Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
I’ve had two dreams and a vision that were in the setting of 1960’s era gas stations. Growing up we called them filling stations. I think that is key to understanding what the Holy Spirit is saying.
In one of the dreams, there was a group of people gathered at a gas station and I was asked to give a message on generosity. In my mind, I thought, I can’t give a message on generosity. I am not even prepared to give any message, much less one on generosity. As I was thinking, the Holy Spirit downloaded a message about generosity into my mind.
Here is the message He gave me in the dream.
The New Testament reveals that generosity is not just an expression, a by‐product or even a response to the gospel. It is an essential part of the gospel. If we took the words, “God so loved the world that he gave…” out of John 3:16, we would not only lose the message of generosity, we would lose the gospel itself.
From the very beginning, generosity was connected with the Voice of the Lord walking in the garden (Gen. 3:8). The further we are removed from the Voice the more stingy, self-focused and needy we become (Gen. 3:9-19). A poverty mindset slowly takes over like leaven in bread.
God implemented laws and guidelines on giving to help us overcome the poverty spirit and get back to His generous heart. They were never meant to be turned into legalistic rules as they have been. They were a bridge from where mankind was to where God purposed and designed us to be.
While in the wilderness, God provided Israel with food, clothing and water. Everything they needed to live. In Deuteronomy 8:2-5, it tells us the purpose of this was to test Israel to reveal what was in their hearts; whether God was truly their source. This teaches that God test us not only for us to come to the truth about ourselves, but also to prove He will provide for us.
In the New Testament, the first temptation the devil threw at Jesus had to do with the provision. Will God provide food for you? (Matt. 4:1-4). Jesus understood that human needs such as food is vital, we can’t live without it, but there is something else even more important. The proceeding Word from God’s mouth, the Voice of the Lord. Jesus came to reconnect us with the Voice of the Lord, break the spirit of poverty off us and release His generous heart in us.
In the kingdom of heaven, generosity flows from a heart that is established in grace (2 Cor. 9:8).
God chose for man to play a part in his provision. When Israel crossed over into the Promised Land, the manna stopped and the people learned to tend, cultivate and harvest gardens and vineyards. One of the deceptions of a religious spirit is to convince us that we have no part in God’s generosity, but we do. Jesus tells us, “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matt. 10:8) Giving is a matter of generosity and is never a grudging obligation (2 Cor. 9:5).
God wants to prove to us that He is a generous Shepherd that will provide for us in an overflowing manner (Psalm 23) just as He did with Jesus. He desires us to fully experience the open heaven and receive grace upon grace (John 1:16) and we can become a blessing to the world around us. That is what the heavenly filling station is all about.
Many Blessings, BW