God Will Bless You, but Not Until He Does This

Whatever you give to God, He multiplies.

If you give God your talent, He’ll multiply your talent. If you give God your energy, He’ll multiply your energy. If you give God your time, He will multiply your time. If you give God your money, He will multiply your money. If you give God your relationships, He will multiply your relationships.

Whatever you give to God, He will multiply and give it back.

Ecclesiastes 11:1 says, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days” (MEV).

There’s a miracle in the Bible that Jesus did to teach this truth. Five thousand people followed Jesus out in the middle of the desert. He taught them all day, and at the end of the day, they were all hungry. The disciples told Jesus to send them all away. Instead, Jesus told the disciples that they needed to feed the people. I’m sure they swallowed hard on that one.

What was He doing? He was testing their faith. He wanted to see if they would depend on Him to provide what they needed to feed 5,000 people.

Out of that huge crowd, one little boy had brought a lunch pail, and inside were five little loaves of bread and two dried fish. The little boy brought his lunch to Jesus and said, “Lord, you can have this.”

Jesus took the bread and loaves. He prayed and broke it and blessed it and multiplied it. He tore it apart and began to feed everybody. It fed all 5,000 people! There were 5,000 witnesses to this miracle.

Not only did the small meal feed 5,000, when they picked up all of the leftovers at the end, there were 12 baskets full of leftover fish and loaves!

God always gives you more than you need, more than you anticipate, more than you can imagine. He took what the boy gave him. He broke it, He blessed it, and He used it.

That’s what God does in your life. The hard part is the breaking part. But when God takes you and breaks you, He will then bless you. He’ll bless you, and use you to bless others.

Talk It Over

•   What are you willing to give to God today?
•   Why is it important to submit yourself to God to be broken?
•   With what attitude do you think God wants you to give? {eoa}

Rick Warren is the author of the New York Times best-seller The Purpose Driven Life. His book The Purpose Driven Church was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of pastors.com, a global internet community for pastors.

For the original article, visit rickwarren.org.