Unleash

Recently we finished a series at my church on the book of Malachi. At the beginning of the series I told the congregation that this was going to be a very tough series, as Malachi doesn't "pull any punches", "candy coat", or in any way shape or form, "water down" his message to the people.

The bottom line for Malachi was that the people of God had blown it, and God was NOT HAPPY about it!

In chapter one they were bringing garbage for sacrifices when they should have been bringing their best. In chapter two the leaders weren't leading like God had ordained them to lead, in fact they were leading the people away from relationship with God.



Again, God is not happy, and He confronts them with the fact that if they don't shape up soon, He's going to take the dung from the lame, blind and utterly pathetic offerings that they are making and smear it on their faces and cast them out...yikes!

The whole book is a severe reminder that God wants our best and He desires so much more for our lives than we often even realize. Even though the message is harsh, the underlying proclamation is always there for the people then and is still available for us today. That underlying message is found in chapter three and is an awesome reminder of what God wants to do. He says, in verse 10...

Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

I love those words "throw open", as they have the idea of lavishly unleashing heaven itself on us even though we deserve the absolute opposite of that.

It was a good series, but it was also a very eye opening series as we realize that many times we settle for second best if not lower when all along God has a wonderful plan just ready to unleash on us. He wants to unleash it so He can unleash us to share the good news with people who so desperately need it!

I showed this video clip at the beginning of the series to encourage us that God has a great plan. It's actually a modern day rendition of the message that God had for the people of Israel after they rejected the "minority report" of Joshua and Caleb and thus missed out on the promised land and had to wander.

Are you wandering today? God wants to unleash everything on you and for you so you can be blessed and in turn be a blessing. My prayer is that we would all totally submit to our God who is just waiting to throw open the floodgates and unleash on us!