It has always been our main purpose as Bless Ministries to help people and ministries understand and receive the blessings of God. God has worked through us, teaching us and revealing to us the many things He does that brings blessings to people. I have shared these things with you through our process of partnership and in the study materials, we make available on our website. Even with all this information, at times it becomes difficult to feel anything is happening or that God is pouring out His blessings when there remain great needs among you. I am always reminded by the Holy Spirit that God is always pouring out blessings but they are not in the forms which people are looking for God to help them. This is because when God is dealing with you personally He is always working for your good to help you and others also.
The first thing God does to pour out his blessings upon a person or a ministry is he builds a relationship with them. God wants to give your relationship before he gives you things.
[Eph 4:4 NKJV] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. . .
[1Th 1:3 NKJV]. .remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. . .
[2Th 2:16 NKJV] Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace. . .
We go to God and ask him for things because we have needs. He wants us to ask him for our needs:
[Mat 6:8 NKJV] "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
[Mat 7:7 NKJV] "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
[Mat 21:22 NKJV] "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
But what God wants for us more than anything is to seek him in relationship first, then he will help us in the things we have need of. When you first started learning of God, did he give you things or was he helping you to learn who he is? Then as you became more knowledgeable about who God is, He started answering your prayers.
[Eph 1:18 NKJV] . . .the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. . .
If you accepted the information God was giving you, he will give you more, growing you in relationship with him. If you rejected the information, you became stagnate or rebellious, and the relationship is not growing.
[Col 1:23, 27 NKJV] 23. . .if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. . . 27 To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We must be sensitive to the move of God in people and through ministries, because relationship with God is not about things or stuff, it is all about learning who He is and learning to love Him. In this process, we learn to trust God for all that He has promised us.
[Heb 10:23 NKJV] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Our needs are never just about us. His promises to you are never just about you, but they include the many others God is going to bless because of your need. When God fulfills your need he is always giving you what you need so that it will be a greater part of many other people's fulfillment also. Our Lord uses many things at one time to accomplish many more things that we may not even be aware of yet.
A good example of this was shown to me yesterday in our church service. My wife and I are members of Life Church of Mobile. During the service, a video was shown that told the story about our worship pastor, Matthew Howard, receiving a guitar last year and the wonderful way God worked through the manufacturer to get this instrument given to our worship pastor as a gift. Matthew was in need of a guitar because he had to sell his so he could buy his wife a car. His wife's car was no longer usable and she needed another car. Matthew's instruments have always been expensive because he uses them so much, he needs high quality so last a long time. Matthew was using a borrowed instrument at the time so he ordered a new guitar through this manufacture that was very expensive. He had put the down payment on the order and was saving up to pay for the instrument once it was finished. To receive a finished instrument from this manufacturer takes about a year. Not long after the order was placed Matthew had to cancel the order because a water pipe busted in his house and now he had to make repairs on his house instead of putting money into the purchase of the guitar. When Matthew called to cancel the order the owner of the guitar company was moved in his spirit by the Lord to secretly make the guitar for him anyway. Last year they brought the guitar to Matthew and presented it to him as a surprise in one of our church services. The video shown yesterday, February 25, 2018, was about this story.
Matthew went on to share after the video, how discouraged he had become in ministry and that morning before the surprise presentation he had laid on his face crying out to God, asking for the Lord to show himself to Matthew and revive his spirit. Five hours later God showed Matthew how He had been working for Matthew's benefit through people to answer Matthew's need. The owner of the guitar company was present to explain how this story shows God's character worked in the lives of many people just to get this instrument to Matthew. The owner shared how he too was discouraged with his business and God used giving this guitar as a gift to encourage him also. Matthew's own mother shared how she wanted to have the means to pay for the guitar once she learned he had canceled the order for the instrument. She shared that if she had the money to pay for the instrument all these connections would never have been completed through the hand of God. All these relationships with God would not have grown and would have been missed if the mother had the means to pay for this very expensive guitar. We learned through this story that God is not holding back blessings, He is actually pushing through to build blessings when you think nothing is going on.
I shared all this with you today so you would understand, God builds relationships with people first, then he starts filling the needs they have. As God is filling the needs of people, He is building relationships between people and between them and God, all at the same time.
This is why I encourage you to not give up on the hope we have in Jesus Christ. Understand that just because God has not fulfilled his promise to me for finances to help in your ministry, does not mean God is not using Bless Ministries to bring blessings into your life and ministry. All the emails, all the study materials, all the certificates of licenses and endorsements, all the web pages, and all the prayers we offer up for you daily, are so your relationship with God will continue to flourish while we continue standing in faith for all your needs according to God's good pleasure. All of these things are continuously bringing us closer to each other as God pours out His blessings upon you and me.
This is why we can say,
[Eph 1:18 NKJV] . . .the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. . .
Be encouraged that God has not slowed down at all. Keep looking for your answers as we all continue to pray and seek our provider in all things.
Here is our prayer for you today:
"Thank you, Heavenly Father, that in all things you keep us by your grace. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that in all things you are perfecting us to be like you. I pray now for our partners in ministry, that you will reveal to them your presence and that you will pour out your blessings upon them, making these things known to them Oh Lord! Great and powerful are you our God and we love you. May our hearts seek your will to answer our prayers, and may we have the patience to carry it out in love for all people. Fulfill in us your will Oh God!. .that we become your blessings to those you allow us to minister to. We love you and praise you, dear Lord! In the name of Jesus Christ! Amen!"