5 Best Quotes on Blessings

Here is my choice for the 

5 Best Quotes on the subject of BLESSINGS

I am not a fan of QUOTES

In fact sometimes I get very annoyed at how people almost treat a quote

 as more important than the 

Word of God

I actually wrote a blog post about Do We Really Need This Quote?

However I do see that there are certain topics that there are some great quotes on from some very reliable people. This month I'm thinking about God's Blessings so let's get encouraged with some quotes around this.

There are many quotes from so many people on the subject of Blessings but I prefer to only refer to or recommend ones from people who I trust as standing firm on the Word of God.

So in the list below I will quote

NOT  Beth Moore   but   F.F. Bruce

 NOT  Tony Robbins   but   Thomas Godwin

NOT  Mother Theresa  but   Warren Wiersbie

1.  Warren Wiersbe

"God doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing."

2.  F.F. Bruce

"God bestows his blessings without discrimination."

 

3.  Thomas Godwin

"Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayer and worn with thanks."

Have you read the 5 Best Quotes on Blessings?

4.  Peter Marshall

"God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty."

5.  Warren Wiersbe

   "Some of your greatest blessings come with patience."   

 

 Don't forget to download our

                      Blessings Quotes Free Printable 

Plus why not have a look at the other Free resources in our

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10 Bible Verses of Encouragement about God's Blessings

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all around the topic of God's Blessings.

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times when we need to be encouraged to think about  

Blessings

 

1.   Numbers 6 v 24-26     

When I think of a Godly blessing this is the one that comes to mind as I have great memories of singing this in the church I grew up in each time a child was baptized.

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.  

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace."

 

2.   Psalm 1 v 1

Blessing comes when we are upright in heart, mind and action.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

nor standeth in the way of sinners, 

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; 

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, 

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; 

his leaf also shall not wither; 

and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

3.   Ephesians 1 v 3

What more could we want but to be blessed by God and be able to praise and honour Him.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."

4.   Psalm 34 v 8

    Trusting in God leads to blessing.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;                       Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”

5.   John 20 v 29

   We have not seen Jesus in person but we must remember that we are not any less blessed because of this.

"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

6.   1 Peter 3 v 9 

Receiving blessing and blessing others goes hand in hand.

"Finally all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing."

7.   2 Corinthians 9 v 8

We are not just blessed to receive something for ourselves but to know the blessing of being in the position to bless others as well.

"And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

8.   Psalm 29 v 11

        Who is greater than the Lord to bless us 

                  "The Lord sat enthroned at the flood,                                                            and the Lord sits as King forever.                                                              The Lord will give strength to His people;                                         the Lord will bless His people with peace."

9.   Isaiah 30 v 18

 The Lord is the one who determines when and how He blesses us

 

"And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious to you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgement: blessed are all they that wait for Him."

10.   Psalm 32 v 1

   On a final note the greatest blessing of all that is freely given 

   to us - sins forgiven

 "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered."

 

You can download this Free Printable of the graphics of these verses HERE

And other posts like this on various topics can be found on our Bible Verses of Encouragement Page

Congratulations! - A Dose of Encouragement

Our family "The Black Family" has changed dramatically in the last 3 years.

This change had nothing to do with Fred and I moving house or country or the children moving.

This change all took place here in Northern Ireland.

Our son Daniel told us he had met a girl.

Nothing unusual there as he has met and dated a few girls but usually we did not meet them within 4 months; if we met them at all.

He was telling us that Suzie was going to join us for lunch at the restaurant in Belfast where all of us were going to meet him.

Poor Suzie to have to meet us all together like that.

So that was the start of what we knew was likely to be a good relationship.

Then about a year later we were not surprised when Daniel came to tell Fred & I that he was going to get engaged on Suzie's birthday in April but we had to help him in the surprise.

We were delighted to help.

Suzie's parents were happy too.

Her dad had already named one of his lambs after Daniel.

So of course after an engagement we expected a wedding to be thought about and a date decided and plans started to be put together and well that could take a year or more depending on what type of wedding etc.

No!

One month later they tell us they want to get married at the end of October that same year - 5 months away.

Things are moving fast!    

