Good Morning All!!
Malachi 3:10; “Bring the full tithe
into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to
the test, says the Lord
of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for
you a blessing until there is no more need.”
“I
dare you!” Have you ever been met with
this challenge? It is a little more
common for teens and pre-teens to use this expression. Hopefully, the dares are not dangerous but
simply “expansive”. “I dare you to sing
in the talent contest.” “I dare you to
try out for the basketball team.” “I
dare you to tell the person you have a crush that you like them.” All pretty juvenile but they prove a point; sometimes
we get comfortable in our standing and we don’t move. Many describe this as “better the devil you
know than the devil you don’t”.
Comfortable with where we are,
that is where the devil and the world want you to live. Comfortable with what you have, what you
trust, where you place your confidence; the devil wants you to stay put. He
wants this because many people live with doubts, questions, fears and
worries. The devil will tell you that what
you are right now is just fine, probably the best you will ever be. You can’t do any more than you are already
doing. You can’t help others
anyway. You can only do what you can;
after all you have your responsibilities, you need to worry about you first
then you can look to help others. This
is where the devil wants you to be comfortable and quiet.
He wants you to be comfortable because he thinks he can mask the
fullness of God’s love for you. The
devil wants you to be unsure of the extent of God’s love always tempting you to
limit God’s love. The devil wants you to
think that God as drawn a line in the sand where he will not go to come to your
aid, your comfort, or sustenance. The
devil wants you to hold back because he wants us to think that you will have to
carry some of the load. He wants you
wary or God’s love.
To this God says, “I dare you.”
In our verse God says, “Put me to the test, see how great my love for
you is and how deep my mercy flows for you.”
God tells us, “Don’t hold back, place all of your trust and hope in me.” When we hold back, we miss part of God’s
love. When we hold back, we let fear and
worry rule our hearts instead of contentment and peace. We live life as believers but we don’t live
our life to the fullest. This does two
things. It takes away our peace and it
reduces our witness to the broken world.
The Word of God in the hearts of men changes lives; we are transformed
into God’s redeemed and he holds out his hand to us and says trust me; don’t
hold back because I won’t hold back my grace for you. We live life to the fullest when we place our
full faith in God and his promises. God
dares you to accept his love and grace; do you?
Father,
lead me to receive your great promises.
Lead me to trust in your mercy for all my needs. Lead me to see all your blessings as they
flow. Lead me to share these with those
around me, especially those who are hurting and lost. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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