Giving: The Path to Freedom
It is detrimental NOT to give. Discover right and wrong ways to give. Giving benefits you, not God. Learn who you should give your money to.
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.”
Good News Translation “Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands–all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.”
The purpose of giving is not to get. It is to be a blessing to others.
Deuteronomy 15:10 You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.
Contemporary English Version You should be happy to give the poor what they need, because then the LORD will make you successful in everything you do.
You’ve heard it said, “Give till it hurts!” God want giving to be a joyous occasion; not a painful one.
2 Corinthians 9:5-8 Therefore I (Paul) thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation. 6 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. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Giving is planting seed. (Example of a farmer) Put your faith into action. Our giving tells what we truly believe. Lack of giving is a reason for lack of receiving. It shows lack of trust.
We waste more time and energy trying to figure out how to give less when we should be trying to figure out how to give more.
Proverbs 11:24-25 There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. 25 A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
God’s method of obtaining more is by giving what you have. This is the polar opposite of the worlds method which says, “Get all you can. Can all you get, then sit on your can!”
God takes our lack of giving personally.
Malachi 3:8-11 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, 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. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the Lord of hosts;
Does it seem as if everything you have keeps breaking down and nothing appears to last? You may have given the enemy and open door into your life by holding back on giving for fear of running out.
Have you ever heard, “Pastors shouldn’t know who gives what and when?” Jesus did.
Mark 12:41-44 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw (was watching) how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. (Two fractions which only made a fourth of the smallish Roman copper coin.) 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
Give where you are fed. (Your favorite restaurant)
1 Corinthians 9:9-14 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
Don’t allow fear to rob you. Give! He will take care of you.