CAN GOD GIVE AND THEN TAKE AWAY HIS BLESSINGS… BUT WHY? Please refer to my story of stolen items on Friday… Ask any parent why do they work hard? I am sure they would say to be able to provide for their children by giving them the best education, the best health care, the best of anything that money can buy. And they do all these because they love them and want to see them enjoy their childhood and have a secured future [through education]. In Matthew 7:11 the bible say “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him”. And there are so many places in the bible that shows how He cares for all our needs emotional, financial, physical, spiritual etc. 1. Romans 8: 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 2. 3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3. Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 4. Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us 5. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. When God provides for us whether it is our health, air that we breathe, jobs, spouse, education, peace, joy, career, children, homes etc I call them blessings with a capital B. Receiving all these things isn’t our right and it isn’t because we’ve worked very hard so we deserve them. But like any good parent, God blesses us to show us His love. It is for His glory, He likes seeing us enjoying His creation. He also wants us to share our blessings with others too. Would you parent take away a present that you gave your child especially after seeing how much s/he was happy to receive it? Likewise God wouldn’t promise and bless us and go through all these trouble and even script it for us to read, meditate and believe in only to take them away form us. He would be a cruel and insensitive Father won’t He? What exactly is my point? Last week my hand luggage was broken into [at Nairobi airport] and although I didn’t want to mention what was stolen but God spoke to me over the weekend to share this with you. 2 watches were stolen from my hand luggage that I had stupidly decided to check in [my own fault – for putting valuables in a checked in bag]. This of course had upset me not because of their value but for sentimental reasons – both were gifts from my husband and one was given to me just 5 days before it was stolen. When something like this happens, I always ask myself why has it happened? I have traveled countless times and I’ve even had 2 bags broken into at the same time and nothing was stolen? I believed God was saying something to me- teaching, rebuking, correcting, warning 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. I started asking myself what is the spiritual implication to this? Where did I leave a door open to let the devil in and struck me? We all know that scripture in John 10:10 that says the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy… so in a sense he has stolen my watches to destroy my peace but also for God to warn me... God knew how happy I was to receive those watches [blessings] and I am 100% sure that it was Him blessing me through my husband, so why did He allow the devil to struck? A few weeks ago teacher Mwakasege had a crusade at Jangwani and his teaching was about how God can move you from one level to another through your giving. God spoke to me through his teachings. Let me give you a bit of my background…. I worked as a Trade Development Manager at the British High Commission [BHC] for almost 10 years till April 2012. Whilst there I had a regular income so I would give tithe [10% of what I earn] at the end of each month without fail [I had a good income so I was used to give a large sum of money as tithe]. Now as a self-employed person my income is small, still growing and is irregular. So rather than taking a small amount today and then next week, I tend to wait until I get a large sum to take to church. You might say what is wrong with this, at least you are tithing?? WRONG!!!! This is where God spoke to me through Mwakasege. When you give tithe/offering it has to be an exact amount, at the exact/specific time and sometimes God will speak to you to give to a specific person and if you go against what He has directed you to, it means you are stealing from Him. In Malachi 3:8-11 God promised to bless my life IF I tithe my income and if I dont return tithes and offerings I am defrauding/robbing Him. Malachi 3:8-11: Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.” But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Mwakasege gave an example along these lines: A girl in Mkuranga Orphanage could be praying for school fees and God promises her the fees before the school opens and she gets peace that God will provide. God then speaks to me to give $200 to a girl in Mkuranga or to Mkuranga orphanage, or give to our church [as tithe] because our vision is to help orphans in Mkuranga. But as I am still waiting to get lump sum cash from my businesses, it takes time to reach the girl who might be asked to leave the school. So although in the end I might have given tithe/offering but did I do it when I was expected to/on time? God might have spoken to somebody else to pay for that girl’s fees but this means my blessings will be affected. How does my blessing get affected ? When God decides not to protect it. Have you ever wondered why there are times you are spending more than your budget/unplanned spending? – a sick child, parent, spouse, car breaks down and needs repair, bereavements and even wedding contributions etc? Or maybe whatever business venture you are going into doesn’t work, a tender that you try to get doesn’t materialize, a spouse that you are hoping for keeps evading you, a job that you are vying for doesn’t come through? Whatever you are trying to do is a struggle? We dont know what God wants for our lives, unless we be SILENT and LISTEN to Him, and whatever His will, will be done, and this will give us peace that surpasses any understanding BUT sometimes it is best to check our lives - what door we have left open for the devil to walk through and attack those areas/blessings. When I was relaying this story to other parents at our children’s school, one lady who also traveled from Dar to Nairobi the same day had a new phone in a checked in suitcase and it hadn’t been stolen. I knew then God wanted me to hear her story and also to show me that He could have prevented my watches from being stolen if He had wanted to. Malachi 3:11 says I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, ” says the Lord Almighty. God blesses us in small and big things in the ordinary moments of our lives. Time and again we forget that when things work and go well – God has provided for us. That when we have a life partner, or a religious community, that when we have children or parents - God provides for us. That the privilege to work, or to eat or to get a good night’s sleep are all ways in which God provides for us here in the simple and ordinary things of life. When we work hard and something goes right, or when we see the result of our work or our energy, we feel proud and pleased. We take it for granted that it is because we built it right, or its part of a good system or we chalk it up to efficiency, or our own intelligence or skill. And it may be! But it is also God providing for us. Even the best system sometimes fails, as we saw with the terrible Concorde plane. We need to remember that underneath our efficiency and skill, is God and if we go against His commands He detaches Himself from us and let us take control of our lives… and we all know what happens if GOD IS NOT IN CONTROL or IN CHARGE OF OUR LIVES…... This article took longer than I had anticipated. I started writing it immediately when God spoke to me over the weekend, but it reached a point when I felt the Lord wasn’t with me in it [was I properly listening to His instructions on what to write?] … so I took two days off from it. Like tithe, and offerings, God wants to see how obedient we are, He has given me time to use for His glory, but how am I spending my time? Did He want to speak to someone through this article maybe on Monday and here I am delivering it on Friday? God is looking for people who are obedient, faithful, available, and ready to be used for His glory and if we abide in Him, He will shower us with His blessings and will protect what He blesses us with… You might say what is the connection between giving, tithing, and loosing money/valuables? Please note, this isn’t “health-wealth gospel or commonly known as prosperity preaching” some evangelists who are the primary propagators of the idea that it is always God’s will for all Christians to be perfectly healthy and financially wealthy. The essential message of the health-wealth gospel is that if you give money, God is obligated to bless you with health and wealth. If you give money, but are not blessed with health and wealth, you either did not give enough money, or do not have enough faith to truly receive the blessing. In this, health-wealth evangelists encourage people to give large sums of money, while preemptively explaining why the people are not blessed with health and wealth as they were promised. I believe tithing/giving are Christian’s doctrines that we OUGHT to know and understand very well [so that we don’t get duped by those preachers that say come, give and you will be blessed] but follow the bible and diligently obey the word to allow God to BE GOD through HIS PROTECTION and BLESSINGS. To answer my original question... CAN GOD TAKE AWAY HIS BLESSING? NO.. but if we leave a door open for the devil to walk into our lives it means we are basically asking God to move out of our lives. So He will take away His provisions with him, including security ... and in the process His blessings to us will also be affected. Have a good day
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 07:27:18 +0000
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