Giving: A Prepared Heart – Part 3

How do I prepare my heart to receive a harvest? Recap: Planting in order to reap is how faith works. It is detrimental to us and others NOT to give. God’s economy runs off faith and not the local currency. He doesn’t need dollar bills in Heaven. He uses our giving here on earth to finance His work here on earth and He is in the people business.

Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

God wants giving to be a joyous occasion; not a painful one. Giving should never be seen as a mandated chore or obligation.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” 

Put your faith into action. Our giving tells what we truly believe. A scarcity in giving is the reason for a shortage in receiving.  It shows a lack of trust in God as our Provider.

Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Giving is planting seed. (Example of a farmer) You cannot live off of the memory of past seeds planted or past givings.

One’s reaping (receiving) is proportionate to one’s sowing (giving). No planting of seed, no receiving of a harvest.

Galatians 6:7-9 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. 8 For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” AMP

What do you treasure the most and how can you protect it?

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In the ‘Parable of the Sower,’ the ground Jesus is talking about is the condition (preparedness) of our heart.

Luke 8:11-15; Mark 4:14-20; Matthew 13:18-23 “Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the Word of God. The farmer sows the Word.” (Does what it says.)

The Path – well-known by most; following the crowd.

“The seeds along the path are those who hear, and when anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” (sozo = GK = healed, restored, recovered, made well, delivered out of danger, saved, SOS.)

The Rocky Ground – a hard heart; unforgiveness; calloused.

“The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the Word and receive it with joy, but they have no root, they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution in the time of testing, comes because of the Word, they quickly fall away.” (stop doing; annoyed)

The Thorns – an immature shallow heart; never digs deep

“The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and pleasures of this life – the desire for other things, come in and choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. and their fruit does not mature.”

Immaturity only sees the ‘now’ and not the ‘big picture.’

Good Soil – a selfless, disciplined heart that has integrity.

“But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the Word and understands it, receives it, clings to it, who indeed by persevering bears fruit and produces a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Hebrews 4:12 “The Word of God is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.” Knowledge is power! But for the power of the Word to be released, it must be acted upon. Seed remains sterile until it is planted. Our faith is inoperable and useless if we don’t act on it.

James 2:17 “In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” (‘works’ in Greek = corresponding actions)    Love and faith are inter-reliant.

Galatians 5:6 “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love.”

Our attitude towards money says more about our love for God and His people than our words.

1 John 3:17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Don’t see sowing as laborious. See it as joyful because of the harvest it brings to you, others, and our Lord.