Blessings - New Year's Service
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January 25, 2009 |
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 "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. All these blessings will come upon you ... Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out" (Deuteronomy 28:1-6).
The word "blessings" resonates well in anyone's ears. However, the difference in the concept of "blessing" of which worldly people think and of which God's children think is vast. What good would the blessings of which worldly people speak do if they fail to inherit heaven? It will also be disappointing if one does inherit heaven but his rewards there are small. Therefore, God's children must fix their eyes not only on the visible blessings of this world but also on the eternal rewards and glory of heaven.
People whose souls prosper will not only receive great blessings in heaven but also experience the prosperity in every aspect of their lives and good health (3 John 2). By examining and mapping out a life in which you can receive such blessings, I urge you to desire even more not only the visible blessings of this world but also the eternal rewards and glory.
1. How much have you sown before God?
When an individual fixes his eyes on the blessings he will receive in heaven and sows by faith his wealth, time, devotion, and heart, they will bear fruit for him even in this world. However, the bearing of fruit can come at different times for different people and the same seed can produce fruit of different sizes.
One cannot expect a harvest without sowing. Looking to reap a harvest without having sown anything is no different from an individual who waits for an apple to fall into his mouth from a tree. No one should expect a good harvest after having sown a bad seed. For this reason, a farmer leaves behind the best of his seeds for the following season. Lastly, no one ought to anticipate a large amount of crops after having sown little. After having planted seeds in only 10% of his field, it makes no sense for a farmer to expect crops from the other 90% of the field.
Galatians 6:7 tells us, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap," while 2 Corinthians 9:6 reminds us, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
Here, the expression "sow" refers not only to one's wealth but also to every aspect of his life including prayer, faithfulness, gratitude, and joy. Without sowing wealth, prayer, and faithfulness, one can never receive God's blessings. Even if he has sown a great deal of wealth, God's blessings for him may be slow in coming because it is God's will and His whole blessings to bless people whose spirits prosper.
God accepts not just the deed but the fragrance of one's heart embedded in that act. Only when an individual sows by faith and by hope can he bear the fruit of blessings as God receives the fragrance of his heart. People who merely follow others in sowing before God will have done so not on account of their own faith or hope, and can thus give up easily when the fruit is not borne. Others may have diligently sown but end up spilling all the blessings due them on account of their lips; they uproot the seeds they had sown and diminish the rewards they had accumulated through words of complaint, grumbling, and negative confessions. Therefore, it is necessary for an individual to examine whether or not what he has sown is proper not from his own perspective but from God's perspective; only when he sows properly can he bear proper blessings.
Moreover, when sowing before God with wealth, the offering must be proper and blameless (Leviticus 22:20-22). One must never sow wealth he has gained or accumulated in an unrighteous manner, and he cannot sow either reluctantly or in a miserly manner. If you feel that you have sown enough to warrant God's blessings, you must examine whether or not you have sown before Him voluntarily and in joy.
When people sow properly before God, He will bless them an hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold, or pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Of course, the more one sows, the more God allows him to reap. "Sowing more," however, is not a measurement taken in relative to or against someone else.
For some, two copper coins – certainly a small amount – may be all that they have. Some may pray for a short period of time but try to make most of the time and pray from their hearts; others may be assigned small God-given duties but devote themselves with an attitude of service. As God is aware of the situation and state of each person, He will not deem "small" when he pours the fragrance of his heart in faith, love, and hope.
2. Have you looked to everything by faith without mixing fleshly thoughts?
Even the people of this world believe that when seeds are sown, they will bear fruit. If they are asked to sow in the invisible kingdom of heaven, most of them will doubt and be reluctant. However, by faith we trust in God's Word and sow before Him even if nothing can be seen (Hebrews 11:1).
From the moment I met God, I have believed in His Word that said He surely allows us to reap after we have sown, and delighted in sowing before Him. I always went above and beyond in sowing before Him.
Even after the founding of Manmin, I have sown before Him to nurture pastors and Performing Arts teams, and for national evangelization and world mission. I did so not because I could spare or afford it, because I needed a large number of pastors right away, or because I was in dire need of Performing Arts teams. The fruit of national evangelization and world mission, at the time, was out of reach. Trusting only in God's Word and fixing my eyes on its fulfillment, I sowed before Him. For that reason, I did not stop the mission work and instead displayed even greater faith especially things were difficult. Never have I once harbored such fleshly thoughts as, "When will I see the fruit?" or "Will I ever be able to see the fruit?" Moreover, I have sown for the Grand Sanctuary of which God has spoken since the time of the founding not only with wealth but also with unceasing prayer. Of course, I have never once thought, 'Could the Grand Sanctuary actually be built?" I have always believed that at the time of His choosing, God with whom noting is impossible will fulfill that which He has spoken.
While it is in violation of God's righteousness to expect to reap without sowing anything, the same can be said of the inability to believe and instead doubt on account of one's fleshly thoughts. Therefore, it is extremely important in any circumstances to fix one's eyes on God's Word without mixing fleshy thoughts.
God tells us in 2 Chronicles 20:20b, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed." Receiving God's blessings and His answers to our prayers must be preceded by our trusting in Lord God and in prophets who proclaim His Word.
In the middle of a 3-year drought in Israel, a widow in Zarephath obeyed the words of Prophet Elijah when it was almost impossible to do so. On account of the severe drought, it was not certain when or if she could find more food and all she had left at the time was only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar. That was to equal in value to her very own life. As she offered such precious food to Elijah, God made sure that He blessed her pressed down, shaken together, and running over (1 Kings 17:13-16). No matter how contradictory the words of a prophet ran against the reality and her own thoughts, the widow obeyed him nonetheless and ended up receiving God's magnificent blessings.
3. Have you felt God's love amidst the trials?
In guiding this church and me, God has not always done so in peace and in comfort; He actually brought difficulties upon us. However, each time we overcame the trials one by one by faith, perseverance, and love, God placed us on the path to even greater blessings.
In order for seeds sown in the ground to grow and bear fruit, they must withstand the harsh rains, winds, storms, and the threat of vermin. Coming forth as the wheat requires the process of trials. Only the wheat that has overcome the trials will be the joy and the fruit of blessings for the farmer.
Even though the trials themselves can prove overwhelming at the time, once everything has passed people will see that all had taken place by God's love by which He seeks to mold us into His true children and the wheat of the best quality.
This applies to every aspect of life. Prior to giving us whole blessings, God makes sure each of us endure trials. Just as a gold medalist will feel most worthwhile to have toiled and trained, believers will understand the immeasurably precious value of God's blessings amidst their trials. Blessings of wealth, blessings entitled to people as God's workers, and blessings for people who carry out God's duties will be deemed all the more precious only after they have undergone the process of trials.
However, true thanksgiving will be made only after we have entered heaven. As we look upon the heaven that is incomparable to what we had sown before God and done for Him, we will be overwhelmed by God's love. We will then shed tears of joy and thanksgiving for the love of God who has transformed us through trials in this world and pays us back with whole blessings in heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, by understanding God's Providence in this new year in which the glory of God, the origin of all blessings, is spread to all corners of the globe, may each of you come forth as an heir to His blessings, in the name of Our Lord I bless!
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