We read in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.” (ISV)
This is Paul’s words to the church at Corinth and he wished them that they would be full and overflowing with every blessing, in every situation, because God is able to do that for them. Oftentimes when we don’t know who our God is because of our ignorance, we miss out on the many blessings that God has in store for us. If only we knew who our God is, and can understand His will, we will be able to receive and enjoy the manifold blessings that God wants to lavish on us.
The heart of God
As children of God many of us have not understood the true heart of our heavenly Father. You might have heard some parents lament that their grown child after many long years too hasn’t understood their heart. If we don’t understand the heart of God, and the life that God wants us to live, we will miss out on the blessings of God.
God wants us to abound in all areas of our lives, and in all kinds of situations too. This applies to our health, our jobs, our finances, and our social lives as well. Wherever we are lacking we must ask God, and believe that God gives to those who sincerely ask Him. If there is a lack of peace, a lack in the family or among your children, or a lack in the good things that should come our way, we must pray the above verse, and with faith believe that God can make every blessing abound on us no matter what our situations are. Our faith in God is the victory that can overcome this world.
David’s cup overflowed
The Psalmist says it this way in Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (ESV)
David declared that the Lord prepared a feast in the presence of his enemies, anointed his head with oil, and made his cup overflow.
This is what God promises to us too. There is a group outside who take delight to mock those who follow God faithfully when any kind of misfortune or lack comes their way.
There are three stages our cups can be in. The first stage when one’s cup is empty, and so we will look to others to have it filled. This could sometimes mean asking for help or prayer or any other form of assistance from others. The second stage is when our cups are full, and we are satisfied with it. The third stage however, is when our cups are full and overflowing. We should desire to come to this third stage because our Father desires this of us, and not be content to be in the stage of lack and want.
David’s secret
The secret to David’s testimony of his overflowing cup is found in Psalm 23:1. David had made the Lord his shepherd, and trusted the Lord in every situation.
If the Lord is our Shepherd, and He is everything to us, only then will our cups overflow. Think about sheep. They totally depend on the shepherd for pasture and good water.
When we understand how God’s heart is, it will help us to set our hearts in order too so our hearts are in tune with God’s.
We read in Genesis 1:20, “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” (Webster)
God had only created Adam and Eve, but notice how God commanded the waters to bring forth abundance of creatures in the sea. God’s heart is bounteous and magnanimous, unlike our hearts which are narrow and meager. It is a fact that God will bless His children with abundance because He knows that they will give it back to Him. The Lord blesses His children when He know that they will use it wisely, and for the good of others and never for evil.
We read in Genesis 2:9, “The LORD God caused every tree that is both beautiful and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground.”(ESV)
Every tree and fruit that God created was beautiful to look at, and delicious to taste. Think about it God could have just made it tasty to eat, but He made sure it was also beautiful to behold. That’s our Heavenly Fathers’ heart who takes great care to see that everything He created for man was beautiful to see, and good for food.
We read in Genesis 2:10, “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.” (ESV)
God also created a river that flowed from the Garden of Eden, and this also branched off into four rivers. All this was created for Adam and Eve and when we consider this, we realize how much the Lord cared to bestow such blessings on Adam and Eve.
There are some parents who will withhold some things from their children, just so that they will understand that everything can’t be gotten with ease. That’s not how God deals with us. His heart is full and overflowing with love for His children. Sometimes when children want something from their parents, and it’s not forthcoming they will refuse to eat and throw a tantrum until they get it. At a certain stage our child may ask for a motorbike, and we may not grant that request because we as parents know that he or she does not have the skill or wisdom to handle it at that stage. When the child keeps on asking because his or her friends have a motorbike, and we refuse they sometimes will get into this mode of not eating as a protest.
Sometimes we as children of God too think that when we fast we can twist God’s arm to answer our prayers and grant our requests. We have to fast and pray for sure, but it should never be done to force God to give us the things that He does not want to approve of. Such fasting is only rebellion, and not in keeping with God’s will. Fasting is only to humble ourselves, and to bring our fleshly desires under the control of the Holy Spirit of God.
We don’t need to fast, cry and plead with our Heavenly Father to get our requests granted. If only we can grow in our relationship with Him, get strengthened in this, understand the heart of God, and know what makes His heart rejoice, we will surely have our cups full and overflowing.
David says in Psalm 34:10, The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. (ESV)
However, we don’t pray and ask God like a child asks his father, but beg and plead as though God is so hard-hearted. Jesus said ask and you will receive. Our asking and receiving is based on an intimate relationship we have with God, and we miss out on the blessings because we don’t have this close relationship with God.
In Genesis 2:12, we read, And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. (ESV)
Not only did God give Adam and Eve the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, all the beautiful trees with all their fruits, God also gave them a place filled with gold and precious stones.
Only after Adam sinned the world turned upside down, and everything got messed up and crooked. Jesus came down to the earth to set right all that was distorted by sin. As we meditate on the first two chapters of Genesis the way God created the world before the fall of man, we will understand in depth the bountiful and generous heart of God.
Abram’s prayer
Let us look at Genesis 15:2, But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" (ESV)
When God appeared to Abram in Genesis 15:1, the Lord told Abram not to be afraid for the Lord would be to him a shield and an exceeding great reward. This was God’s promise, but Abram’s reply to God as we read in Genesis 15:2 is that he was childless. Abram could not be happy because he did not have one child who could fulfill this promise.
As Abram sat inside his tent, he could not count all the blessings that God had showered on him, but complained that he was still childless. Abram had a beautiful wife, bountiful wealth, was rich in livestock, had numerous servants, and yet he complained that he was childless.
How often we too like Abram, forget the manifold blessings of God, and complain about the little things that don’t work out or are right in our lives.
Abraham had to look up
When God heard this, this was what He did. We read Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (ESV)
God asked Abram to come out of his tent, out of his sadness, his grumbling, and to take the upward look.
Most of our problems start with the mind, because we have a wrong understanding based on past experiences, and not on God’s word. Believe the word, hold on to the promise, and speak the word to your situation instead of grumbling about the problems at hand, and the Lord will bring you out of it. God wants us to come out of our grumbling, come out of our want, and to change our mindset. Think only about who our God is, and what is heart is like, and only then we can receive all that He has in store for us. Ask God to reveal Himself so that our hearts can also be opened to know, and understand who He really is.
Have you noticed how after having a big meal at a restaurant, people don’t mind a big bill, but are hesitant to pay a good tip to the waiter? There are others who will spend loads of money in a mall, and yet bargain with a vendor who is selling wares on the street. We should ask God to change our hearts to be generous and magnanimous like the heart of God.
The more we meditate on who this bountiful God is, no matter what our situation is, our minds will change, our attitudes will change, and soon our situations will change too.
God did not tell Abram to count his livestock or servants when he came out of his tent, but asked him to count the stars in the sky. This was an impossibility for Abram, and then God told him that this was how his descendants would be.
We read in Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (ESV)
God promised Abram that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky that he was unable to count.
The thing that we are complaining about, that very thing God is ready to bless abundantly. Often we think that money is everything, and that’s what we need. But truly what’s the use of all the money in the world if we don’t have peace in our lives. Ask God for health, ask God for wisdom for He will give it liberally, and anything we ask God for He gives it to us in abundance.
Every night it’s good to step out of your home, and look up to the skies to remind ourselves that the God of Abraham is our God too, and He is faithful to fulfill all of His promises in our lives.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
