Sunday I found myself standing in church, worshipping, minding my own and then I saw it ...
I saw God standing over the congregation and He was sprinkling blessings over His children.
Sounds silly and maybe it was even sillier the way He revealed it to me, but it hit me.
If you know me, you know I have and love farm animals. And so this is why it was silly. But He showed it to me in terms that I could comprehend. Because that's just like God. He gets down on our level and gets personal with us.
And so as I stood there worshipping, I saw God sprinkling blessings. He was standing in what looked like a chicken yard to me and He had a very large bucket. And as I was watching Him, He began to sprinkle out blessings, like someone who would reach in the bucket and kind of throw out feed to a chicken.
And then the sprinkling turned to showers. Heavy, perfect, provisions of showers of blessings.
And as I pressed in, I saw people in the spirit not ready to receive the blessing God had poured out and graciously given. I saw people standing in worship, heavy, burdened and some had even given up. Their hearts were sad. Their hearts were hard. They felt defeated. And I saw people who had prayed for things, for special blessings, and they didn’t see it - they couldn’t see that that things they were praying for had already been released, that it had already been provided. And so they just went silent — in both their worship and their thanksgiving. Like a spiritual flatline. The blessings just laid in the space where God had released them. Unclaimed.
And it broke me down because people couldn’t see the extreme goodness God was pouring out, and had poured out, on them. They couldn’t see that their prayers had already been answered. They couldn’t see that the need had already been provided for. And tears streamed from my eyes. Because it’s true. God withholds no good thing from his blameless children.
Psalm 84:11 - New International Version
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
And so I cried. I cried because I could see the goodness they had prayed for but had grown weary in believing for.
And as the Lord poured out this shower of blessings, I saw a layer of space between the people and God. It represented a part of the heavens where things get hung up. That’s right, the airspace.
For example let’s talk about Daniel. He prayed and it took 21 days for the answer to come even though the Lord released it as soon as Daniel prayed. (Daniel 10)
And that’s what I was seeing.
I was seeing that people's answers had been given but they were caught up.
And I felt such a pressing in my spirit to share with the congregation, but when worship ended and I sat down.
But then my pastor started singing again. And he started singing a song about how the river of God was coming down and about the Spirit being poured out. And so I got up and was obedient and shared.
And the Lord pressed on me to share that we have to position ourselves in a place to receive the blessing that has already been released. He pressed on me that we, as His children have to lift our arms in prayer and thanksgiving ready to receive. And then God told me that it’s not just enough to lift our arms, we must also lift our voices. And in the spirit I saw people lifting their arms and voices. And as people did so, their praises cut through the separating layer of air space, creating slot holes in a large trough (still on the farm), if you can follow me, where the blessings began to trickle though.
The more people worshipped, the larger the slots became; until eventually there was no airspace at all between the worshiper, the blessing and God.
That’s Bible. Praise is the fastest way into the presence of God. Did you know that? It’s easy to forget even if you did.
And so I want to encourage you. God is faithful. The thing you’ve been praying for has more than likely already been released; More than likely already been provided. Don’t grow weary. Don’t give up. And most importantly don’t stop praising and thanking Him in advance.
We can’t walk by sight. We must live by faith. In the presence of God.
There was this phrase I heard a lot in seminary school: The already but not yet Kingdom of God.
And that's how we have to position our minds on our prayers and petitions with God. If He truly withholds no good thing from his blameless children, and you're one of His blameless children, then we must offer up praise and thanksgiving for the already but not yet seen answers and provision.
And so I shared the word with the church Sunday because God really pressed me to encourage whomever would listen, that we must position ourselves in a place where we can receive the goodness of God.
This word was also for me. It has encouraged me more than I can even express. Simply seeing how much God loves His children blew me away.
And so I wanted to share here tonight to encourage you. Get in a place where you can receive the blessings, provision and goodness that God has poured out to you. Get into worship. Get into His presence. Enter His gates with praise and thanksgiving. Cut through the airspace. His blessings are abundant and available to you today.
Your praise truly is a weapon!
Psalm 100:4,5 - New International Version
4Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
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