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Double Blessings!
Contributed by Bala Samson on Aug 28, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: The insights gleaned through the sufferings and agony in the life of Job is humongous! Through sufferings, pain and agony, we sure have invisible blessings!
More!
Job 42:12”And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.”
The insights gleaned through the sufferings and agony in the life of Job is humongous! Through sufferings, pain and agony, we sure have invisible blessings! The enormity of the harvest of blessings in the life of Job towards the end of sufferings, points us to the rich investments that Job made in his life: righteousness, holiness, godliness and passion for God. This abundance is available for all of us provided we go through the process! I repeat the process! What is the process? Righteousness, holiness, godliness and passion for God! Are you listening?
Friend, I liked the word ‘more’ so I titled this message as more! Yep, I need more of God and more of His blessings too! Who would not want more?? Tell me. Back during the period that I worked for a bank, I have watched the long faces of the Senior Executives on the day of salary and during time of appraisals; they needed more. Contentment is not anywhere in their life! Youngsters enter college not with the desire to acquire ‘more’ knowledge but they dream of earning ‘more’ towards the end of the degree course. World Tennis champions Novak Djokovic or seven-time champion Roger Federer are never content with the trophies, accolades that they have amassed, they want more! The strategy of the world to acquire ‘more’ is totally different to the plan of God! Are you listening?
The world believes in hanging around the corridors of the bank and financial institutions for loan but God wants you to wait upon Him! The world would do whatever it takes, I repeat whatever and also compromise on values and ethics and walk over people to climb the ladder of success, but God wants you to be humble, simple and noble like Job. We need to meticulously read the 42 chapters of the book of Job (pretty tough) and never give up in the middle but wait until you get to the last chapter to understand the colossal power of God! Riches of Job get doubled! Amen. The more you dig your heels deeper, endure sufferings and trust God to bring you through the storm, mark it – the more would you be rewarded!
I write this message right after spending several hours in His presence today! God put this thought of ‘more’ in my heart! Did you know it is difficult to handle blessings when God opens the windows of heaven? A two-seater car would have been sufficient for Joseph and his wife but God gifted Joseph with the second chariot of king Pharaoh! Glory to Jesus! Genesis 41:43 “he had him (Joseph) ride in a chariot as his second-in-command chariot of Pharaoh!” Hallelujah! My heart is rejoicing as I write this! I’m sure there would have been murmurings in the court of Pharaoh for all the abundance that was given to Joseph: Besides Asenath as the wife of Joseph, Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed Joseph in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.( Genesis 41:42) Joseph got wife, ring, chain, chariot, honor, plum position in the palace and fine garments all on one single day! Ah! AIOP! “All in one package!” Are the Arms of the Lord shortened to bless you? Someone needs to hear this today! When you put God before you, you get AIOP!
It’s one thing to buy a big swanky car through EMI with heavy interest rates, but when you honor God, live a righteous life, seek Him and His glory, honor the Sabbath day and have a close personal relationship with God then He would give you incredible blessings! I repeat incredible! Ask and you shall receive! Joseph silently endured hardship for 13 years, despite hardships Joseph gave his best shot at work and did his duty faithfully inside the prison, never did he grouch or lazily waste his time, Joseph’s integrity and loyalty was observed by God and he was rewarded massively. Amen.
After I resigned my job with a multinational bank, sold my flat and joined the Lord’s services to work for Him, we moved several houses since then; many times I was chided by my family members for selling the flat and moving around like vagabonds. Well, let me tell you the flip side of it, though the first house that we moved into was not pleasant; yet our ministry flourished there. Our meetings conducted in that house overflowed! Now, after we endured the inconvenience in the first house and walked faithfully for Him, God took us to a huge independent place with coconut and papaya trees! Many, many asked, ‘why do you need such a big house?’ Now did I not tell you it is difficult to handle blessings? From there, we relocated to Hyderabad and the house we stayed was a luxury villa! We never looked for villa but God had prepared the place for us! We stayed there just for a year and again moved from there to another lovely, huge, independent house. As we kept moving from one place to another, it kept getting bigger, finer and lovelier! Though I suffered ‘much’, eventually the blessings were much too! Amen. Before I signoff, I want to remind you of the process! Yeah, the process of : righteousness, holiness, godliness and passion for God, in order to attain the ‘more’ blessings in our life!