The promise of God in Hebrews 6:14 is for all of us. His promise is that “In blessing, He will bless”. We must claim this promise for ourselves. God does not want His children to be beggars, but to prosper.
Why did God choose us? First, to receive glory through us. Second, to preach the gospel throughout the world. Third, because He wants to bless us. But we must walk in His principles in order to receive His blessing.
There are 3 principles of blessing. First, if you want to be blessed, you must obey God, as the Word of God shows us in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. God’s blessings are conditional upon our obedience.
Second, if you want to be blessed, you must obey your parents. The Bible tells us this in Ephesians 6:2-3. If you can’t obey your parents, how can you obey God? But, as Matthew 12:50 shows us, our parents are those who do the will of God. If your parents tell you not to obey God or not to go to church, then you don’t have to obey them in that. But if you have godly parents, you must obey them in order to receive God’s blessings.
Third, you must obey your spiritual leaders, as commanded in Hebrews 13:17. A good pastor is one who knows you and prays for you, who helps you to follow God’s commands and grow stronger in the Lord. Do not grieve your spiritual leaders because of your rebellion and stubbornness. If you do, you will not be blessed. Lamentations 4:16 tells us that if we don’t respect and obey our spiritual leaders that God will scatter us.
Why was Abraham so blessed? He tithed, even before it was God’s commandment (Genesis 14:18-20). He also had a clean heart. His desire was to take care of people. He didn’t take advantage of others, but was very generous. When he separated from Lot in Genesis 13:8-9, he gave Lot the first choice. He gave up himself to bless others. Abraham also submitted to God and obeyed Him.
Abraham obeyed God when He commanded him to let Ishmael and Hagar go (Genesis 21:10-12). He obeyed God when He commanded him to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22). Obedience became part of Abraham’s lifestyle. Abraham showed God that he loved God more than anything in this world.
Don’t try to hold onto something that God has commanded you to let go of. If you do, you will lose out on what God has planned for you, the blessing that He has waiting for you. If you hold onto those things, they will cause a lot of problems in your life. When God asks something difficult of you, it’s because He has something special in store for you. Trust Him and obey.
God bless you!
Pastor Sun Hui East
I know that I want the blessings of God & I know that they are not just “free items” like salvation. I appreciate this post explaining that so clearly Pastor Sun Hui East. I want to make the needed changes each day, in my own heart, that would bring blessings to myself & my family!
I want to make these changes also, at least I want to most of the time…
I also need & want to make changes, I need willpower!
Amen, me as well!
I would love to make changes that would help my family. I don’t know if they understand though
I like this description of what a”good” pastor is… that is powerful & says a lot about why some churches don’t make it. Your messages are really good Pastor Sun Hui East, and I know that you have both of your kids working with you in your ministry. ( that alone shows me that you are genuine, because the kids are our worst critics!)
Exactly why the church I grew up in didn’t make it…
I also like that her kids work with her, I think family unity in Christ is the strongest tie!
I saw her granddaughter, Chloe, in a couple of her films… she is including ALL the family in her ministry, I love it!
I also see that we could change our perspective and get more blessings from God. I think we are all unaware of how selfish our thinking is… Pastor Sun Hui East, you are a tough teacher, but I appreciate your guidance.
It would have been so very difficult to obey the Lord the way that Abraham did. He never said “no” or ‘give me some time”, he just did what he was told immediately. Wow, thank you for pointing this out Pastor Sun Hui East. That’s is a great example for all of us. I plan to have my son re-read the stories of Abraham this week.
It’s very interesting that the Lord had Abraham tyth before He blessed him. I appreciate you pointing that out, Pastor SunHui East as I hadn’t caught it before. I know that is a very basic truth, and we tend to make light of it & say ” give what you can”…
I can verify this idea of tithing as my husband & I have gotten our entire financial picture straightened out since we began faithfully tithing!
Since I had not grown up in any type of church environment, I didn’t know what “spiritual leader” meant… now, I am in a good church and have great respect for my pastor. The respect I have for him comes from watching his walk with Christ. He gets up early, every day to pray, he sets aside his own needs and the “desires” of his family to serve God’s people. (he is careful to include his family in all of his ministering, so that they feel no separation from him and have the example of what God wants of us) I know that you also live like this Pastor Sun Hui East. I know I would still struggle with this teaching if I had not seen a true “shepherd”.
So, basically, what is being said here is that our own likelihood of being blessed, is in our hands…. and is based on our choices? I like that Pastor Sun Hui East… it really holds us accountable & says that we can not stand on the sidelines complaining.
Amen!
I like that you teach about blessing in this way… I agree that we are not blessed unconditionally, that blessing isn’t like salvation (it’s not free). Thank you Pastor Sun Hui East! I want the Lord to find me worthy…
I do know that if we have a spiritual leader that is truly following Jesus, and spending their time in prayer, we must trust & obey their guidance.
I love the fact that God chose me instead of me choosing Him. I had such a powerful salvation experience that I feel like I did the “choosing”. Thank you for teaching this type of thing, the Lord bless you Pastir Sun Hui East.
I missed reading your blog this week Pastor Sun Hui East, I like this post.
disobedience brings a curse…hmm, I need to think about this. Thank you for the “food for thought” Pastor Sun Hui East!