Introduction
Opening the Windows of Blessing from Heaven is a series of themes addressing the curse of poverty. Recently, many indebted and moonlight individuals have come to the church. I believe this series will help many brothers and sisters.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (Malachi 3:10)
The theme of Malachi is opening the windows of heaven. How do we open the windows of heaven? That is the question. Blessed are the poor among us, for God will break the curse of poverty. Some may be puzzled by today's testimony, because some people have strange ideas when money is mentioned. It is not that God needs your offering, but that you need to offer, you need to open the windows of heaven.
In this world, you will see people who are clever and hardworking, yet plagued by poverty. Yesterday, one of our sisters was looking for a house. The agent was a classmate of hers, a graduate from a top university, but she was working several jobs in real estate and sales, busy as can be, yet not affluent.
I have personally experienced financial turnaround. I consider myself a decent person, good at studies, reliable in work, and should have a good life through hard work. But when I came to Singapore decades ago, it was very difficult and embarrassing. At the end of my rope, I walked into the church, began to know the true God, and I experienced a great financial turnaround. Later, during my mid-life crisis, with a pile of mortgages and no income, I experienced a second financial turnaround. Later, someone asked me, how did you turn your finances around? Apparently, they suspected me of embezzling church offerings. I found it amusing. Who can embezzle church offerings and still achieve financial turnaround?
During that time, it was truly difficult for me. I had many properties, and needed to repay the loans every month, as well as last year’s personal income tax, but I really had no income at that time. How did I turn it around? First, during that time, a friend of mine (he did not know my situation) transferred a substantial sum of money to me. I asked him, why? He said, God moved him, so he transferred the money to me. Second, many of my properties were rented out at 50% higher than the market price. And when I put the advertisement out, my tenants wanted me to promise to rent only to them, and not to others.
Those people thought I was defiled. In fact, I did not embezzle church offerings, and I have never stopped giving offerings. I never skimp on offerings, and I never regret it. I not only offer money, but also willing to dedicate my life completely to God. I am not arguing for myself, but initially, the majority of the church's offerings were my offerings. Wouldn’t it be strange if I embezzled my own offerings? I am a marriage solemnizer appointed by the Singapore government. I can receive a hongbao of SGD 300-500 for solemnizing a couple's wedding, which is legal in Singapore, but I did not do it for the money.
Scripture
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, the nation the Lord has cursed forever.” You will see it with your own eyes and say, “Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!” (Malachi 1:2-5)
Prayer
Those who love you, who honor you, you will open the windows of heaven and pour out your blessings upon them. May those of us who are poor experience a great turnaround. God, may you inspire us, let us be wise people, knowing that living is by your blessing. Amen!
Two Ways of Living in the World
There is the way of Cain, and the way of Abel; there is the way of Esau, and the way of Jacob. It depends on the thoughts in your head, on your attitude towards offering. I have never found an offering person living in poverty. If you are living in poverty, you really need to re-examine your way of living.
Sometimes we are perplexed. Sometimes, Cain seems to live better than Abel, and Esau seems to live better than Jacob. Do not be perplexed, because that is only a very short period of time. Today we know that one has God's blessing, and the other is in God's curse. If you are in God's curse, you see poverty and disease. If you are in blessing, you see health and abundance.
A long time ago, a Taiwanese woman walked into my office, telling her tragic story. She said that she was in the investment and wealth management business. She made big money on 19 investment projects, but one lost money, and the client wanted to sue her. In her house, the upstairs neighbor changed the toilet above her bedroom, so lying in bed she often heard the sound of the upstairs toilet flushing. She sued, but lost the case.
When she came to my office, God revealed to me that she was not a tithe payer. She argued that she did offer. I asked, who did you offer to? She said, she offered to the poor. Ignorance of the spiritual realm! It can be seen that not reading the Bible and living in a curse, she encountered many curses for no reason.
Many people have the logic of Cain, the logic of Esau in their heads. They want to live well by their own efforts. Being stingy is really not a good thing! No vision will result in no vision, no hope will result in no hope, and the results of Esau and Cain will be lived out. Never go against God! People say, I want to build. God says, Let them build, but I will demolish. If you have the logic of Esau inside you, you build, and God will demolish. Like a mouse chasing its own tail, working hard, back to the starting point, this is a vicious circle.
One of our sisters, her parents worked hard to build a very large house, but the demolition company wanted to demolish their house, and they lived in fear every day, guarding their house. This is a curse. Can you see it clearly? Why hold on to those meaningless things? Really know that loving God is the key! Loving the world, the world will pierce you with sorrows.
In the church, I have seen many people who love the world in the midst of cursing. I tell myself, I would rather die than enter the logic of loving the world. In North America, a sister came to me from afar. I shared the Bible with them, and they found that I had the Way, so they began to follow me. After a few months, she bought a big house, but couldn't find a tenant. Later, she made a decision to register a church locally. She did so, and the next day the tenant came, and signed a lease for a whole year, and paid the rent on time, very convenient. This is the opening of the windows of blessing from heaven. Offering in a victorious church is really a great thing.
