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Open Heavens : Prosperity (1 of 3)

February 4, 2001

Text: Deuteronomy 28:11-13, Luke 5, Malachi 3:7 & 10

The last year we have been talking about Jesus coming in His church in the last days in a new wave of blessing and power. We believe there is coming a day when great prosperity, healing, and blessing will come to all who are in the church.

In the Bible, the words “open heavens” or “open windows of heaven” refer to great blessing that God wants to give to His people. We read this promise in Deuteronomy 28:11-13

¹¹The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

¹²The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. ¹³The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

When we speak of being blessed by God, many people think that God is going to give them money in the mail or in some other unusual manor. This, of course, may happen from time to time but the primary blessing is going to come through the “work of our hands.”

In the scripture, we find many words that encourage us to work with the abilities God has given us. On one occasion, God spoke to Moses about the creative gifts He had given some of the people so they could construct the tabernacle of worship that was used in the wilderness.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:  ²“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, ⁴to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, ⁵in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. ⁶“And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: Ex. 31:1-6  

 God has given each of us gifts and abilities that He wants us to use. He wants us to work in these areas and has promised to bless us as we work. In fact, the scripture has some hard things to say to those who will not work.

 …If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. ¹¹For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. ¹²Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. 2 Thes. 3:10-12

 ⁸But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Tim. 5:8

In the Gospel of Luke we read an experience that Peter had. He had an experience of blessing like we are talking about.

 Luke 5:  ¹So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, ²and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. ³Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

⁴When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” ⁶And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Notice that Peter was blessed only after he obeyed Jesus’ instructions to go back to work. If Peter had refused to go back to fishing, he would not have received the blessing.

Just because we are believers and the promise of blessings is ours we cannot just sit back and expect the blessings to fall into our lap. We must go about our work expecting the blessings to overtake us as we work.

Some Christians are not experiencing the blessings of open heavens. If that is the case we need to find out what we can do to have the heavens opened to us. In Malachi we get an answer that will help us. God speaks to His people about what they must do to have the heavens opened to them.

 Malachi 3:7 & 10 ⁷Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’…Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.

Notice the reason the blessing has stopped is because the people had gone away from God’s ordinances. What are these ordinances referring to? We could go into a long list from the Old Testament but Jesus sums them up into two basic truths in the New Testament:

³⁷Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Lets go back to Malachi now. God says, “Return to me and I will return to you…bring all the tithes into the storehouse…” It is easy to see that bringing the tithes is connected to loving God. This is the first step back to God. It is not all we need to do but it is the start of what we are to do. Bringing the tithes is an action that shows our love for God. When we begin loving God, He is able to return that love in a multiplicity of ways.

The second command is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” If we love our neighbor we will not be dependent upon him for part of our living. We will work to earn our own “bread.” We will not become a burden upon those we love, especially our family.

In conclusion I am saying this. God wants to open the heavens over all Christians. He wants to bless the work of our hands and bring great prosperity to our homes. To be eligible for these blessings we must love God with all our heart and live our lives in obedience to Him.

Let us go to work expecting the blessing of God to be upon our labors. Let us work with the understanding our work is for more than the wages our employer pays. God will reward us for our labors. He will see that we get raises, bonuses, promotions, etc. He will honor us when we do what is right in His sight.