Pastor Prince preached a very good sermon last Sunday which I felt I had to share. He said there are two types of believers. Both are righteous by faith but one type of believer lives a victorious and blessed Christian life while the other lives a defeated Christian life. What makes the difference between the two?
Quoting the example of Abraham and Lot, whom God considered both as righteous, Pastor Prince went on to explain why Abraham is more blessed than Lot. Going by what his natural eyes could see, Lot chose the lustrous region of the Jordan plains (next to Sodom) to settle down while Abraham chose the barren plains in the land of Canaan.
Lot was a righteous man but he was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:8). Abraham, on the other hand, dwelt in the mountains having constant fellowship and communion with the Lord. God blessed Abraham richly by giving him the land as far as he could see.
The practical application is that even though a believer is considered righteous by God, his state of blessedness is dependent on how he choose to live his life. As parents, we have to watch what comes into our homes; what our children are exposed to. We have to watch our 'eye' gates and 'ear' gates.
If we are constantly exposed to violence, lawlessness, pornography and bad news, our righteous souls would be vexed by such things. Hence the environment we live in is very important. Similarly, if we spend too much time with complainers, naysayers and negative people, the potential to fulfill our God-given destiny could be hampered.
In order to enjoy the type of blessedness Abraham has with God, we need to stay in the high places, in constant fellowship with God. We are eagle Christians and we are made to dwell in the high places. An eagle is clumsy like any other birds on the ground but he doesn't spend too much time on the ground. The majority of his time is spent in the air, in the sky where he soars. That is where he truly belongs. He is the king of the air. Likewise, as children of the Most High God, we are made to soar above our circumstances and not to vex our righteous souls in the low places. That, my friend, is true blessedness.
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