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]]>Yet, there are so many people who have a truly endless supply of good blessings offered to them from God who walk away hungry, unfulfilled or dissatisfied.
“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and please God…for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another…But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more…” 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 9-10
Abound more and more…increase more and more…how can we do this? I hear so many people saying that they are lacking…lacking faith, lacking courage, lacking strength, lacking wisdom, on and on. But the Lord desires for us to have more and more… more blessings, more love, more grace, more peace, on and on. The Lord’s smorgasbord is overflowing with all we could want and so much more. He truly delights in pouring out upon us His blessings in “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” (Luke 6:38).
So then, how do we abound more and more? There are several keys in this passage that give us clues to abounding (see if you can spot them too): walk to please God, abstain from immorality and fraud, love others, lead a quiet life, don’t gossip or be busybodies (see also 2 Thessalonians 3:11), and work hard. As you do these practical things, the Lord will pour out grace upon grace and you will have a powerful testimony to the world.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
I pray that you will be filled to overflowing with all the blessings and holiness and goodness and grace of God in your lives today as you learn to abound more and more in what He has called you to do. This is called “sanctification”.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
I challenge you to go back for more from God’s bountiful table of blessings and share your overflow with those around you who say they are lacking!
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]]>When my husband and I were first married and we were working several part-time jobs to support ourselves while he finished his last year of college, we rarely had any extra funds to spend on wants. One Christmas, we were grateful to have our necessary bills paid but had nothing left over to buy food for even a nice Christmas dinner. But that week I found a gift certificate to a local grocery store in my mailbox at work. It was enough for us to buy groceries to last the whole week. That Christmas surprise was a real blessing to us and a testimony to us that we could trust God’s promise to provide for our needs.
In Luke 6:37-39, Jesus exhorted us to be generous, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Generosity is a vital practice in God’s economy, for that is how the Lord funnels resources to those in need. Just as there is a water cycle—the rain falling on the earth, producing fruit, then evaporating back to the sky where it can fall again as rain—so too there is a generosity cycle. Here’s how it works:
“By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life…He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor.” (Proverbs 22:4, 9)
When we are humble and fear the Lord, He blesses us with riches, honor and life. But He expects us, in turn, to be generous with His blessings to help supply the needs of the poor. Then, as we are faithful to share the resources He has given us, He credits our heavenly account with more of His riches and blessings, which He will then pour out on us as we continue to fear Him and humble ourselves before Him. A practical example of this cycle of giving can be seen in the generosity the Philippian believers showed to Paul,
“Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account…And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:15-19)
So, as God shares His blessings with us, and we share those blessings with others, God is blessed in return and stores up more blessings to pour out on us. That is how the generosity cycle works! I encourage you today to keep your generous eyes open for opportunities to spread around the blessings that God has shared with you. And don’t worry if you are limited in what you can do; generosity has a snowball effect—a small gift can come back to you in an even greater outpouring as you are faithful to the Lord.
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