Don't Bother Giving
THE HEART OF A JOYFUL GIVER
Jesus made it very clear that ‘where your heart is’ means so much more to God than how many commandments you obeyed or how many laws you fulfilled. Obeying “thou shalt not kill” is not enough. Jesus said, even if you think badly about someone, then you have broken the commandment.
Fulfilling your responsibilities in tithing is not enough, God wants you to feel the joy of giving in your heart. Remember His parable about how pleased God was with the poor lady who humbly and joyfully gave a penny from the very little that she had.
IMPORTANT: “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to
give,
not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7
How do we change our hearts to become cheerful givers?
The Bible says, “We love because God loved us first.” In the same way, we need to understand that we can only give because God has given to us first. (1 Corinthians 16:2, 2 Corinthians 8:12).
The Bible says that the more you sow, the more you reap (2 Cor 9:6). Know that when you open your heart and give from your blessings from God that you are opening a door for God to bless you back in a way that you can never imagine.
God does not tell us how He will bless us back. If we sow money we will definitely reap but it may not necessarily be in the form of money. The blessings coming back from God will appear in many different forms. We need to be observant and see what God does in our lives, in the lives of our family members, in our jobs, etc. God says that He will "open the gates of heaven" to bless us back. In the book of Malachi, God allows us to test Him in this. So, give a small amount and see what happens ... see what God does. You will be pleasantly surprised and you will be moved to give more and more.
Please do not give if you feel pressured to give. God wants you to feel content and at peace when you give. Knowing the truth
about giving will set you free and allow you to experience the joy of giving. You can give in so many ways ... financially, your time, your efforts, your prayers for others, etc.
Remember, we are partnering with God to share His love and He wants to work with us to determine how much we should give. He also wants to bless us with more so that we will be happy to give and share more with others. We can never outgive God. This joyful kind of giving makes it exciting for us to wait and see what God is going to do in our lives and the lives of our family and friends.
One day you will come to realize that when you help someone that they should not thank you but instead, you should thank them for allowing you the opportunity to give because God is always aware and He will be blessing you back in such wonderful and exciting ways.
Giving from the heart is
all about knowing that we have a loving and wonderful God. We must realize that we belong to the Lord and everything we have belongs to the
Lord and that He has promised to take care of us if we share what He has given us. When you see this giving principal in action, then you will truly have the
heart of a joyful giver.
This is truly, Living in the Kingdom.