 The next promotion, the next blessing, the next breakthrough, the next level of ministry fruitfulness, it's all waiting for you on the other side of a divine test. Now, I wanna show you three ways that God will test you before he will bless you. But first, write in the comment section, search me God. Write those three simple words. That's a prayer of surrender. Write that in the comment section right now. Now, here's an important note. Every believer is already blessed in the general sense. What I'm talking about is something very specific. I'm talking about increase. I'm talking about promotion. I'm talking about greater levels of responsibility that Lord will give to you as you pass test. Now, the tests that I'm going to give you are not by any means exhaustive. The Lord tests us in countless ways, but I'm gonna cover at least three. Number one, he's gonna test your stewardship. In Luke chapter 16, verses 10 through 12, the scripture says this, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? Now, of course, the context is Jesus is addressing material wealth, but the principle applies universally, spiritually. He's talking about stewardship. He's talking about taking care of what God has already given to you that you might see an increase in your responsibilities. And remember, this is more about responsibility than it is reward because when God blesses you, he gives you something to carry that you might be a blessing to others. This is about increase. This is about greater levels of responsibility. This is about greater levels of fruitfulness. Can God entrust to you the blessings of the next season? Many of us go through cycles in life again and again. And then we complain about how long it's taking in order for us to receive the blessing. But have you ever considered this fact that if you fail the test, you have to take it again? So when faced with trials, when faced with obstacles, when faced with frustrating circumstances, instead of trying to rush the process, instead of saying, God, get me out of here. I wanna be past this already. Ask him, Lord, what are you trying to teach me during this trial? What are you trying to shape in me during this test? Because if you keep failing the test, you'll have to go through again and again and again these cycles of frustration. How do you treat what he's given to you now? How do you treat what God has already entrusted to you? Do you give your best or are you waiting for some ideal situation in the future? This is the trap that many fall into. They, in their minds, picture this situation off in the distance where they are where they want to be, where they're the person they want to be in Christ, where they're accomplishing the will of God in their lives, where they're maybe flowing in the ministry that God has called them to, and they picture it off in the distance. And then they wait until that ideal circumstance presents itself for them to begin giving their best. Well, if you don't give your best right here and now, if you don't apply yourself with diligence to what God has called you to do right now, if you don't take care of what God has given you in this season, how can you expect increase for the next season? How can you expect God to take you to higher places, give you promotions in the spirit, place upon you a greater mantle? If you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing right here and now. Again, this is something that I think that we as believers have to take into consideration. These tests, it is a test of stewardship. And this is by no means a message of condemnation. This is one of correction, and hopefully it causes you to think soberly about what God has entrusted to you. Remember, excellence is not having the best of everything. Excellence is doing the best with everything that you have. This principle, by the way, you can see threaded all throughout the scripture, for it applies even to the revelation that God has given to you. Look at what Matthew chapter 13 verses 11 through 13 say. He replied, speaking of Jesus, you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables for, they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand. So Jesus spoke in parables to conceal the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. And those secrets of the kingdom of heaven are unveiled only by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Sure, someone can learn the information, someone can study it intellectually, but only when you've received the revelation does that bring forth transformation because it becomes a part of who you are. But if you're not faithful to obey the revelation that Christ has given to you, if you're not faithful to obey what God has already revealed, then what little understanding you have will be taken away from you. So we'll be taken away from you. So the principle of stewardship applies even to an increase in revelation. Think about the parable of the 10 servants, Luke chapter 19 verse 26. Yes, the king replied, and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Sometimes we get angry and sometimes sadly we even get angry with God. We feel like he owes us something. We feel like just because we've been saved for a long period of time that we should start seeing an increase in our responsibilities, an increase in the mantle, an increase in the anointing, an increase in power. And on a side note, you of course have all the power and anointing that you'll ever need. When I talk about increase in these areas, I'm talking about your use of and access to what God has placed in your spirit because only when we obey what God has told us to do, do we then begin to gain access what he's already deposited in us. So yes, we have the anointing. Yes, we have the power. Yes, we have the mantle. But are you living in a way that allows you to access the benefits of what God has given to you? And so we often get frustrated. And again, as I said, we maybe sometimes get frustrated with God. We say, Lord, I've been serving you for X amount of years. Why does it seem like they get blessed and I don't? And why does it seem like they get promoted and I don't? Why does it seem like they get used and I don't? Well, the question is, what