A Cheerful Giver

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  

2 Corinthians 9:7

We saw yesterday that  our motivation to give should be based on the gift of grace freely given.  For Christians to give reluctantly, or out of guilt or obligation, is not generosity.  It’s like paying a “God tax.”  Does paying more in taxes make you feel cheerful?

A generous lifestyle, however, is a life of freedom.  It’s a life of simplicity, joy, fruitfulness, and purpose.  There is a satisfaction in pleasing God:  to bring joy, honor and glory to Him.  We should smile as we give and desire to do it more and better.  Giving should be like riding a rollercoaster – it feels adventurous and risky, but it’s really safe.  Our trust in God is the safe part of giving. 

The sheer fun of giving can be contagious.  Many Christians experience that thrill.  Once they make giving a priority, it becomes more and more joyful. May we all actively seek the joy of true Christian giving.

Say or sing these words from “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee”:

  Thou art giving and forgiving,

  Ever blessing, ever blest,

  Well-spring of the joy of living,

  Ocean depth of happy rest! 

  Thou our Father, Christ our brother,

  All who live in love are thine;

  Teach us how to love each other,

  Lift us to the joy divine.

When you pray, ask God to help you give generously and joyfully.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

The Motive

…see that you also excel in this grace of giving.  I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.  For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.  2 Corinthians 8:7-9

In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul delivers what we would all recognize as a church fundraising letter.  Some of us have received many over the years; some may have experienced it for the first time as a part of our First Fruits focus this month.  Regardless, we should pay special attention to Paul’s letter and its singular motive for giving – the grace of Jesus Christ. 

Christians shouldn’t give because they are rule followers (although some do) or because it frees their life from the idol of wealth (although it does).

Christians give because they know that God gave everything, even His own Son Jesus Christ, for them.  Grace is the motivation for giving.  Giving is a response to God’s gift of sheer grace.  Just as we must forgive because we have been forgiven, those who have been given much (grace, eternal life, the love of Christ, the Spirit, peace) give in return.

Say or sing these words from the hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth”:

  For each perfect gift of Thine,  

  To our race so freely given,  

  Graces human and divine,  

  Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven.

  Lord of all, to Thee we raise,  

  This our hymn of grateful praise.

When you pray, thank God for sharing His riches with you.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Contentment

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’  Hebrews 13:5

In the midst of encouraging Christians to live according to the gospel, the writer of Hebrews commands contentment.  Just as contentment is a result of trusting God, it is also a way to trust God.  To be discontent is to fall into thinking that God is not enough. 

Sadly, our culture constantly bombards us with ideas that our life is not complete.  How many advertisements do you see each day telling you that what you have is not good enough?  We need something new, something better, something more fashionable.

But God’s constant presence and everlasting loyalty is enough.  The joy, hope and trust in His love allows us to be content.  Paul advises Timothy to stay focused on the lasting joy of contentment.  “But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”  1 Timothy 6:6

Say or sing these words from “All on the Altar”:

  Would you walk with the Lord,

  In the light of His Word,  

  And have peace and contentment alway,  

  You must do His sweet will, to be free from all ill,  

  On the altar your all you must lay.  

  Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow,  

  Of the blessings for which we have prayed,  

  Till our body and soul He doth fully control,  

  And our all on the altar is laid.

  Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?  

  Your heart, does the Spirit control?  

  You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest,  

  As you yield Him your body and soul.

When you pray, give thanks to God for the many gifts you enjoy that cannot be bought with money.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

The Love of Money

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  1 Timothy 6:9-10

This famous passage was delivered by Paul to Timothy as a warning about the pitfalls of desiring things rather than God.  Paul claims that money is at the bottom of a wide variety of sin and idolatry.  While money is not bad in itself, it can add fuel to the fire of sinful desires.  Few people lust after mere dollar bills, but instead use them in pursuit of the idols of security, comfort, approval and power.  We like money because it gets us what we want. 

As Christians, our warning flags should always be up when making financial decisions.  We are free to use money, but should use it with caution – understanding its dangerous ability to turn our hearts away from Christ.  As Paul encouraged Timothy in the verses following the one above, “flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of faith.”

May God strengthen us to grow in our faith, seeking all things in Christ and pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Say or sing these words:

   Seek ye first the kingdom of God   

   And His righteousness;   

   And all these things shall be added unto you.   

   Hallelu, Hallelujah!

   Ask, and it shall be given unto you;   

   Seek, and you shall find.   

   Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.   

   Hallelu, Hallelujah!

   Man shall not live by bread alone,   

   But by every word   

   That proceeds out from the mouth of God.   

   Hallelu, Hallelujah!

When you pray, ask for God’s help in using wisely your money and the things money can buy.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

God’ Ownership of His People

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7

If you were in morning worship yesterday, you heard that everything belongs to God because He created it. Everything good in your own life comes from God: your abilities, your upbringing, your educational background. You would not be where you are without countless interventions by God on your behalf. Beyond these blessings, God has given us His greatest gift, His only Son. The Corinthian church and many of us today practically ignore the full wonder of that gift.

