Is it your hope to see God’s continued blessing in 2025? Does your expectation need some adjustment? What if the Lord’s goal is for you to be “overtaken” by His goodness?
Sometimes, life doesn’t work out as we might have hoped. In fact, each of us could echo what David said in Psalm 27:13: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Not only is His promise reliable; it is better than we might expect. Amazingly, God wants to bless us—even more than we want to be blessed. His goal for us is to be overtaken by His goodness.
An Encouraging Study
Dick’s comments: One of my favorite worship songs is a tune called “The Goodness of God,” and I sing it frequently. On a regular basis, I ask myself whether what I am singing and proclaiming is scripturally true. That was my thought about one of the lines in this song: “Your goodness is runnin’ after—it’s runnin’ after me.”
Is the thought expressed in that lyric biblically true and sound? Am I really being pursued by God’s goodness? Does it indeed “overtake” us? These questions prompted an in-depth study of the term “overtake” in the Bible—with really encouraging results!
As a starting point, the first verse I studied is one that is very familiar to us: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” (Psalm 23:6). Checking the actual Hebrew word in Strong’s, I discovered that the original word David used for “follow” has a very aggressive meaning—almost as if God’s goodness is pursuing us!
God’s Loving Benefits
Philip’s comments: Picking up on the thought Dick has just shared, I reflected on some of Derek Prince’s classic teaching on blessings and curses. If we obey the Lord’s direction for our lives, here is the promised result: “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you” (Deut. 28:2). There’s that word again: overtake.
As we think of the list of promised blessings in Deuteronomy 28:3–14, it almost seems too good to be true. Perhaps we need to change our perspective from one of barely squeaking by in life to an expectation of being overwhelmed by God’s loving benefits. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us—pursue us and overtake us.”
The chilling contrast to this promise of overwhelming blessings is what the Word says about the curses that come upon those who disobey. Same words, but much worse: “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God” (v. 45).
What will be our choice? Let’s set our face to be overtaken by God’s goodness!
Accelerated Blessings
Both: Another passage we considered along the lines of being pursued and overtaken is this unusual promise from Amos 9:13: “’Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed.’”
This is a different Hebrew word for “overtake” than the one David used in Psalm 23. But the implication of God’s promise is that His blessing will be so accelerated and plentiful that it will be hard to keep up with it. The Amplified Version inserts this comment: “for the harvest continues until planting time.”
The picture from Amos 9 is of such blessing on the crops that they will continue to flourish and overflow without interruption. Wouldn’t this be a healthy, positive mental image for each of us to carry into 2025? One of being overtaken by God’s goodness?
A Natural Result
How do we adjust our perspective on God’s goodness and blessing? In a radio message entitled “Claiming Our Inheritance, Part 1,” Derek Prince shares some additional insights on the Deuteronomy passage we examined previously.
The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy sets forth two opposite possibilities. First of all, the blessings that will come upon us if we walk in humility and obedience toward God. Secondly, the curses that will come upon us if we walk in stubbornness, pride, and disobedience toward God. These two alternatives are set forth for us very clearly here in the 28th chapter.
In the first two verses, Moses says: 1) “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2) All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God” (NASB95).
Please notice that when we walk in obedience, we don’t have to pursue the blessings of God—the blessings overtake us. Blessing naturally results from obedience to God. God has ordered the universe according to that law.
Changing Our Mindset
How do we align ourselves with the concept of Derek’s teaching? For some of us, it is not easy to believe the Lord wants to pursue us with His blessings. If that is you, it may take God’s help to accept this as true. Let’s ask Him together for that help now.
Lord, for some reason, it is hard for me to believe and accept that You want to overtake me with Your goodness and blessing. It seems almost too good to be true. Even so, Lord, I realize I need to change my perspective.
Help me, dear Lord, to clear my mind and spirit of the persistent accusations that tell me You want to punish me rather than to bless me. I reject those thoughts, in the Name of Jesus. Instead, I accept the truth of Your Word, that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. I trust You, Lord, and believe that this will be my experience in 2025. Amen.
No More Doubts
With this prayer, we have shifted the boundaries in our thinking. No longer will we be hampered by doubts about the Lord’s intent for us. He is pursuing us to do us good!
It takes a degree of discipline to live in this truth, and all of us here at Derek Prince Ministries want to help in this process. In this regard, we have found Derek’s teaching materials to be of tremendous assistance to people all over the world. Please let us supply you with the encouragement you need, starting with the full message from which we took Derek’s quote: “Claiming Our Inheritance, Part 1." (Just use the download link below.)
It is our great honor to serve you as you grow and thrive in your relationship with the Lord Jesus. We are happy to provide whatever resources you may need to be successful in that pursuit. It is our way of thanking you for your gifts and your prayers.
Pursue and Overtake
There is one more biblical example we want to share as we conclude this letter, and we hope it will encourage you. It is the story of David at Ziklag from 1 Samuel 30.
This incident from David’s life contains many amazing and inspiring insights, but it also contains the words which have been our focus here: pursuing and overtaking. The context of the story should encourage us as well. David was facing a huge setback in his life. So, he took time to draw close to the Lord, asking Him these questions: “Should I pursue these enemies who have done me wrong? Will I overtake them?”
The same words—pursue and overtake—but different sides of the same coin. David ultimately succeeded and was overtaken by God’s goodness. However, similar to our own life experiences from time to time, David had to first address the difficult circumstance, receiving strength from the Lord to pursue and overtake his enemies.
In connection with the blessing and success the Lord wants to bring to us in the coming year, let’s consider these same questions. Does the Lord want us to pursue His will for our lives? YES. Will we be successful in coming into His purpose? YES.
As we respond to Him in 2025, let’s expect to be overtaken by God’s goodness.
Sincerely in Christ,
Philip Wyns
President, DPM-USA
All the best,
Dick Leggatt
Executive Consultant/Senior Editor
