giving

Give

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“Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.  Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit,  from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Galatians 6:6-10

(This photo was taken April of 2016 on a lake in central Minnesota)

The Cheerful Giver

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“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  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 9:6-7

(This photo was taken in the summer of 2013 near Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado)

What is your Spiritual Gift?

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We all get into routines in life and several days begin to look the same.  Depending on what you choose to focus on in life, this repetition can become mundane and begin to feel like a rut you have created for yourself.  God has created each of us with a purpose in mind and that purpose also came with a spiritual gift.  This gift is something that comes naturally to us and sometimes it gets overlooked because it comes to us so easily.  This doesn’t have to be something complicated to figure out…we typically make things much more complicated in the world than necessary (I speak from personal experience).

In the Bible, the gifts of the spirit are as follows…

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.  If a person’s gift is prophesying, let them use it in proportion to their faith.  If it is serving, let them serve; if it is teaching, let them teach; if it is encouraging, let them encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let them give generously; if it is leadership, let them govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let them do it cheerfully.”

                                                                                                Romans 12:6-8

Think about moments in your life where it was easy for you to provide for another…not financially, there are far greater needs in the world than money.  The gifts described above are all related to our interactions with others…what have we been given that we can share with other people?  Many of us go about the business of “our” lives first and wonder why we get discouraged so easily?  One of the best ways to cure your discouragement or disappointment is change your perspective…

Begin by approaching your situation by thinking what can I do that helps others…don’t be so quick to think “nothing” it simply is not true.  You are a valuable part of God’s world…you are his creation…and I have heard it said often “God don’t make no junk!”

Look at the list of Gifts…one of these does apply to you…you just need to spend time praying that God will guide you to opportunities to use it and then be very aware of invitations or things you may read or just hear about that are happening in your community…there is a place for you…do you believe it?

The Gifts given according to grace:

  • Prophecy – calling for action based of God’s truth
  • Service or ministry – serve and meet the needs of others
  • Teaching – explain truth so others can understand it and apply it
  • Encouraging – to strengthen and inspire others to be their best
  • Giving – to generously share what you have been given by God
  • Leadership – to govern by steady and earnest effort
  • Mercy – to show compassion for others and to do it cheerfully 

I pray we all spend time in prayer asking for God to guide us to our gifts and we begin to use them to make this world a better place for others.

Peace.

Money…A Means Not an End

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Oh boy…here is a topic that seems to stir up an emotion charged response from so many people.  Whether that response is positive or negative the topic of money always comes with extreme human emotion.  So where does God stand when it comes to money?

Money is referenced over 140 times throughout the bible, not including references to other currency, and sin, in general, is the only issue that exceeds money in the number of times mentioned.  I have two verses that resonate with me:

“No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.”

                                                                                                                                Matthew 6:24

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s.”

                                                                                                                                1 Timothy 6:10

As with everything in our lives, it is a choice…..we can choose to focus all of our attention on where we stand financially or we can work on trying to balance our attention.  If we choose to praise God first and trust in him he will provide for us as he knows what we need.  The key to this is he is not looking to fulfill your wants but your needs and not on your time table but in time within his plan for your life.

I have tried the shortcut early in my faith journey…I would say to God, “please bless me with this amount of money and I promise I will do good things with it”.  God knew my heart at that time and knew I wasn’t ready.  In fact, you have heard about lottery winners who have had horrible lives after winning a substantial amount of money in one shot…..that is not God but evil providing those winnings as the evil forces of this world know how easy it is to distract us from looking toward God and will use everything it has to keep us away from God.

If you sit down and really look at your financial situation and look at the needs of your life…shelter, food, water, clothes…and lift it up to God and truly trust in him you will be blessed.  If you are blessed with more than you need than begin to share it.  You were blessed to be a blessing.  If you think you don’t have enough to share start small by buying a coffee or a meal for the car behind you at the drive thru window.  If you need more ideas there is a great blog at http://projectlighttolife.wordpress.com/ that I follow and the author Christine has several amazing ideas about how to be a blessing to others.

In closing, don’t let money control your life…don’t let it be the master of your journey.  Appreciate what you do have and begin to find ways to share with others.  Find ways to put money to work for you and for God by giving and it will come back to you over and over again.

Peace.