One day in America, two people were arguing in church.
They were debating if Jesus was white or black.
“He’s white!” said one. “No, He’s black!” said the other guy. Even as they walked out of the church, they kept arguing.
Not looking where they were going, both fell into an open ditch and died on the spot. And both found themselves in the gates of heaven.
They saw Jesus walk to them and they were so happy. Both of them asked, “Jesus, can you help us answer one question? Are you black or white?”
Jesus smiled and said, Magandang Umaga.
In our current series entitled OMG!, we’re describing who God is. We didn’t describe God as black, white, or Filipino. Two weeks ago, I said He was Father. Last week, I said He was Leader. Today, I’ll tell you that God is Provider too.
The Bible says my God shall supply your every need[1]. Because I have many needs. I need food. I need a roof over my head. I need friends. I need parking spaces. I need money. Boy,I thank God He’s Provider!
Which makes me redefine what prayer is…
Is Prayer Twisting God’s Arm?
For many people, prayer means changing God’s mind.
For many people, prayer is “convincing God to bless you”.
Prayer is begging God, twisting His arm until He relents and says, “Oh, okaaaaay. I really didn’t want to bless you, but because you’re forcing me, here it is…”?
Nuts!
I don’t buy that.
I don’t believe God really needs any convincing to bless us.
Because He’s a parent.
Parents Are Providers
One day, I was in Hong Kong.
I felt so sad when I saw thousands of Filipinas there. Why were they there? To put food on the table of their families back home.
On the flight back to Manila, I sat beside a Filipina. My heart was torn when she told me she hasn’t seen her kids for 2 years. Working as a domestic helper was very hard, she said. Sometimes, it got very lonely. Sometimes, her employer doesn’t treat her well.
Her words struck me. “I can’t help it. I’m a mother.”
By nature, parents are providers.
I have an announcement to make: God is a parent. He wants to provide for us!
You don’t need to convince him to bless you.
The Bible says that God delights in the prosperity of His servant[2].
He’s happy when we’re blessed, abundant, prosperous, and fulfilled.
He loves to bless you. I believe it’s His favorite thing to do. I believe the highlight of His day is to bless you with abundance.
Not only that, but He already has provided every blessing you need. So why convince him to do what He has already done?
Are You Afflicted With Spiritual Emphysema?
I believe everything you need is out there.
Love. Wisdom. Opportunities. Money. God’s blessings are as abundant as the air around you.
So just breathe them in.
But I believe many of us have spiritual emphysema.
Let me explain.
My friend has physical emphysema.
He started smoking when he was 13 years old. He became a chain smoker, lighting up 2 packs a day, until the age of 45 when he wasn’t feeling very well anymore. But it was too late. His lungs developed emphysema.
Just to make my story more graphic, stop reading and take a deep breath. Inhale deeply for a few times. Fill your lungs with wonderful oxygen.
Do you feel great?
My friend will give anything to experience what you’re experiencing now. Because he can’t do what you just did. His damaged lungs can no longer absorb the oxygen that’s abundantly available around him.
Why? Emphysema has destroyed his lung tissue. There’s no shortage of oxygen. There’s only a shortage of his ability to absorb that oxygen.
This for me is a perfect example of what’s happening to many people who are surrounded with God’s blessings but aren’t partaking of those blessings.
Because many people have spiritual emphysema.
There’s no shortage of blessings.
Only a shortage to receive those blessings.
If physical emphysema destroys lung tissue, spiritual emphysema destroys your expectation for God’s Provision.
You see, people of faith expect to be blessed. They say things like, “I expect good things to happen to me. I expect doors to opportunity to open before me. I expect to attract the right people. I believe that blessings will flow to me like a rampaging river everyday of my life. I expect that God’s creation is conspiring to bless me, plotting, scheming, and finding ways to give me what I need.”
But when you have spiritual emphysema, you have negative expectations.
Say No To Negative Expectations
I’ve met a lot of people who operate on negative expectations.
They expect bad things to happen to them.
They say things like, “Life is difficult. Life is painful. Life is a land of sufferings.”
Which is true. I’m not denying that we’ve got problems. But why focus on that? Why not focus on God’s blessings amidst our trials?
But I’ve met people who mope around and expect bad things to happen to their lives. “I’ll always remain poor,” or “I’ll never get married anymore,” or “I’ll never get out of my debts,” or “I’ll never get a better job,” or “My life will never get any better.”
These negative expectations damage your ability to absorb God’s blessings.
Today, make a decision to change your expectations.
Enlarge them. Because the size of your blessings will be determined by the size of your expectations.
But you need to know the two parts of expectation.
Two Parts of Expectations
To receive more of God’s abundant blessings, you need an inner expectation and an outer expectation.
Inner expectation is about your heart.
Outer expectation is about your hands.
Let me describe to you inner expectation.
One day, my 9-year old son was going to a whole-day workshop. Before leaving, he asked, “Daddy, can you give me P20? There are only pay toilets there.”
When I turned to him to say “Sure”, I saw him already stuffing a P50 bill in his wallet. I left a pile of money on the kitchen counter–and he helped himself to it. Even before he heard me say “Sure”, he already got the P50 from the counter.
That, my friend, is inner expectation.
My son didn’t wait for my answer. He assumed that I was going to give it to him, that’s why he got the money available on the kitchen counter.
I want you to believe that God has left all the blessings you need on the kitchen counter. The universe is God’s kitchen counter. He has loaded it to the brim with every miracle that you need in life to reach your dreams. If you need love, it’s there. If you need wisdom, it’s there. If you need money, it’s there.
Second, didn’t you notice? My son got for more than what he needed. He asked for P20 but got P50.
