The Difference Between Nominal and Blessings

Genesis 12:4

So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Abram was one decision away from living a nominal life, but in making the right decision, he discovered God’s richest and greatest blessings for his life. The difference for Abram was that he was willing to leave all to obey God. Though Abram initially departed from his homeland, he did not depart from all his family. Abram brought Lot along with him, which was not what God told him to do. It is interesting to note that it wasn’t until Abram separated from Lot that he found the generational blessing to become a reality.

You are faced with a decision to either live a nominal life or to see God’s greatest blessings on your life, dependent on what you are not willing to leave. What is it that you will not be willing to leave to have God‘s blessings on your life? Whatever it is that you are not willing to leave is what is keeping you from seeing God’s richest blessings on your life. It is not until you are willing to leave ALL that you will see God pour His richest and greatest blessings on your life. Let me talk to you about this huge decision between the nominal and blessings.

First, what God asks you to leave is nothing compared to where He wants to take you. God’s blessings are always far better than anything the world has to offer. Never forget that the greatest offer the world tries to give is penury compared to the blessings God has planned for you. You will never regret turning down what the world has for you when you start experiencing the blessings of God.

Second, it always takes faith to follow God’s challenge to His greatest blessings. God never asks you to do something that does not take faith. Our problem is that we want to live by sight and understand all that God has for us, but that is not faith, and that does not take trust in God. What God asks you to do always takes total trust in God, but nobody has ever trusted God without Him leading them down the pathway of blessings.

Third, the blessings of God stop at the line that you don't obey Him. I don't know, but I wonder if the narrative of Hagar would have happened had Abram obeyed God immediately. I wonder if God would not have given Abram and Sarai a child much earlier had they followed God’s command to leave everything to go to a land where God would make of them a great nation. We will never know, but God’s character tells us that He will not do what He has promised in our lives until everything He asks us to do has been fulfilled. Lot was not part of God’s command; God had to wait until Lot was out of the picture before He could give Abram a child.

Three words are the key to living a nominal life versus a life filled with God’s richest and greatest blessings. Those three words are, So Abram departed. Replace Abram’s name with your name. Have you departed and left ALMOST everything, or have you departed from EVERYTHING to follow what God asks of you to do? If you left almost everything, you will find God’s blessings, but you will not get all of His blessings. However, if you will have the faith to depart from everything, you will find God will pour out all His blessings He has planned for your life. Let me challenge you to leave your family ties, your dreams, your wants, and your plans for God, and when all have been forsaken for God’s plan is when you will depart from the nominal for God’s richest blessings.