Focus: You Are An Asset!

Text: Dt.33:20

"Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad…"

It was time for Jacob to die, and so he gathered his children to give them his last words and blessings, and to predict their future. When it got Gad's turn, he said to him, "Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last" (Gen.49:19). Jacob saw Gad's temporary setback and his final conquest. He saw Gad as laughing at last. Gad would not suffer defeat forever. His life would end in ultimate victory. For Gad, failure is not final; victory is. 

This reminds me of what I read about Robert Frost, Albeit Einstein and Winston Churchill at a time when they looked like nobodies. The poetry editor of Atlantic Monthly returned Robert Frost's stack of poems to him with a note that said, "Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse." But he ultimately became the popular Robert Frost, the poet. The University of Bern turned down a doctoral dissertation of Albert Einstein. They condemned it as "irrelevant and fanciful." But he later became the renowned Albert Einstein, the eminent scientist. An English teacher noted on a teenager's report card, "A conspicuous lack of success." That failure of a teenager eventually became Winston Churchill. Tell me, who doesn't know Winston Churchill as the former prime minister of the United Kingdom? Three of them, and many others, suffered temporary setbacks, but they bounced back and achieved incredible greatness at last.

Jacob saw an army coming against his son and conquering him temporarily. This goes to show us that failure is not final. Gad would finally triumph.

When Gad was born, his mother looked at him and saw the invisible concerning his son, and she said of him, "A troop cometh." A newly born child, yet the mother could see a troop coming out of him. Leah saw an emerging troop in her son. Gad's name signifies a fortune. He would invade territories and gather to himself the spoils of war. He would gain hard fought treasures. His full name should be Gadiel. His name stems from a verbal root, gadad, which basically means 'to cut or to invade.' By implication it means finding a hidden treasure in the process of cutting a place or something open. The fortune could be described as a harrowing fortune, that is, a hard earned fortune. As you know, a troop is not for fancy; a troop is equipped for war.

Leah saw her child's future - a great future. Gad had the potential of becoming a mighty army. The Generals in David's army said to him, "But now thou art worth ten thousand of us" (2Sam.18:3). Did you get that? One David is mightier than over ten thousand foot soldiers in the land of Israel. That is incredible. David was a huge asset to Israel.

I say to you: you are an army. You are a force to reckon with. Out of you shall come a troop. You may suffer a temporary defeat or failure, but you shall prevail in the end. In Christ you are more than a conqueror.

When it was time for Moses to return to God his Maker, he spoke his last words to the sons of Jacob, and concerning Gad, he said, "Blessed is he who enlarges Gad." This is amazing. Isn't it? Whoever you might be, just make room for Gad, and you would land yourself in God's blessing. Gad was God's medium of spreading divine blessing around to those who support his expansion. Gad was a divine asset, not human liability. Blessings would follow whoever did anything to help broaden Gad's horizon. Widen Gad's space, and you would experience the blessing of God.

Every believer in Christ is divine asset. Whoever blesses you is blessed. He who gives a cup of water to a prophet will receive the prophet's reward or blessing.

A believer in Christ is a fertile soil on which you can plant your seeds and expect a huge harvest. On the believer's soil men would find oil. Their toil will yield oil. 

Moses said, "He who enlarges Gad…" The commitment to enlarge Gad would be continual. Keep enlarging the believer or the minister of God, and you will keep being blessed. Keep being a supporter or sponsor of a called and chosen minister of God, and you will never lack divine blessing. A believer is a troop - an army, for the greater one lives in him. The armies of heaven are with him. The empowering presence of God is his reality. I pray that you don't fail to be an asset in God's hands. You're blessed to be a blessing to others.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter