I think we need to redefine the word “blessed,” in the Christian world. The scriptural word means to “be fortunate,” “to be well off.” Now this has long been associated with material things. Yet as always, context matters, it gives meaning to the words that we use. Consider the most famous of all uses of this word, when Jesus uses it in the Beatitudes. The context gives us the meaning. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger, blessed are those who thirst. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart and the peacemakers. Blessed are the righteous who are persecuted. Blessed are the reviled. Given who Jesus says are blessed, do you still want to be blessed?
If it means “drawing closer to God,” then to be blessed is to walk the narrow path that leads through the valley. To shine like the morning sun in the midnight hour is to testify of God’s blessing upon your life. To look upon material gain as a measure of God’s blessing is to find ourselves in the same ranks as Job’s friends. That’s not to say the Lord cannot bless us materially for His own purposes, it’s just to say that it carries no particular anointing. Consider the words of Peter when he says “silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to thee.” Peter gave to the cripple out of the abundance of what he had. There are very few today who could say the same as Peter, perhaps that is just one of the reasons we see so little of the miraculous.
How long have we associated the word blessed with some kind of material increase? How far we have fallen from believing we are blessed when we are hungry, thirsty, hated and reviled. What blessings fell upon Paul and Silas in the midnight hour having been hated and tortured and imprisoned for His name sake. See the blessings pour forth from heaven and shake the earth. How blessed was brother Stephen as the cruel stones rained down upon his mortal body and the heavens themselves parted and he was caught up in his heavenly vision. Where are the men and woman of today who count it all blessing and all joy when they fall into various trials, knowing just how much the testing of their faith produces. It produces glory to God as they stand upon their faith and become a living testimony to the power of their heavenly Father.
A Call To The Remnant 