Blessing and offering

Healing, Offering & Ministering

We are blessed to be a blessing like Abraham was. Everyone has something to offer, no matter how poor.
When God blesses us in some measure we must show our appreciation of His goodness and mercy, no matter how small. When we do, we keep the flow of blessing. We must not only bless Him through our offering; we need to extend the same benevolence to others at every opportunity that comes our way. When we do, we are sowing a seed today, to meet our own needs tomorrow.

Healing

12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.”
15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

Luke 5:12-16


In this passage we can see, first of all, that this leprous man was ignorant concerning healing, like many people today.
His speech betrays him: ‘If you are willing, you can heal me’. Jesus replied, ‘I am willing. Be healed!’ (paraphrase)

Little wonder why the word of God says, ‘MY people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.’
It is God’s will to heal. Healing is for today. Yes, everyone may not be healed at once or in one meeting, nevertheless it is God's will to heal and we need to teach it unashamedly regardless of our experience. Faith comes by hearing, (not having heard). It has to be continuous hearing. We walk or live by faith and not by sight.( Ro.10:17) Notice:’ ‘multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him.
‘No hearing, no lifting, no healing’ V15
Most of the ministry of Jesus focused on ministering to the sick. Before He left, He gave His disciples the authority to do the same. That mandate or authority of the believer remains in force. Ours is to pray the prayer of faith and leave the rest to God. We must learn to stand on the promises of God and step out of the boat if we are to walk on water. Our faith will be tested and tried to be approved. We may need to fast and pray if we are not to fall prey to unbelief when faced with certain battles. That is how our faith muscle grows. We must learn to PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens. Some people will be healed immediately they are prayed for with no natural explanation to the sudden change. That is a miracle. Thank God for miracles, like we see in this scripture. But God may choose to give recovery in place of a miracle and we must be up for it. Recovery takes more timeand perseverance. You are forced to pray more, exercise your faith and grow in grace, which may be better for you at times.God knows better. We must come expecting our God to move in whatever way He desires. He is sovereign and gives miracles when He wishes.

So we have established that healing is God’s will. God still heals today. Jesus did not only come to saves us from our sins, ‘He also came to heal us of our diseases.’

24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
.1Pet2:24)
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;.( Luke4:18)
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Acts 10:38

Offering
When a man had been suffering from leprosy for a while, there is no doubt that he would be unemployed and would therefore be very poor. Yet Jesus after healing this man, commanded him to go and give some offering according to the law of Moses. Jesus knew that he needed to show some appreciation for what God had done for him regardless of his financial condition. This was to keep the flow of God’s blessing in his life. We too must do likewise and give offering over and above our tithe when we receive special favours from the Lord to keep the blessing or favour flowing.


Ministering

‘So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed’

The third lesson we can learn from this passage is that we need not be carried away by the need to minister to peoples’ need at the expense of spending time with the Lord. The pulpit is not a place to hang our laurels. We must be wise to retreat from time to time to retune, refill, refuel from our Source- the Most High and Elshaddai. After all, without Him we can do nothing. Jesus has shown us the example to follow. The crowds were everywhere, the Paparazzi were in hot pursuit but He was wise to withdraw into the wilderness to pray. No prayer, no power.

So receive your healing today, spiritual, financial, mental, relational or psychological; then give an offering forwhst the Lord has done. Often you have to thank Him before you see or even give an offfering in expectation of what He would do for you or for your loved one(s). Remember to refuel when the Lord is using you mightily. The essence of His presence is of great importance.