How God Turns our Offering into a Supernatural Blessing- Part 1
Dr. Pradeep Stephen

            All glory be to the Almighty God! Tonight, we thank you for joining us on God of Wonders radio. The message is entitled, ‘How God turns our offering into a supernatural blessing.’ As we look at the lives of Abraham and Hannah, let's listen to Part 1 of this message by Dr. Pradeep Stephen, and learn how we can make a sacrifice that is pleasing to God which God will cause to abound forever, for our good and for the good of many.
 How God turns our offering into a supernatural blessing? Now, we are going to look at two Bible characters. Abraham is one of them, and Hannah is the other. And we are going to see how the Lord put them in a situation, where it was impossible for something to occur that they wanted in their lives. They wanted the blessing from the Lord. But it was an impossible situation; they were squeezed into an area where no human wisdom or ingenuity could ever help them attain that blessing.
We find ourselves; you may find yourself in such a situation, something you are praying for, something that the Lord has promised to you, something that you expect in your life to make a huge difference in your spiritual walk. And, it’s actually an opportunity from the Lord, if we understand it correctly from these two characters in the Bible. These are opportunities from Heaven specifically designed and engineered, so that we can jump into the supernatural from the natural. We are living on a natural plane physically, materially on this earth; but the Lord is always trying to raise us up out of the natural, even while we live on this earth into a supernatural realm. God wants us to grow in His grace. He wants us to understand, that there is another dimension that he wants to take us to. Let’s look right now and read the story of how Abraham was called to give up Isaac, the promised child.
Reading from Chapter 22 of Genesis, verse 1[King James Version]
1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
Now this is the promised child. The very child, that Abraham and Sarah were waiting for, for more than two decades. Finally, the child is given and yet the Lord is not pleased with their spiritual walk. Now, it’s not to say they were disobedient. But, God had something more in mind. God wanted to increase their faith, their inheritance. In every stage of our life, just like in Abraham’s life, God will come to us with a certain requirement. And, as we are keen on understanding, what exactly the Lord is looking for in my life, at this stage of my life? And we fulfill that requirement, we offer up that which He requires freely; then God takes us to an entirely different dimension and plane. But until we come to that point, we can never experience more of the supernatural. Now this is the promised child. The very child through whom, the entire world was to be blessed. Abraham knew that, and yet, he is coming to God who is an awesome God, He is a wonderful God and He is a God that has no limits. He will take us to heights spiritually where we can never dream of.
Now Abraham had been walking with God for so many years up to this point. But, just like with Job, and as we see Hannah, He is going to stretch that faith. He is going to call for something that is difficult for the carnal mind to understand. But, perfectly reasonable for the spiritual person. In Abraham’s case on the third day, verse 4.
4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. [King James Version]
Now, we see right here Abraham’s faith. He believed that what God has promised through Isaac, even though God had called him to offer the child on the mountain of Moriah, God was going to raise him from the dead, do something to finish his program or purpose with Abraham and indeed to the whole world.
6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. [King James Version]
Again, Abraham is not just giving Isaac a line to cover up the truth, but he was speaking out of faith. He knew that the Lord is going to do something. As we see in the New Testament interpreting the Old Testament years later, explicitly saying that, He believed that God could call those things that were not as though they were. (Romans 4:17).  That He could even raise the dead, raise his son Isaac, if need be, to fulfill His promise.
                9. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood [King James Version]. The “altar” signifies an offering. Whenever an altar is built, we see in the Old Covenant especially, an offering is brought to God. When people see dignitaries in this world, they go to visit very important people (VIPs), they don’t go empty handed; but they go there with an offering, with something out of respect and honor, “Please accept this small gift, it’s an honor of you.” In certain customs, when people go to certain lands, they’ll put that garland of flowers. They will do various things to offer something to honor that person. When it comes to the Most High God, He wants an offering that does not cost us little. Not because, He is a greedy God or He does not have. He has everything. That’s why He says, “If I were hungry, I would not have told you. Because all of the cattle on a thousand hills belongs unto Me.” (Psalm 50:10, 12)
God wants us to know, He is giving us an opportunity to give unto Him that for which He will give much much more, as we exercise faith in Him and obediently give up that offering.
10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. [King James Version]
Abraham is giving the greatest treasure in his heart next to the Almighty God in this life. And God knew full well, the price he was paying in offering Isaac. Now, the Lord God Almighty knew the plan that He was going to execute. Surely, as Abraham was willing and ready to execute his son physically, God was willing to execute His divine plan to stop him at that point of full commitment to follow through in that total offering to God. Not withholding anything. God was ready to give Abraham all the blessings. So the angel testifies, “I see now that you really fear God.” Now in times past, the Lord testified that Abraham did fear God. But, this was another level, another advance in his spiritual journey with God. How many of us want to grow in Christ, to go deeper with God. This message is not about simply taking out some money from our wallet and giving it to the Lord, to a ministry. This message is about a deep offering from our hearts unto God saying, “God, this is costing me in the physical realm, but I have faith that you are the living God and you are worth all of it, indeed everything belongs unto You. I am giving it from my heart.”
What happened to Abraham? Not only did God bring that ram caught in the thicket for the burnt offering in the place of his son, but He confirmed His covenant. See, the plan that God has for your life and my life. God takes us on a walk, holding our hands to see whether we are worthy of that great blessing that is spiritual and eternal that God has for us. The Lord Jesus said the similar thing. He said, “He that does not hate even his own life, is not worthy of Me.”(Mathew 10:37, Luke 14:26) Meaning, if we are not willing to give everything to the Lord, then we are not worthy of the matchless prize and gifts that he has for us in eternity. God wants to see, whether we believe to the point of commitment. What did God do for Abraham? He confirmed that covenant that verse 18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. [King James Version]
Because Abraham obeyed His voice, God put him into a tight corner. God does that for us. Out of His Fatherly love, the divine love, He causes us to get into the proverbial rock and a hard place, between the two, where there is no way out. God is saying, “I want this.” The Holy Spirit comes in and He nudges us and says, “This may not be sinful, it may be a blessing, it may be something good. But, are you willing at my call and demand to lay that on the altar? Amen. God comes to each of us and speaks to us in the Spirit and says, “These things may be good, they may be permissible. But for you they are not edifying. For you to go the next level, I want you to offer up that Isaac, to show whether you are going to be worthy of the greater blessing that I have for you.” See, if Abraham kept Isaac, who was the promised child and did not offer him up to the Lord when the Lord commanded him, he would have had that natural blessing of having the heir, but he would not have had the supernatural blessing. So the edification to build up the whole earth, to build up the family and generation of Abraham, to give multiplied blessings, he had to obey God and give that up.

            Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day, for this is the day You have made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for Your truth, Oh Father. May it strengthen us greatly to perform those things that you expect of us, so we can walk closer with You and fulfill all of Your will. In Jesus Name, bless every listener, Oh Father spiritually, physically, materially. Amen

Join us next time for Part 2 of, ‘How God turns our offering into a supernatural blessing.’
May God richly bless you!