A Christian radio show host received a call from a woman listener. The woman asked the show host to pray for her, and come in agreement with her that her live-in boyfriend, who was still married to another woman, would become her husband.<\/p>\n
The radio host in a nice way tried to tell her that that was a ridiculous request, asking him to pray for her to have another woman\u2019s husband. The radio host asked her why she thought that God would honor that kind of prayer. The woman responded, saying, \u201cBecause God has been blessing me: He\u2019s blessed me with a good job, a nice house, a nice car, and two beautiful children,\u201d (by the same man she\u2019s been shacking up with!). Needless to say, the radio host could not convince her otherwise.<\/p>\n
As ridiculous as this woman\u2019s request may sound, you really cannot blame her for thinking that God would give her another woman\u2019s husband. Rather than blame the woman for her warped thinking, I\u2019d rather blame the source of her thinking; which you\u2019ll probably trace to what she\u2019s been taught or how she\u2019s interpreted what she\u2019s been taught by a preacher or some preachers.<\/p>\n
I remember when I first became a Christian. I thought that once I stopped sinning, (at least committing those sins I considered \u201cmajor\u201d sins, like fornication, drinking, partying, cursing, etc.); and started going to church regularly, paying my tithes and volunteering in some ministries at my local church, that it was now God\u2019s turn to do His part of the bargain, and start \u201cblessing\u201d me. And when it didn\u2019t happen, I thought God had short-changed me!<\/p>\n
I remember one time in particular, some years ago, when I was trying to make a career change that seemed to take forever. Yet I saw other Christians doing well, getting good, high paying jobs and having all the other nice things I wanted. I was almost disillusioned with God, wondering why He was \u201cblessing\u201d those other Christians and not me, even though I seemed to be doing the right things; the same things those other Christians were doing, if not more.<\/p>\n
Like the woman described above, even like me in my earlier Christian walk, many Christians believe that God owes them, just by virtue of being Christians \u2013 having accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Many of them even believe that once they\u2019ve cleaned up their lifestyles and stopped sinning, then it\u2019s God\u2019s turn to start blessing them. And these Christians mistake materialism for God\u2019s blessings and vice versa. For many of them, the word blessing means material wealth, a comfortable life of luxury — money, big houses, expensive cars, designer clothes, getting a husband or wife, etc.<\/p>\n
Many Christians, like the woman mentioned above, came to this conclusion based on what they\u2019ve been taught or how they\u2019ve interpreted what they\u2019ve been taught. But for the most part, I believe it\u2019s based more on what they\u2019ve been taught. After all, there are many preachers out there who, misusing scriptures, are teaching their congregations about prosperity or blessing incorrectly; mistaking materialism for blessing. According to these preachers, blessing is manifested in terms of money, nice houses, expensive cars and clothing, getting a mate, or just having whatever your heart desires, etc.<\/p>\n
Preachers like Creflo Dollar, Paula White, Paul Crouch, Rod Parsley, Joyce Meyer, Matthew Ashimolowo, etc., believe and teach that having material wealth means having God\u2019s blessing. These preachers have blurred the line between money, prosperity and blessing. In fact, as far as they are concerned these words are synonyms, and can be used interchangeably. But nothing can be farther from the truth.<\/p>\n
Creflo Dollar, commenting on a passage in Proverbs 10:22, in an article titled, You Have the Blessing, writes, \u201cThink of God\u2019s blessing this way. It\u2019s His ability on your ability. It gives you the ability to do what you could not do before…The question is, what does the blessing make rich? Whatever is needed at the time. For example, when the blessing shows up in a poor man\u2019s life, it maketh him rich with money.\u201d Really!<\/p>\n
Rod Parsley in a book titled God\u2019s Answer to Insufficient Funds , writes, \u201cIf I said that for you to live from paycheck to paycheck is to deny the power of the gospel, many of you would get angry. In Luke 4:18 … Notice there was an anointing to preach good news to the poor. A lot of people don\u2019t like to look at that because good news to a poor man is that he doesn\u2019t have to be poor anymore.\u201d Wow! I thought Jesus said that the poor shall ALWAYS be with us!<\/p>\n
Expectedly, these prosperity preachers have an answer to poverty or indebtness? They teach that all you have to do to get what you want or get rid of poverty is to just make positive confessions, and bam! you have what you confess.<\/p>\n
For instance, Matthew Ashimolowo has several of such positive confessions on his website (see my article titled, Confession-Rama). An excerpt of one of such positive confessions on blessing reads, \u201cI boldly confess the blessing of a home and financial blessing, in Jesus Name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Creflo Dollar on the other hand, in an article titled, Visualize Success and Reject Failure , writes, \u201cWhat you speak and visualize determines your success or failure in prayer … As a child of God, you have a covenant right to receive His blessings. See yourself possessing the things for which you\u2019ve been praying. For example, if you\u2019re believing God for a new house, then speak His Word and visualize yourself living in that house. Possessing what you want begins with your confession.<\/p>\n