                  In the Run Up to the Wedding.

As October approaches everything is getting organised - even my problem of  What will I wear???

Because they wanted to do a lot of the preparation themselves it became a very busy time for the excited couple.

And then the day had arrived and what a happy day it was.

This was so very true it was the best day of their lives  -  so far.


We had a newly married couple settling into a new home, starting a new life together and working hard at their jobs.


Over a year later Fred & I got a special visit and a present for each of us.


Now what special occasion is this one?


                        Not Christmas.

                                          Not our wedding anniversary,

                                                                                Not either of our birthdays.


But a very special occasion for all "The Black Family" again.

The announcement that we were going to become grandparents.

Then we had all those long months to wait to welcome our first grandchild 

Matthew 

into the world 

on 

Monday 2nd November 2015.

Now there is another beautiful addition to "The Black Family"

He is such a Blessing to have in our family.

Matthew is now 16 days old and one of the "Black Family Boys"

So from engagement to wedding and then a new baby means that the Black family went from 5 to 7 in less than 3 years and nothing but smiles on our faces.


What joy to have welcomed two new members of the family and happy days to be shared together.

We are thankful to God for these blessings.

We often only know how great things are as we experience them and that is another joy God has given us in our lives.

God gives the biggest blessings

In October 2013 Daniel and Suzie thought their wedding Day was the "Best Day of their Big Black Lives".

Now in November 2015 they know that the miracle of the birth of their son was the

"Best Day of their Big Black Lives"

This is a great example of how God is never finished with our lives 

and 

even when we think we've had the biggest blessing 

He can give us more!

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 26

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.



Today I'm looking at Psalm 26

I'm looking at this Psalm in six parts:

V. 1-2
Who is worthy to say this to the Lord?
Do we walk in integrity?
Have we trusted without wavering?
Are we confident of having God find no fault in us when He tries us?


V. 3
The reason David says he has kept true to the Lord is firstly because God's Love is steadfast and he has recognized God's faithfulness.


V. 4-5
Secondly it is because he has kept out of evil company.


V. 6-7
Thirdly it is because he has kept about the place of the Lord, praising God and telling of His greatness.


V. 8-10
Here David expresses his love for God's House and his desire for God to accept him.

V. 11-12
Because he walks in integrity he knows he is in the right place and he is going to bless the Lord there.



3 Things stand out in this Psalm:

Questions, Relationships, Blessings.

Questions.
The first two verses bring up all the questions stated above and thinking on these questions will keep us very humble because it would be impossible to meet this standard.

Relationships.
David recognized the steadfastness and faithfulness of God that was essential in God's relationship with him.
Then David also realized that he needed to abhor evil, stay close to God, worship God, love God's House and be acceptable to God because that was essential for his relationship with God.

Blessings.
David blesses the Lord because of the fact that he is in the right place and God has looked favourably on him.

Oh that we were careful to 

consider these questions, 

grow our relationships 

and 

bless the Lord in everything.

Then we could be like David and say to God

Pondering the Psalms - Psalm 20

Each Sunday I am going to choose a Psalm and write down some brief thoughts on  it.


Today I'm looking at Psalm 20 


I first looked at this Psalm in some depth in 2001 for a devotional time at a CEF committee meeting and then I was drawn back to it in 2004 for a devotional at a Ladies prayer meeting and yet again this week it was this Psalm I felt I wanted to go to.

Looking at this in the order of the verses:

V. 1-3
May God answer you, protect you, send you help, support you, remember your offerings, have favour on your sacrifices.

V. 4-5
May God grant your heart's desire, fulfill your plans and your petitions.

V. 6
The Psalmist knows that God will help, answer, bring salvation.

V. 7-8
Because of all this
We trust in God
We rise and stand and are not fallen down

V. 9
The Psalmist cries out to God in confidence.

This Psalm is like David proclaiming a Blessing on us and we should accept it like that.

What more could we look for  (v4)

The answer to all of our prayers  (v5)



There is something else that stands out in verses 1 & 7

The name of the Lord is so important.
The name of the Lord defends us and we must remember the name of the Lord
That is where our trust must be.

