Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,
and shaken together, and running over,…
Luke 6:38
The consistent message of my recent articles: Overspiritualizing Things and Deliver The Bread, have been emphasizing the truth that we don’t just pray and sit on our butts to wait for the blessings of The Lord to come. We have to respond to God’s call in order to grab God’s blessings for us. The life of the Christian is not what some people imagine that we have discovered and freed a genie and this powerful being is now under our command. We say to this genie: “heal me” and we get healed. We pray “Lord, prosper me” and we expect to win the lottery.
I get reminded of my frustrations on this because there are plenty who keep complaining that after all their “faith” “trust” and prayers: “where is my blessing?” comes the question from all those left frustrated and waiting. This is retranslated as:
“where is that answer to my prayer?”
“where is my big break?”
“I have been praying for a boy friend but he’s nowhere to be found?”
“I have been praying for a financial breakthrough but I’m still broke?”
We demand things from The Lord while sitting on our butts as if The Lord owes it to us to bless us. As if we are the king and He is the fallen one who was rescued by us. In the article Overspiritualizing Things, I went to dangerous grounds discussing James 2:17 that “faith without works is dead”. That is, food alone will not cure your hunger if you do not pick up that burger and start chewing it yourself. No one can eat it for you; sadly, you will have to accept that burger from the Giver and consume it yourself.
Delivering The Bread is the response to what these frustrated prayer warriors are missing. The Lord blesses; I say AMEN to that! He blesses tremendously, yet we need to respond to Him appropriately.
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Genesis 32:26
Even after being anointed as king, David STILL HAD TO deliver that bread and kill Goliath.
Even after being given the land, Joshua STILL HAD TO go to war and kill the giants.
Even after being named “father of all nations”, being called “God’s friend”, Abraham STILL HAD TO offer up Isaac to The Lord.
I do agree that these were Old Covenant examples. Let’s see some New Testament heroes:
After being called, Peter and Andrew, followed Jesus.
Before Peter’s business was blessed, He “lent” his boat for Jesus to preach on.
Even Saul had to obey precise instructions from The Lord (Acts 9:6) before he became Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ.
Generally, people had to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savour and had to go to great lengths to “grab on” to Jesus. Zacheaus, had to climb that tree and beat the crowd to merely see Jesus. The paralyzed man had to be carried off to the roof to be lowered down to Jesus. The leper practically had to hide to “ambush” Jesus after preaching just to ask for his healing.
The point here is that all these Biblical heroes didn’t just sit and demanded blessings from The Lord. They had to go through great lengths in response to the grace of The King. It is by grace, yes and amen, and so it has to be released just like opening a gift we have freely and undeservedly received. Even so, a gift remains of no value unless we respond to The Giver by opening it. A certain person can be graced with the talent of preaching but without the love of the word and without spending time in it, what is there to preach?
The grace and free gifts of God are FREE; however, God will not shove it in our lives without our permission, without our choice. Out of God’s mercy these heavenly blessings will not just materialize in our lives as if an aunt in Chinese New Year forcing us to eat when we are already full. God is too gentle and too loving to force anything into us. This is why He wants an intimate relationship with us. He is waiting for your response. Whether it is to start tithing, to start being with Him every morning, to come to church once again; whichever you are called to do, we have to humble ourselves down to deliver that bread. I will definitely continue on this and share as I learn along from my journey.
Now, coming fresh from the Lunar New Year celebrations, I cannot help but connect this to the role of Jesus Christ as the suffering serving Ox. Let us be yoked with Him more and more. Have that priceless intimate relationship with Him; grab this privilege reserved only for His children and hear Him guide you to unlocking and unleashing grace into your life. A blessed Lunar New Year to all in Jesus’ name, Amen!
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Matthew 11:29
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