Joseph Prince - God's Way of Blessing Is By Sowing
This is an excerpt from: Prosperity With A Purpose
If God ever asks you to give up anything, it's because He wants to bring more into your life, amen. And to bring more into your life is not just for you and yourself to enjoy. Yes, God doesn't mind you, in fact, there's a verse that says, "God gives us richly all things to enjoy". But remember this: His purpose is for you to be a blessing. "I will bless you," Amen, the original blessing of Abraham, "I will bless you, and you shall be a blessing," Amen, and make sure that whatever you are robbed of, you will have with interest. Just like the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt in the end times, they came out with great possessions. Now, what was the purpose of the great possessions? God wanted them to steward that money to build His house. Remember?
In the wilderness when Moses made a call, alright, let everyone who have silver, who have gold, who have precious materials, clothings and all that, bring them, and the Bible says they brought it to Moses to such an extent that Moses had to say stop it's enough; more than enough. There was such a spirit of generosity. Something very interesting in the Bible: The Bible says wisdom and generosity goes together, alright, willingness, a willing heart goes together. You know, you find that many a time the Bible says those whose hearts God stirred up with wisdom, those who were willing-hearted gave.
Then another place it says those with wisdom did this for the tabernacle; those whose hearts God moved with wisdom; those in whose hearts God placed wisdom. The women who were wise they spun with their hands, with their fingers, amen, the material for the furniture, amen. That reminds me of all the different ministries in the church of Jesus Christ. The women teaching stories from the Gospels to our young ones, amen. Amen, of course, every other ministry is characterized there in the Bible as people with wisdom. Only people of wisdom will utilize the gift that God has given them. People with no wisdom may have the gift, in fact, they do have the gift, every child of God has the gift, but they do not utilize it. But the Bible says those with wisdom, they are generous, and they are people who serve. Praise the Lord. Amen.
Notice that this whole purpose for God prophesying, alright, the prophecy to Abraham in Abraham's dream about the future of his generation, his descendants when they're in Egypt for 400 years, God says they'll come out with great possessions. And God had a purpose for those great possessions. And then on the night when that happened, 400 over years after Abraham, in Exodus 12 the Bible said God gave them favor, amen. God gave favor before the transfer took place, amen. They had favor, and the Bible says favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. So, favor in the eyes of the world. We'll have favor in the eyes of people who cannot see God, who cannot see the spiritual realm, but they will see the results of God's favor on your life, amen. And the transfer will happen.
So, now they come out of Egypt laden down with gold and silver, went through the Red Sea, on the other side at Mount Sinai God gave them the law. And what happened after the law? God gave them the blueprint of the tabernacle, and that was when Moses said those of you who have gold, silver, precious stones, alright, those of you who have scarlet cloth, blue linen, bring them forth. And they brought such an extent that Moses had to stop them, and there's such a spirit of generosity. And I love the way the Bible describes those whose hearts had wisdom, those who were willing-hearted, it all goes together, amen.
So, it's prosperity with a purpose. How do we apply that today? Those things are not written so that, you know, just to show us that that's what happened in history. No, it's to teach us today. The house of God is the church of Jesus Christ, the many membered body of Christ. And in practical terms, it is your life in your local church, amen. Your wealth, your blessings, that whatever God has given you is to benefit the local church. Now, if we want to flow with God, we align ourselves with the plan of God, with the purpose of God. If you learn that God wants to prosper, for example, if I see, I'm not a Jew, let's say during the time of the Exodus, I'm not a Jew.
In fact, the Bible says this is exactly what happened: Many Egyptians joined the Jewish people. Let's say I'm not a Jew but I'm an Egyptian, but I've seen through the plagues and all that, that the God of Israel is the true God. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I want to be part of God's people, amen. So, that's what they call proselytes, amen, converts from another nation. So, the Bible says, "A mixed multitude came out with them," alright, so I want to be part of it. Now, I'm being smart. Unfortunately, for some of the mixed multitudes, they were paramount in causing Israel to stumble later on in the wilderness and all that. But many of them, they remained true, even in the time of David, many of the Gentiles, non-Jews were faithful to David.
So, if I know God's plan and purpose, and I see God's plan and purpose is for Israel, and I see that God will give them great possessions, and then I see that there must be a purpose for these great possessions, and I line up my life accordingly, guess what? You know, I used to do an experiment in school, my science experiment, where you have a little light bulb at the end and you try to connect all the wires, but if there's no light, you know that the wire's not connected, amen. So, make sure that everything is connected correctly, and then the light comes on.
So, if I want the result, the light, amen, I want my life to be blessed, I will line up my life accordingly with God's plan and purposes. Because at that time on earth, where was God working at? Who was God working through? The children of Israel. So, I will park myself right there, right smack in the middle of God's plan and purpose. And if God wants to build the tabernacle and I'm there to hear God telling Moses, amen, and Moses telling us that, God wants to build the tabernacle, and whoever is willing he may give, right, whatever you have, I will definitely line up with God's plan and purpose, amen, to build His house. Well friend, today you have the same privilege, amen. You have the privilege of giving to what God is doing today. And what is God doing today?
There are a lot of things that people say, you know, God is doing today around the world and all that, but I'm telling you, first and foremost God is spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen. You know, God could actually build His tabernacle in the wilderness just by angel Gabriel alone, or by angel Michael. Because, you know, angels never get tired. God could have just sent angels, and they built the tabernacle. And you know what? It's gonna be a great job, better than what Bezalel can do, amen. But friend, that isn't God's plan, because God's plan is always like this: God will allow you to have the privilege of having His possessions, going through you so that your stewardship, your faithfulness, your love for Him comes into play. And God will see are you faithful with what He has given you?