The Gospel is a gift. Our relationship with Christ is by God’s grace. There is nothing we did to deserve or earn His love. In fact we are all in rebellion against God, yet Christ died for us, bearing our sin and gifting us with His righteousness. When we forget that, we become prideful and selfish.

If your next door neighbor received a bill of yours in the mail and instead of putting it in your mailbox, paid it himself - what would your reaction be? What if the bill was only $5; what if he paid your mortgage payment that month; what if he paid the entire loan off? Would that change the way you thought about your neighbor?

In love, Jesus paid our bill because we cannot. We all know what our reaction should be to that reality – full commitment to Him.

Know that the Lord, he is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Psalm 100:3

Say or sing these words from “To God Be the Glory”:

  To God be the glory, great things He hath done,

  So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,

  Who yielded His life our redemption to win,

  And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

  Let the earth hear His voice;

  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

  Let the people rejoice;

  Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,

  And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

When you pray, thank God for creating all things for you!

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Why Do We Worship?

No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.  Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on…   Matthew 6:24, 25

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says clearly that devoting oneself to money is equal to worshipping a false God, an idol.  He lays down an all or nothing claim – if you worship wealth, you won’t worship God.  Our heart does not have room for two masters.

Worry can often be an indicator of worship.  What you worry about is what you don’t want to lose.  Jesus says “Therefore” worrying about money and your future is an indicator of a lack of trust in God.  Worse, it could show your hope is based on the security of wealth.  Jesus’ words are so uncomfortable to many of us that we try to find ways around them.

Research has shown that many people do not give because they are afraid.  The only way to ever stop worrying about money is to break its stranglehold on your heart by becoming generous.  When you joyfully submit to the Lordship of God, you can give money away and stop worshipping it.

May we each seek a renewed heart that worships Christ alone and desires to use money as an act of worship.

Say or sing these words from the hymn “Long Ago You Taught Your People”:

   In the lifestyle of the Spirit

   Giving has a central part;

   Teach us, Lord, this grace of sharing

   With a cheerful, loving heart.

   Not a tiresome obligation,

   Not a barren legal due,

   But an overflow of worship:

   All we have belongs to You!

When you pray, ask God to help you worship this week through giving.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

A Time for Giving

“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income...”  1 Corinthians 16:2

Just following a lengthy discussion of the glories of resurrection in Christ, Paul places an important “therefore” in 1 Corinthians 15:58.  Because we know for sure that death is defeated at the cross, we can fearlessly stand firm in faith and move out in ministry to the world.

When we worship, we respond to the hope of the gospel by committing our lives to the wonderful God in whom we believe.  Worship is giving.  To worship is to give Him not only our praise, our attention, our sins, our fears, our burdens, and our hearts, but also our money.

So Paul advised the Corinthians to offer their gifts as an act of regular worship “On the first day of the week,” (Sunday).  The regularity of the offering helps the Christian give in proportion and, as Paul teaches, is a joyful and praise-filled response to grace.

Say or sing these words:

  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,

  All your money, talent, time and love;

  Consecrate them all upon the altar;

  While your Savior from above speaks sweetly,

  Trust Me, try Me, prove Me,

  Saith the Lord of Hosts and see

  If a blessing, unmeasured blessing,

  I will not pour out on thee.

When you pray, talk to God about how much you should give back to Him.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Community of Care

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need… And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2: 44, 47

These verses describe the very beginnings of the church immediately following Peter’s sermon at Pentecost.  It is interesting that the one of the first recorded acts of this new group of Christians was the care of their new community through personal generosity.  They instinctively knew that their possessions needed to be shared with their brothers and sisters in Christ.  Why?  They had seen Jesus live the same way.

I’m sure that their radical unselfishness looked as out of place then as it would in our culture today.  But look at the effect it had in their community.  Such an astounding demonstration of generosity and mutual care, mixed with the wonders of the Holy Spirit, melted the hearts of those who came in contact with them.

Giving changes the world!  There is no more powerful evidence of the transformation of the Gospel than radical generosity.

Say or sing these words from “Because I Have Been Given Much”:

  Because I have been given much, I, too must give;

  Because of Thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live,

  I shall divide my gifts from Thee with every person that I see

  Who has the need of help from me.

When you pray, ask God to help you know how to help others by giving generously.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Tending the Seeds of Grace

Remember this: Whosoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whosoever sows generously will also reap generously.  2 Corinthians 9:6

God promises that he will pour out even more abundant grace into our lives to the degree that we commit to Him.  This certainly does not mean that God pays us back.  If we give Him $100 he probably won’t give us back $1,000.  But in every instance he gives us (individually and as the church) something even more precious, Himself.  Giving builds your relationship with God because, as we’ve seen already, it builds hope, trust, belief and commitment to Him.  The real gain is a closer walk with Jesus Christ, a stronger bond between our life and His.

Paul also states the opposite thought.  Whenever Christians (individually or together) hold back, they damage their relationship with Christ.  They act without trust, they deny His goodness.

May we have lives and a church that sows generously so that we can harvest the fullness of what Christ offers.

