The Storehouses of God Part 1

Intro:

Today, I was going to wrap our series on Proverbs. Our anchor verse for the series is Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

I am going to shift slightly from the current series flow to share a word from the Lord I received this past week as a result of a dream that I had. If you know me, you would know that dreams are not a typical way for the Lord to speak to me.

The dream I had, coupled with the revelation He shared after I awoke the next morning had great impact on me personally, and I am going to share a portion of it with you today.

I will not go into the deeper context of the dream this morning as the content is not fitting for the service. However, what sparked the revelation I am going to share with you was the real nature and intensity of the dream itself. I am going to describe the first 30 minutes of my day from this past Tuesday morning.

The dream I had seemed to last right up to the moment that I woke up. As I awoke I heard the voice of the Lord say, teach about the storehouses of heaven. The instruction immediately caused me to search my memory for scriptural references concerning storehouses.

At that moment only a single verse from Malachi 3:10 came to my mind which speaks about bringing the tithe into the store house. As I read and mediated on the verse I had a sense that the fullness of what was being revealed was beyond the basic context of the tithe.

Now, the intensity of the dream had caused me to wake up physically, mentally, and spiritually tired because the dream was filled with intense spiritual warfare and direct conflict with darkness.

As I got ready for the day the tiredness I felt brought on the thought of how difficult the day would be.

In the middle of that moment of self pity the Lord interrupted my thought by telling me there is an endless supply of supernatural provision that is available to me, and this stored up provision goes well beyond natural sleep, our physical strength, and the ability to provide for ourselves.

The potency of that word from the Lord shifted the remainder of my day. At the moment I heard the word, I felt a strength and joy come upon me that carried me through the rest of the day without the feeling of being tired.

Today, I am going to share with you the definition of what the storehouse is, and next week I am going to show you how to access it.

But before I do let’s pray.

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Submit:

When the Lord speaks to me about anything I always ask Him to give me understanding and to confirm the revelation with His written word so that I can develop a baseline of understanding.

The word of God gives us our baseline for living, and the revelation of God aligns with and builds upon what He has revealed to us in His word.

I was instructed to teach you about the storehouses of God. I will be honest with you. This is not a subject that I am well versed in.

What I will share with you this morning and next week will be a culmination of the time I spent in prayer seeking the lord, the study of the word, and the pursuit of as many resources as I could find on the subject.

As we begin, let’s first define what a storehouse is. I found that there are several types mentioned in the word.

A storehouse is a place that has stored up provisions that are laid aside, or accumulated for a later date. It is a repository or source of abundant supplies set aside for an appointed time when it will be used.

I mentioned the scripture that came to mind when I awoke and it was Malachi 3:10. As I went back to reread the scripture I realized that it gave an example of a storehouse in a natural sense, and then revealed the outcome of obedience in relation to the storehouse of God.

Natural: In the temple there was a physical storehouse for the tithe that was brought to the Lord. The provision in that storehouse gave food and wages to the priest who served the Lord in the temple.

Remember, the priest had no inheritance of land. They were to tend to the ministry of the temple and serve the Lord throughout their generations.

The first portion of Malachi 3:10 gives reference to the physical storehouse in the temple.

Malachi 3:10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house,

Spiritual: However, in the second half of this verse I want you to notice what the Lord says, He said, “And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Notice the statement, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you.”

Example: The best depiction I can give you of what this means is a Dam and Sluice gate. Behind the dam is an abundance of resource, and the sluice gate is what is opened or closed for the resource to be released. (*reference the photo slide)

In Malachi 3 we see that there is a supernatural supply that God is wanting to pour out. In this instance if they would bring the tithe in obedience, He would open the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing and they do not have enough room to receive it.

The opening of the windows of heaven is like the sluice gate being opened on a dam and the rush of resource from the reservoir begins to burst through the opening into the stream below. The faithfulness to bring the tithe in this instance opened the window to the abundance of the provision of God.

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Apply:

Another reference to the storehouse of God in the Old Testament is in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. The passage references the covenant blessing God would give to Israel as they walked in obedience.

In Deuteronomy 28:10–12 there is another instance of a storehouse, it says, “Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.”

Once again we see that the source of the abundance is the Lord. Vs. 12 says that the Lord will open to you His good treasure. When I looked up the phrase His good treasure.

In the Hebrew, “His good treasure” means storehouse, reservoir, depository, stockpile, house of treasures or wealth, an armory – a place to store tools for battle, the treasury of heaven such as gold, silver, etc.”

The revelation in the passage is that God has stored up blessing for His people. Their obedience to his covenant would release plenty of goods (provision), in the fruit of their body (offspring), in the increase of their livestock (wealth), and in the produce of their ground (provision for life).

All of these things were stored up for God’s people in heavenly storehouses. When they responded in obedience to the covenant of God they received of His good treasure.

Other references to Storehouses in the Old Testament are seen in the scripture concerning nature. Job 38:22. Psalm 135:7. Jeremiah 10:13. Psalm 33:7.

In Job 38:22 God asks Job, ““Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail,”

In Psalm 135:7 The Psalmist declares, “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

The prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 10:13 “When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.””

Psalm 33:7 “He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.”

The Scripture also references storehouses of Judgement: Deuteronomy 32:34-36. Romans 2:5.

In the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:34–36 “‘Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’ “For the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.”

Romans 2:5 “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,”

He has stored up wisdom & knowledge. Proverbs 2:7. Isaiah 33:6.

Proverbs 2:7 “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;”

Isaiah 33:6 “Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure.”

He stored up goodness. Psalm 31:9.

Psalm 31:19 “Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!”

He has stored up strength. Isaiah 40:28-29.

Isaiah 40:28–29 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.”

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Closing:

The essence of the scripture reveals to us that God has vast resources and they are available to us. The abundance coincides with His nature. In Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.”

The Word Almighty in English is El Shaddai in Hebrew. El Shaddai means “The many Breasted one,” or “the All Sufficient One”. He is the God who is enough. He is more than sufficient to meet any need. He is power and provision. In great compassion, He sustains, nourishes and protects us. He takes our weakness and gives us strength. He takes our inadequate resource and in His sufficiency uses them for His great and powerful purposes.

The general sense that I had from the revelation God gave me is that many people are bound by the limits of self-sufficiency. The urge was to shift our focus from what we can do, to what HE CAN DO. He has storehouses of provision waiting. He has a great desire to pour them out, but He wants us to stop looking at ourselves and start looking to Him in a greater way. I believe this word is directed not only to the new believer, but also the seasoned believer.

It is easy for us to reach a level of maturity and trust that we level off in pursuit. It is as if our trust in the Lord almost stops us from pursuing the fullness of God. I believe He is waiting to open the floodgates. Next week we are going to look deeper into how to access the storehouses of God.

Let’s Pray!

Receiving from the Storehouse of Salvation

Holy Spirit open our eyes to see and perceive, but also to receive.