A Blessing

Psalm 84:10 ”For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.”

Blessed, we all have said it, and have expressed it. What does it mean to truly be blessed, though?

I have realized that most of the time when I express how blessed I am, what is to follow are things. ”The Lord answered this need/want”; ”the Lord made way for this to happen.” Now, saying such statements are not wrong; The Bible even says every good gift is from above (James 1:17). And, plus we need to testify of our God’s goodness; He is so good! Yet, there is a huge difference between walking in awareness of how blessed we are, than flaunting it from a proud heart. How often, this is what my flesh succumbs too when my eyes are diverted from the Father. It is easy to get swept up in this world and the things of it. It is easy to compare with others, to become envious, to walk in the flesh living proud and selfishly. Just as I am writing this my phone buzzed; somewhere in between checking my church’s small-group messages, I got swept into a World-market email-looking at their new arrivals. Friends, we must fight the good fight; we must pray Ephesians 6 and daily put on the armor of God; we must plead for the Spirit to lead us, or else the flesh will. Most things are not evil of themselves; the sin comes in when they take the place that our God should have in our hearts. Our good, good Father and Lord, He knows our hearts; He knows our motives. I believe we are not purposefully seeking to act from a proud heart. We just become busy, and before we know it we have gotten swept up in all the feelings creeping in on us, rather than the Presence of our Lord. The good things can quickly become the desire of our hearts, rather than, the Good Giver.

Paired with being on guard, we also must seek after the Lord’s discernment in sharing and proclaiming how He has blessed us. My heart became burdened by this after returning to the states last year. Within the past few months, I have seen many friends that I have not seen for a year or so. Easily I wanted to share all of what the Lord has done, all the highs from being over seas, yet my friend sitting across the table from me may have not needed to hear such highs; it may have been more of a low, heavy season for them. We all have or will experience these seasons of life. That is why I believe James 1:19 tells us to be ”slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to become angry.” Now-a-days with social- media, we post all the highs and by our finger tips can express how blessed we are to others. While scrolling and seeing everyone else’s blessings it is easy to forget that EVERY SOUL, LIVING, AND BREATHING TODAY IS BLESSED!

So many of us hear this word “blessed” from others and feel inadequate, unqualified, undeserving, unloved. These feelings are ABSOLUTELY LIES from the enemy. Before I share anything on media, with friends, family, etc.. I pray. I pray that it will add to their lives; I pray it will be encouraging; I pray it will be up-lifting; I pray that it will be pleasing and glorifying to God. Of-course, I fail. Some days I just want to post my good-hair day or beautiful latte that is not helping anyone. All that I share or say is not always pleasing to the Lord; but, I want my God to know my utter desires are to please Him, to move His heart, and to glorify His Name.

I want to equate being blessed to the Presence of God, alone. For in that, friends, it is our choice whether we will walked blessed or not.

His Presence makes a day better than a 1000 without Him. If I had a choice to have 1 more day on this earth with Him or 100,000 without Him, I would choose the 1 with Him. I love how this Psalm goes on to say, ”I had rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” The Lord used this verse to once again check my heart. The other day I wrote in my journal.. Kel, if you were just a door-holder ushering people into the Kingdom for the rest of your days, would you be okay with the simple task?

This is the calling on each of our lives, friends. Yet, so often I find myself seeking after being more. The truth is simple as this Psalmist says, It is better to be just a doorkeeper, or the cleaning person, or the person who restocks, etc…in the house of the Lord, than being a person of influence, having a platform, or gaining 10k followers in this world.

Do we love His Presence enough to just hold a door ? I wholeheartedly believe we are to dream with the Lord, to tell Him the desires of our hearts. But, He ultimately knows our hearts and if our hearts are too arrogant to hold the doors to His house, we need a heart check. We see this in the Old Testament while the children of Israel are journeying through the wilderness in the book of Numbers. The people of Korah, had the most pristine job of all the clans. They were the ones responsible for guarding the Holy vessels of the tabernacle. In chapter 16 of Numbers, we see them conspiring against Moses and Aaron. Ultimately because they became envious of the position and power Moses held. Little did they understand, the power of the Lord that their hands beheld. They were entitled and ungrateful; instead of receiving the promises of God, they ended up receiving the Lord’s judgement. The beauty I see here is years later, one of their descendants wrote Psalm 84; finally they realized that the Lord, Himself is everything.

Blessed are they that long for His Presence and nothing else.

Sweet friends, if you have breath in your lungs today, you are BLESSED. The Spirit of the Living God goes with you.

Lord, Thank you. Thank you tha† Jesus made way for our bodies to house Your Spirit, Father. We are Blessed because of You, God. I pray the enemy has no room here. I pray in Jesus’ Precious Name you rid our hearts of every ounce of pride. Every good and perfect gift comes from You, God. May we praise you for Your Presence, Jesus, above it all. We all are undeserving of the simple breath You give.

Your Beloved, Kel