The Precursor to Blessings

Job 42:10
“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

I was reading the biography of J. Frank Norris, and the author of the book noted something about him that very few people are able to do, but is an action that every life-changing Christian obtains. This author said that Norris had the ability to forgive those who attacked him. He said that Norris was always willing to take back that person who had tried to destroy him, and some of those who became his closest allies were those who once stood in opposition to him and his work.

The verse above shows that Job also had the ability to forgive and pray for those who were his harshest critics while he was going through his trials. What is interesting about the verse above is that God never told Job to pray for his friends, but on his own he prayed for his friends. These were the “friends” who for several chapters in the Book of Job criticized, maligned and attacked his character and Christianity. Yet, though they did nothing to help him in the darkest hour of his life, he still found the character to pray for them.

This action to be able to pray for those who tried to hurt him during his darkest hour seems to be the precursor to the greatest blessings of his life. Verse 12 says, “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning…” God did not bless him until he prayed for those who hurt him. It was that Christlike spirit to ask God to forgive those who hurt him that led to the greatest blessings in his life.

My friend, you will find that the greatest blessings of life come when you are able to pray and forgive those who hurt you the most. You have to understand that the ministry is all about helping people. The ministry is not just about helping people, but it is about helping people that sin has left its mark on their life. You will find that when you try to help sinful people that many times those who you try to help will turn on you because sin has broken them. You are going to have to be willing to be hurt if you are going to help people become what God wants them to become.

Moreover, the greatest blessings you receive will be seeing those who once tried to hurt you are now helping you as you try to help others. This great blessing will never happen if you are vindictive towards those who attack you. A vindictive spirit will only make the attacks against you worse because you are giving those with the malicious spirit more ammunition by your spirit. Certainly, your flesh will want to fight back and expose those who are going after you, but you are going to have to determine that the LORD can take care of them if you will be sure to watch your own spirit. You will never see the blessings of the LORD return until you learn to pray and forgive those who have tried or are hurting you.

Let me ask you, are you missing out on the greatest blessings of the ministry because you won’t forgive those who have attacked you? The greatest blessings of Jesus’ life came after He said, “Father, forgive them.” The greatest blessing of Stephen’s life came after he prayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” The precursor to the greatest blessings of your life will come when you have the spirit to forgive, pray and help those who have tried to hurt you. This is true Christianity; this is what you must do if you want to experience the greatest blessings from God.

Author: Allen Domelle