When you don’t perform on your job, there’s a possibility you might get fired. When you don’t perform in school, there’s a chance you may fail that grade. When you don’t follow the advice of the doctors, you might not heal properly. All of these things make you work harder, I would guess, so that none of these things happen. But I wonder, why don’t we work as hard for God? I know, I know; God doesn’t fire us when our performance lacks but He should. God doesn’t take away our blessings when we fail to do His will but He could. Baby, if our blessing was indicative of our work some of us would be tore up, raggedy and not fitting to look at. But aren’t you glad God doesn’t do us like man? I mean, He still shows up when we call even though we didn’t answer when He called. God still keeps His promises to us although we break the ones to Him daily. God still forgives us and we’ve yet to forgive others. God still shows out on our behalf and all we do is show out for folk. We don’t give; humph, we barely give folks the chance to ask. We don’t love because if the truth shall be told, someone of us hardly like folk. We don’t go and we definitely don’t sow into others. And helping and praying; what’s that?
Why don’t we work as hard for God as we do our jobs? Why don’t we give God the same effort we give worldly stuff? Why is it so easy to sleep in on Sunday but not Saturday? Why is it hard to pay tithes but easy to pay for the things that tempt our spirit? Why is it so easy to pray to God when we’re in trouble but hard to praise when we’re not? Where is our service? Yes, I know you have the line memorized, “When praises go up blessings come down,” but I searched and I didn’t find this in the bible. However, I did see that this is based on Psalm 67:5-6 that says, “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.” This leads me to believe that if we say thank you (praise) to God, He’ll ensure the earth is fruitful (blessing) unto His people. However, I did find how we get our blessings … Luke 6:38, “Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Simply saying, give and it shall be given back to you and what you put out, you’ll get back in return. This also includes your work for God. For if we work hard for Him, He’ll make a return on our investment by working hard for us!
Lakisha, the Author 