Due to these erroneous teachings on prosperity or blessings, many Christians, today, walk around believing that it is their right and covenant promise to be rich; simply by virtue of being Christians. In fact Creflo Dollar in another article titled Top Secret writes, \u201cAs you can see, you have a covenant right to prosper and experience God\u2019s best in every area of life. That\u2019s total life prosperity…You can transmit top-secret information directly to heaven, and God will respond with the manifestation of what you\u2019ve spoken in tongues … Use God\u2019s highly secure way to withdraw healing, debt freedom and prosperity from heaven\u2019s account.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of some of these preachers worldwide audience, many Christians consider material wealth as a sign of God\u2019s blessing. Therefore, whenever they get a well paying job, buy an expensive car or a big house they assume and say that it\u2019s the Lord blessing them. For instance, I once saw a house in a half-a-million-dollar-home gated community with a sign on it. The sign read, \u201cThis is the Lord\u2019s Doing\u201d (Psalm 118:23). Surely, the owner of the house must be one of those Christians who confuses God\u2019s blessing with materialism.<\/p>\n
First of all, putting an inscription of Psalm 118:23 on a house is a misuse of Scripture. The verse has nothing to do with wealth or materialism. Besides, I think it\u2019s presumptuous to think that having a half-a-million-dollar home is the Lord\u2019s doing. After all there are other people in the same community with similar homes or bigger who don\u2019t know the Lord. And wouldn\u2019t know Him, if He showed them an I.D. Rather than say, \u201cThis is the Lord\u2019s doing,\u201d I think the owner of the house should have said, \u201cThis is my lust\u2019s doing!\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. There\u2019s nothing wrong with having a half-a-million-dollar home, but don\u2019t be quick to attribute it to God; as many Christians tend to do. Every \u201cgood\u201d thing is not of God, and every \u201cbad\u201d thing is not of the devil either! Besides, it\u2019s not through material wealth that the world knows that we are Christians. Rather, it is through our lifestyle; our genuine love and character, not through perishable things like a mansion or fancy car! God\u2019s blessing is much more than what we can see, feel, taste, touch, smell or hear. So, to cheapen God\u2019s blessings to tangibles is ridiculous and narrow-minded!<\/p>\n
So, what is blessing?<\/p>\n
There are two kinds of blessings: God\u2019s blessing and man\u2019s blessing; natural blessing or spiritual blessing. God\u2019s blessing is when God blesses a person, which could either be naturally or spiritually or both. Whereas man\u2019s blessing is when a person blesses God or blesses another person. Natural blessing MAY include abundant wealth or riches; while spiritual blessing is grace or salvation, i.e., Jesus Christ is our spiritual blessing. It is establishing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, i.e. having the lordship of Jesus in a person\u2019s life (Ephesians 1:3)<\/p>\n
For the sake of this piece, my focus is on God\u2019s blessings.<\/p>\n
So to answer the question, \u201cWhat is blessing?\u201d let\u2019s look at what blessing is not, i.e. God\u2019s blessing. As mentioned above, God\u2019s blessing is not material wealth, even though it may include material wealth. It is not a trouble or pain-free life. In spite of physical or emotional trouble, turmoil or pain, and even in the midst of a storm, one can still be blessed. For instance, the story of Joseph in an Egyptian jail (Genesis 39:19-23).<\/p>\n
Most times when the word, \u2018blessing\u2019, \u2018bless\u2019 or \u2018blessed\u2019 is used in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament (where it is used the most), it is used usually not in the context of material wealth. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word barak (bless) or barakah (blessing) is used. It\u2019s used in the context of, \u201chaving the praise or favor of God,\u201d \u201chaving prosperity (i.e. the peace of God, not necessarily money); \u201chaving a gift or present\u201d; \u201chaving a treaty of peace.\u201d For instance we bless God, i.e. praise or thank God for His mercies; or God bestows temporal or spiritual gift upon a person, e.g. Adam and Eve, Noah and his three sons; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.<\/p>\n
Not even in Malachi 3:10 — the most often touted passage by preachers to get people to tithe — does the word blessing mean materialism. Malachi 3:10 says,
\n \u201cBring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.\u201d
\nOften times when people read this passage, their focus is usually on the word \u201cblessing\u201d and the phrase \u201cwindows of heaven.\u201d Therefore, they automatically assume that God must be talking about money. However, the phrase that lets you know that God must not be talking about money or materialism in this passage is the phrase, \u201croom enough to receive it.\u201d If blessing means money or materialism, then there\u2019s enough room in the world to receive whatever money or material wealth God wants to bestow upon a person.<\/p>\n
