And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)
As we spend time in His presence and soak in His Word, He gives us the grace that we need to give others. He fills us to spill us! We cannot be everything to everybody - no matter how much we may want to. Yet, as we allow Him to pour in through the power of the Holy Spirit – not sit, soak and sour rather, enabled by Him to pour out our lives like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from another’s faith, we are enabled by His grace to bless many. That is abounding. We abound by pouring out not by hording. And we never outgive God. We are a conduit through which His power flows and that, my friends, is taking hold of the life that is truly life. We are to be His hands, His feet, His heart, His Words to others and it will no doubt look differently daily as we are led by the Spirit. Some of the smallest things have the power to bring heaven to earth in someone’s life by pointing to God’s intimate nature with all of us. He loves us all dearly, warts and all.
Other times God might call us to walk through our own Valley of Baca’s (tears) going from strength to strength and still praising even in the fire so that we might demonstrate to a hurting world God is with us in our pain – His strength being shown in our weaknesses.
We must cease striving and begin abounding in His power for His glory. As we sit and soak at His feet in His Word He will show us and lead us and empower us to abound in every good and pleasing work – and there is nothing like it. Only God truly knows what our spheres of influences need – those we will come in contact with each day – and He equips His saint for that and we don’t want to miss it by being so busy with our “all important” schedules. The Apostle Paul certainly fleshed that out with great passion, love and joy. May that be so with us as well.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:37-38 (NIV)
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)