Gratitude births deep desire

I feel like I have been drowning in a sea of grace as of late! It's an awesome thing! God has been pouring down blessing upon blessing, so much so that I haven't been able to focus on just one thing to write about! But something I have come to learn, over and over again through his showers of blessings, is that allowing gratitude to reign in my heart opens up the floodgates of his grace.

Malachi 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 there will not be room enough to store it.

Let's just replace the word 'tithe' with 'gift'.

See, everything is Gift and Grace from God. Everything. And when we bring all of everything he's given to us, to give it back to him for use in his Kingdom, he throws open the floodgates!

So much blessing that there is not enough room to store it. The key to this is...what is that blessing? Maybe it's not a tangible gift - food, money, clothing, shelter - maybe its assurance, love, a friendship, a means to an end.

And it's our desire to want to see God's will for what it is, rather than imposing our will on God, that opens up the eyes of our hearts to see those floodgates bursting open.  When our hearts can see that what we have and what we've been given and what we own and what businesses we run and what teams we coach and what groups we lead and the children we have are REALLY God's possessions and God's businesses and God's teams and God's groups and God's children, we allow him to open those floodgates and pour out the blessings.

Because only when we fully surrender ourselves, only when we forget our agendas and surrender our control of our plans to him, do we then have perfect vision of what God had intended us to be doing all along - Loving Him and Loving others.

Only he knows the form his love needs to take on to love others, and we just need to be the vessels, equipped and ready to be used.

And we do that by taking ourselves out of the way!

By being grateful, in the deepest depths of our being, for the second chance we've been given to serve him.

It's not yours to keep.

"I am grateful for sight, sound and breath. If ever in my life there is a pouring out of blessing beyond that, then I will be grateful for the MIRACLE of ABUNDANCE." Andy Andrews, The Traveler's Gift

Sight...sound....breath ~ these three 'rights' (as humankind sees them) are miracles in and of themselves. It is the life-giving divine breath of our Creator God that wakes most of us up with these three gifts. Some of us might be missing sight or sound, but we're still alive if we have breath, and maybe even more blessed to not have sight or sound, as that often allows an individual to be more thankful for what he/she does possess. 

Three things though, just three. Most people I know have more than these three things. Play along with me for a moment:

4. all the necessary body parts

5. a cover over our heads

6. food to eat daily

7. water to drink daily

8. a bed 

9. with bedding 

10. and pillows

11. a choice of what to wear when we get out of bed

12. several choices of what to wear when we get out of bed

13. a shower

14. and a bathtub

15. an in-house toilet

16. with toilet paper

17. coffee for the morning

18. a bible to read

19. the ability to read

20. a computer 

21. a cell phone

22. maybe even a smart phone

23. washer/dryer

24. soap

25. shampoo/conditioner

26. razors

27. utensils to eat with

28. plates to eat on

29. camera (on our phones and traditional)

30. pots to cook with

31. stove

32. dishwasher

33. gym facility

34. classrooms to be taught in

35. classrooms stocked with supplies

36. a job to go to

37. a wage to be earned

38. a car to drive to that job

39. a grocery store nearby

40. paper to write on

41. candles to burn

42. baggies

43. toothbrushes

44. pajamas

45. a TV to watch or play movies on

46. a pantry 

47. a garage

48. an umbrella

49. a garden

50. a christmas tree

51. pets

52. windows that open/shut

53. lights

54. safety

55. shoes

56. radios

57. CDs/DVDs

58. Video games

59. bikes

60. sports equipment

61. chairs 

62. dining table

63. drinking glasses

64. picture frames

65. refrigerator

66. bedrooms

67. remote controls

68. health

69. youth groups

70. postage stamps

71. fingernail polish

...you get the idea. This list took me about 10 minutes to write. And it is not all-inclusive, by any means! 

This is all ABUNDANCE.  And much of what is on the list is not had in singles but in doubles and triples and quadruples in our homes.  The homes of God's children.

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A missionary going across the world is blessed by others that share of their financial abundance so this missionary can be sent into the mission field. That seems like a logical way to share the abundance. 

It's easy to drop some loose change (clearly not even a tenth of what most have at their disposal) into a red kettle when the bell is ringing in your ear. 

It's also easy to bring a nice spread out for a family member's birthday/graduation/retirement/baby shower/bridal shower/baptism party.  And there's always leftovers. Would you do that for a stranger?

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It's quite easy to share what we have with others in these two primary situations 1) when we feel we'll get something in return or 2) when sharing requires of us much less than what we actually have so as not to involve any sort of perceived sacrifice in order to give that gift.  

But God doesn't give abundance to whom he does so that they may keep it to themselves, in essence becoming 'better off' than one of his other children. Has that ever crossed your mind before? Do you think you deserve to keep the abundant gift to yourself because somehow you've earned it, from God (if that part of the equation even comes into your mind)?

Today, we were witness to one of God's children distributing a gift of abundance to another of God's children. It was a moving, grace-filled moment for all of us involved.

We were also witness to a body of proclaimed 'Christ followers' trying to hold onto their abundance, as if it's their God-given right. Out of a body of thousands of people who proclaim Jesus is their Savior, not enough people have stepped forward to distribute the abundance God has given them to support the church body's attempt to love an international group over a Thanksgiving holiday.  There are not enough people who are willing to submit to God and let go of the abundance they've been blessed with (which is not truly theirs to begin with) to feed/host the expected group of Internationals they were hoping to love over this holiday,  a holiday in which everyone superficially proclaims their thankfulness! They don't even have half of what is needed to accomplish this mission - and Thanksgiving is four days away. Have any guesses as to what this body of believers will be doing instead?.....

It's easy to love those who love you back. It's easy to share with those who give something in return. It's easy to share with someone who is not in desperate need or appears to not be in desperate need. It's a lot easier to pass judgement on why someone who clearly appears to be in desperate need is truly in need and to come up with the reason that it's their own fault; and clearly, if it's self-induced, why should you bother sharing with them. They'll have to learn the lesson on their own, the hard way. Right? 'My abundance is mine, I earned it and I'm not just going to hand it off to someone else who appears in my book to not be doing their part.'

There is a message God has for all of us regarding the abundance he provides. He doesn't provide the same abundance to all of his children. Some are blessed in the area of finance, some in skill, some in spiritual gifts, some in people skills, others in personality, others with a business, etc. And some are blessed with a humble state. A humble being of poor state and lower on the economic ladder. And yes that is a blessing to ~ no matter how poor and humble someone is, there is always something to give away freely - LOVE.

I'll end with a few simple questions:

Why do you think you need this world in abundance?

Whom could you be sharing your abundance with, for nothing in return?

Why do you think you need to keep some, half, three-quarters or even all of it to yourself?

Have you ever tried to give without TRULY expecting anything in return?

2 Corinthians 8:14-16 (English Standard Version (ESV))

¹⁴your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵As it is written, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack."