WEEKEND, 27/28 February, 2021 “God’s Overflow”

Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends… it’s the weekend, praise God!

Do you find it exciting to watch things ‘overflow’? Like a mother pouring milk into her child’s cup and she’s distracted but keeps pouring and then…oops! Or a river that is normally just a small creek, but it’s been raining for hours, and the creek rises to become a river, and in some places maybe overflow’s the river bank to water parched gardens! Or financial investments which far exceed expectations and overflow in their return! Or someone’s love and generosity which simply overflows on those they bless!

What does it look like when God pours out His great love and blessing on a person, a family, a church, a community, to overflowing? Join me again with Mr. Malachi, who has a powerful message from God.

We’re in Malachi 3 only two pages from the end of the Old Testament, and God has just issued a challenge to His people: “Test ME in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing you will not have room enough for it!” (Mal. 3:10) It’s God’s challenge to farmers when the crops are growing, but it’s been dry for too long. It’s God’s challenge to hard working parents when bills are more than income and the kids need shoes and clothes.

And in this specific case in Malachi, it’s God’s challenge to His people who have been holding back in bringing their tithes and offerings, because they are afraid they won’t have enough to care for their own needs.

This is one of the greatest FAITH tests in life. It’s practical and very real. Yesterday I gave you some essential Life Principles which Christians can grasp when facing these tough questions. Let me give you more today…

1. Does God know your need, present and future, better than you do?

YES, according to Matt. 6:8 “Your Father in heaven knows what you need even before you ask Him.” Jesus said. And later in that chapter Jesus explained that just as God provides all that animals and plants need to live, so He can do the same for people, His people who trust Him. Jesus said in comparing people to plants or animals: “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matt. 6:26)

2. Does God delight in supplying what He knows you need and does He have MORE than enough resources to supply your need every time, all the time?

“If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him?” (Matt. 7:11)

But here’s something really important for us to consider my friends, when we try to understand how and why God meets the very practical needs of His people, listen to what God said through Malachi: “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,’ says the LORD Almighty. THEN all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land…” (Mal. 3:11,12)

Yes, God understands every need His people have, and YES God loves to meet those needs, but there’s more. God loves to do unusual things in the land and the lives of His people, so all those living around God’s people can recognize the hand of God at work, doing the miraculous things that only God can do!

But let’s be honest here… the truth is we would prefer to live in abundance, without ever facing a need or a problem, right? But the Bible is filled with stories of people just like you and me who reach the end of their resources, the limit to their capability and THERE is where they discover and experience the miraculous power, the amazing supply, the remarkable bounty of God meeting them in their place of need, and then out-pouring of God’s abundance to the point of ‘overflow’!!

Has it ever happened to you my friend? Now watch that friends… challenging times, difficult times, provide Jesus the opportunity for Him to unleash His mighty power into our need.

You see here in 420bc, in Jerusalem, through Malachi God was saying to the people, TEST ME IN THIS!! Don’t hold back your tithes and offerings because you are afraid you won’t have enough left over. I AM YOUR SUPPLIER and I know your need better than you know your need, and I have UNLIMITED supply of everything you need. . .so TRUST Me and TEST Me.

Bring your tithes and offerings even if you have very little left, even if it puts you in a place of need, and then watch. . .watch God supply your need and more, watch God fill your barns and storehouses to overflowing, because you trusted in the Almighty God, El Shaddai, the all sufficient, supplying God!

Have you ever experienced it my friends? It’s the principle of TRUST & GENEROSITY! Trusting God fully, will provide God the opportunity to supply you with what you can’t supply yourself. And God will do so in abundance so you will they have opportunity to pour out generosity in the extreme, because it’s not yours, it’s all God’s supply entrusted to you, poured out upon you, for the larger benefit of others and for the amazement of people who don’t know God and are trying to do life on their own.

That’s what Malachi 3:6-12 is all about, and I urge you to link it with Matthew 6:19-34. Here’s the central verse about that ‘overflow’ in Matthew: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you…” (Matt. 6:33) and link that with this promise in Psalm 37:3,4 “Trust in the LORD and do what is good and right…delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

You see my friends, when your heart and mine are aligned with the heart, the passions, the priorities of God, then as God supplies what He knows we need… as God directs where He wants us to go to be part of what HE wants to accomplish on this earth, oh my, that will lead you and me into ‘overflow’ living!

Now I urge you to think deeply about these promises of God today with your Bible open and your heart open to ‘walk with Jesus’ as He leads you through these deep life principles in Malachi and Matthew. Here’s a fresh version of an old song that will help you focus your heart and your eyes on Jesus and gain His perspective on your life and mine. God bless you as you worship and I hope the Holy Spirit speaks powerfully to you today my friends, and grows your TRUST . . .

Today’s Scripture is Malachi 3.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).

Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.