Is your cup upside down?

   

I used to be a waitress, back in the day, well now they are called "servers" and we were taught to serve people well. When pouring coffee into someone's cup you filled it as far as they wanted and then you stopped. Some people wanted 1/2 a cup and some people wanted a full cup and some folks would turn their cup upside-down so that you couldn't or wouldn't pour any coffee at all into their cup.  I have thought of that often over the years, because that is how we do the Lord sometimes. 

He is trying to fill our cup and we refuse to receive it. He can only give us what we will receive. If we are not willing to allow Him to fill our cups with blessings, He will not force a blessing upon us. We have to prepare for the blessing, prepare to receive from God. If we are in need of something, we need to pray the word, God I know that your word says that you will supply all of my needs according to Your riches in glory, Phil 4:19 and God I believe your word, and I am expecting you to work on my behalf. Now see, you have just prepared for your cup to be filled. But, on the other hand, if you are preparing for defeat and for lack and trouble to come into your life, I can assure you it will come and it will stay until you chase it away. Prepare for the blessing, not for the curse. 

Tithing, giving and sowing is a way to prepare for the blessing to come into your life. The word says that the Lord rebukes the fowler for our sakes when we tithe. The best description of the word fowler (one who lays a trap) or devourer is "Seed-eater", so, in essence when we tithe and give into the Lord's work and into His kingdom's purposes, He comes out into our field, and does the work in the spirit of a scarecrow and chases the Seed-eating crows out of our life, and off of our freshly planted seed. God is a rewarder, He is a good God, and when you do what He says, He always honors His own word. The Word tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that God is that Rewarder to those that diligently seek Him. Prepare to receive the blessing.

 I was always taught as a child growing up to give and to tithe, but, I was never taught to receive. The word clearly says: give and it shall be given unto you, good measure,pressed down,shaken together,and running over,shall men give unto your bosom,Luke 6:38 that's the king James version, that's a picture of the old-timey way of making wine, using a huge basket to pour the grapes into the wine-press, then pressing the grapes down,shaking them down,and continually repeating the process to the overflowing point. Wow, that is awesome! Just because we would do what God says, He would cause all of this goodness to come into our lives. He could force us to do as we are told. He could make us to obey Him,but, He would rather us do it because we love HIm,and want to please Him,and as a bonus, He blesses us for doing what we should do anyway. God is so good to us.

 I am learning now to receive, and am now trying to help others to realize how to do the same. It is so simple really, we just make it hard. Why? mostly because, we feel unworthy, I think. But, we have the righteousness of God, in Jesus Christ,and through His shed blood we have been made clean,and whole. We are not unworthy. We are children of the most high God,and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing. God has provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him,which just means that we are in right relationship with Him because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He closed in the gap, between us,and the Father. Thank you Jesus for your unspeakable gift,and thank you for giving to us daily. You go before us,and make our crooked paths straight. You cause Goodness,and mercy to follow us all the days of our lives,and you have given us all the tools that we need to live victoriously for You! What a great,and awesome Lord you are! You load us up with benefits daily, Psalm 68:19and you sing over us, Zephaniah 3:17 your mercies are new every morning,and your grace is sufficient for us. Is your cup upside-down? If it is, turn it right-side up,and watch God fill your cup to the overflowing point. Learn to receive from the Lord, He loves a cheerful giver,and He also loves when we learn to receive from Him as well. Luke11:13 tells us that Just as an earthly father wants to give good gifts, how much more does our heavenly Father want to give us good gifts. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, James 1:17 tells us. We just have to learn how to receive what He is trying to give us.

BELIEVE, ASK, RECEIVE