Releasing the Overflow
Prayer 365 // Kingdom Generosity (Day 5)
More from this week:
Today's Scripture:
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. - Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV
Today's Devotional:
This week we've covered the 5 Principles of Kingdom Generosity:
Today, I want to talk to you about releasing the overflow. In in the first 12 verses of Proverbs 3, we see a rhythm where there’s a command married with a promise. In the odd numbered verses we see a command and the even numbered verses we find the promise associated with that command. What this reveals is an eternal truth that God’s commands always have a promise attached to it. The same is true when it comes to the rhythm of generosity.
Understanding this, let’s take another look at Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV. Here’s the command in verse 9: "Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.” Merriam-Webster defines wealth as abundance of material possessions or resources. Earlier this week, we identified two of our most valuable resources and that was time and money. According to this verse, we must honor God with both our time and our money. But let’s not stop there, look at the second half of that same verse, “with the first fruits of all your crops.” This defines what portion of our resource is to be given to God and that is the first. The reason why it’s the first is because first is who He is. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, He resides in the future and the past. God is first! There’s nothing in the earth that came to be without Him, by nature He is first! This is not God being arrogant or boastful, this is who He is – an absolute and undeniable truth. And because He’s first, He cannot accept anything but the first (to see an example of this, read Genesis 4:1-16). The key takeaway from verse 9 is that we must honor God with the first of our wealth, this means the first of both our time and money.
Verse 9 is the commandment, now let’s look at the promise! Because there’s no command that God issues without a promise attached to it. So when we honor the Lord with our wealth, with the first fruits of all our crops, Verse 10 says "then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” When we honor the command, God’s response through His promise is a release of overflow. The verse refers to “your barns,” this means your storehouse will be filled to overflowing when we honor God first!
I want to really focus on the latter part of verse 10 where it says “...and your vats will brim over with new wine.” Think about this for a second – where do we get wine? It comes from grapes. However, consider the process the grape has to go through in order to release the wine. The grape would consider it to be traumatic and even violent as it has to undergo a process of being crushed. T.D. Jakes talks about this in great detail in his book titled “Crushing.” In it he talks about how the grape has to go through a traumatic process in order to release its greatest value.
Friend, I believe that 2020 has been a year of crushing. It’s been a year where we’ve gone through things that have tested us and brought us out of us that we didn’t know were there. The thing is some will look at the year of 2020 as a waste saying “After all the mess I’ve been through, I’m just ready for this year to be over.” But then there’s a group of us that have gone through the same year and have a different perspective. I can testify that 2020 has been one of the greatest years of my life! This year, I’ve found freedom, experienced deliverance and the overflow of God’s favor. All of us were in the same year, but what separates the two experiences? The answer is found in how we honor God with our resources – with our time and money.
I believe that when we honor God with our resources, He will take the most traumatic circumstances of your life and turn it into new wine. The grape thought that what it was going through was traumatic and violent, but what he didn’t realize is that which is on the inside of the grape needed to be used to serve someone else. I want you to understand that what you went through will not be wasted if you would honor God with your life. I believe through this word, you will be rejuvenated and given fresh perspective because in the middle of what you’ve been going through, new wine has been flowing from you. When you honor God and give Him your first, He’ll take the struggle you’ve been going through and He’ll give you new strategy. When you honor Him with what you’ve been through and in the season of going going through, He will take that season and give you new ideas, He will bless you, He will grow you and stretch you.
The way that God releases overflow is through honor. Not with leftovers or what’s comfortable but when we walk in Kingdom Generosity by honoring God with our first and even our only. For someone you may be saying, “Pastor, I just got this new job and this is my only check.” Friend, I encourage you to honor God with it. Return to Him the tithe (10%) and then give Him an offering of gratitude. Honor God with your first and through that act of faith, you will experience the release of overflow in your life.
I’m praying for you because I know this isn’t simple, nor is it easy. But it’s something I believe requires faith and courage that can only be found through submission to God.
