when we are completely sur-
rounded by the Lord!
Now, watch how this works: Through the day, while we are going about our
areas of responsibility, because we have invested our time in God’s Word, it
is first and foremost on our minds and in our hearts. So we find ourselves
constantly meditating on its wisdom and perspective, which begins to influ-
ence the way we think, the words we speak, our attitudes and our actions.
Do you want to know what the BLESSING is doing while this takes place?
The Word of God says in Psalm 5:12, that the Lord surrounds us as a shield!
But this shield isn’t just a form of protection. The word says, “... as with a
shield, the Lord surrounds us with goodwill - which is pleasure and favour!”
(Amplified version).
How does this work? Well, when our minds are filled with the thoughts and
purposes of God, from our time spent delighting in His Word, we begin to
respond to circumstances from that state of mind. Our first response be-
comes God’s response and when we stick to that response, the BLESSING
goes to work and brings supernatural pleasure and favour every time.
What about the times we miss it, when our emotions and frustrations get
the better of us and we don’t respond from the wisdom of God’s Word? Like
Adam, do we forfeit the BLESSING too? Absolutely not! Jesus secured the
BLESSING for us with His blood. It’s ours to appropriate and enjoy. How-
CL myfaithmag.com
ever, when we choose to not walk in it, it doesn’t remove itself from us, we
simply walk away from it. But there is nothing stopping us from realising our
error, turning around, and walking straight back into it again! That’s called
repentance - it simply means to deliberately change our minds and go in a
different direction from where we were heading. God’s mercy has secured
that freedom for us! And Psalm 32:10 says that God’s mercy surrounds us
too! So all we need to do is repent and direct our thoughts and attitudes
right back to the Word of God again. That’s the BLESSING!
So far we’ve learnt that in The BLESSING, the Lord Himself protectively
encamps around us, His favour and goodness and mercy surround us, but
that’s not all! when we choose to make spending time in God’s word a
priority, and allow His wisdom to influence and transform our lives, Psalms
125:2 says that as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds
movable strength and fortress around our lives. He is our protector, our
provider, our comfort and our strength!
Renewing our minds to the Word of God is not a retreat from our problems
or an escape from reality! It’s choosing to place ourselves in a state of mind
where we perceive our circumstance as God does, and respond to them
from a perspective of faith and victory, rather than hopelessness and defeat.
It’s being aware of the supernatural BLESSING we have received from being
in Him, more than being aware of the limited, natural circumstances that
surround us.
Once we have decided to receive God’s gift of love and have chosen to make
spending time in His Word a priority, so that our hearts and minds are in
tune with His ways - He is completely and intricately involved in our journey
through life. His BLESSING empowers us in all we do and enables us to influ-
ence the world around us with His power. That’s the greatest gift we could
ever dream of, a life filled and overflowing in the grace of His BLESSING!
ANDRÉ AND JENNY ROEBERT are the senior pastors and co-founders of River
Ministries situated in East London, South Africa, incorporating various ministries,
each geared to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the nations of this world.
For more info visit: myriver.com
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