The Lord who daily loads us with benefits

Believer, by God's grace, let's take our blessed brains to church. Psalm 68:19 shows us God's heart towards His children:

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God who is our salvation."

Our kids expect from us the benefits of good food, good clothes and adequate shelter, and they don't say "thank you" for these benefits. They take it for granted and we see it as our responsibility. But some of our daily benefits are so jaw-dropping and unexpected that they express their appreciation for days on end- e.g. when I buy them a 'phone that they have been craving or Playstation card. Even when they have been naughty, the daily benefits come. All of these daily benefits are given because they are my children, plus, their behaviour is a function of how we are raising them. The point being: DAILY, the Lord loads us with benefits. Not just one benefit per day, but benefitS. Some of the Lord's daily benefits in our lives are so routine (the way my kids see good food and good shelter) that we take them for granted. Other daily benefits make us want to turn cartwheels.

Whatever kind they are, God who cannot lie says in His Word that He DAILY loads us with benefits. His word cannot return to Him void so if He is your Salvation (salvation is Yeshua aka Jesus,) His daily benefits will surely land in your life and FREELY too. Now Romans 8:32 says of how our heavenly Father gives: FREELY--

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Because of what Christ has done, we who believe receive ALL things FREELY from God and not because we did things to make us deserving. Can you imagine yourself having planned next Saturday's daily benefits for your child to include a new iPhone and some outsider pastor who does not even know you telling your child that he has to pay $50 in order to get you his parent to buy him the device? So your child gives this person the $50 and you, because you are true to your word, you still buy him the device. Your child will think that you are a miserly father who will not give him any benefits unless he trades you for it; he will worship and look to that outsider anytime he wants something from you! What a twisted relationship to have with one's Father!

Believer, let's not think of God who gives us all things freely with Christ in that horrid "trade by barter" manner (e.g. fasting and sowing seed in order to get God to grant you journey mercies) because of the teachings and actions of false prophets who misrepresent Him. Any "church pastor" who presents Him in that horrid light simply does not know Him. Even consider the words "journey mercies.' Mercy is given only to those who do not deserve it. Mercy is unmerited favour. if you think that it is your "sow seed" or "wash church toilet" that will make God your own Father help you, it is no longer unmerited.

Recall when God told Moses and Aaron to take the rod and speak to the rock for water to come out to refresh the stiff-necked Israelites and their livestock? Well, Moses and Aaron went and called God's people "rebels," made it look like God was angry with them, made it look like THEY were the ones bringing water out of the rock for the thirsty Israelites and Moses struck the rock twice!

But guess what?

Water still GUSHED out of the Rock for the Israelites, but not BECAUSE of what Moses did. Water gushed out of the rock IN SPITE of what Moses did! Because of his action- misrepresenting God as "angry" to the people- Moses never got to lead the children of Israel into the promised land.

Moses and Aaron here represent church leaders who tell their congregation that God demands seeds, fasts, tithe, obedience to the Ten Commandments, penance and all sorts of will-power/human effort aka arm of flesh-driven activites before He will meet your needs or unleash His abundance of Grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour) on you through the Rock that is Jesus Christ! None of these things did the Israelites have to do before the Lord abundantly met their need with water from the Rock.

Just as He did after Moses and Aaron misrepresented Him to the assembly of Israel, the Lord is removing His people from under the leadership of Moses-type leaders (a picture of the Law) and moving us to follow Joshua (a picture of Jesus Christ who is Grace-personified) through whom we enter God's Rest (our promised land.)

Beloved of God, God's word is telling us today in Psalm 68:19-

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God who is our salvation."

