Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Malachi 3:10

“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

“Remember this: Whomever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: ‘They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.’ (Psalm 112:9) Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourself, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Lots of reading, but its scripture! :)

The Lord has been teaching me about faithfulness. Particularly, my faithfulness to Him. He provides opportunities for me to be a blessing to others and if I act on it, He actually acknowledges my obedience and pours out greater opportunity. To see God’s hand move in my response to His call is incredible. I always wish to strive to be a benefit, a joy, a blessing to the people around me; those He has called me to love and to be loved by. To see others praise God because of my obedience is astonishing. I believe that He will continue to give me greater responsibility and opportunity if my motivation is to seek His will and be faithful to Him and His people. We are called to bring the first fruits, our best, whether that is devoting an hour in the morning (when we would all prefer to be sleeping) to meditating on the Word and in prayer or donating something we created and cherish to help raise money for those in Japan or bringing forth anything that we value and telling our Father, “Here, it belongs to you anyways. Though I love this, I love you and your Kingdom more.”

Once again, I just want to hear is: “Well done my good and faithful servant.”



12 comments:

  1. it is so cool that God shows you the fruit of your faithfulness. I will pray that He continues to do so! : )

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  2. So your title made me laugh because when I did Life with God at Rockharbor, Pete Shambrook when he was talking about Malachi pronounced it Ma-Law-Chi (don't know if I did a great pronunciation guide) making it sound like a Spanish name. Anyways, I won't forget that lol.

    What really stood out to me was when you said, "To see others praise God because of my obedience is astonishing." This just hit me as such a beautiful picture. So thanks for reflecting on how God is using you in your life so you could write that! I'm glad to see all these great things you are learning about faithfulness, and the scripture says time and time again how great God's reward of our faithfulness can be. Keep it up!

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  3. I think this post really reflected an awesome relationship that we should all strive for. The trust between us and God, where he continues to bless us as we continue to be faithful. There's nothing more gratifying than giving him our best, without even expecting anything from it- simply giving it him, just because he is God. And in my personal experience, God has never failed to keep his word from Malachi 3:10.

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  4. There is truly no better feeling than "to see others glorify God through my own obedience." I think the yearning of my soul is to be a man who when anyone comes in contact with me they leave having loved Jesus more. Someone a lot like Darin, or even yourself I suppose. Thanks for such a simplistic yet exegetically sound post. Blessings sister.

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  5. Corinne you ARE a blessing and a joy in my life! It's so encouraging to hear you write about how you strive to be obedient in you faithfulness to God. Thanks for writing!

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  6. I just wrote a post and it was deleted! Oh well. Comment, second attempt :-) I am inspired by this Corinne...and thanks for the encouragement in being faithful to God! I want so much to love Him the most, with my first, with my best, with my all, with everything in between...with ALL of me! Why is that so hard most of the time? Shouldn't be. You are so encouraging and wonderful, thank you for sharing! :)

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  7. What encouragement! I know fear gets in the way so many times of me being able to be the best servant I can be for the Lord (ex: speaking of him to non believers, constantly loving on others even if they may a difficult person). God is truly faithful and loves to bless us especially when he is giving us a gift due to our obedience. I need actually believe that rather than just know of it.

    Thank you for this =)

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  8. John 15:8 "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." We are called to bear much fruit! I am so pleased that you are growing in your faithfulness to God, Corinne. This was so encouraging to read and it brought a lot of joy to my dad. (I'm excited to read your next post too.) Your servant's heart is very evident sweet girl!

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  9. You are amazing! I am so glad that God is acknowledging your faithfulness. I am grateful for you in more than one way. Thank you so much for being my friend and sister in Christ. You have blessed me and I know you will continually bless me for the rest of my life :-)

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  10. Corinne! This is the podcast I was talking about! I can't figure out how to send you the link to the video only....so here's the page. Just scroll down to the bottom, it's February 6th and it's called Chris Brown: Sexual Purity is For Prudes and Losers

    http://www.baysideonline.com/watch/page/2/

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  11. Faithfulness has also been on my heart a lot lately. I love what you wrote about as you are obedient and faithful God is opening up more opportunities and blessing you. That is so encouraging and something I need to follow. Thanks for sharing :)

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  12. your faithfulness is so evident to me, and i believe to all of the people you interact with in circles. your beautiful spirit is so present in our time together. i love you so, rin.

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