Prayer for Blessings on our Work
“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the need of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for is inexpressible gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:10-15
Some translations start this passage “Now the one who provides seed”. In the ESV, which is usually my favorite translation, you can almost miss the first part of this prayer. In this prayer Paul is recognizing that God is the supplier of the seed for the farmer and that the seed becomes the bread for food and that God will also be the one who blesses the seed to multiply it and increase the harvest. Then Paul is recognizing that God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.
In the same way, God directs our paths to the work of our hands. When we follow God’s path to the work that He has for us we will be blessed in our work and our work will multiply and we will be able to bless others from and through our work. When this happens we are on the receiving end of others thanks and blessings to us.
I wonder how many of us decide on our work and then ask God to bless it instead of asking God what our work should be and then walking into the blessing that He has for us. (I am raising my hand here.) I know that early on in my life I didn’t ask God what I should do with my life. I just walked headfirst into what I thought I could do. Now don’t get me wrong. I have asked God to direct me to jobs and He has done it and I have been blessed by it. But I do wish when I was a young woman I had asked God what His desire of work for me would have been. I am quite jealous of those people who seem to have fulfilled a calling and not just had a job. I am blessed to have a job I like and I do work with people I love, but I can’t say that I feel that it fulfills a calling in me. I think there are people who are performing a task, doing a job and there are people who are fulfilling a calling. While I think God can and will bless us even when our job is a task and that we can be a blessing to others I think the blessings overflow when our job is a calling. (These are just my thoughts.)
God is the supplier of our work, and He is the one who blesses our work and when we receive the blessing of our work we are meant to bless others and be generous in our giving. And when we bless others, we will be a blessing to them but the blessing will also be returned to us. That is what this prayer is saying. Our ministry of service, our work is not only meant to supply our own needs our work is meant to be a blessing to the saints, we should be giving to our church in order to bless our leaders and we should be giving in order to bless the poor and those in need. When we are obedient in our confessions of the gospel and in our generosity and we share, then those who are blessed by it, will give thanks and we will be on the receiving end of the blessing!
Paul ends this little prayer with a simple thanks that packs a big punch.
“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15
Some translations say “indescribable gift”! Either way, Paul is pointing to Jesus our indescribable, or inexpressible gift. Jesus is the gift! Commentary pointed out that Paul could have been talking about salvation and some say He is talking specifically about Jesus. I am no scholar but isn’t it all one and the same? Jesus is our gift and when we have the gift of Jesus on our lives, we have salvation, we have the Holy Spirit who guides us, we have God’s blessings on us. The gifts that Jesus gives us are impossible to describe. The gifts that we receive when we are walking with Him and asking Him to bless the work of our hands and to lead us and to guide and direct us on the paths that He has for us are far more than we can imagine or achieve on our own. We could try and should try to tell others about this gift but our words can never fully explain this gift! He is indescribable!
Restore 