are you doing with what God has given to you right now? What are you doing with what God has deposited in your life right now? Do you despise the day of small beginnings? Do you look at the mustard seed and dismiss it instead of seeing it for the tree that it can become? Do you take care of what God has given to you? Do you actually work to increase the responsibilities that God has given to you? Or are you apathetic? Are you tired of what God has given to you? Are you used to it? Have you become so familiar with it now that you no longer value what He's put into you? This is why we need to evaluate ourselves because often that test of stewardship takes place just before the increase and God does indeed want to increase you. Looking again to the scripture we see in 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verses six to 11, that Paul the apostle writes to the Corinthians about their financial giving. Now this is not a message about finances but often the Bible talks about finances in conjunction with the principle of stewardship. So let's consider the context Paul is talking about money but then let's take a look at the principle behind what he's addressing, which is stewardship. 2 Corinthians chapter nine, beginning at verse six. Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Let's pause there for a second. Here the promise is not that you'll have some of the things you need some of the time. The promise is that you will abound, you will have all of the things you need all of the time. Sometimes we get wants and needs mixed up so we miss the fulfillment of this scripture in our lives. Verse nine, as it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever. So now he's talking about generosity. Verse 10, now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase, that's twofold, your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. Verse 11, you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. So let's take a look at a couple of things here. He who supplies seed to the sower, what does that mean? That means that God is the one who gave you the resources in the first place, that everything that you have ultimately belongs to God. The clothes you wear belong to God. The place you live belongs to God. The blankets under which you sleep, those belong to God. The food placed before you, that belongs to God. You're eating from his supply. You're living from his supply. He is the one who's given you seed to sow and he's the one who increases that harvest of generosity in you. Verse 11 promises, you will be enriched in every way, but what's the purpose of this so that you can be generous on every occasion? So there we see that the increase comes, but the increase doesn't come so that it can all go to you. The increase comes so that you can be generous to others. The increase comes not necessarily as a reward, but again, as a responsibility. Now again, Paul the apostle is talking primarily here about money. He's taking an offering for a specific project that he's raising funds for. But here he's addressing something really important. Again, he's talking about stewardship and he's challenging the Corinthians to give and he's promising through the inspiration of the Holy spirit that as they sow, they will reap. And again, this goes far beyond money. This is not a message about money, but whatever you use unto the glory of God, God will increase. So then if we withhold, well now we're not using that unto the glory of God and so the increase does not come, but this applies to all different aspects of our lives. What has God deposited in you that you are not using to bless others? Has he given you an ability to write? Has he given you an ability to speak? Has he given you an ability of artistic measure that you can maybe paint or do graphic design because artistic ability can be expressed in multiple different ways. Has he given you a gift of encouragement? Are you good with people? Has he given you the ability to bring joy and humor? I mean, we could go on and on with these questions. Only you know what God has deposited in you. Are you using that for his glory? Now again, sometimes we get discouraged because what we want are the trees, but what God gives us are the seeds. We say, God bless me with trees, bless me with trees. He says, okay, here are the seeds. Now go and be a good steward. And so we become discouraged because we become discouraged. We start doing things half-heartedly. And we may claim that we're giving our best, but are we really? We may be going through the motions physically. We may be keeping our commitments outwardly, but internally are we diligent? Are we really applying the mind that God gave us? Are we really applying the emotions that God gave us? Are we really working and doing and serving with passion? Or have we become apathetic toward the things of God because what we have right now isn't what we want eventually? But this is the power of stewardship. That if you take care of what God has given you now, he will give you greater levels of responsibility and increase, he will bring promotion, greater levels of the mantle, greater levels of the anointing, greater levels of ministry, greater levels of freedom if you steward what he's given you well. And it comes when we least expect it. It's exponential growth. I'll use our media ministry as an example. The first several years that we were on, let's say YouTube for example, the first several years were not what anyone would consider fruitful. The live streams, maybe 30 people would watch them. The videos maybe would get 300 views. The channel had less than a thousand subscribers. And this went on year after year after year, but I determined in my heart, I'm gonna preach to those few hundred subscribers like there are a million subscribers. I'm gonna preach to a hundred like there are a million. I'm gonna give my all to every video. I'm gonna put my heart and my mind and my soul into every study that I present before the people. I'm gonna present meals in the spirit to the best of my ability as much as God has gifted me. I'll put my passion in it. I'll put everything I have behind it and I will serve God's people with joy and gladness and gratitude. And whatever increase he brings that will come. Well, for the first, let's just call it, I'm not giving exact numbers, but pretty close. For the first, let's just say 10, 15 years. It wasn't really all that much traction. I mean, we as a ministry at the time that this is being broadcast live. At this time, we just barely reached a million subscribers a few months ago. Think about this. It took about, and I'm not giving an exact number because I don't have the dates in front. We started in 2007, so I might show how off my math is here. But about 15 or 20 years of serving, of working, of posting consistently. And our media director will tell you as my witness, we did not miss a week of content. Every week, we put out content. We did not miss a thing. And the growth didn't seem to be coming. There was no acceleration. There was no movement. There was no traction. There was no spike that we saw coming in terms of the analytics. We just kept serving, putting our heart and soul as unto the Lord for the glory of God. And so if you take a look at our channel, you'll see that it was about the first 15 to 20 years that it took us to get a million subscribers. Think about this, about 15 to 20 years to get that first million subs. Well, what began to happen. Now, within the last few months, we gained nearly another 700, 600, 700,000. It's under 700, but just about there. Think about that. Let's just call it 12 years to be safe. So I'm not exaggerating. 12 years for the first million. 12 years for the first million. And just a few months for the next 600,000. What do you call that? It's called exponential growth. It's called acceleration, acceleration of growth. Where you're not just seeing growth, you are seeing the growth rate grow. That's exponential. To where you sow those seeds, you do the work, you put your hand to the plow, you're diligent and faithful with what God has given to you. And as one of my dear pastor friends says, gradually, then suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, everything begins to change. You see, when a tree is being planted, the roots have to grow long and deep and they have to go to dark places. And those roots will go deep into the ground before anything will ever sprout. And that's the truth about stewardship. The roots take a long time to grow. And so he'll test you with blessings, maybe like Abraham and Isaac. He'll give you something you think you want to see what you do with it. He tells you maybe to give it up or he tells you maybe to go in a different direction or maybe he tells you to be diligent to the thing that he called you. Whatever it is, he will test your stewardship. If this is challenging you in any way, please let me know in the comment section. I always enjoy reading some of the feedback. Number two, he'll test your sincerity. So number one, he'll test your stewardship. Number two, he will test your sincerity. I'm gonna read a few verses here. Psalm 26-2, put me on trial, Lord, and cross examine me. Test my motives and my heart. Psalm 139, 23 and 24, search me God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Deuteronomy 8-2, remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these 40 years to humble and test you in order to know what is in your heart or what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. Exodus 16-4, then the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way, I will test them and see whether they follow my instructions. Proverbs 17-3, the crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. Motives are purified by God. If you're able to serve God during the difficult times, this is proof that you're not just in it for what you can get out of it. This is proof that your motives are true. Remember this, sincerity is tested in struggle. Sincerity is tested in struggle. In James chapter four, verses two and three, the Bible says, you desire, but do not have. So you kill, you covet, but you cannot get what you want. So you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. Watch this now, verse three, the qualifier. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Why do you serve the Lord? Why are you in ministry? Let's just explore that thought for a second. Why are you in ministry? And I don't mean to alienate those of you who are not in public ministry, but let me just address those who are for just a few seconds here. Why are you in public ministry? Are you in it because you think it's a get rich quick scheme? Are you in it because you want fame and popularity? Are you in it because you want to be celebrated as someone important? To all believers, why do you do anything for God? Do you want to be celebrated by man or celebrated by God? Do you do it out of a love for Jesus? Or do you do it out of a legalistic religious fear? Why do you do what you do? Often we lose the passion for the what because we lose our focus on the why. When you have a clear focus of the why, the passion will follow, the work will follow, clarity will follow. Why do we do what we do? It's because we love Jesus. It's because we want to glorify Jesus. It's because we want to expand his kingdom and see his name spread throughout the earth. He'll test your sincerity before he will bring that next level of promotion and blessing. Number one, he'll test your stewardship. Number two, he'll test your sincerity. Now I really wanna challenge you here. Before I do, if you're enjoying this and you think others need to hear it, please leave a like on the video. Number three, and as I said, this will challenge many of you. He'll test your secrets. So he'll test your stewardship. He'll test your sincerity. And then he'll test your secrets. You have to remember that God sees everything. He's watching. He sees your motives. He sees your internal dialogue. He sees your secrets, your insecurities, your fears. He sees it all. Proverbs 15.3 says the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. God measures our lives. God looks at the balance of our lives. God is watching you. And I think that sometimes that's such a basic concept that we as believers are dismissive of it. Often it's the most basic truths that we allow to become so familiar that they lose their impact in our lives. Don't allow that truth to become familiar that God is watching you right now, that God is always watching. He sees everything. In Matthew chapter six, verses one through four, Jesus challenges us this way. Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. That's key. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So it's not just in being seen. It's the fact that you're doing it for the purpose of being seen. So when you give to the needy, don't announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received a reward in full. When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. So the Father sees what's done in secret. Now, on a side note, just a little off topic here, it's important to remember that we not become legalistic about this. The issue is not that your good deeds were seen because Jesus likewise said to let your good deeds be done before people so that your light may shine and that they may glorify your Father in heaven. It's all about the motives of why you're being seen. So I've heard even people say, well, you shouldn't pray in public because Jesus told us not to know. Jesus said, don't pray in public for the purpose of receiving the praise of man. But you ought to pray in public when you're praying corporately. I mean, think of the early church in the book of Acts. They often prayed together publicly. You can't pray corporately if you're not praying publicly. So that's not what's being said here. Let's not become superstitious about this that people regard it as they would in a superstitious way like a birthday wish. Oh, if they know the good deed, I won't get rewarded for it. No, it's all about your motives for that good deed and what you do in secret. Privacy, please remember this. Privacy gives power. Think about it. Privacy gives power. Prayer that is done privately is rewarded publicly with power. Sin that is done in secret gains power over you. Why? Because it weighs on your conscience. It weighs on you in ways that cause guilt and shame and so forth. But the moment that sin is confessed, now it's no longer secret, that which is concealed becomes revealed to the Lord. There's not that he doesn't see it, but you're confessing it to him now. Now that sin that was concealed, it becomes revealed and now it loses its power over you. So only what is done in private can yield this kind of power. Prayer, you do it publicly. If you do it for the sake of being seen by others, well, that just lost its power. But if you do it privately, as Jesus said, well, now there's real power there. Sin, when it's held in private, secret gains power over you. When it's confessed for the sake of accountability and forgiveness, now it loses its power. That which is done in secret gains power. Privacy gives power. So this is the test of your secrets. It's possible that you are destroying a future in ministry with compromise today. Today's compromise may destroy tomorrow's ministry. Today's compromise may destroy tomorrow's testimony. Get these areas right. Now, I'm not saying that if you make mistakes or that if you go through a season where you're making mistakes, that that's it your future is done away with. Of course there is grace and we mustn't abuse that grace. Of course there is mercy. We mustn't abuse that mercy, but there is a period of time that God will give to individuals to repent before it becomes something that's exposed, but your secret life is being watched. Your secret life is being weighed. God is watching. He's patient, yes, but you're heaping up consequences. You're digging a hole so deep that you might not be able to get out of it. So watch the secrets. What is your secret life like? Who are you when no one is watching? God will test those secrets and that when it is passed, that test of purity now gives way to the next promotion. Number one, he tests your stewardship. Number two, he tests your sincerity. Number three, he tests your secrets. Father, I pray that you would help them to pass their tests. Convict us, Lord, where we need to be convicted. Empower us where we ought to be empowered. We surrender our weaknesses to you and we repent of wrongdoing. We ask you, Lord, to help us pass these tests. We thank you for a bright future in you. Lord, help us when the promotion comes, when the blessing comes, when the breakthrough comes. Help us to carry it as a responsibility that others might be impacted to and Lord, bring healing and deliverance to your people. Let your power begin to flow. Kill every sickness, break every bondage we pray. In Jesus' name. I want you to write it in the comments if you believe it right. Amen. Well, if this message blessed you, you want others to hear it, please remember to leave a like. Also, let's stay connected. Make sure to subscribe to my channel so that you can continue to receive content like this and do click the bell so that you don't miss anything. And now I wanna invite you to participate in what God is doing through this ministry. This free content is made available by donors and generous believers like you. So if you've been blessed by this ministry in any way, I'm gonna invite you now to pay it forward that others might be blessed. Will you consider today becoming a monthly ministry partner by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner? You can also consider a single gift by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. Here's all I want you to do. I want you to open that website. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner or slash donate. I want you to open that page in front of you and I want you to say, holy spirit, what do you want me to do right now? And then just obey what he tells you to do. Often we say, God bless me and I'll start to give. But he says, no, give and I'll start to bless you. Pass this test here, the test of generosity and see if the Lord won't bring increase. Help us continue our mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the holy spirit. One more time to partner on a monthly basis, davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to give a single gift, davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. I so appreciate your giving. 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