The principle of blessing is that the greater blesses the lesser; the meaning of blessing is that blessing is the overflow of God through someone’s maturity in life.
When God obtains a person who is mature in life, a person who is not only transformed but also mature, He has a way to flow through that person. God needs a human channel to flow – He needs a man who is saturated and permeated with God.
When Jacob was mature, he blessed everyone, affording God a way to flow through him to Pharaoh, his sons, and his grandsons (Gen. 47:7, 10).
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He allowed God to flow out through Him in a full way, and His being was saturated and permeated with God.
When Paul was in prison, he testified that he wanted to live on because his being was for the saints’ progress and joy of the faith (Phil. 1:23-25).
We should be people whose living and being makes a difference to the church life and to the Body of Christ. We need to be channels of life supply to the saints, people who are saturated with God and permeated with Him so that God would flow through us freely.
It should matter to the church whether we live or die, and our living should be full of ministering Christ and infusing Christ into others.
As believers in Christ we are priests to God – we are a royal priesthood, those chosen by God to tell out the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:5, 9).
As priests, we need to spend time with God to be infused with God, filled with God, and saturated with God. We need to be close to God, intimate with Him, living in the index of His eyes and having His presence all the time.
If we live in this close sweet fellowship with God as priests to God, we will then bring others into God’s presence, reducing the distance between others and God.
We all have experienced this when we fellowship with a more mature saint: before we meet him, there’s a distance between us and God, but after we fellowship with him and are blessed by him, the distance is taken away, and we are brought into the presence of God to enjoy God.
We are Channels of Life for God to Flow out as Blessing to Others
Philippians 1:25 I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of the faith
In order for God to flow into humanity, He needs proper channels, men who are saturated and permeated with God.
As we grow in life unto maturity, our inner being is reconstituted, filled, and saturated with God, and we become those who think like God, love what God loves, have God’s preferences, desire what He desires, and choose His will.
As we reach maturity, we are being filled with God and there’s an overflow of life toward others – this is blessing. We need to be such channels of life for God to flow out to others, those who are saturated and permeated with God to allow God flow freely through them. It is good to tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, saturate me and permeate me with God so that You can use me as a channel to bless others with Yourself!
Jacob didn’t bless his brother Esau when he met him 20 years after he ran away from him, neither did he bless Laban or his sons when he was in Canaan. But when he went to Egypt to Joseph, he was mature and filled with life, and so he blessed everyone.
When he was in prison Paul had the clear realization that, even though he wanted to depart and be with the Lord, it was more profitable for the saints if he would stay with them and be a channel of supply for their progress and joy of the faith (Phil. 1:23-25).
In a similar way, it should make a difference to the saints whether we live or die; we should be a channel of life for the saints’ growth in life and enjoyment of Christ. Whether or not this is so depends on the degree to which we live Christ, minister Christ, and infuse Christ into others. It is good to pray,
Lord, may my life make a great difference to the Body of Christ! Lord, make me a channel of supply for the saints’ progress and joy of the faith!
The Lord will surely answer such a prayer since He needs people who live Christ, minister Christ, and transfuse Christ from the depths of their being into that of the saints.
We need to be brought on to maturity, and maturity in life is a matter of being filled with God to overflowing. When we are full of God, we have the overflow of God, and we will be able to bless everyone we meet.
Lord Jesus, may our life make a difference to the Body of Christ. Make us those who live Christ, minister Christ, and infuse Christ into others. Fill us with Yourself. Saturate us and permeated us with God. Make us channels of life supply to the saints so that they may grow in life and enjoy God more. Lord, gain many channels of supply all over the earth. Gain many who give You a way to freely flow through them!
We are Priests to God who Overflow God to Others and Bring Others Closer to God
A priest eliminates the distance between God and the people; he brings those who are far off into the presence of God. (Life-Study of Genesis, by W. Lee)
The first case of blessing in the Bible is that of Melchizedek coming to meet Abraham after he fought for Lot and defeated the kings (Gen. 14:18-20). Melchizedek is a type of Christ, and Christ is the real Melchizedek as the Great High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
This Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High (Christ is a priest of the Most High), he blessed Abraham (Christ is the source of blessing and the blessing itself), and he met Abraham with bread and wine (Christ meets His believers to feed them with the processed Triune God as bread and wine).
As believers in Christ we are a holy and royal priesthood according to God’s holy nature and divine kingship (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6), and we have been called to tell out the excellencies of Christ. We need to practice our priesthood by bringing man to God and God to man.
As priests we bring the overflow of God to man. First of all, we ourselves need to be close to God by spending time with Him, dealing with anything that would hinder our fellowship, and being in the closest and most intimate contact with God. It is good to tell the Lord,
Lord, make me a person close to Your heart. Make me a person according to Your heart. Make my heart a duplication of Your heart. I want to have the present presence of God, being in the closest and most intimate contact with You all the time!
When we are in this closest and most intimate contact with God, we can bless others with God Himself, bringing them closer to God.
Many people are far away from God, and even many believers do not live in the presence of God constantly. A real priest eliminates the distance between God and people; he brings those who are far off into the presence of God.
Just as the high priest bore the names of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel inscribed on stones on his breast and on his shoulder into the Holy of Holies in the presence of God (Exo. 28:9-12, 15-21), so we need to bring others into God’s presence to enjoy God and be filled with God.
We have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation to bring sinners to God and exhort the believers to be further reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
We need to come all the way into the Holy of Holies, living a life in our mingled spirit, and having absolutely no distance between us and God. Then, we need to bring others before God in Christ as our strength and love. If we are one with Christ, we will bear others into God’s presence by Christ as our love and strength.
May the Lord make us real priests to God, those who are in the closest and most intimate contact with God and who bring others closer to God by ministering Christ to them.
Lord Jesus, bring us closer to You. Make us willing to come to You in everything and be in the closest and most intimate contact with You. Lord, may there be no distance or separation between us and You. Make us fully one with You as priests to God. Lord, may we exercise our priesthood to bring others into Your presence and bless others with God Himself. Make us a blessing to the ones around us by flowing through us with Christ Himself as blessing!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 96), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 9 / msg 9, Blessing.
- Picture credit for Phil. 1:25 and more quotes on this topic via, Christian Pictures Blog.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Is your life a channel of blessing? / Are you burdened for those that are lost? / Have you urged upon those who are straying, / The Savior who died on the cross? / Make me a channel of blessing today, / Make me a channel of blessing, I pray! (Hymns #928)
# Just a channel, full of blessing, / To the thirsty hearts around; / To tell out Thy full salvation, / All Thy loving message sound. (Hymns #268)
# Lord, we want to live You / In the most intimate / And the closest contact, / Closest contact with You. / Acting according / To the index of Your eyes; / A person one with Christ, / Full of Christ. (Song on Living in Contact with God)
Hope you might enjoy this new song, based on the note posted above:
tune: Jesus, My Savior/517, https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/517
Blessing is the overflow of God through–
Someone’s maturity in life.
God cannot flow Himself into others–
Without a human channel.
If Christ had never been–
Incarnated, God would not have been…
Able to flow to man, because there would not–
Have been a channel. God’s flowing–
Needs humanity as a channel. The–
Only humanity God can —
Use as the channel is one–
Saturated and permeated with God.
source: based on excerpt from: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 96; song from 10/30/14.
Eph.3:16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into their inner man. Praise the Lord.