Opening the blessings of heaven, breaking the curse of sickness on people. What could be better in this world? There is none better than God. Esau and Cain spent their lives striving to do this and that. So what? Not only did they return to square one, but it was truly vanity of vanities. Such people find it difficult to choose to love God. Not knowing it is vanity of vanities, they think it is real, and they dare not let go of many things. If money is still important to you, but not important to me or many brothers and sisters, God is the most important. Seeking the meaning of life opens the window of heavenly blessings, and God's blessings pour down.
Some people say, I am very poor, how can I give? It is precisely because you are poor that you must give! There was a sister who followed me in business. In the past, her income in Singapore was very low. Her children needed money for school, and she couldn't even bear to take the bus to work. But when she followed me to believe in the Lord, she was determined to tithe. In the beginning, I was like her, with even less income, but I also made the decision to tithe, tithing every single cent. After tithing, my savings were gone. But God opened the windows of heaven, and I became richer and richer. This sister of ours, determined to give, initially had brothers and sisters walk with her. Not long after, she changed jobs, and her salary more than doubled. Now she is very wealthy.
Jacob is Loved by God
Because Jacob sought the meaning of life. I like Jacob too much, and I hope that the qualities in Jacob can be in me. If you are a poor person, you must carefully understand Jacob in the Book of Genesis. If you thoroughly understand Jacob, the third book of my Bible study on Genesis is specifically about Jacob.
There is a heart of love for God in Jacob. In pastoral ministry, I have found that what God is looking for is a little something in the depths of a person's being, called love for God. Yesterday, one of our brothers was constantly in tears during prayer. He yearned to love God and serve God more. His experience of believing in the Lord was very peculiar. He was controlled by a mental illness and was in a terrible state, unable to read or think. He was still studying for his doctorate. Over the years, he has accompanied our church through a period of rebirth from the ashes, which has not been easy. He still has many problems, but in his heart, there is a very precious thing: love for God. He found a job before he even graduated. A few days ago, he took the company's card and officially started working, with very good pay and benefits. God, you are truly a faithful God! You keep your covenant and show love to those who love you.
If a person does not love God, that person is accursed. Loving God is the most important quality of a person. God loves those who love Him. God will visit the iniquity of those who hate Him on the children to the third and fourth generation. Esau is the logical system of hating God, while Jacob is the logical system of loving God. Jacob's view of money is very peculiar. He tricked his brother out of his birthright but did not receive any money. He did not care about money at all, only about God and God's promises. When he left home, lying in the wilderness, he had a dream and saw a ladder, with the angels of God ascending and descending on it. This is opening the windows of heaven.
Although he left home without a penny, when he returned more than twenty years later, he was extremely wealthy. The thoughts and intentions are truly powerful, and the things in a person's bones are truly powerful. During this time, I have been trying to change people's thoughts and intentions, their logical systems. After people change, the turnaround is very fast! To open the windows of heavenly blessing, you need to have the thoughts and intentions of opening the windows of heaven.
People with joint pain are often those who hate others; eye pain is definitely from being good at discerning good and evil; muscle pain is from being very indulgent to the flesh. Jacob is closely grasping the logical system of God. If you don't have it, you must yearn to have it.
Esau is Hated by God
Be sure not to be Esau or Cain, for they are enemies of God. If your innate logical system is that of Esau, although you live authentically, you will definitely live in pain. Although you have pursuits, what you pursue is vanity of vanities. What can you grasp? You can't grasp anything. This world will pierce you with sorrow. How can you not be poor, how can you not be in pain? You need to know that poverty and sickness come from curses, and curses come from God. All who violate God's word invite curses. Curses are all a matter of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, the logical system of Esau.
You may ask, I am working hard to live, why does God want to tear me down? Because you can't see through it. What you are pursuing is vanity of vanities. What God has prepared for those who love Him is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived.
I see some people serving and giving, but in a very traditional religious ritual, without true knowledge in their hearts, not knowing God, not knowing how to love God. This is very difficult to turn around. To truly know God and love God, everything starts with tithing. When you give, you receive. So I have no psychological pressure, and I will ask brothers and sisters to give. It is not only tithing money, but also tithing your life. To offer your life as a living sacrifice is holy and pleasing to God.
Conclusion
Ask yourself, are you Esau or Jacob? What is Esau? Esau is relying on his own ability and effort. Among us, there are not many who are capable or wise, but because of their love for God, God has greatly blessed them, causing those who think they are capable and wise to be ashamed.
Today, in our testimony, when many brothers and sisters came, some were in debt, some were broke. They have all turned around today and become very wealthy. Why? Because they have the logical system of Jacob in them, and the windows of heavenly blessings are opened. I have always been a giver. I don't know if money is easy to use, but I know that God is the most important.
Once, a brother asked me, If I only have one sheep, should I keep it or give it? He thought he had stumped me, but I was very heartbroken and told him, If a person is in poverty and curse and has only one sheep left, why is he still unwilling to give?
We consider everything else as rubbish, in order to gain Jesus Christ. Your thoughts and intentions, your attitude, are very important. If your attitude is to trade with God, you are not worthy. If your attitude is to receive blessings from God, then offer yourself completely. Today, completely remove the curse of poverty.
Follow me in prayer:
Lord Jesus, today I want to completely reject the thoughts of poverty and lack. I want to offer my tithe, and I also want to offer my own life. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I command all these spirits of poverty to completely leave me! I want to be a giver. In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen!