Don’t Hold Back

“For whoever touches you touches the apple of [the LORD’S] eye.” Zechariah 2:8b

Yesterday a man came up to me without a word, handed me an empty bag, turned and walked away. I looked at the bag to find there was a note on the outside that said: “This bag contains everything you or anyone else around you will ever need. But remember this, the things from the bag are only good for one day, at the end of the day anything left in the bag will disappear.” Well, as you can imagine I was somewhat skeptical, but I kept the bag because hey, it was cute and it matched my shoes.

This morning when I grabbed the bag to move it out-of-the-way, I couldn’t! Because it was FULL! I opened it to find my Bible, money, paper, a pen, a new outfit, four tickets to the Colts game tonight, food for our entire family of four, a video lesson on symbols in scripture, time (24 hours to be exact), pictures of my friends and even some faces I’d never seen before, my phone and computer, a bottle of laundry detergent, and a whole bunch of other things. I gasped as I saw the abundance laid out before me! I praised God thanking Him for filling my bag with the things I needed and He reminded me “These things are for today, and not all of them are for you. Some of these things are for the people around you too. I’ve simply put them into your hands first in order to bless you both, instead of just them. Now, don’t forget, all these things are for today, so don’t hold back in using them and giving them away because there will be more here in the morning for tomorrow. Just like the manna in the desert was for that day, so it is with this bag, its contents are for TODAY. Some of them may last a few days, a month or two or even a lifetime and they are all necessary to fulfilling the calling on your life. But the MOST important thing to remember is to not hold anything back, because that shows your fear of the unknown tomorrow. It shows Me that you don’t trust Me to fill your bag back up tomorrow. When you feel Me nudging you to give something away, you need to do it. When you feel Me telling you to spend money on something – no matter how ridiculous – you do it. Maybe I’m having you buy it for later, maybe I’m having you buy it for someone else but either way you need to lean, not on your own worldly understanding of how things work, but rather lean on Me and My understanding of how MY world works, how My economy works, how MY blessings work. You need to stop agreeing with the world’s view of your circumstances and start agreeing with MY view of your circumstances. When you ask Me about Your situation, I will tell you what to do and when you obey Me, I will deliver you. Maybe not in the way you expect or desire, but in the way that you need to be delivered. I may not snatch you from the situation but rather walk with you through it – shielding you from the blows.

Don’t hold back in your relationship with Me, and I won’t hold back in My blessing of you. I have been chasing you down with this bag for so long, but you were so busy chasing after the things in the bag that you’ve been running away from Me. I’m so glad that you chose to turn around and allow my blessings to catch up to you so that I could tackle you with My love! Thank you for believing Me today for the provision I’ve been trying to give you for so long. I love you so much, I’m so glad you stopped running away from My loving arms!” “Lord,” I questioned Him, “will the bag ever stop being filled every morning?” “Only when you stop expecting Me to fill it. If you stop putting your faith in Me to provide and start taking matters into your own hands – going your own way – then yes, I will stop filling it and you’ll have to do it on your own. That’s what happened to Adam. He decided to trust in his own strength and not Mine and look where it got him. By the sweat of his brow and the toil of his hands he earns his own daily wage. The same will happen to you if you stop trusting, listening and obeying Me. But if you continue to trust, listen and obey My commands – My gentle nudges, then I will bless the work of your hands instead of curse it. I will bless your going in and coming out, I will bless the ground your feet will walk on, and I will curse those who curse you and bless those who bless you. You are the apple of My eye and the fruit of My garden when you obey Me. When you obey Me, you will be in the Garden of God where you will want for nothing because you will have everything you need. Oh how I love you, My Beloved Bride! And if all this isn’t enough for you, you need only ask, believe and then wait and I will give it to you.”

“And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be it’s glory within.’” Zechariah 2:5

“’Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the LORD.” Zechariah 2:10

“All these blessing will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:” Deuteronomy 28:2

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set  before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE LIFE, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 emphasis mine.

“I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.” 2 Samuel 12:8

God is WILLING to give us more than what we could possibly imagine, but are we willing to believe Him when He tells us these things? Or are we too comfortable in our bondage, too afraid to take that leap of faith, so scared to fail that we let the opportunity to succeed pass us by? I pray that today we ALL choose to believe God and that His promises are not just for the people of the Bible, but for us as well. David, although a man after God’s own heart, was still just a man. Human, just like the rest of us. If God was willing to bless David with “even more” than the abundance that He had already blessed him with, then wouldn’t He be willing to do that for us too? God is no respecter of persons. He loves us all enough to die for us.