I'm praying with you and for you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
- Kingdom Generosity begins with the posture of heart
- Kingdom Generosity is an act of faith
- Kingdom Generosity requires discipline
- Kingdom Generosity keeps the windows of heaven open.
- Kingdom Generosity releases overflow.
Today, I want to talk to you about releasing the overflow. In in the first 12 verses of Proverbs 3, we see a rhythm where there’s a command married with a promise. In the odd numbered verses we see a command and the even numbered verses we find the promise associated with that command. What this reveals is an eternal truth that God’s commands always have a promise attached to it. The same is true when it comes to the rhythm of generosity.
Understanding this, let’s take another look at Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV. Here’s the command in verse 9: "Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.” Merriam-Webster defines wealth as abundance of material possessions or resources. Earlier this week, we identified two of our most valuable resources and that was time and money. According to this verse, we must honor God with both our time and our money. But let’s not stop there, look at the second half of that same verse, “with the first fruits of all your crops.” This defines what portion of our resource is to be given to God and that is the first. The reason why it’s the first is because first is who He is. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, He resides in the future and the past. God is first! There’s nothing in the earth that came to be without Him, by nature He is first! This is not God being arrogant or boastful, this is who He is – an absolute and undeniable truth. And because He’s first, He cannot accept anything but the first (to see an example of this, read Genesis 4:1-16). The key takeaway from verse 9 is that we must honor God with the first of our wealth, this means the first of both our time and money.
Verse 9 is the commandment, now let’s look at the promise! Because there’s no command that God issues without a promise attached to it. So when we honor the Lord with our wealth, with the first fruits of all our crops, Verse 10 says "then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” When we honor the command, God’s response through His promise is a release of overflow. The verse refers to “your barns,” this means your storehouse will be filled to overflowing when we honor God first!
I want to really focus on the latter part of verse 10 where it says “...and your vats will brim over with new wine.” Think about this for a second – where do we get wine? It comes from grapes. However, consider the process the grape has to go through in order to release the wine. The grape would consider it to be traumatic and even violent as it has to undergo a process of being crushed. T.D. Jakes talks about this in great detail in his book titled “Crushing.” In it he talks about how the grape has to go through a traumatic process in order to release its greatest value.
Friend, I believe that 2020 has been a year of crushing. It’s been a year where we’ve gone through things that have tested us and brought us out of us that we didn’t know were there. The thing is some will look at the year of 2020 as a waste saying “After all the mess I’ve been through, I’m just ready for this year to be over.” But then there’s a group of us that have gone through the same year and have a different perspective. I can testify that 2020 has been one of the greatest years of my life! This year, I’ve found freedom, experienced deliverance and the overflow of God’s favor. All of us were in the same year, but what separates the two experiences? The answer is found in how we honor God with our resources – with our time and money.
I believe that when we honor God with our resources, He will take the most traumatic circumstances of your life and turn it into new wine. The grape thought that what it was going through was traumatic and violent, but what he didn’t realize is that which is on the inside of the grape needed to be used to serve someone else. I want you to understand that what you went through will not be wasted if you would honor God with your life. I believe through this word, you will be rejuvenated and given fresh perspective because in the middle of what you’ve been going through, new wine has been flowing from you. When you honor God and give Him your first, He’ll take the struggle you’ve been going through and He’ll give you new strategy. When you honor Him with what you’ve been through and in the season of going going through, He will take that season and give you new ideas, He will bless you, He will grow you and stretch you.
The way that God releases overflow is through honor. Not with leftovers or what’s comfortable but when we walk in Kingdom Generosity by honoring God with our first and even our only. For someone you may be saying, “Pastor, I just got this new job and this is my only check.” Friend, I encourage you to honor God with it. Return to Him the tithe (10%) and then give Him an offering of gratitude. Honor God with your first and through that act of faith, you will experience the release of overflow in your life.
I’m praying for you because I know this isn’t simple, nor is it easy. But it’s something I believe requires faith and courage that can only be found through submission to God.
I'm praying with you and for 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