Blessed Beyond Reason

Blessed

BlessedThe Degree to which I am blessed staggers

me... The Degree to which I take them for granted

shames me.

CertainComfortableComparable

My Life - My Plan

Uncontrollable, Messy, Confusing

GOD’s Message:“Cursed is the strong one who

depends on mere humans, who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets GOD aside as dead weight.He’s like a tumbleweed on the

prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.

“But blessed is the man who trusts me, GOD, the woman who sticks with GOD.They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.” Jeremiah 17:5-8

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!” Abraham Lincoln

Forgotten Blessings

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas(also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”“No,” they answered.He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”

None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?”

They knew it was the Lord.John 21:1-12

Are WeMissing Something?

Blessings begin in FRUSTRATION“That night they caught nothing”

Blessings require FAITHFaith requires RISK

“Cast your net”

Blessings lead to GRATITUDE

“Gratitude bestows reverence… changing forever how we experience life and the world.” John Milton

Blessings lead to GRATITUDEGRATITUDE lead to AWAKENING

“The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful, and has nobody to thank.” D Rossetti


“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Ex 3:11

“Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 2 Sam 7:18

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” 1 Chron 29:14


Awakening lead to LOVE

You have given so much to me, O Lord, yet one thing more I ask, a Grateful Heart!

CLARIFYWhat is your

blessing?What are you looking

for?

COMMITThrow your nets!Ask, Seek, Knock

COUNTCount your fish!

Are You Blessed?

Spiritual

Blessed Beyond Reason