We can trust in the Name of the Lord

We can trust in the Name of the Lord.

What else does this Psalm teach us to do?

We should be like David and speak blessings on each other.
To Bless someone means to wish them every happiness by invoking divine favour upon them.

We should also Bless God.

What does it mean to Bless God?

It means we are to extol Him as Holy.

To me the focus of this Psalm is acknowledging 

the greatness of God's blessing 
to us and through us

and 

the trust we can have in His Name.

Nothing is greater than the Blessing of God

3 Sleighs for Christmas - A Dose of Encouragement

                                       

Our Christmas Tree was too big.

Well too wide to be precise.

We had bought it about 7 years ago when we lived in Belgium and had more space to have a tall and wide tree.

We really liked it because it was easy to assemble and was prelighted so no fiddling and fighting with strings of lights.  The most time would be spent actually putting the decorations on the tree.

But now in our present home we had struggled with not really having enough room for this tree definitely in our lounge but also not really having the proper space for it in our large kitchen with seated area.

Last year we thought too late about trying to find a new slimmer tree but this year on Saturday we decided to go ahead when we saw a slimmer tree very similar in style to our other one.  In fact this one was going to be slim enough so that we could put it up in the lounge now that we had the smaller suite.

Last week when I wrote the Wednesday Encouragement post I was disappointed that we hadn't got our tree up yet in the kitchen because we were waiting for the painting to be done and I couldn't start writing about our Tree Decorations as I had hoped but today I can.

So I want to start with the 3 sleighs

On the tree each year since Christmas 1993 we have had these three sleighs.

They are almost identical except for one thing.
They each have the name of one of our children on them.

Fred & I hung them on the tree last night.

As per always my thoughts went back to when I got them.

We were living in the US in Hockessin, a village outside Wilmington in the State of Delaware.

That was where I was introduced to Christmas fairs and Christmas shops and Personalised Christmas Tree Decorations.

I saw the sleighs and remembered the fun our three kids (plus Fred & I) had had in March that year when we had woken up to find 14 inches of Snow at our front door.

After shovelling the driveway a few times and playing around and then in for hot drinks we joined our next door neighbours to race down through our back gardens.

What fun, what laughter, what coldness, but what enjoyment from a simple act.

We really didn't want to stop because we were enjoying this unusual activity.
It was very unusual for us because we had come from Northern Ireland where we rarely see 4 inches of snow let alone 14 and rarely get the chance to even try to slide down a snow slope.

Eventually we had to drag ourselves and the kids inside as it started to get dark and we were concerned about frostbite from those round red patches appearing on our cheeks.

So here we are again at another Christmas with the memories from 21 years ago.

I remember getting these tree decorations at a craft fair a month before Christmas and surprising the children with their special named sleigh for each of them to hang on the tree as the last decorations that year.

Do the children remember that event as distinctly as I do?

I don't think so but they do remember hanging them on the tree for years.

A lot of our tree decorations are individual things we have picked up over the years and not colour co-ordinated to be extremely fashionable and make a glamorous tree.  I want to have memories of happy times together as a family or remember friends who may have given us something for our tree.

I want to be able to look at my tree and say thank you to God for the lovely memories and the family and friends that he has put into our lives.

My tree will not be perfect but why should it because nothing can be perfect and in striving for my tree to be perfect I would miss out on remembering the memories and blessings of the past.

There is nothing or no-one perfect in this world except for God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

So as I remember my imperfect tree and it's decorations I am going to be thankful to God for my 3 children this Christmas and my husband and all the memories and blessings we have seen together as a family.

Then I will pray for the future members of this family and the future memories to come and the future blessings God will bestow on us all because He loves us even though we are not perfect but just trusting in Him.

What will your tree be like and will you remember your blessings?

These are the things that mean a lot to families at Christmas especially when not all of the family can be together.

This year like last year Linda will not be with us over Christmas time, she will still be in South Korea but her sleigh was put up last night and the boy's sleighs were also put up by Fred and I because they are not here for the decorating of the tree any more.

Even though they have their names on them I believe they are more my special item than theirs because I was the one that chose them,

and

they are staying on my tree, not going with them!


They can wait until they inherit them.