The Key to an Open Heaven
Prayer 365 // Kingdom Generosity (Day 4)
More from this week:
Today's Scripture:
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 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. 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,” says the Lord Almighty.” - Malachi 3:8-12 NIV
Today's Devotional:
Heaven’s resources are limitless and God’s blessing is eternal. He is eternal, therefore His blessing is eternal. How God blesses us is not how the world blesses. We are used to a one time occurrence when a person blesses us. But the when God blesses us, He blesses us eternally. You may see it manifest in various ways such as in your health, relationships and finances, However these are not individual blessings, but the effects of a single stream of God’s blessing in your life.
In an attempt to help you understand this, I want you to think about fireworks. If you’ve ever purchased fireworks from the store or a tent on the side of the road for The 4th of July, you’ve probably seen or had a variety pack that holds different types of fireworks. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some fireworks are very simple in design, meaning they have one type of effect, such as a pop, sparkles or smoke. Once it does that one thing, that’s it. But then there are some fireworks that come in a larger size and when lit, it’s clear that it’s not like the others. It doesn’t have just a single effect but many. For instance it may start off with smoke then begin releasing sparkles of different colors and then the finale brings the excitement of the powerful rockets. After it’s done you say wow! I didn’t realize all that was in there. The reason why is because you only saw the outside but what you didn’t see is the inside of the box there were multiple stages of fireworks that were perfectly timed to go off in a specific order. That firework was multidimensional. I want you to see that God’s blessing is multidimensional. The one blessing that He pours from heaven is more than you can receive so he masterfully designed it to unfold in stages.
Our goal and desire is to keep heaven open and maintain the flow of that blessing. In Malachi 3:8-12, God describes this flow as a pour and its source is from heaven. How do we keep heaven open? With an open heart. An open heart maintains an open heaven.
Most homes or commercial buildings receive their water from the city or county services. For these structures, there is a main line that brings water into the plumbing system. On that line there’s a shutoff valve that allows the water to be cut off from the source for maintenance or emergency purposes. It’s very simple, if you desire to cut off the water source to your home, you would simply locate the valve and turn it off. And when you’re ready, you turn it back on.
Think of Heaven as the source of all blessings, supplying blessings for billions of people around the world from generation to generation. And for each person there’s a private line that flows to your life. What I want you to know is that just as our buildings in the world have shut off valves to stop the flow of water to the home, heaven has a shut off valve to stop the flow of blessings in your life. That shutoff valve is called selfishness. Selfishness is a shutoff valve to heaven’s resources, it’s a shutoff to God’s blessing. When we stop the flow of our giving, we hinder the flow of God’s blessing. Therefore, generosity is the key to the an open heaven.
Remember Heaven’s resources are limitless and God’s blessing is eternal. An open heaven equals a flowing blessing. For some of us, we’ve been experiencing a drip of God’s blessings. However, I believe that when you decide to submit to rhythm of generosity, you will experience the pour. God has no desire for you to get by on a drip but to experience the pour of His generosity in your life.
Prayer Focus: That your heart will remain open so that heaven will also.
I'm praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
In an attempt to help you understand this, I want you to think about fireworks. If you’ve ever purchased fireworks from the store or a tent on the side of the road for The 4th of July, you’ve probably seen or had a variety pack that holds different types of fireworks. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some fireworks are very simple in design, meaning they have one type of effect, such as a pop, sparkles or smoke. Once it does that one thing, that’s it. But then there are some fireworks that come in a larger size and when lit, it’s clear that it’s not like the others. It doesn’t have just a single effect but many. For instance it may start off with smoke then begin releasing sparkles of different colors and then the finale brings the excitement of the powerful rockets. After it’s done you say wow! I didn’t realize all that was in there. The reason why is because you only saw the outside but what you didn’t see is the inside of the box there were multiple stages of fireworks that were perfectly timed to go off in a specific order. That firework was multidimensional. I want you to see that God’s blessing is multidimensional. The one blessing that He pours from heaven is more than you can receive so he masterfully designed it to unfold in stages.
Our goal and desire is to keep heaven open and maintain the flow of that blessing. In Malachi 3:8-12, God describes this flow as a pour and its source is from heaven. How do we keep heaven open? With an open heart. An open heart maintains an open heaven.
Most homes or commercial buildings receive their water from the city or county services. For these structures, there is a main line that brings water into the plumbing system. On that line there’s a shutoff valve that allows the water to be cut off from the source for maintenance or emergency purposes. It’s very simple, if you desire to cut off the water source to your home, you would simply locate the valve and turn it off. And when you’re ready, you turn it back on.
Think of Heaven as the source of all blessings, supplying blessings for billions of people around the world from generation to generation. And for each person there’s a private line that flows to your life. What I want you to know is that just as our buildings in the world have shut off valves to stop the flow of water to the home, heaven has a shut off valve to stop the flow of blessings in your life. That shutoff valve is called selfishness. Selfishness is a shutoff valve to heaven’s resources, it’s a shutoff to God’s blessing. When we stop the flow of our giving, we hinder the flow of God’s blessing. Therefore, generosity is the key to the an open heaven.
Remember Heaven’s resources are limitless and God’s blessing is eternal. An open heaven equals a flowing blessing. For some of us, we’ve been experiencing a drip of God’s blessings. However, I believe that when you decide to submit to rhythm of generosity, you will experience the pour. God has no desire for you to get by on a drip but to experience the pour of His generosity in your life.
Prayer Focus: That your heart will remain open so that heaven will also.
I'm praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
Did you know that Thryve Church prays together 365 days a year? Join us Monday-Friday at 6:30am & Saturdays at 8am for "Prayer at the Altar" by dialing 339- 207-7471 and then join us Sundays at 11am for Worship Service! Learn More