FAITH IN YOUR GIVING
...by Johnny Lee Clary
Philippians 4:19: "And My God shall
supply ALL of your needs according to His riches and glory that is in
Christ Jesus."
Those who are following God's Word and that are
doing God's will can expect to get their needs met by God. Time
and time again I have heard stories of those who really could not afford to
give into God's work but they gave anyway through FAITH. There are
people who owe a lot of money to bill collectors, people who are unemployed;
and as they obey God in giving, God provides for them.
We have problems in areas of our lives where
we do not obey God's word. Families become divided and are torn
apart when people do not live according to God’s morality and
principles. People lose friends (or fail to make friends) when they choose
to be unkind. Churches lose finances and begin to fall apart when its
work is conducted by selfish motivations, instead of for the glory
of God. It’s possible that many of us are struggling financially because
we are not following God’s principles about finances, especially giving.
God requires
that we be givers; not only givers, but that we give generously. Some
of you might be asking yourself and your spouse, Can we afford to give?
Maybe you have too much debt, not enough income, or misplaced priorities.
What does the Bible say about whether or not you can afford to give?
2
Corinthians 9.6-8:
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and
whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all
things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good
work.
(NIV)
We
can be happy and cheerful about giving because we know God is going to
provide for us.
Verse
6, tells us the General principle: Sow
generously, and you will reap generously. If you give in abundance, God will meet
your needs abundantly. If you sow sparingly you will reap sparingly. That's
the law. It does not say that you will not reap if you give sparingly, it says
you will reap but you will reap sparingly, if you give sparingly.
Let me put it this way. If you have a farm and you plant 2 rows of corn, and
your neighbor has a farm and he plants 1,000 rows of corn, which one of
you can expect the biggest harvest and more corn? That's the way it works with
God. He who plants and sows the most into God's work, will be blessed the most
with prosperity, riches, and wealth.
Next,
Verse 7 tells us to be a cheerful giver. Giving to God is not like
paying your phone bill, alimony to your ex-wife, or being forced to
give your hard earned money to the IRS. It is a happy, cheerful feeling. It
is a privilege to give to God's work.
Verse 8
gives us a guarantee that God will provide!
Should our soul purpose be to give in order to get? No, of course not. We
should give from the heart because we love God and want to see His work
prosper across the world. If you love God you will give into his work. If
you do not love God then you will not give into His work. It's that simple. If
you say you love someone, then you will give to that person, whether it be
your friends, your parents, your spouse or your child. If you will not give
to them then you do not love them. It is when we give into God's work
that we will be blessed by Him.
II.
Malachi 3.6-12:
6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are
not destroyed.
7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my
decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to
you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to
return?'
8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do
we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse-- the whole nation of you-- because you are
robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in
my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I
will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing
that you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in
your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.
12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be
a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
(NIV)
God
wants you to take a step out in your faith.
Verses 6-7,
God tells Israel to return to him. They
had stopped following God's rules and principles and were not in right
standing with Him.
Verses 8-12,
God tells them to return to him in the area of their giving.
Verse 9
says they were cursed because of not obeying God. They were not giving ten
percent of everything back to God as the Law required. Deuteronomy 28 says
that if the Israelites would keep God's laws and commands then He would
bless them. It also says that the Israelites would be cursed if they chose
not too. It's kind of like if you are a parent and you make a promise or
covenant with your teenager that if they obey your household rules, that is
doing their homework, getting good grades, taking out the trash and keeping
their room clean, you will give them a weekly allowance of say $25.00 which
adds up to a hundred a month. If you promise that to your child and your
child does what you ask, then you must keep your word and bless that child
with the allowance you promised to provide. However, if your child is lazy,
does not show up for school, fails his or her subjects, does not take out
the trash, and their room looks like a pig sty, then you would be wrong to
bless your child with an allowance and your child has no right to expect you
to. As
a matter of fact, you would be setting the wrong example if you did, because
the child very well may grow up to expect their employer to give them a
paycheck for not doing the work that they promised their employer they
would do when they were hired. That's the way it is with God. Do
what he says and you will be blessed; disobey God and you will be cursed.
Verses 10-12, If
they obeyed God in giving, they would be blessed. God challenged them
to test him to see if he would be faithful to his promise – he most
certainly would.
Here is the
deal. God says in Haggai 2:8
8 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD
Almighty.
(NIV)
That means all
the gold and silver belongs to God. When you accept what Jesus did for you
at Calvary and ask Him into your heart, you become a child of the most High
King, and you belong to God's family. Atheists, Agnostics, Hindus,
Muslims, Buddhists, and other non-Christians do not belong to God's family.
They have no right to an inheritance, but you do. You belong to the family
of God because the ransom has been paid and you are an adopted son or
daughter with full rights of a legitimate son or daughter, which includes an
inheritance and rights to the family treasures.
In Luke
Chapter 15, a father's loyal son threw a fit and protested his father's
acceptance and giving to his prodigal son, (his brother who had
foolishly left home and spent his inheritance), because his father had taken
a prize calf and had thrown it on the bar-b-que when his wayward son came
home. Not only that but the father had given the wayward son a new pair of
shoes, a robe and a ring to wear on his finger. The
loyal son was all ticked off at his daddy telling him that he had never
even so much as given him a goat to bar-b-que with his friends, but that when
the foolish son who had spent his inheritance foolishly, came home
and said he was sorry, his father had killed the fatted calf for him. The
father then told the loyal son to take a look around the farm and see all
there was to see. He told him that all that he had and owned belonged to him
also. It always had and he had full rights to everything. He didn't need
permission. It was his also.
That is the way it is with our Heavenly Father. He loves us and we are joint
heirs with Jesus so we have a right to the silver and gold that God owns. By
the way, in case you didn't know this, God is the richest of all rich, and
He has more money then Ted Turner, Donald Trump and the Rockefellers ever
dreamed of having, combined! He is your Father and He will give to you but
He requires that you give to Him first. After all, He is the one who blessed
you with life, your health, and a way to make a living. You and I both owe
God. If we want Him to bless us, then we must bless others.
Take the
step of faith in obedience to God: Be a generous, cheerful giver. God
is waiting to bless you....
©
2004 Johnny Lee Clary
All
Rights Reserved
Click Here to Return To
Articles
