The Father wants to bless us because we are his children. As his sons and daughters, we are heirs to his promises. However, there is one lesson that the Father wants us to learn before he can entrust us with his material and financial blessings. We need to grow in maturity first and attain the proper attitude in handling our financial and material blessings.

Even God's own chosen people from the Jewish Nation had to surpass the test of growth and maturity. He took the Israelites out of Egypt and promised them Canaan , the land of flowing milk and honey, but they needed to pass God's test first.

My life was like the life of the Jewish nation walking in the wilderness for forty years. And like their experience, there was a reason for my suffering.

When God brought the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan , what would have taken them only one week to travel took them forty years of going around the wilderness? The reason for this was that before they could enter Canaan , they had to learn a lesson first.

As the new Jews and the new chosen people of God, the promises to Abraham are likewise effective in us. We are now the real Jews, because we have been made the true Jews in the spirit. Along with the promises of blessings given to us is the spiritual lesson that we need to learn.

It is not enough that we know the Spiritual Revolution, which talks about the overthrowing of the old spirit of disobedience. We also need to know about the Financial Revolution. In the Financial Revolution, we need to overthrow the spirit of poverty, greed, selfishness and the spirit of laziness. These are the embodiments of the spirit of poverty. The Father cannot entrust us right away with His promised blessings unless we have overthrown the spirit of poverty in us. This spirit of poverty is a part of our 'fallen Adamic nature'.

The Spiritual and Financial Revolution are twins. They are interconnected with each other. Just as it is in the Spiritual Revolution, you also have to grow in the Financial Revolution, in order for you to be trusted with the possession of financial and material things. You need to be tried and tested and grow in maturity.

The Israelites were very hard headed and in the 40 years of wandering around in the wilderness, they never learned their lesson. They remained rebellious and stubborn. Many of them died without seeing the Promised Land. They were materialistic and carnal. They had the spirit of selfishness, discontentment and laziness. The spirit of poverty was still in them, and that was what the father wanted to take away.

In their heart and in their mind, the Israelites only wanted to receive the blessings from the Father, but they did not see the things that God wanted them to see in the spirit. They failed to learn the lesson that God wanted them to learn.

There are times when we are tried in our giving. We faithfully give, but nothing comes back in return. We ask ourselves, "We are God's promises?" Many even ask, "I am very faithful in giving my tithes, why am I not receiving the promises in Malachi 3:10 ?"

That is where the trial lies. God will intentionally and purposely withhold the promises He gave us to try us in our giving. He will find out what is really in our heart. He wants to see if we are doing His will with a motive of selfishness, greed, discontentment or laziness.

As long us the spirit of poverty is in us, the Father cannot bless us, although we may be obeying His commandments. This goes on to say that the promises of the Father will only be fulfilled to the real sons and daughters of God who are truly born again in the spirit, mature and have overcome.

I know this because I was the first one who was tried. I was in Tamayong for five years and I gave not only my tithes -I gave my whole life to Him. I threw my life and I gave it to the Father. What did I get in return? I got persecution, hardship and rejection. I lost all my friends, my relatives and everything and I found myself standing alone. That was my trial.

What was my reaction to all that? My reaction at that time would determine if I could be trusted with His promises or not. What was my reaction when all I was seeing was famine and persecution? My reaction was, "Father, I know that anything that happens to me while I follow You is Your will. I will please You, I will follow You no matter what happens."

My life was like the life of the Jewish nation walking in the wilderness for forty years. And like their experience, there was a reason for my suffering. He said, "I have purposely done this so that I could see what is in your heart and to try you, to humble you and to see and prove if you will really obey me or not."(Deut. 8:2)

He let them eat manna for forty years and many of them were asking, "Where is Your promise? Didn't You promise a land flowing with milk and honey? Didn't You promise a land where we would have everything in abundance?"

The Israelites did not see the land of flowing milk and honey right away. What they saw were the terrible trials, temptations, and the chastening of the Father in the wilderness. There was no milk and honey. Tasteless manna was all that there was for forty years.

It says in Deuteronomy 8:3, "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not." If you do not know the ways of God, you would say, "What is this? He promised us milk and honey, but now we are hungry!" But God intentionally did that to them.

The Father wants to bless us. He wants to give us all the things that He promised; but He wants us to be more spiritual when He gives us these things. The Father wants us to be cautious when we see His blessings.

It is said in His Word, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.." (Deut. 8:3)

The first lesson that the Father wanted to teach them was that they shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from Him, and that they must first of all be hungry to do His perfect will.

"Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years." (Deut. 8:4) This was another lesson the Father wanted to teach them. The Father was pointing out that their shoes were the same through all the forty years; it grew as they grew bodily. The raiment they were wearing was like new everyday. This meant that they did not have to worry about those things. Sometimes, people worry because of the spirit of greed, selfishness and discontentment in their hearts, just like the Israelites.

Another lesson He wanted them to learn was for them not to get offended when they were being chastened, when they were being disciplined and corrected by the Father. As it is said in His Words, "Thou shalt also consider in thane heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee."(Deut. 8:5)

They were promised with a very abundant land, but they should first of all have the proper spirit and attitude. If not, they would soon forget He who had promised them all of these things. The spirit of greed, selfishness, laziness and discontentment that was within them would destroy them.

All of those blessings that they were about to receive from the Father would soon destroy them if they did not have the proper spirit and attitude. That was why He trained them first.

Before the Israelites reached the Land of Promise , the Lord warmed them, "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his Commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this Day."(Deut. 8:11)

God's purpose is always for our good. He wants us to be blessed and reach out our own Canaan of Blessings. However, He warns us not to forget the Lord of our God, when we are full and we have eaten; and have built goodly houses (Deut.8:12). We may forget to obey His commandments, backslide and forget Him because of our materialism and carnal ways, borne by the spirit of poverty within us. Proverbs 1:32 says, "The prosperity of fools shall destroy them." You are a fool if God blesses you and don't recognize Him and live according to His will.

The Father wants to bless us. He wants to give us all the things that He promised, but He wants us to be more spiritual when He gives us these things. The Father wants us to be cautious when we see His blessings.

This is the reason why He gave you a model. As the Father's Appointed Son in these last days, He sent me as an example. He has blessed me with all things. But what has the Father seen in my heart? He has seen that I am not attached to any of these things, and that I am willing to give it all back to Him if He asks me to. What will the Son say? "Father all of these are yours. You have only given them to me so that I can use them for your will and for Your glory. Anytime You take them back, it is nothing to me, as long as I know that I am in Your perfect will. Put me wherever You want to. Give me whatever and I will be contented because my only focus is Your perfect will."

When we have this spirit in our hearts, then we know that our paths and ways lead to the Canaan of Blessings.