blessing others

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

Can I tell you something? I really love watching people that truly understand God’s will for their prosperity. Those that do, don’t love money! They love making other people’s lives better! Let me give you an example.

I recently received a call from a couple I’ll call the Jones. They wanted to bless another couple whom I’ll call the Smiths. Here’s why. The Smith’s business was struggling to survive the turmoil of the current economy. They were paying their employees but had nothing to pay themselves. Christmas was almost upon them yet they had no money to purchase any gifts for their children. They were not complainers and figured they would just have to explain to their children what was going on and apologize for for this difficult Christmas. The Jones, who somehow knew about their situation, wanted to anonymously bless them and their family. They felt led of the Lord to do so. But because they wanted to do so anonymously, they called me to ask if I would help it go forward. I called the Smiths to let them know of this special blessing from God coming their way. It was a generous and abundant gift and they were blessed beyond words!

I know a large number of people that use their prosperity in just this way! And because of it, these kinds of things happen in their lives all the time. People blessing and helping others. This is what prosperity is all about. This is the purpose for it! Although the desire for prosperity can be improperly motivated, God’s reasons for wanting us to have it are not! He doesn’t want us to seek the increase of our resources so that we can consume God’s blessing upon ourself, but so we can live with a spirit of generosity being used to be a blessing—a blessing to help promote the gospel and to be a blessing to others in ways He leads us to be. There are more people in this world that get this, than you would ever imagine.

We often call God our Heavenly Father! He is just that! A good father! And as any good parent desires to bless his children, so much more does God desire to bless His.

There are hundreds of scriptures that say this. Psalm 84:11 (NKJV) is one example: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Another example is Psalm 115:13-15, “The Lord will bless those that fear (reverence) Him, both great and small. May the Lord richly bless both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity.”

That blessing simply means increase or improvement in our quality of life. The Lord desires us to have a sound mind, emotional stability, health and well-being, and the resources in our life to live out and fulfill the calling upon our life to serve Him in whatever form that is. If you’ve ever given to the poor, I would imagine you’ve done so to help improve someone’s current situation or quality of life. If you’ve ever prayed for someone’s health or for the improvement in the health of someone who was sick, then you desired to see an increase of blessing to their situation. If you’ve ever seen someone who was lacking the resources they needed to provide for their family and you’ve hoped things would improve, then you’ve hoped for the same thing we do…to see an increase or improvement in their quality of life. I’ve never known any individual who has been in a third world country or even in a local impoverished home or environment who hasn’t wanted to see increase or improvement in other’s living conditions. We believe that God wants to help them, and so we pray accordingly and do what we are able to help. That is the heart of God and the purpose of God wanting your prosperity! This past year our church blessed over 400 families with over 8,000 toys and gave away over a million pounds of food to those in need. This is just the tip of how are church has reached out. This is purpose of prosperity in action—the increase or improvement of someone’s quality of life, so they can fulfill their life’s call with the resources necessary to do so.

We don’t pray that God will bless us so that we can consume His blessing upon ourselves. God desires to bless us is so that we can be a blessing to others…“Blessed to be a blessing.” We utilize the gifts, talents, and resources that God has blessed us with. This is consistent with what Jesus taught in Luke 12:48. (NLT) “…When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” Can you see it in Jesus’ words? “Blessed to be a blessing!” This revelation and insight is what transforms people and congregations to become properly motives and to handle prosperity! That doesn’t mean by any degree that these are people who have financial wealth. They are people who’ve learned God’s plan and purpose for prosperity and acted on it, transforming them into generous people before they ever had any kind of prosperity. Most give sacrificially and make this a better and kinder world for doing so.

To be a Pastor in the this kind of environment puts me in the middle of many miracles and great joy! It teaches people to become givers like the woman with the widows mite—not because you have an overflow of abundance, but because you desire what God desires—to be a vessel of increase to His plans and purposes, and bless others along the way. If you’ve ever seen someone who has needs and felt the desire rise up within you to help improve their situation, then you have God’s heart and instincts for the purpose of prosperity. He desires to bring increase to all. But it begins before you have prosperity, not once you have it.

I’ve played the middleman in that kind of blessing many times. Watching this kind of love flow in spirit and action is pure joy! Ask and believe God for what you need, but make your ultimate focus and purpose to be a vessel of His blessing whenever you can!

Psalm 25:12-13 “Who are those who reverence the LORD? He will show them the path they should choose. They will live in prosperity, and their children will inherit the land.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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