YOU ARE BLESSED TO BLESS

Footsteps to Zion//

The Lord allows us to receive from Him for reasons beyond just to bless us. The Lord led people in the Scripture to blessings so that they may also be an overflow of blessing to others. In the same way today, the Lord blesses us and our church so that we may be able to minister to the nations.

But before being sent to the nations, we first need to be faithful in our “Jerusalem” - the place of our calling.
The blessings of God strengthen and encourage us but just as well, His blessings are meant for us to bear fruits for Him. Here we will look at the lives of some men of God which He used to be blessings to nations, beginning with their own places of calling.

Elisha

(1 Kings 19:19-21)

The calling of Elisha started on a field when Elijah threw his mantle on him. After this meeting, he gave up his life, left his parents and became a faithful follower of Elijah. In 2 Kings 2, again we see Elisha clinging to the prophet even though Elijah himself wants to leave him in several places. The fire in his heart when he first met Elijah still burned within him. He not only wanted to pursue his master, he also had a passion to pursue God. Even as his master tested him, he persevered.

Fulfilling the call of God is not easy and sometimes it can be full of struggles. There would be times of testing when we are tempted to give up but we will need to overcome. Having twelve yokes of oxen, we can easily see that Elisha is a wealthy man yet he takes his work responsibly for he does not hire another to do the work for him.

The Lord requires a diligent man to do His work yet our sense of responsibility should also be aligned with the purposes of God. Elisha’s experiences with his master are what brought him to receive the double portion of anointing. The mundane tasks of just being a follower honed him to be a prophet to the nations. Though we may not see how we fare during these times, it is the Lord who looks at the heart and honors it (1 Samuel 16:7).

Little battles won in our lives eventually lead us to winning wars in the Lord. This is the importance of being faithful in the little, for the Lord only leads us to something greater when we’ve mastered winning the small victories. We are also to be faithful to our “Elijahs” – people whom God called to lead and teach us - for they will be the ones whom the Lord will use to bless us. Our present capacities can only take us so far but hearing God and the leading of God can bring us to definite victories in our lives. Elisha’s story is about a faithful disciple that eventually ended up ministering to nations.

The Two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus

(Luke 24:13-32)

Source: Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleimages.org

These two disciples unknowingly had been talking with Jesus Himself on the road to Emmaus and at the end of their walk; they forced Him to stay with them for the night. We sometimes immerse ourselves in the knowledge of God and become filled with Him but as with the two disciples, the purpose is for us to go to the other disciples to strengthen, bring hope, and share the blessings of God.

As we receive from the Lord, so must we bless others. Our lives are to be a prepared message for the people which the Lord will send us to. We need to personally experience God’s power; otherwise, there will be no power in our message. Our natural knowledge cannot be a replacement for experiential knowledge. The two disciples strengthened the brethren with the message they carried.

Joshua

(Exodus 33:9-11)

Joshua learned to remain in the presence of God. As we linger in the Lord, we receive an impartation of direction, knowledge, and the truths of God. He also gained the favour of God as the Lord Himself commanded Moses to anoint Joshua as the leader of the nation. When we are following the leading of God, we are sure where we stand and where the Lord is sending us. Spending time with God allows us to hear more and receive from Him. Each time we spend with the Lord is a deposit for that time when He sends us out to the nations.

We are to be ready in season and out of season for we do not want to miss the timing of God in our lives. We would want the best that the Lord has for us, but when we miss the timing of the Lord we will have to settle for less than the best.

When the Lord draws us to Him, it is for us to be a medium for others to run after God (Song of Solomon 1:4).

 Ultimately, God blesses us so that His outpouring will reach to other people and fellow Christians and cause them to be drawn to the Lord.

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