For instance, Bill Gates (Microsoft owner) has enough room to receive all his billions, and property. If not, he won\u2019t know his financial worth. Besides, if blessing means material wealth, then Bill Gates will be the most blessed person in the world, since he\u2019s about the richest man in the world now! And if material wealth is a sign of a person\u2019s righteousness, then Bill Gates must be the most righteous man.<\/p>\n
Besides, if blessing means material wealth, and Malachi 3:10 talks about opening the windows of heaven, has anyone seen money, mansion, cars, etc., fall out of heaven yet?<\/p>\n
In the New Testament, the word for \u2018bless\u2019, \u2018blessing\u2019 or \u2018blessed\u2019 is the Greek word eulogeo . The English word eulogy is derived from it. It means \u201cto speak well of\u201d \u2013 to praise, to celebrate with praises; usually in reference to God to acknowledge His goodness. It also means \u201cto invoke a blessing on a person (instead of a curse);\u201d \u201cto consecrate a thing with a solemn prayer;\u201d \u201cto make happy, cause to prosper, to bestow blessings upon,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n
If blessing means material wealth, then most of the apostles and the early Christians must not have been blessed. Because they wrote more about what they suffered and lacked for the gospel sake than what they had to enjoy. They were stoned, beaten, jailed, ship-wrecked, and even martyred! Today\u2019s Christians don\u2019t want any part of that. All they want are the benefits and goodness of God.<\/p>\n
I have always heard Christians talk about how they are blessed or want to be blessed. But hardly do I hear them talk about suffering for Christ or their willingness to suffer for the gospel\u2019s sake. They only want the benefits of God, without the persecutions or sufferings for Christ. Even though that was not what Christ promised.<\/p>\n
Rather, Jesus said, \u201cAssuredly, I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel\u2019s who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time \u2013 houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions \u2013 and in the age to come, eternal life.\u201d Even Apostle Paul, in one of his letters to Timothy, wrote, \u201cYes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution\u201d (2 Timothy 3:12).<\/p>\n
Some Christians, like the woman radio caller mentioned earlier, want the blessings of God, without meeting the requirements for blessings: righteousness, obedience (to God\u2019s Word and Will) and single-mindedness of focus on God. Even in some Old Testament passages, where the word blessing sometimes suggested the idea of materialism, God didn\u2019t arbitrarily bestow blessings just on anybody; and definitely not on a sinful, wicked and disobedient person. God\u2019s blessing was conditional. His blessing was contingent on obedience — upon a person keeping His commandments or instructions. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll often see the word, \u201cif\u201d whenever God blesses a person or makes a promise to a person.<\/p>\n
For instance, God told the nation of Israel through Moses, \u201cBehold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known\u201d (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).<\/p>\n
Even God told Solomon, the wealthiest man ever lived saying, \u201cSo if you walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days\u201d (1 Kings 3:14; also see 2 Chronicles 7:17-19).<\/p>\n
Jesus also told his disciples (and us) in John 14:14 saying \u201cIf you ask anything in my name, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d But right in the next verse says, \u201cIf you love me, keep my commandments\u201d (John 14:15). Now, when it comes to blessing, most Christians stop at verse 14, but don\u2019t go on to read verse 15 or pretend as if verse 15 does not exist.<\/p>\n
From the aforementioned passages, one can deduce that there are three main characteristics of God\u2019s blessings:<\/p>\n
\u2022 God blesses those obedient to His commandments, Word or Will
\n \u2022 God blesses a person to establish or keep His Will in the earth
\n \u2022 God blesses a person so that the person can be a blessing to generations to come<\/p>\n
As Christians we operate and are governed by the New Testament, i.e. we are under grace, and not the Law. Therefore, Christ is our spiritual blessing! There\u2019s no blessing greater than that! When God told Abraham in Genesis 12:3-4 that He would make him a father of many nations, and that the families of the earth shall be blessed through him (Abraham), He was referring to Jesus Christ — a later descendant of Abraham, a descendant of Adam. It is through Jesus that all the nations of the earth are blessed by Abraham.<\/p>\n
In summary, the truth about blessing is that blessing is not material wealth. It is predicated on righteousness and obedience to God\u2019s Word and\/or Will. The truth about blessing is that the real blessing is spiritual, and Jesus Christ is that spiritual blessing! The truth about spiritual blessing is that it\u2019s not conditional or selective, but all of us can have it, IF we choose to have it. Indeed, if you are a true Christian, you already have God\u2019s spiritual blessing. \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ \u201d (Ephesians 1:3).<\/p>\n
The truth about blessing is that if you are not a true Christian (I don\u2019t mean a church-goer), you can choose to have that blessing, and I will urge you to ask for that true spiritual blessing \u2013 Jesus the Christ. That is the real blessing that you cannot have enough room to contain, as mentioned in Malachi 3:10. That is all the blessing you need. And that, my friend, is something money cannot buy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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