HELLO STEEMIT FRIENDS!
Good day!

How's life? Despite busy schedule, i took the time to share with you today an important message. READ THOROUGHLY AND REFLECT.

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

photo credit: visitgraceway.org

How many of you here want to be blessed by God?
Why do you want to be blessed?
When God blesses you, are ready and willing to be a blessing to others as well?

I believe every one of us here desires for God’s blessings. As children of our loving Heavenly Father, His divine blessings, favor, and provision is our privilege and inheritance in Christ. However, God’s desire is not only to bless us as His children. His plan is so much greater that He wants to bless us and desires that we become a blessing to others as well. The Holy Bible, His Word, contains His divine plan and clearly shows us His redemptive purpose for His created world. God desires that through us, His people, He would bless all the nations of the world. And now you may be wondering, ‘but how did all this started? How did God initiated this divine plan?’

My desire is that after this message, all of us will have a glimpse of God’s redemptive plan for the nations and His purpose for blessing us as His chosen people. I pray that the Lord will challenge us as we understand His divine call for us and inspire us to be a blessing to others as well.

TEXT: Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:6-9

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God is the God of plan. Nothing happens by chance nor is anything outside His sovereign wisdom. He already laid out His master plan even before He made the world. Even when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, He already had a plan to redeem mankind. And even with the severe sinfulness of the whole world that eventually brought the great flood of God’s judgment, God had a plan. He initiated his plan by calling Abraham and that through setting him apart from the rest of humanity and blessing him, all the nations of the world would be blessed through him! Today, even with my limited knowledge, listen to my humble attempt to ‘unfold’ God’s divine plan. My desire is that by the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit, all of us could understand His divine plan and see ourselves as a vital part of it.

1.) Abraham’s SACRED CALLING – In our text, we can see how God called an ordinary pagan man named ‘Abram’. The Lord commanded him to leave his country and relatives and to go to a land that He would show him. And the Lord promised him three things:

a.) To make Him ‘the Father of a great nation’
b.) To bless him and make him great
c.) To make him a blessing to others

God would make Abram ‘the father of a great nation’ and bless him so that ‘he and his descendants would be a blessing to all the nations of the world!’ He also promised to give the land of Canaan to him and his children (Gen. 17:8)! Eventually, this was going to be the Promise land of which the Israelites were to conquer and possess as their God-given inheritance! However, all of these promises were not just for Abram’s personal enjoyment! God would bless him so that he would be a blessing to all the nations of the world! This was God’s purpose for blessing his servant, Abram!

2.) Abraham’s SEED – His encounter with God and all of these wonderful promises could have overwhelmed Abram. However, there was a ‘tiny yet valid’ problem – they were childless! His wife, Sarai, was barren, therefore it was ‘humanly impossible’ for them to have a child of their own! To make things worse, his name ‘Abram’ means ‘exalted father’. Every time people would call his name was a painful reminder of someone he could never become! And in those days, a person’s name was very important and would either bring honor or shame to them for the rest of their lives!

That is why when God gave them these wonderful promises, He had to give them ‘new names’ as well! From ‘Sarai’ which meant ‘my princess’ was changed to ‘Sarah’ which means ‘princess of multitudes’! From the name ‘Abram’ which meant ‘exalted father’, God changed it to ‘Abraham’ which means ‘Father of many nations’! This radical change of names can be received with either more shame or more honor! And the Bible tells us that these old couple chose to believe and trust God’s promises even if they had to painfully wait for 25 long years, until finally came Isaac (Gen. 21:2)! And from this ‘seed’ came the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people!

3.) Abraham’s SONS – However God’s divine plan was not only for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their children! God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as ‘numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands in the seashore’ (Gen. 22:17). And indeed the Israelites were blessed in the Promise Land and greatly grew into a mighty nation! But as we look into the New Testament, we can see that God’s sovereign and redemptive plan involved not only Israel, but included even the gentile nations as well! Because Abraham believed God, he has now become the spiritual father of all who would believe in God, whether Jew or gentile (Romans 4:11b, 4:16)! And because we placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we have now become children of God and children of Abraham as well (John 1:12; Gal. 3:7)! Indeed Abraham’s descendants, all believers of all nations and of all times, have become as numerous as the stars in the sky & the sand in the seashores!

4.) Abraham’s SPECIAL MISSION – As believers in Christ, we have already received as our inheritance, the promised blessings of Abraham! Every spiritual blessing is already ours in Christ (2 Peter 1:3-4)! However, we have received not only the blessings of Abraham, but have also received as well his special mission to ‘be a blessing to the world’! Since we are now children of the faith, God desires and expects us to become a blessing to others! We are a blessing to others when we reflect Christ in our lives (Christian lifestyle) and bring the message of the Good News of Christ to them (Christian witness)! In our work place, we need to do our best and strive for excellence! In our schools, we need to show excellence in all that we do! In our communities and wherever we are, we are to be a blessing to all!

CONCLUSION: Friends, in Christ, we have all been made Abraham’s children! We have received God’s promised blessings through Abraham and his sacred mission as well! We are blessed to become a blessing! God blesses us not only for us to enjoy life, but so that we can share His blessings to others as well. We need to daily remind ourselves that we are already blessed and are to intentionally bless others. We can be a blessing by living a life that reflects our genuine faith in God (Christian lifestyle), and by bringing the message of the Good news to others as well (Christian witness)! In doing this, we can bring others to the saving knowledge of Christ and make them Abraham’s children as well! And when all believers all over the world would do their part in becoming a blessing, the nations of the world would indeed be blessed! ‘Friend, have you been a blessing today?’