Do God’s blessings continue?

You may have been thinking, pondering, or wrestling with a question many people ask: Does God still want to bless me despite my failures and shortcomings? Especially living in a world where recognition and promotions often follow a consistent track record of performance. The answer becomes clearer when we understand what the Bible says about blessing. In this blog, I want to share a few ideas to help us understand, from Scripture, what blessing truly means and whether God’s blessings stop or continue when we fall short. So, let’s dive right in.

Knowing God’s heart

The first thing we need to magnify and be secure in is the love and the heart of God towards His children. When we have a greater understanding of agape love (the highest kind of love in Greek), we tend to question God’s intentions less.

Throughout my life, I’ve learned that when I need something important, it’s better to ask someone I know well and who cares about me rather than someone who isn’t close to me or who doesn’t truly have a heart for me.
This is because it becomes much easier and more effective to ask for something when I know the person well, as it increases the chances that they will help me when I approach them.

I remember when I was graduating from high school, my class planned a few-day trip to Whistler, renting a limo and staying at a hotel. I really wanted to go, but the cost was too high, so I didn’t think I could afford it. I told my friends I couldn’t make it because we were new to Canada and money was tight, so I didn’t want to ask my parents because I thought I knew their response. One day, my mom found out that all my friends were going, but I wasn’t. She asked me why I wasn’t going, and I explained that I didn’t have the money, so I decided not to go. She didn’t say anything to me at that time, but at night, when my father came home, he called me into the living room and handed me an envelope. I opened it and saw some money in it, and I asked what this was. He said it’s money for your graduation, buy something or do whatever you like. My dad had just started working part-time, and he gave me all of his paycheck. This meant a lot to me, and this act revealed a deeper love of my dad and mom towards me and the heart they have for me. Even in the toughest times, they went out of their way to support me and to ensure I lack nothing. In the same manner, we also need to search and seek our heavenly Father’s heart and to know his desire and plans for us. When we know the truth about His heart, we build our understanding of blessing on that foundation rather than on our own perspective.

One of my favourite scriptures that helps me understand God’s heart is from the book of Jeremiah 29:11, which states, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Whenever I fall for any reason, and my mind begins to wander or question, or when the enemy (Satan) tries to deceive me into doubting God’s love for me, I remind myself of this passage and the promises He has made. By recalling His promises, it feels as if the foundation beneath me starts to solidify again. It also reminds me that God’s ultimate plan for us is not to harm us but to prosper, to give hope, and to provide a future. These are the beautiful words from the Psalms that describe God’s unfailing love for his children.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12 (NIV)

As you might know, unlike north and south, which meet at the poles, when you start travelling east around the Earth, you will always continue east and never reach a point where east becomes west. Similarly, God’s mercy and love for His children have driven the transgressions of His children away from them because that is the very nature of God. Now that we have briefly measured the love of God and discovered His abundant love for His people, let’s see what God Himself considers a blessing.

Blessing according to the Bible

Let’s begin by recognizing that we are humans with needs and desires for ourselves and our children. As fathers, we are called to provide and bring stability and security to our households. After all, God commanded men to be providers (Timothy 5:8) and to ensure stability for our children and future generations (Proverbs 13:22). So, God is not opposed to blessing us materially; however, that is not His only focus because His blessings run much deeper than material possessions. Unfortunately, most people associate blessings with material things. They see blessing as having a house, driving a nice car, going on holidays two to three times a year, living in a better neighbourhood, kids attending the best schools, the bills being paid, and the main way they define being blessed is having a full bank account. However, when we look at the Bible as a whole, the main blessing of all is our salvation and the restored relationship with God. The other blessings are His presence, peace, wisdom, strength, courage, and more. God blessed us with these gifts because He knew we would need them more than anything. Life is full of challenges and storms, and Jesus warned that each day has its own troubles (Matthew 6:34).

Because there are storms in life and we have a sinful nature, we will fall short of the glory of God and sin. This is a fact, and God is fully aware of it; for this reason, He said I must go so that the helper (Holy Spirit) can come to you. (John 16:7). Jesus gifting us with the Holy Spirit to guide us in every aspect of our lives is a supernatural blessing. While we face these challenges with our sinful nature, by not walking in His will, being ignorant of His voice, being driven by our desires, or resisting His direction, we might delay some of God’s blessings or miss some because we are not yet ready and need some discipline.

However, we must acknowledge that the blessings of His presence remain with us, His guidance striving to keep us on track, the wisdom to avoid repeating the same mistakes, and the learning to submit our desires to His will, being our strength when we feel weak and our hope in the storms—are blessings that never cease to rain upon us. Joel 2:25 reads “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten the great locust and the young locust,the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you.” If you’re regretting the past and the mistakes you made that kept you from receiving God’s blessing, He has promised that, even after loss or a missed season, He can restore what was missed or taken away. The word of God clearly reveals to us that God’s blessings will never stop flowing into our lives. It all depends on our perspective and on how we understand and view what a blessing is and how it flows. 

In conclusion, the Lord we serve has an abundant love for His children. A Father with such a heart would never forsake them or allow them to be deprived of His blessings. His plan for them is to provide a hope and a future.