Blessing and Rewards: Part 02

Blessings are greater than miracles; miracles are temporary solutions to human problems whereas blessings are a permanent solution. 
Blessings are a result of your obedience to Christ whereas rewards are your payment for the things you have done for God. We need to grow into blessings and not to miracles. Speaking from my own life experience, me and my family are now at a state where miracles have become rare. However, years ago that wasn't the case; miracles were our necessity on a daily basis in order to move forward in life - for our meals, for the ministry expenses, etc - because there was no infrastructure, no land/property, no bank balance, and no people in church. Our life was loaded with miracles then. But today, miracles have scaled down as we began to grow in blessings and we are continuing to grow to the fullness of God’s blessings.  We all need to graduate from miracles and reach a state where we experience, enjoy and live in the fullness of blessings. 

When the Israelites came to Canaan, the land of blessings, manna which was a miracle food ceased (Joshua 5:10-12). They didn’t require water from the rock as there was plenty in the land they now lived, they had plenty of clothes, they lived in furnished houses that they didn’t build. So, when they got to that level of blessing, the miracle ceased which proves that God’s blessings are always greater than His miracles in our lives.

Blessing is an invisible protective power that originates from God and covers a person and when we live within that blessing, we enjoy God’s provision and His protection. 

Genesis 1:28 - God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Adam and Eve didn’t require a miracle then as they had not fallen into sin. Miracles began to take place after the fall of man in order to be delivered from sickness and demonic attacks.

Numbers 23:20 - Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 
Blessings are irreversible. You need a miracle when you’re in a crisis. Miracles are temporary and God by-passes the laws that He Himself made to perform miracles in people’s lives. 
Miracles are kindergarten level and as we grow in blessings, miracles will drastically reduce and people may consider that your faith has shattered; but the reality is that you’ve been blessed in every way and do not require a miracle. 

Revelation 22:12 - “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
This verse is not about punishment, but reward. The second coming of Jesus is of great gain for every child of God, as He’ll be coming with rewards for everything that we've done for His Name and His Kingdom. 
Reward is not a gift or a blessing; but gratuity/payment for every deed that we do for Him.
We need blessings while on earth and not in heaven, because the ones who are blessed here on Earth are the ones who will inhabit Heaven. However, rewards are mainly stored up in Heaven and we need to wait for it. We may not be rewarded for everything while on Earth but Heaven has taken into account everything that we do, and we’ll be richly rewarded. 

Blessings can be spiritual/physical and the same is the case with rewards. We need to maintain a good relationship with the One who blesses us in order to receive the blessings. The first 14 verses of Deuteronomy 28 lists the blessings that come through obedience and the rest of the chapter states the curses that are tagged to one’s disobedience. When we live obeying God’s commands and maintain a good relationship with Him, blessings will flow into our lives. 

 Matthew 5:12 ‘Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’
Matthew 10:42 - And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
Jesus gives double assurance of rewarding any and every person who even gives a cup of cold water to children/servants of God.
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
This means no one who does something for the Lord will miss their reward from Jesus Himself. He will honour His children with rewards even if nobody acknowledges their work on earth.
1 Corinthians 3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.
A person is rewarded for his/her labor, and in the above verse we see one person’s duty is to plant the saplings and the other person’s duty is to water what has been planted. This talks about souls and the Church where God appoints some for evangelisation (planting), while some are appointed for pastoral care (watering), etc. So, people worldwide will do different tasks in different roles in accordance to God’s purpose and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Salvation is made freely available to us as Jesus paid it in full on the Cross and we need not do anything to attain salvation but believe. And after being saved, we need to serve God in every way possible. 

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. 
Many people consider those who are well settled with a beautiful house, vehicles and bank balance as truly blessed, but that's just a small reflection of blessing in the earthly realm. But true blessing is God’s invisible power that overshadows every realm of our lives- spiritual, earthly, physical realms. 

A person who has been blessed to the fullness does not require a miracle because that person is not in a crisis/ problem. Reward is neither miracle nor blessing, but a perquisite for everything that one does for the Kingdom of God and His Name - partnering in God’s ministry, serving the Lord, sharing the gospel and life testimonies to others, etc.

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