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“Fling Wide the Doors of Opportunity – A Time of Blessing!”Last October God spoke to me that in the month of February He was going to start swinging wide the doors of opportunity. He specifically wanted His people to pass through January and the process of consecration and purification. I have been anticipating what is going to happen. I am already hearing reports that indeed doors are flinging wide, everywhere! People are saying God is moving so much and so many amazing things are happening.
We know from Joshua 3:5 that Joshua told the people, “…Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (NIV).
Many have been faithful and God is going to do amazing things. However, I do believe there is something to consider as we embark on the opportunities He is bringing that we should be aware to put Him first. God does not want us to worship advancement, or financial increase, or amazing opportunities—those things are all coming as a result of Him choosing to open the doors of Heaven and pour out a blessing upon us.
One of the ways we can curtail our flesh in the midst of God’s many blessings is not to forget Him in the area of giving ourselves over to Him. God will bless us but we are not to make idols out of the blessing and forget all about Him. We must stay in a place of repentance and purity of heart. We must not become workaholics in all we’re doing, or ruminate so much on the blessing that we fail to take time to spend with Him. One of the ways we can prevent this is to do as Deuteronomy 8:16-20 (NIV) reads:
“He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” (Photo via Unsplash)Remember the Lord Your God
The word “remember” in this passage is the Hebrew word “zakar.” It means to mark, remember or be recognized as in male. If we want to keep our flesh in control during a blessing we must learn to zakar the Lord or mark it by bringing Him a first fruit offering. This principle is often missed by people, but not by those who have tasted success and seen how it messes with the focus of the mind. It is easy to get caught up in the doing of life, work, family, and ministry and all the fast-paced excitement of being used by God to expand the Kingdom of God. Yet, underneath every minister’s heart (and we are all ministers of the Gospel as we are called “Christs ambassadors” in 2 Corinthians 5:20), there should be a desire to run away with the King and not be bothered, but just to sit in His presence and soak in His beauty. If this is not the true desire of our hearts, something may be wrong.
Please understand I speak from my own chastisements from the Lord. When things begin to move rapidly for me, I must bring myself as an offering and my finances, to keep my own heart in check. This is why the first of the year is so important. It reveals where we get off track and where we’ve begun to serve what He has given us, instead of bringing Him the offering He really wants and that is our hearts.
Give Me Your Hearts
This was the lesson He was teaching the Israelites in the desert. It was as though He said (and I paraphrase), “I can give you everything, but I want you to want Me first, and I know the heart of man is deceitful and prideful, and if it is not trained to be aware of its pitfalls, it will walk away from what is best—which is Me, God—to go after all the other things.”
One of the ways I personally keep my heart straight is to remember I cannot operate in the ministry without doing it in the overflow. I need to be so connected to Him so that who He is overflows into my entire soul. That is only accomplished through first honoring Him with my substance.
What is substance? In the Hebrew it means wealth, but it is a word that means all of you, as in enough. It comes from a root word which means ability, power, wealth, force, goods, might, and strength.
Proverbs 3:9-10 (KJV) tells us, “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
We, as His people, are called to honor Him. This word “honor” comes from the Hebrew word “kabad,” which means to glorify or make weighty. Why does He ask this? So that we will put Him first from the totality of our being, as in all of our time, talent, treasure and testimony. In doing this we will mark Him first in our actions. He then asks us to even bless Him with the first fruits of all the increase He brings us, just so we won’t get focused on it. If we do this, He says we will operate in fullness in our spirit, soul and body, and we will break forth in new wine or new opportunities. (Photo via Unsplash)Training for the Reigning
He is training us for reigning with Him and it is not about looking to the outward but the inward first to give us all we need as we rest in Him and who He is. This will keep any person in a state of humility when they realize they must rely on God for everything and even when they fall into the riches of Heaven. We will always need to be focused on Him and even more so in our successes or victories.
He has developed the system, so the more He blesses us the more we find we need Him, and if we choose to connect ourselves more to the blessing, He will discipline us and bring us back to what is important, which is Him and Him alone.
Yes, the doors of opportunity are swinging wide open in February, but take heed as this only means God is calling you to more of Him and even less to the opportunity He is blessing you with. Learn to steward the blessing well and remember Him with a first fruit of yourself and all He has given you. This is surely the true way to bring Him honor and thanksgiving, and also to remain humble in this season of blessing. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Dr. Candice Smithyman
Founder, Dream Mentors Transformational Life Coaching Institute
Email: click here
Website: http://www.dreammentors.orgDr. Candice Smithyman is the founder of Dream Mentors International, a Biblical life counseling and coaching educational organization that teaches and trains educators and coaches in the specialty of life coaching. She is also founder of the Glory Road Show, where she hosts weekly interviews which are seen on Faith USA, internet TV, Facebook, and her YOUTUBE channel. Her ministry website is available at candicesmithyman.com and dreammentors.org, where people people can become credentialed Biblical or transformational life coaches and receive Biblical and transformational life coaching for every area of their life. She is also co-founder of Freedom Destiny Church in Orange Park, Florida.
Source: http://elijahlist.com/
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