Say or sing these words from "Come Ye Thankful People Come":  

  All the world is God's own field, fruit as praise to God we yield;     

  Wheat and tares together sewn are to joy or sorrow grown;     

  First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;   

  Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

When you pray, ask God to help you become closer to Him through your giving.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Can You Outgive God?

‘Bring the whole tithe… 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 enough room for it.’  Malachi 3:10

God dares you to trust Him about giving.  He doesn’t simply command obedience. He shows us how wildly generous He is and how quick to give out His favor.  Then He says, if you belong to Me, follow My example.  Giving is an adventure that is rewarding beyond your wildest dreams.  The joy of trust flows into every area of our life:  from finances, to career, to the future, to relationships, to hard times.

When we live according to a solid grasp of God’s goodness our whole lives are more free and secure.  We gain a courage that can withstand trials when we believe that Jesus Christ is committed to fulfilling His plan of redemption in us.  The late missionary Jim Elliot said it this way, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.”  We can never outgive God.

May we be a renewed church that hungers to give and that sees God’s blessings.

Say or sing the words of the refrain from “He Giveth More Grace”:

   His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,  

   His power no boundary known unto men,  

   For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,  

   He giveth and giveth and giveth again.  

When you pray,  thank God that His gifts to us are endless.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

God Owns it All

You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’  But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth… Deuteronomy 8:17-18

If you’ve read the first chapter of Genesis, you know that God is the creator, the sole ruler over all creation.  He controls all things.  Nothing that we do takes way from God’s overruling presence throughout all of creation.  It is His to create and protect and use for His glory.  So whenever we use the resources of the world, we use God’s resources.

That also means that the “silver is mine and the gold is mine” (Haggai 2:8).  When we look at our own finances, we tend to forget God owns it all.  We expect for Him to care for our financial well being as if God owes us something.  In Job 41:11, God replies, “Who has a claim against me that I must pay?  Everything under heaven belongs to me.”  Or, we think that we have earned our treasures through our own hard work and abilities.

Instead of God needing our money, we need Him every moment to sustain us.  Our worship and the dedication of our lives to him is an acknowledgement of His control over everything. Being generous with what He has given us is an expression of His Lordship in our lives.

How would it feel to have a renewed heart that daily remembers God’s active control of the world and a generous heart that praises His loving care?

Say or sing these words from the hymn by John Greenleaf Whittier:

  All  things are thine; No gift have we,

  Lord of all gifts, to offer thee;

  And hence with grateful hearts today,

  Thine own before thy feet we lay.

When you pray, ask God to teach you true generosity.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Where Do You Store Your Treasure?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

This verse sits in the middle of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and is one of the most important lessons about money.  When we evaluate what we have collected in our lives, what we have valued and set our lives to attain, what does that reveal?  It shows what our faith means to us.  It shows that to which we have devoted our hearts.  It is both a warning and a roadmap to follow.  To the extent we believe the truthfulness of this scripture, the teaching is clear.  That to desire God, to give our hearts to God is to invest in the treasures of heaven.

In our society, the value put on the attainment and achievement of material treasure is immense.  The allure of wealth is constantly telling us to act and believe contrary to what we know is the desire of God for our lives.  The battle goes on every day - we say that we live for heaven but our actions may say something else.  God calls us to examine where we place our worldly treasure and our heart.  Will these be investments that fade away or will they be eternal kingdom investments that last forever?

Strive for a renewed heart that tells treasure what to do, not for more treasure that tells your heart what to do.

Say or sing the words to “God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending”:

   Treasure, too, you have entrusted,    

   gain through powers Your grace conferred;    

   ours to use for home and kindred,    

   and to spread the Gospel Word.    

   Open wide our hands in sharing,    

   as we heed Christ's ageless call,    

   healing, teaching, and reclaiming,    

   serving You by loving all.  

When you pray, tell God what you treasure and ask for His guidance.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.

Sacrifice of the First Fruits

When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket.  Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’  The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God… ‘He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.’  Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him.  Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.  Deuteronomy 26: 1-4, 9-11

The idea of first fruits giving is to offer up to God the first rewards of our labor in acknowledgement that what we have is a gift from God.  The first fruits were the choicest – the best of the harvest.  The Israelites were saying, “God, you’ve given us this bounty, so now we give it back to you.”  Giving of the first fruits was also a sacrifice.  They could be sold for a higher price than the rest of the harvest.  It was therefore a sacrificial pledge – a promise that all things belong to God.

Christ gave sacrificially and so Christian giving should be sacrificial.  His first fruits were the pledge of the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of the full harvest of His promise.  Christians have continued this sacrificial practice, giving ‘off the top’, trusting that the Lord will provide.

As we begin our “First Fruits” focus on stewardship, may we commit to a renewed lifestyle that seeks to give God the first of everything in all areas of life.

Say or sing these words from “As Saints of Old Their First Fruits Brought”:

  As saints of old their first fruits brought,

  Of orchard, flock, and field,

  To God the Giver of all good,

  The Source of bounteous yield;

  So we today first fruits would bring–

  The wealth of this good land,

  Of farm and market, shop and home,

  Of mind, and heart, and hand.

When you pray, ask God to help you give freely and sacrificially.

Click here to send a prayer request to the Intercessory Prayer Ministry.