“God blesses those who are willing to break a sweat for what they believe in. . . . You can’t just pray like it depends on God. You also have to work like it depends on you. The blessing of God doesn’t just fall into our laps.”- Mark Batterson
As Mark Batterson continues Chapter 6 of Double Blessing, he first addresses common misconceptions about the blessing of God. Hence, Pastor Batterson observes, some people:
- treat God’s blessing like a lottery ticket — they hope luck shines down on them in a well-camouflaged get-rich-quick scheme
- turn God’s blessing into a magic trick, trivializing the blessing in the process — thus, they reduce God to a formula: if you do X, God will do Y
However, Mark points out, there’s one problem with these two concepts. God’s predictably unpredictable! Furthermore, the blessing of God involves hard work as well as long obedience in the same direction. As the author reminds us, God rarely serves His blessings on silver platters. And sometimes, Mark adds, we need to fight for them with some sisu.
After Rebekah gave birth to twins, she and Isaac gave their second-born son the name Jacob — meaning one who deceives. And, Jacob certainly lived down to his name. Yet, when he wrestled with God, he displayed sisu. Because, Pastor Batterson believes, Jacob valued the blessing of God above all else. In fact, Mark thinks Jacob was willing to die for that blessing. Therefore, the author states:
“Again, the blessing of God is a gift from God. You cannot earn it, per se. But are you willing to risk life and limb for it? Are you willing to pull an all-nighter for it? Are you willing to go to the mat and get back up for it?”
Finally, Pastor Batterson notes, the battles we fight the hardest often result in our hardest-earned lessons. The kind of lessons you never forget. Also, one of those lessons may prove to be the tipping point, the turning point of your life!
Today’s question: How do you break a sweat for Who you believe in? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Battle scars – carefully examined”
