"May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has yielded its increase,

God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;

let all the ends of the earth fear him!"

-Psalm 67

What separates us from or brings us to God is not material. It's neither prosperity nor poverty theology, but rather it's praise theology. Celebrate your blessings, for material blessings are from the Lord.

Blessing is motivation for adoration.

God is gracious to us, is He not? In the psalm above, David says "make your face shine upon us." He is wanting face to face contact with God himself. This means he's wanting intimacy, relationship, and closeness with the Lord. People of the Old Testament were fearful of being in the direct presence of God; they shielded their own faces from His, scared they would die from seeing His holy face. In this passage, David was saying "I don't want Your stuff, I just want You." Our blessings are not THE reason to adore God, but rather motivation to.

Blessing is an invitation for demonstration.

David uses a communal nature in this particular psalm; be gracious to us, bless us, shine upon us. He lets go of his individualistic lens, the one so many of us have today, applying the psalm to "all the ends of the earth". God wants us to show off our blessings. He wants us to demonstrate His graciousness. 

His mission: salvation to the ends of the earth. He works for that mission through the blessings He provides us with. What are your blessings and how are you representing them? Use your blessings to bless others, thus blessing the mission of the Lord. 

Have you ever noticed that God always introduces Himself as someone's God? Like in Exodus 3:6 He says, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  Who do your blessings serve; our mission or God's mission? Would God introduce himself to someone saying He's your God?

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My pastor Gavin Johnson from CityLight Church preached a beautiful sermon on the above, following it with a story better told than this:

Gavin got a call from his wife saying come home. His 3 year old son was sick, and his wife needed another hand in cleaning up after him and taking care of their newborn. As a pastor at a new church, Gavin had a lot to do. He cleared the rest of his schedule and left to go home. On the way home he made a stop at the party store. He asked the lady behind the counter for the biggest balloon they had. Gavin walked out of the store with a 4 foot, big shiny red Lightning McQueen balloon and $12 less in his wallet. Did you know there's a helium shortage? He drives the rest of the way home, walks in and leaves the balloon in the living room before going to Grady's room. He walks in and asks his paled son how he's doing. Weakly, Grady says he's doing okay. Poor kid. Then Gavin says "I got you something!" Immediately color floods Grady's face, as does his 3 year old smile. Gavin retrieves the balloon and returns to the bedroom, presenting this obnoxious, overpriced because of the helium shortage, balloon. Grady, in all of his excitement, hugs his dad, not his balloon. 

We, in all of our excitement about receiving our blessings, should hug our Father, the giver, instead of the blessings themselves. 

Are you taking inventory or counting your blessings? Are you hugging balloons or hugging the One who gave them to you?