{"id":4125,"date":"2014-11-25T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devonline.us\/dailyevotional\/?p=4125"},"modified":"2014-11-24T13:23:36","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T20:23:36","slug":"blessings-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/blessings-2\/","title":{"rendered":"BLESSINGS!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Psalm 103:1-2<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #c40000;\"><em>&#8220;Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!\u00a0 Bless (affectionately praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span>(Amplified Bible).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The concept of <em>blessing<\/em> has come to hold more meaning to me than ever before. We can either bless or curse with our spoken words.\u00a0 In recent articles I have written a lot about actions and how they speak louder than words, but that does not mean we are to be silent &#8212; rather we are to speak blessing into situations and then act in the manner that is consistent with our words.<\/p>\n<p>In the wedding ceremonies that I perform, I present a challenge to first the groom and then the bride:\u00a0 &#8220;Will you listen to (her\/his) inmost thoughts and be considerate and tender in your care of (her\/him)?&#8221; That is very good as a challenge to a couple embarking on their life as husband and wife &#8212; it is also a good challenge for each of us.\u00a0 Listen to one&#8217;s inmost thoughts!\u00a0 Be considerate! (That means <span style=\"color: #c40000;\"><em>doing to others as you would have them do unto you<\/em><\/span> &#8212; the Golden Rule).\u00a0 Be tender!\u00a0 Care for each other!\u00a0 Just think of the difference it would make if we all put those concepts into practice.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us are familiar with the Sermon on the Mount.\u00a0 (Actually it was Teaching on the Slopes.) In Matthew 5-7, Jesus began His public ministry by teaching the basic principles of a godly lifestyle. The teaching begins in chapter five with the Beatitudes.\u00a0 Each of the Beatitudes begins with the phrase <em><span style=\"color: #c40000;\"><strong>&#8220;Blessed are you&#8230;.&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/em>\u00a0 The phrase sounds good, but do we really have an understanding of its meaning?<\/p>\n<p>Where do you fit into the concept of blessing? I challenge you to begin blessing people in a meaningful manner.\u00a0 As for me, I will continue to sign my letters and correspondence with a blessing.\u00a0 My deepest desire is that you now will know what I mean when I bless you!<\/p>\n<p>May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; Pastor Cecil<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 103:1-2 &#8220;Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!\u00a0 Bless (affectionately praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits&#8221;\u00a0 (Amplified Bible). The concept of blessing has come to hold more meaning to me than ever before. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}