Ask and RECEIVE!!

“I bless you.” “God bless you.” “May you be blessed!” “God, please bless the food that I am going to eat.”  We even say this when our friends sneeze!

We say this all the time. No wonder the meaning of “BLESSING” gets watered down like “have a nice day”

And no wonder we are NOT desperate for blessings from GOD!

In Biblical sense, to bless is to ask for or to impart supernatural favor.

When we ask for God’s blessing, we are not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves. We are crying out for the wonderful, unlimited goodness that only God has the power to know about or to give to us.

There is a guy in the Bible who radically asked God for BLESSINGS: It is JABEZ!

Have you heard of Jabez’s prayer?

Oh, that You would bless me indeed,

And enlarge my territory,

That Your hand would be with me,

And that You would keep me from evil.

Jabez requested for God’s blessings. He did something RADICAL! He left it entirely up to God to decide what kind of blessings would be and where, when and how Jabez would receive them.

I for one always have in mind what kind of blessings I would want to receive from God. Grant answers to my prayers! LORD, please say YES to my prayers! As I examined myself again, I realized that the blessings God want to grant me is to glorify myself. Not to glorify HIM!

Today I stand here corrected by GOD: the challenge I take is to leave entirely up to God to decide what kind of blessings it would be for my life!

There is a short story I would love to SHARE with you all:

Mr. Jones Goes to Heaven

What if you found that God had it in mind to send you 23 specific blessings today, but you get only one? What do you suppose the reason would be?

There’s a little fable about Mr. Jones who died and goes to heaven. Peter is waiting at the gates to give him a tour. Amid the splendor of golden streets, beautiful mansions and choirs  of angels that Peter shows Mr. Jones. He notices an odd-looking building. He thinks it looks like an enormous warehouse – it has no windows and only one door. But when he asks to see inside, Peter hesitates. “You really don’t want to see what’s in there.”

Why would there be any secrets in heaven? Jones wonders. What incredible surprise could be waiting for me in there? When the official tour is over, Jones still wonders, so he asks again to see inside the building.

Finally Peter agrees. When Peter opens the door, Jones dashed inside and almost knocks Peter over. It is an enormous building that is filled with row and row of shelves, neatly with white box tied in red ribbons.

“These boxes all have names on them,” Mr. Jones muses aloud. Then turning to Peter he asks, “Do I have one?” Peter answer “Yes, you do.” Peter tries to guide Mr. Jones outside. Peter said, “Frankly, if I were you…..” But Mr. Jones is already dashing down the ‘J’ aisle to find his box. Peter follows, shaking his head. He catches up with Mr. Jones just as he is slipping the red ribbon off his box and popping the lid. Looking inside, Jones has a moment of instant recognition and lets out a deep sigh like the ones Peter had heard of so many times before.

Because there in the Mr. Jones white box are all the BLESSINGS that God wanted to give to him while he is on Earth… but Mr. Jones never asked!

Matt 7:7 Ask and it shall be given to you.

James 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask.

God BLESS you! J

What is in a NAME?

Hi, I'm A. What's your name? :)

All of us have an identity through our names. That is how we first introduce ourselves to new people that we meet. Our names were given by our parents. Many parents have hope that one day we would live up to our names. They choose great names that we may live in the future to the meaning of our name. That's our parents hope for us.

A name is more than a label. More than just a title. But is something we can call our own; the treasures our parents had left for us to live by. A name tells more than just a statement but an interesting story of life.

In Biblical times, a man and his name were so intimately related that 'to cut off the name' of an individual amounted to the same thing as killing him. A name was often taken as a wish for or prophecy about the child's future.

For example, Solomon means peace. He was the first KING of Israel to reign without having to go to war. When I remember Solomon, his name was more than peace. He made a difference! He was the first to set the record of being KING without war involved.

My name is Caroline, which means womanly, given by my grandma. Sometimes, many friends of mine called me Carol, which means joy. My parents gave a beautiful Chinese name; Wei Jun. Wei means 'en hui': grace. Jun means king. My grandma and parents gave me the most priceless give: my name.

To live out my name is something I am practicing out everyday. It's definitely not easy. But, with His grace I pray I can do so. I don't want to leave behind a name without a story. I want to live out my name with an interesting story in it.  

Do you know what's the meaning behind your name? Are we living up to it?