Deuteronomy 11:26-32 CJB “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse — ²⁷ the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ and the curse, if you don’t listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known. ²⁹ “When Adonai your God brings you into the land you are entering in order to take possession of it, you are to put the blessing on Mount G’rizim and the curse on Mount ‘Eival. ³⁰ Both are west of the Yarden, in the direction of the sunset, in the land of the Kena‘ani living in the ‘Aravah, across from Gilgal, near the pistachio trees of Moreh. ³¹ For you are to cross the Yarden to enter and take possession of the land Adonai your God is giving you; you are to own it and live in it. ³² And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 CJB ““If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, ^3 (2) and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ ^4 (3) you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For Adonai your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love Adonai your God with all your heart and being.”

We want to be blessed by the Lord but do we want to be blessed in the Lord? 1 Timothy 6:6-11 CJB “Now true religion does bring great riches, but only to those who are content with what they have. ⁷ For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it; ⁸ so if we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. ⁹ Furthermore, those whose goal is to be rich fall into temptation; they get trapped in many foolish and hurtful ambitions which plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pains.¹¹ But you, as a man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”

If we try to turn the blessing into a formula it will become a curse to us. We don’t have to work the system when we walk with the Lord in obedience. God’s system of blessing works, and he loves us enough not to give us a blessing that will trip us up.

After Moses gives the boundaries of the blessing and the curse, he warns against false prophets. Only one book in the New Testament does not warn against false prophets, the book of Philemon. When we hear falsehood, we get tripped up, which is a blessing robber. Moses warns that even if someone prophecies correctly but leads you to another God, you are still not to listen to that person.

Many in the Church today are enamored with prophecy, signs and wonders, and personal words from God. This is dangerous because many have begun to emphasize these things more than the Scriptures. Now, we would all say the Word is first but if you look at the preachers and the prophets who emphasize signs and wonders, we notice the emphasis isn’t on Scripture but on the spectacular. 

The most supernatural work of the Spirit of God is not to cause someone to speak in tongues, shake, or roll on the floor, but to regenerate the heart of a sinner and lead the Christian in holiness.

Let’s heed the words of Scripture and look to the one who blesses and not for a blessing. Let’s look to the Scriptures and not for the supernatural. We are in days where we are seeing many turn from the true gospel to things like critical race theory, and charismatic craziness such as trips to heaven in which people bring back unbiblical revelation. May we be a people that stay close to the Spirit by staying close to the Word. I pray we are not led astray by false blessings or false prophecies.