Portions

Tonight I had a lasagna which was rather of a nice portion. It reminds me of some of the preaching and teaching of the past couple of decades in the evangelical/prosperity branch of Christianity in regards to getting a "Double Portion" for having gone through trouble.

Growing up, I was inundated with a lot of Pentecostal and Charismatic teaching, specifically in the Word Faith aspect. A lot of this - when looked at Biblically - was actually good and worth having.....if the practice had been like the more credible of the preaching.

Instead, we publicly witnessed the unbiblical excesses built up from donations hidden in tax free government entities. And we got a lot of junk preaching mixed in with the good.

One thing I found out is that it doesn't matter what you give, to whom you give, nor how much you give; the blessing of God isn't determined by our actions. Our actions can produce results, but what we do isn't near as important as our motivation. Our intent. Yet, even that isn't what determines the blessing of God, even though it has its own natural results.

So, since the preachers and teachers of this were finding people giving and not getting back, they had to begin coming up with excuses. "You've gotta' wait on God" is still popular, but it doesn't hold a candle to when they discovered the next money maker:

The "Double Portion" blessing

"Have you been through trouble and the devil robbed you of God's blessing? Give now and you'll receive Double - that's right, brother and sister, I said 'Double' the portion for your trouble!"

And the money flowed in. It's gotten such that other things like "Breakthrough" and "Overflow" branched out from there. But no matter what, it's all about receiving more than you were originally "promised" because of whatever had kept it "held back".

Frankly, if people had held onto their money and found a good investment God probably would have blessed them then if He had decided to.

And it's all up to Him. And He can be a real jerk about it at times too.

I thank Him for the lasagna I had tonight. I don't know if the size of it means anything or if it just means this restaurant is great about their portions - I've had the grouper a few times and have gotten quite full.

In either case, I'm believing for $4,500 all at the same time, and He has yet to produce that no matter what I do or don't do - i.e. "Wait on Him".

I know I've given before, so it's time to reap that. And I mean given individually to people in need, not to the people with million dollar cars. So, if God's blessing was determined by giving, I should have that. Since I don't, it's further proof of how He can bless or curse on a whim.

I don't really trust Him all that much, but His presence is too real to just become an atheist, because for sure, the preaching and teaching gets so convoluted, I can see why people abandon the Faith. And frankly, I don't blame them.

God forgot to give them their portion.