His word is telling us in Romans 8:32 based on the finished work of Christ the Rock:

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

By His Grace, don't let any "pastor" deceive you into believing that it is your measly obedience, tithe payment and church fund donation that is making your own heavenly Father fulfill His promise of daily benefits to you. Wonderful as these "good" works are, they cannot save anybody or make God bless. In fact, those (self-)righteous works that many think should make God bless them, see how He sees them in Isaiah 64:6-

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Beloved of God, that travel visa that you got after fasting for 70 days, that job that you got after sowing seed, that house that you just built- perish the thought that it is your useless righteous works or human effort (arm of flesh)-driven works that gingered God to rise up to the occasion of blessing you His own beloved child with His benefits. It is akin to your child thinking that you paid his school fees only because he made his bed. Those good things that happen to us daily, they are all simply the benefits that He has lined up for us DAILY and FREELY.. They are ours not BECAUSE of what "pastor" said we should do in our strength in order to get our own Father to bless; they are ours DESPITE what that person said we should do in order to get Him to fulfill Psalm 68:19 in our life- the same way God still brought out water for the stiff-necked Israelites despite Moses' anger and disobedience. They are ours because God is our Salvation- even salvation from sins. It is the goodness if God that leads to repentance, not vice versa.

James 1:5-8 shows us how God gives to ALL with Christ (FREELY AND WITHOUT REPROACH- without considering our shortcomings or imperfections-)

"5 But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not, and it shall be given to him: 6 but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about; 7 for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord; 8 [he is] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

Understand that reproach can only fall on the one who has sins. "Doubting" entails disbelieving God's unchanging nature of giving to ALL who are in Christ FREELY and WITHOUT REPROACH. Such who "doubt" try to get God's freely-given benefits by bringing worthless human effort/arm of flesh-driven bargaining chips of their works, fasts, seeds, donations and (self-)righteous behaviour to the table, thinking that these worthless, self-righteous acts (which are like a menstrual rag in God's sight according to Isaiah 64:6) can take away their reproach and believing that their "good" works or penance is why God who gives to all "freely and reproaches not" will bless them. Just ask Judas how well doing that worked out for him. According to James, those who doubt God's freely-giving nature in this manner can perish the thought of receiving anything from God. But God is merciful, letting the sun shine daily both the righteous and the wicked.

James 1:6-7 says: "but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about;"

So how does one ask in faith? Don’t let antichrist pastors redefine "faith" for you as mustering up enough confidence that God will bless you by your own might. Christ described only two people as having “great faith” in the four gospels: the centurion with the paralyzed servant (Matthew 8:5-13) and the Canaanite woman with the severely demon-possessed daughter (Matt. 15:21-28.)

Look at the centurion's story. How come he had great faith? Our thoughts could go to how he was a man of authority with soldiers that obeyed him under his command. But what about the woman of Canaan who acknowledged herself as being in the category of little dogs that eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table? She wasn't commanding soldiers or anything like that. How did her own great faith come to be?

Beloved, the centurion and the Canaanite woman had ONE thing in common: THEY WERE NOT UNDER LAW (they were Gentiles, not Jews.) They were not trying to keep the Ten Commandments in order to be righteous. They were not paying tithes in order to be blessed. They were not involved in annual 70 days fasts to get God to deliver their sick and demon-possessed. The Canaanites even worshipped idols. One thing they had in common: they both went to Jesus trusting and empty of all works done by human effort that should make them deserving of His salvation from their troubles. And did they receive- FREELY AND WITHOUT REPROACH!

Familiar spirits are "familiar" because they are duh... familiar. They might know it when there is unusual angelic activity around you, child of God, but they cannot stop it. Just as 419 operators have telephones and pass around information about their potential victims, don't be surprised when someone that you have never met before tells you things about yourself that he has no way of knowing.

Evil spirits might sense it when God is about to load you with spectacular daily benefits so their hosts, posing as "pastor," sometimes know when to come knocking with their evil prophecies and tell you what YOU should do in order to convert their "prophecy" to good and get the unconditional benefits that God already has lined up for you His child. By Grace, let's not fall for their antics. Our God is a good God. In Christ, He is to us "Father" who DAILY loads us with benefits and who FREELY gives us ALL THINGS with Christ; none of that "trade by barter" insult that false prophets try to make us serve to our own heavenly Father.

Only when you know that you have freely received can you freely give. With Christ, God FREELY fills us to overflowing with His goodness and mercy that with what is spilling over, we cannot but live a Christ-like life and be a source of blessing to those around us, yet not us but Christ in us. In Him, we don't give to get. We get to give. Christ does it all.

When your believing is right, right living will follow.