Do You Want To Be Blessed?

There is something I learned some time back that has stuck with me. One day as I was driving to our local book and bible house, God spoke to me and as He did I had to pull over to the side of the road. God asked me “How do you expect to be blessed when you hold a grudge against someone”? That statement took me totally by surprise. He showed me in my life how I was holding a grudge and that if I ever wanted to be blessed I needed to let it go and ask for forgiveness. He told me that it was something that He wanted me to do at that very moment. So, I called the person and we talked and I asked for forgiveness and was forgiven. It seemed like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders and not long after that the blessings came for something I had been praying for.
Just the other day as I was in prayer, a thought came to my mind and like many times before God began to speak to me. He was not talking in an audible voice but I could feel it in my heart. God said, how do people think that they are going to be blessed if they don’t give? I have heard pastors saying that their offerings are down and they blame it on the economy. Though the economy may change, the truths and commands of God have not and they will not. It was said in Malachi 3:8, "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, how are we robbing you; in your tithes and offerings.  Then God gives us instructions as to what we are to do, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:10.
So with that said, how do you expect to be blessed if you are not giving to God what belongs to God? My wife and I realized some time back that our tithing was not what it was supposed to be and that we had cut down the amount thinking we needed more for ourselves. Wrong! When we started giving back to God what He wanted our finances turned around. But, it was not only in our tithes, it was in our offerings as well. God said in your tithes and OFFERINGS, there is a difference. Tithes are the commanded amount of a tenth of your first fruits and offerings is that which is over and above what God has said to give. Take for instance you pay your tithes of ten percent then your offerings would be anything above that like giving to missions or to some charitable organization.
I am not sure about you but I want to be blessed and I am going to take my own advice and number one, I am asking God to check my heart to see if I am holding a grudge against anyone so that can be rectified and second I am going to increase what I give to fall under the obedience of God. I am going to do whatever it takes to assure my blessings and I am sure that it will require some out of my comfort zone events. As for you, you have to follow your own heart and do what God tells you to do but always remember what He requires of your first and foremost. God said, Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38. You can’t out give God but you can give what He commands. If you want to be blessed give and if you want to be blessed forgive or ask for forgiveness.
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