God’s Blessing on Open Hearts

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).

God created everything — the oceans, the rivers, the birds, the animals, sea creatures, all vegetation and “man in his own image” — and after each day of creation he proclaimed, “It is good” (see Genesis 1:4, 9, 11, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). After creating man and woman, “God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion’” (1:28).

“Blessed” is a powerful word here. The kind of blessing God gave was the power to achieve things yet to be realized. He was saying, “I have filled the earth with glorious and wonderful things that I call good and now I am giving you power to fill up the earth with the things that please me. I am blessing you and giving you dominion over every living thing on the earth.”

As we understand that everything we have is a gift from God, we must also realize that Satan will attempt to manipulate God’s blessings and turn them into things that we would try to control ourselves (see Genesis 3:1). Satan is crafty and he will try to take the good things God has given us and make them a snare for us. The first sin in the Garden of Eden was using good things in a sinful way.

We are to take the blessings of God and use them to glorify the King. It is wonderful to see the cycle of receiving and giving — giving generously — to those in need. I encourage you to look at your own blessings and ask God what he would have you to do for others. He blesses those whose hearts are open to give of their possessions or their time to make a difference in the lives of others. God has blessed you to be a blessing!