By Marni Montanez
Numbers 6:24-26
New King James Version (NKJV)
24. “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25. The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’
These verses are the desire of God’s heart for His people. What more do we
need? If God of the universe, the Creator of all things is
favorable toward us then we need nothing more. God only wants the best for
His children. His desire is to bless us.
The meaning of the word “Bless” is to make somebody or something holy: to bestow holiness on somebody or something in a religious ceremony.
Just by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we become holy under God’s umbrella of righteousness.
God is our protector and our defense. He wants us near Him. The word “keep” that is used here is descriptive of God drawing us into His bosom where we will be safe. His promise is not only to protect us, but to take care of us. As God watches over us His face shines upon us.
When God’s face shine’s upon us it is His favor and acceptance.
Remember that when Jesus was on the cross, God, the Father, had to turn away
from Him, because at that moment Jesus took our sin upon Him and this made
Him sin. God, being a holy God could not look upon His own Son in that
moment and His eyes shifted from being upon His Son to looking upon us in
Christ. We are His righteousness and God’s love focuses on us. He is
delighted with His children and treats us with kindness and goodness
God’s countenance is the expression on His face when He sees us and it is a
permanent smile. He is not disappointed or angry as some think. God is
pleased with us regardless of what we do or don’t do. We are in Christ and
no longer under the curse and so we are in His eternal favor. God does
not measure His love for us by our actions or words. He does not have a
measuring stick that he pulls back when we mess up. We are in Jesus and that
is who He sees when He looks at us.
Challenge: Open your arms and tell God you receive His blessing.
God bless
Marni
The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving,
compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God
tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what
does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk
humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no
more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us
to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human
beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do
otherwise is not Christian.
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