Thursday, February 26, 2009

It Takes An Army

Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Normally I would use italics to emphasize an entire scripture but in this case, the italics are important, in that these words were not in the original context but were added later. Keep that in mind. That in itself is not the main focus of this entry but is important to note for later reference.

Now, I know you have read and heard Malachi countless times, especially if you tithe and attend a church that tells the truth about it! Amen? But as I read this passage the other evening, I recognized someone in it that I never did before. God called himself, Lord of Hosts. I had to stop and ask why?

He could have said, "prove me now...saith your Source" or "prove me now...saith Jehovah Jireh, your provider." No, he said, "Prove me now with this...saith the Lord of armies...Lord of companies, mighty in battle!"

It is the Lord of Hosts, our heavenly Captain, the General that actually opens the window of heaven over our life and why is it Him? Because He knows the war that is ensued when someone is faithful with Kingdom finances and He is willing to go to war and send forth the heavenly hosts, the company that will battle to deliver the blessing to all those who will do what is right, just and holy, releasing to God what is His.

And what is this window? Interestingly enough, the word "window" is defined in the Hebrew as a place for lurking, to lurk, lie in ambush or lay wait. Can't you just see them now, the heavenly host, laying wait for your tithe and offering to give the order for the window to be opened? Just waiting to ambush your life with the blessing of God and remove any hindrance that gets in the way.

The "poured out blessing" is another thing altogether. "Pour" in the Hebrew means "to empty". This thing that God does is not a mamsy pamsy trickle! He takes the blessing, turns it upside down, inside out, all at once and empties it into our lives! He empties prosperity to give it to us! He empties every divine care and confers every happiness to us! To confer is to literally exchange views. He wants to pour out upon us in such a way that heaven is literally emptied into our life and we are looking then from heaven's perspective, right here on earth! A blessed perspective.

And now, take away every word from that passage in italics and read it now. That... not enough! I may have gone to the other side on this point but I believe God says to me, "Prove me! I'll do this but you'll see, with how I love you, that's not enough for Me! There's more!" Come to the other side! What a view!

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