I asked him why. He said, “My cousin Nicole is attending the workshop. She goes to the toilet too.” Isn’t he wise and loving? If you’re wise, you should also ask for more blessings because you want to be generous. Life isn’t about you. Life is about loving others. So ask Big!
That’s inner expectation–believing with your heart that you’ll be blessed.
But what is outer expectation?
Build Pipelines For His Blessings To Flow
One day, the parents of two little boys went out on a date and asked grandma to baby sit for them. After dinner, grandma led her two grandkids to their rooms to say their night prayers. Both of them knelt beside their beds.
The younger boy was the first one to pray.
From the top of his voice, he said, “LORD! I NEED A NEW BICYLE! I NEED A NEW PLAYSTATION!…” On and on, he prayed, as loudly as he could.
His older brother elbowed him and whispered to him, “Why are you shouting? God isn’t deaf.”
The younger brother said, “I know. But grandma is.”
Here’s my point: The younger brother knew that God uses pipelines to bless us, and he hoped that his grandma was a pipeline. This is what I mean by building pipelines for God.
Make It Easier For God To Bless You
One day, my friend Eric Baroquillo felt God nudging him to donate a drum set for their music ministry. At first, he balked. “Lord, that’s a lot of money!” But ultimately, he said Yes to God and began scouring the internet for the best drum set money could buy. He finally bought one–a really nice one–and donated it.
Eric said, “Two weeks later, my stock market investments hit a jackpot: I sold a stock that earned P400,000. God is more generous than me.”
Now this is what I mean when I talk about building a pipeline for blessings to flow. For years now, Eric’s been learning how to invest in the stock market. Through many failures and struggles, he finally learned how to do it.
If you want God to give you financial blessings, you need to increase financial literacy, create businesses, and make investments–so that you have pipelines for His blessings to flow. Without them, God will be limited to using your existing pipelines: Your mother, or your Ninang, or a Lotto winning, or an unexpected inheritance. Very limited, if you ask me.
If you want God to give you physical health, build pipelines like a healthy exercise, healthy diet, and healthy relationships.
Let me give you a personal example.
Do you know how I prepare my talks?
Simple. I believe the best preparation is over-preparation.
Here’s the truth: I do lots of research, read lots of books, scribble lots of drafts, write lots of paragraphs, discuss it with other preachers, share it to my wife, and actually rehearse lots of times.
Some religious people will be disappointed. They’ll say, “Bo, don’t you depend on God anymore? Why not just stand in front of the people and let the Holy Spirit speak to you?” Oh, I do. But what I’ve done is build pipelines for His blessings to flow to my talk. My reading a ton of books is a pipeline for His Holy Spirit to flow into me. My writing the talk in outline and expanded form is another pipeline. My discussions with other preachers is a huge pipeline. That’s why I believe my talks are blessed.
Before I end, let me answer one very difficult question.
Why Some Specific Blessings
Aren’t On the Kitchen Table
Some of you may be asking, “But Bo, I’ve been praying for a baby for 12 years now. Why isn’t God blessing us with a child? Is it because I lack faith in God?”
Or, “My wife died of cancer. Why didn’t God heal her?”
Or, “I’ve been praying that God convert my husband. But after 27 years of praying for him, he’s still the same worldly man. Bo, that blessing doesn’t seem to be on God’s kitchen counter yet.”
Here’s my answer: God has a very different way of defining a blessing.
We define our blessing according to what our human eyes can see–and our eyes are terribly short-sighted. God defines a blessing according to what His eyes can see–and He sees beyond death and eternity.
My point? When you think you’re not being blessed, you may actually be receiving your greatest blessing ever.
Let me end by sharing two stories.
A married couple was praying for a baby for the longest time. But after 7 years of praying, they were still childless. Finally, they adopted a baby girl. Today, they’re so happy with her and can’t imagine life without her.
Another married couple I know, also childless, didn’t adopt. Instead, they immersed themselves in God’s ministry. One day, the wife told me (now in her sixties), “As a young bride, I prayed for three biological children. But God decided to say No to me. Instead, He gave us three-hundred plus spiritual children that have passed through our ministry. We care for them like they’re our own children. We’re very happy.”
In both examples, God defines a blessing in a very different way.
What we see as a curse–childlessness–turned out to be a great blessing to them, but not only to them, but especially to those children they welcomed in their heart.
Here’s my point: God will always provide the best blessings for your life.
Trust Him.
Next Week: God is Healer.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
PS. Nourish Your Soul Each Week. Just in case you live in Metro Manila, we now hold five FEASTS all over the place. I believe the FEAST is one of the happiest places on earth. If you want to grow strong in your spiritual life, I invite you to plug yourself into one of these weekly FEASTs. Admission is totally free. Bring your friends and family! Below are the schedules… (For more information, email Annie at feastsecretariat@yahoo.com.)
Pasig
Sunday
3 sessions:
8am-10am
10:30am-12:30noon
1pm-3pm
Valle Verde Country Club (Beside ULTRA)
Preacher: Bo Sanchez
Alabang
Sunday, 11:00am
Festival Mall (Cinema 10)
Preacher: Arun Gogna
Makati
Thursday, 7:30pm
AIM Conference Center, Benavidez corner Paseo De Roxas
Preacher: Randy Borromeo
Manila
Friday, 7:00pm
SM Manila (Cinema 4), near Manila City Hall
Preacher: Obet Cabrillas
Bulacan
Marilao (We’ll be moving to a new place. Email us!)
Preacher: Alvin Barcelona
For more information, email Annie at feastsecretariat@yahoo.com.
[1] Philippines 4:19
[2] Ps 35:27
