The reward of the Lord’s anointed | Pst. J.O. Lawal |March 27, 2022. |Number: Vol. 10, No. 47

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the last week and days of the month of March 2022. I pray that God will cause His favour to overwhelm your life in the week and drive all kinds of good and wonderful things that you will never be able to get through hard work to you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now it is not enough for us to be praying to God to cause His favour to overwhelm our lives and make amazing things happen to us. It is equally important that we too are doing things that will cause His favour to work for us. And one of such things is being generous to those anointed by Him to feed us with His word, pray for us and lead us to walk in the path of His righteousness. Look at what our Lord Jesus says about this: “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (Matt 10:40-42NIV)

Did you see that? Anyone who receives an anointed person of God because he believes that he is truly sent of God will certainly receive the reward of that anointed person. Even if it is just a cup of cold water that he gives him, he will not fail to receive his reward. What that reward will be, however, is not what anyone can say. It all depends on how God leads or moves that anointed person to bless the one involved.

For example, the reward that the Shunammite woman got from God through Elisha was a son that Satan couldn’t take away, having been barren for years (2Kings 4:8-37). Also, the reward that the widow of Zarephath got from God through Elijah was the preservation of her life and her son’s life during a terrible period of famine in their land (1Kings 17). And the reward that Mary, the sister of Martha, got from the Lord Jesus for her generosity to Him was a name that will always be mentioned and praised in God’s kingdom and wherever the gospel is preached (Matt 26:6-13).   

So, no one can actually predict how God will reward those who relate in generosity to His servants. But He will surely reward them with things that money, hard work or intelligence can never get. Unfortunately, many of us are missing these things not because we cannot have them but because we are stingy, selfish or insensitive. What will a cup of cold water cost any of us? Nothing much! Yet many of us have been missing the rewards that could be ours just by regularly giving our men and women of God some cups of cold water. Just think about it

Now am I saying that you are to start pursuing your pastor or leader in church with cups of water everywhere he goes, whether he is thirsty or not? No! Or am I saying that as long as you are giving your church leader cups of cold water, you have done all that God requires of you? No! Of course, if all you can indeed afford to give to support your church leader or the Lord’s anointed sent to you is a cup of water, it is fine. God will surely reward you for it, according to His standards. 

But the truth is that many of us can do far better than that. And the Lord will not expect us to do any less. Otherwise, we will be cheating ourselves. Look at what He says in the Law of Moses to His people about this: “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.” (Mal 1:14NIV) Did you see that? Well, thank God we are not under any kind of curse because Jesus has taken care of all curses for us. However, this is written down to teach us that it is a sign of utter disrespect to God to give Him or His servants among us less than He has blessed us to give. It was, in fact, that kind of thing that got Ananias and his wife Sapphira killed instead of being greatly rewarded by Him (Acts 5:1-11).

Now my prayer is that we will not get injured, killed or demoted where we ought to have been richly rewarded by God with all kinds of beautiful things. But we too need to cultivate the right attitude in our generosity to God and to those He is using to minister to us. And may His good Spirit make this so for us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Do have a lovely week.

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