The missionary organisation in which my Dad works, gets together every year for 3 days (27th to 29th of Dec) for a time of fasting and praising and thanking God. Its a time when everyone comes together to thank God for His blessings in the past year and seek His blessings for the coming year.
This year too, they had this fasting prayer and I had the privilege of attending the last day of this fasting prayer meeting. The first session was taken by the director of the organisation (who also happens to be my Uncle) and he spoke about giving. We were all a group of missionaries whose small salary was just enough to take care of ourselves and our children and our needs. It was hard to make ends meet with what we got and here our leader stood before us asking us to give from what we had. The message was an eye opener to me. He told the only way to prosperity was to give. He wanted the people in his organisation to be blessed and he said the only way we would be prosperous would be when we started to give, regardless of whether we had much or little.
He said that we didn't have to have much, to give. But we needed to give, to receive much.
Uncle shared an illustration from his life. He said that the village that he came from was, kind of a dry and a poor village. Those days missionaries from abroad had come to their village to share about Jesus to the people who lived there. One of the important lessons that the missionaries taught to the first Christians in that village was to give. The Christians were poor themselves and had hardly anything for themselves but the missionaries taught them that the only way to prosperity was to give. And so the Christians began to give. They were mostly poor farmers but they began by giving away bags of rice, coconuts, eggs, chicken, goats........ They had little but gave from the little they had. They just gave and gave and God began to open his doors of blessings in their lives. As they gave, God began to prosper them. Now that place is no more a village and the once poor farmers are now very rich and prosperous and they still give. The lesson that the missionaries taught them brought fruit in their lives.
This reminds me of the poor widow who gave the two coins. She was poor and all she had was the two coins. But she gave all that she had. She gave those two copper coins. There were other rich people around who were putting very costly gifts into the temple treasury but Jesus said that the widow who gave the two copper coins, gave the most. In God's eyes it wasn't how much the person gave that mattered, what mattered was the heart of giving.
In one of her books, Joyce Meyer writes about the importance of giving. She says that if you are waiting till you have enough for yourself to start giving, you will never have enough for yourself. You could just wait and wait and you would never have enough, no matter how much you have, unless you began to give. She writes to start giving from the little you have. When you start giving from the little you have, God begins to bless and prosper you and as you give and give, no matter how little you have, you'll find it to be enough and much much more left over. And you would open God's door of prosperity in your lives.
Now the thing is that the devil knows this truth as well as we do. And the last thing he wants is the prosperity of God's children. So Everytime you plan to give, he would fill your mind with questions like - Is there enough left for myself? What if there is a sudden emergency? Do I really have to give this away? What if God didn't actually bless me? What if God decided to bless me a little late?
Don't listen to them. Jesus wants us prosperous and that's why when he was on earth he said - if you have two tunics, give one to the one who does not have. In other words, all you need are two sets of clothes to start giving.
My mother's Dad (ie my grandfather) was one of the richest man in the village where they lived. And this meant my mother got to have a lot of silk sarees. And yeah being a girl, she did treasure her silk sarees a lot. After she was married to Dad, one of the first lessons he taught her when he first took her to the mission field was to give. It hurt her to give her precious sarees away but yet she did learn to give. Even today she does not keep more than what she would need. She keeps giving away and she keeps receiving in abundance. The same can be said about my Dad. I'm proud I have giving parents because of whom I have received much.
Give to God:
Malachi 3:10 - 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. (NIV)
Give to the Poor:
Proverbs 19: 17 - He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done. (NIV)
Give to God's people:
Matthew 10:42 - And whoever gives to one of these little ones [in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water because he is My disciple, surely I declare to you, he shall not lose his reward. (AMP)
Give to everyone:
Matthew 5:42 - Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
And here's God's promise of prosperity to the givers:
Luke 6:38 - Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
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