pastor || writer || speaker
P. Solomon Raj, Luke 4: The Lord Remembers the Hungry, 2016. It's in the context of all the everyday people with everyday problems gathered around Him that Jesus begins to speak about the good life in Matthew 5:3-12. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (5:3) Contrary to appearances, the …
Continue reading "Guess What? You’re Blessed: Exploring the Beatitudes in Matthew 5"
If blessing means "to speak good words over something or someone," what a powerful message of blessing comes to us from Paul's words in Ephesians 1:3-14. He tells us that God "has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ" (1:3). Every spiritual blessing. Just that one word sets the tone of …
Continue reading "Re-speaking God’s Good Words to Ourselves and Others"
While the first three verses of Psalm 1 provide us with a description of God's blessing, the last three verses offer an alternative vision that is distressing. 4 Not so the wicked!They are like chaffthat the wind blows away.5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.6 …
Continue reading "When Blessing Atrophies [Psalm 1, part 5]"
Now look with me at Psalm 1, verse 3, we encounter the results of growth toward the full blessing of God. When our choose to walk into the way of God’s blessing, when we take steps with our environment for growth – our relationships and choices, and when we take in the essential food for …
Continue reading "The Full Blessing of God [Psalm 1, part 4]"
Let’s read the first verse of Psalm 1 again: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wickedor stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. There is an environment in which blessing takes root and the psalmist draws our attention to it with these three parallel phrases. Now, Hebrew …
Continue reading "The Environment of Blessing [Psalm 1, part 2]"
Matthew Erickson 