Mal 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
How much of God’s blessings can you receive? How is it that the scripture implies that God would pour out such abundance that we would say to God, “Really, that is enough! I can’t take any more!” Let’s read some more and see how this could be.
II Chron 20:22-25
22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end to the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth and none escaped.
25 And when Jehosaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
- First, notice v22: What triggered the ambush? Singing Praise! Praise comes before victory.
- What does v25 sound like? Mal 3:10!
- Who do you suppose received the spoil … the one who stood in the midst of the dead bodies wondering at God’s amazing power, or the one who rolled up their sleeves and received the jewels and riches thanking God as they worked?
Often, not always, but many times this “more than you can receive” takes the form of opportunities. Multiple opportunities. You say when it is enough. You have the choice between the opportunity to the left, to the right, or in front of you. You determine which blessing you want to receive and you go after it and get it. This kind of abundance is having options. It is not a “just enough of a blessing” to qualify as a blessing, it is a “Let’s Make a Deal” kind of blessing…”which door do you want to choose?” But instead of two dud prizes and one fabulous prize, all three are over-the-top fabulous prizes.
I think the fact that it took three days for the Israelites to gather all of the spoils is also prophetic of the Christian Believer’s life today … Jesus was dead for three days, and at the end He was raised from the dead, purchasing our lives for heaven, where God’s unlimited riches are. Where the windows of heaven are. From where all that we need comes from.
The fight isn’t ours, we “simply” have to obey God and
- walk how He said to walk,
- walk where He said to walk,
- extolling His mighty goodness, power, and majesty (Who He is)
- thanking Him for all that He has done, is doing, and will continue to do (praise before increase)
Jesus paid for it all.
Look at how the children of Israel (who lived under an inferior covenant compared to ours) came into their position of receiving. To get the picture, we need to back up in II Chron 20.
II Chron 20:1-4
1 After that, the Moabites, Ammonites and some Meunites went to war against Jehoshaphat.
2 Some people came and told him, "A huge army is coming from Edom to fight against you. They have come across the Dead Sea. They are already in Hazazon Tamar." Hazazon Tamar is also called En Gedi.
3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed. So he decided to ask the Lord for advice. He told all of the people of Judah to go without eating. 4 The people came together to ask the Lord for help. In fact, they came from every town in Judah to pray to him. NIrV
Notice that when King Jehoshaphat was confronted with a big problem, he immediately went to God for advice. Not only did he himself go to God, but he led others to seek God, to connect with God to get an answer. Let’s continue on with this event skipping to verse 14:
II Chron 20:14-21
14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel. He was standing among the people of Israel. He was the son of Zechariah. Zechariah was the son of Benaiah. Benaiah was the son of Jeiel. Jeiel was the son of Mattaniah. Jahaziel was a Levite. He was from the family line of Asaph.
15 Jahaziel said, "King Jehoshaphat, listen! All you who live in Judah and Jerusalem, listen! The Lord says to you, 'Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope because of this huge army. The battle is not yours. It is mine.
16 " 'Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take your positions. Stand firm. You will see how I will save you. Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. Go out and face them tomorrow. I will be with you.' "
18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face toward the ground. All of the people of Judah and Jerusalem also bowed down. They worshiped the Lord.
19 Then some Levites from the families of Kohath and Korah stood up. They praised the Lord, the God of Israel. They praised him with very loud voices.
20 Early in the morning all of the people left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they started out, Jehoshaphat stood up. He said, "Judah, listen to me! People of Jerusalem, listen to me! Have faith in the Lord your God. He'll take good care of you. Have faith in his prophets. Then you will have success."
21 Jehoshaphat asked the people for advice. Then he appointed men to sing to the Lord. He wanted them to praise him because of his glory and holiness. They marched out in front of the army. They said,
"Give thanks to the Lord.
His faithful love continues forever."
