God can pour on the blessingsin astonishing ways. 2 Corinthians 9:9 (MSG)
Whether we believe it or not, God is able to pour on His blessings in astonishing ways far more than we could ever imagine. The part we play in this is learning to recognize what those blessings are. Instead of looking for God’s blessings in every nook and cranny we spend our time either complaining about what we didn’t get or why the gal in the next pew got more than us.
There was a time in my life, as I suppose is true for most people, I thought I was at the short end of God’s stick. By the looks of my life and the things going on it appeared to me by the time God got around to me He was all “blessing’d out.” He was either out of blessings to give or I was doing something wrong to not receive them.
Being at a spiritual weakness unfortunately I didn’t do what I should have done and that was to stand up in Satan’s face and say, “Get ye behind me Satan you’re a jerk and a stumbling block to me.” Blinded by his lies I needed to get him out of the way in order to see God was blessing my life in unbelievable ways. They were the kind of blessings that often require the use of hindsight in order to be able to recognize then for what they are.
How foolish we are to think that God operates like Isaac did with his two boys Esau and Jacob. It’s not who gets there first gets the best blessing or if we don’t get there soon enough He will run out. God will never run out of blessings for us. Some of them are continuous in length. Others may only be a flash in a fraction of time. The thing is we need to go out on a blessing hunt and look for the things God is doing for us moment by moment. The blessing of the air we breathe the gravity that keeps us from floating off into air, the brightness of the sun, the awesome feeling of His love, and so much more.
The blessing Paul was talking to the Corinthians about was because of the generous gift they promised to give to his cause. As Paul told the Corinthians God loves a cheerful giver and that is what we need to be. A cheerful giver of all we have to offer whether it be our money, time, comfort, love, talent, or anything else.
We shouldn’t always think we belong on the receiving end of blessings when often we belong on the giving part as well. Blessing our children, church, family, co-workers, country simply by the attitude we carry, the joy we have to give, the witness we have to share as the spill over of Christ’s love works in our lives.
What the Corinthians was going to give not only would supply the needs of the saints but Paul said it was abounding in thanksgiving to God as well. Evidently already blessed by God they were willing to give back what they themselves had received. We too have already been blessed in many ways and what we do with those blessings will demonstrate the abundance of our thanksgiving towards God and what He has done for us.
Instead of getting behind Satan’s lies we need to get out in the open and go on that “blessing hunt” and look for all that God is doing. Often it requires looking forward, looking back, looking all around to catch them in their abundance. Don’t leave a nook or cranny unexplored because God’s blessings galore are there if only we would look. Don’t wait for the UPS man to come knocking on your door to deliver a box marked “Blessings from God,” go looking yourself, you’d be surprised.
Whether we believe it or not, God is able to pour on His blessings in astonishing ways far more than we could ever imagine. The part we play in this is learning to recognize what those blessings are. Instead of looking for God’s blessings in every nook and cranny we spend our time either complaining about what we didn’t get or why the gal in the next pew got more than us.
There was a time in my life, as I suppose is true for most people, I thought I was at the short end of God’s stick. By the looks of my life and the things going on it appeared to me by the time God got around to me He was all “blessing’d out.” He was either out of blessings to give or I was doing something wrong to not receive them.
Being at a spiritual weakness unfortunately I didn’t do what I should have done and that was to stand up in Satan’s face and say, “Get ye behind me Satan you’re a jerk and a stumbling block to me.” Blinded by his lies I needed to get him out of the way in order to see God was blessing my life in unbelievable ways. They were the kind of blessings that often require the use of hindsight in order to be able to recognize then for what they are.
How foolish we are to think that God operates like Isaac did with his two boys Esau and Jacob. It’s not who gets there first gets the best blessing or if we don’t get there soon enough He will run out. God will never run out of blessings for us. Some of them are continuous in length. Others may only be a flash in a fraction of time. The thing is we need to go out on a blessing hunt and look for the things God is doing for us moment by moment. The blessing of the air we breathe the gravity that keeps us from floating off into air, the brightness of the sun, the awesome feeling of His love, and so much more.
The blessing Paul was talking to the Corinthians about was because of the generous gift they promised to give to his cause. As Paul told the Corinthians God loves a cheerful giver and that is what we need to be. A cheerful giver of all we have to offer whether it be our money, time, comfort, love, talent, or anything else.
We shouldn’t always think we belong on the receiving end of blessings when often we belong on the giving part as well. Blessing our children, church, family, co-workers, country simply by the attitude we carry, the joy we have to give, the witness we have to share as the spill over of Christ’s love works in our lives.
What the Corinthians was going to give not only would supply the needs of the saints but Paul said it was abounding in thanksgiving to God as well. Evidently already blessed by God they were willing to give back what they themselves had received. We too have already been blessed in many ways and what we do with those blessings will demonstrate the abundance of our thanksgiving towards God and what He has done for us.
Instead of getting behind Satan’s lies we need to get out in the open and go on that “blessing hunt” and look for all that God is doing. Often it requires looking forward, looking back, looking all around to catch them in their abundance. Don’t leave a nook or cranny unexplored because God’s blessings galore are there if only we would look. Don’t wait for the UPS man to come knocking on your door to deliver a box marked “Blessings from God,” go looking yourself, you’d be surprised.
© 2010 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
5 comments:
Words well spoken, Karen. Bless you for sharing.
Thanks for your positive thoughts!
You are spot-on with the idea of recognizing what the blessing actually is! Sometimes what we see as “blessing” in our earthly bodies and minds must make God scratch His Head and wonder when we will ever “get it!”
The “blessing hunt” involves looking for what God has DONE not necessarily what He GIVES us. Amen.
How foolish we are to think that God operates like Isaac did with his two boys Esau and Jacob. It’s not who gets there first gets the best blessing or if we don’t get there soon enough He will run out.
Good words. And why do we look around so much and try to compare blessings?
Thanks for the reminder to go looking for the blessings all around us.
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