Our God is a good, good father who loves to give his girls good things. His storehouses in heaven have an abundance of all things, and his desire is to share his abundance with us. But can he? Can he share his abundance with you, and still have you?

The problem is, we allow our things to replace the God who gave them to us. When we are in need, we’re continually coming to the Father asking for His provisions. But when we have more than we know what to do with, the need to come to the Father is crowded out by all we already have. Why would I ask God for a paycheck when I know there’s a guaranteed one coming my way this week? And when I no longer have to ask him for it, do I also eventually forget to thank him for it?

Have you ever had one of those cars that only started sometimes? Sometimes it would run, and sometimes it wouldn’t. It required prayer to get you where you needed to go. And when you would make it there, you would thank God for that hunk of junk holding on for one more trip to town and one more return trip home.

Oh, we had one of those cars. Every time you stopped because the engine would just shut down. I’ve never prayed for green lights so much in my life. I would keep one foot on the gas and the other on the break, revving the engine at a rolling stop, praying that engine didn’t die. It’s so dang embarrassing sitting at an intersection trying to start your car again when everyone is honking behind you. Jesus and I had some real conversations in that car.

But now there’s a new car. A car with an engine that actually runs when you stop at a red light. An engine that without fail has always gotten me where I need to go without a miraculous act of God. So, I don’t pray as much in my car. It’s not needed. And naturally because I didn’t have to pray my way through the trip to the grocery store, I fail to praise God when I get back.

Dang it, do you do it too? You’re over here leveling up in life, but pieces of your close relationship with God got left on the lower levels where you needed him more. Now that the thing that kept you up at night praying has been resolved, you drift right off to sleep without a single prayer. Now that you’re not so worried any longer and you have some of the answers you were seeking, you haven’t opened up your Bible to search for any more answers.

Y’all, we can’t be trusted! We have proven when we get things, those things get us. We have allowed the blessing to become the focus and forgotten the blessor in the process.

How much more would your God absolutely LOVE to give you, if you could be trusted? How much more would he love to pour out upon you from his heavenly storehouses, if he knew it wouldn’t cause you to stumble?

Malachi 3:10 the Lord says “‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! ‘

This is God’s heart towards his children. This is his blessing and promise. This is his intention and desire concerning you. He never wants to withhold a single good thing from you. He has full access to ALL things and it brings him great joy to share good things with you. But if he blesses with the new car that is guaranteed to keep running when you stop, would you still pray when you roll up on that red light? Would you still thank him every time it starts? Or is your need the only thing that keeps you coming back to God?

If your need is the only thing connecting you with your Creator, honey that need will remain. It is your lifeline to the Almighty, and if that’s all he’s got to keep you coming back to him, then he’s not going to cut that line. The need continues if it’s the only thing bringing you in. But what if you could move past that need, receive God’s blessing here, and stay connected? What if you could build a relationship with God that went beyond your requests and grew to become so much more.

You see, I want God to know his blessings will never be wasted on me. I want him to do ridiculously awesome things for me just to see my reaction. I want him to know he’s going to get a praise dance out of this girl. I want him to know that colorful sky will be ewwed and awed over. I want him to know I will never take a day for granted. I want him to know I will always be grateful for legs that still work. I want him to know I’m thankful every time my car starts!

Does he know you will still be grateful when it all works out and keeps working? Does he know you will see the beauty even when beauty is your new normal? Does he know you will still hit your knees every day, even when you’re not knocked there?

This promise of God to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing greater than anything you even have room for comes after an instruction of obedience. He says first, bring me a 10th of what I have given you. Essentially, remember me in what I have already done for you. In proportion to what I have given you, come give back to me.

Is this because God needs your money? Absolutely not. It’s all his anyway. If he needed some immediate funds, he knows where the treasures are hidden in the Earth. He has full access to things hidden in places we only dream about finding. God asks for you to return a portion to him so that you never forget it was him who gave it to you in the first place. Then what does he do in return? He pours out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Why? Because he knows you will keep coming back over and over again to thank him!

That’s a good, good Father. A Father who will hold back his blessing if it means you would get lost in it. A Father who will wait until you’re really ready to receive more before pouring it out on you.

Maybe you’ve been asking God for an increase. And maybe God’s response is ‘come back and thank me for what I’ve already given you first.’ Maybe you’ve been seeking God for more, but you’ve shown God the more you get, the less of you he gets. So, he waits for you to get your priorities in line, then he will open the windows of heaven for you. But right now, your priorities are all out of whack sis. You arrogantly assume more time will always be given, so you haven’t been thanking him for the precious time you have received. The new has worn off this house you’ve been living in, so you haven’t appreciated waking up in the exact place you once prayed for. You’ve been healthy for so long, you forget to thank God for eyes that see, legs that walk, and lungs that breathe.

Oh sister, let us fall on our face in sheer gratitude for all God has already given us. We have so much. We’re already surrounded by an abundance of his blessings. So much that we can’t even think of it all to thank him. And in our obsession of getting more and new and the next best thing, we have forgotten the source of every single thing we already have.

2 Corinthians 9:8 MSG “God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.”

Oh God’s blessings can come in astonishing ways. Ways you simply can’t believe. Ways you’ve never even dared ask for, but it’s what God has been planning for you all along. And these blessings prepare you to do every single thing God imagined you doing with your life. Nothing is held back, everything is made possible. Honey, you’re going to be enabled to do so much more than just what needs to be done, you’re going to be ready for anything and everything!

Are you ready for God’s blessings poured on you in astonishing ways? Can you handle it?

May we prove ourselves trustworthy of the blessing.
May we faithfully return to the Almighty hand who has given us so much, to simply say thank you again and again.
May we be content with what we have today and be overjoyed by every single thing God allows to work.
May our worship always rise to Him, and only Him.
May we be able to have things, without our things having us.
May we never allow our things to replace the God who gave them to us.