God anoints what He appoints. He appointed victory for His people. He appointed salvation. He appointed an ambush and destruction of the enemy. He gave very pointed instructions on what His people should do, where they should go.
If you like processes, here is the process they went through:
- Seeking God’s face
- Hearing God’s instructions
- Obeying His instructions (even when it isn’t “logical”)
- Praising Him for Who He is, and what His love will do for you
- Investing to Receive
This isn’t a work-for-riches principle. You can’t do anything to change God’s mind towards you, He has already determined to give you all He has because He already gave His Son and every blessing through the Spirit. (Eph 1:3) These heavenly blessings aren’t just earthly riches, it is everything we need in life to be content, happy, fulfilled, satisfied, and at peace—with ourselves and with others.
Eph 1:3 Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Those blessings come from the heavenly world. They belong to us because we belong to Christ. NiRV
Wealth is a heavenly blessing, but you can’t enjoy it if you are in strife, angry, void of peace, and discontented. Strive for the whole blessing: gain the internal qualities God desires for you and the external things of this life will seem to take care of themselves. The “work” to receive God’s blessings won’t be you working and sweating to somehow grab a hold of what you think you have the right to have. The work will be a natural expression of your relationship with God and you will know what needs to be done and when to do it. It starts by believing. And that is a whole message to itself.
The work it takes is realized in two steps:
- Believing that what God’s says is true
- Acting on that and obeying Him and His Word.
That is the essence of faith, believing and acting on what you believe. The acting on and obeying may take a different form in one person compared to another. It is an individual response from where you are with God and what He is saying to you. There will be many points of obedience common to everyone:
- Our opening scripture applies to every believer: Honoring God with your increase.
- Worshipping Him and magnifying Him and His mighty works in your life.
- And loving others:
I John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: those who do not do what is right are not God’s children; nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters. NIV
I John 3:16-23 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence
(vs 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. NLT)
20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. NIV
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. NIV
If you aren’t receiving, maybe you had better check your love walk. Another translation of the second part of verse 6 is “faith worketh through love.” The word worketh is the Greek word Energeo.
Energeo
1. to be operative, be at work, put forth power
a. to work for one, aid one
2. to effect
3. to display one's activity, show one's self operative
KJV (21) - be effectual, 1; be might in, 1; effectual fervent, 1; effectually work, 1; show forth (one's) self, 2; to do, 1; work, 12; work effectually in, 1; wrought, 1;
Faith is made effective, is given power or energy through love!
Love is the “Energizer Bunny” for faith. Like on that one commercial, where the hydroelectric plant goes into crisis but is saved by the Bunny. If you’ve done something to short circuit God’s control in your life, you need to call on love and put it into play to recover.
If you’ve got a love reservoir that is nothing but a muddy hole, your faith is going to get stuck! There will be nothing to move the generators to produce the needed power to move the current circumstances. Call on love and put it into play!
Don’t think you have to right every wrong, burn up the wires with love, be the poster child for Love. Start with acknowledging that God is right, you were wrong. Apologize to God, yourself, and in many cases your spouse and children. Make the turn-around and start walking in the love light that you have.
When you are walking in the light, walking in love, your heart will not be afraid. You won’t be timid or shy. You will walk with humble boldness into the throne room of heaven and ask your loving heavenly Father for what you need and He will gladly give it to you. Look again at I John 3:22.
I John 3:22 ... and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
Is that the place you want to be? Do you want to receive everything you ask of God? Then obey Him, do what pleases Him and you will have it all!
Put your focus off of the worldly idea of “having it all” and just hang out with God. When you get all of God, you have it all! Listen to Him at least as much time as you spend talking to Him. (And maybe even listen a great deal more.) He is the one with the answers!
Worship Him!
Make His word bigger in you than the world!
Declare His mighty works!
Recall what He has done for you in the past!
Thank Him for what He is doing for your future!
Celebrate His goodness!
Honor Him with the breath of your lips, the praises of your mouth, the steps of your feet, the path of your life.
