Excel in Giving III
‘Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to’ Deut.15:10
Finally, God wants me to be generous because giving blesses me in return. ‘Generous people will be blessed…’ Prov.22:6 [NCV]. A lot of us wonder how come the people who seem to have keep getting more while those who seemingly don’t have don’t get at all. It is because the rich have learnt the heavenly principle of ‘give and it will come back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over…’. I often say that the door out of poverty is labeled ‘give’. It may seem like all that you have but when God leads you to give Read the rest of this entry
Excel in Giving II
‘And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?’ Luke 16:11.
The fourth reason why God wants you to excel in giving is giving is a test of your maturity. Many of us work between the hours of 8am to 6pm daily. This translates to 10hours out of our 24hours daily. Mostly you still get to do some brainwork at home. In other words, you work more than half of the day meaning you have mostly exchanged your life for the money you have. So if God wants your life, God will go for your money. If you cannot trust God with your money do not claim you trust God with your life. God is interested in your life and Read the rest of this entry
Excel in Giving I
‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’ Matt.6:21 [KJV]
The second reason why God wants you to excel in giving is giving draws you closer to God [Matt.6:21]. Your money, the Bible says, is a magnet of your heart. Wherever your money is, it magnetizes your heart to that place also. If your money is in your material possessions, guess where your heart will be? A man once said to me that he has a wristwatch valued at $250,000. While there is nothing wrong with that or liking expensive things just make sure you have more than that in heaven because where your treasure is there your heart will be Read the rest of this entry
More Like God
‘…Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!’ 1Chr.29:14.
A man took his son to an eatery and bought him the best-made potato chips ever. Sitting across the table from his son, he watched as the boy pleasurably consumed each chip. And instinctively, the father reached out to share in the experience but the boy slapped his father’s wrist and said ‘no dad, this is mine!’. Immediately, three thoughts ran through the father’s mind. Firstly, does this boy not know I got him the potato chips? I am the source of these potato chips. Secondly, as the source of the potato chips, I control its availability. I Read the rest of this entry
Values
‘Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving’ 2 Cor.8:7
The four values mentioned most in the Bible are hope, faith, love, and give. According to research, hope is mentioned in the Bible 185 times. Faith is mentioned 246 times. Someone describes hope as ‘hearing music that other people cannot hear and faith is dancing to that music that you have heard’. So if you’ve heard the music [meaning you have hope] and yet you do not dance to it then you do not have faith. Believing and not doing anything about it is not having faith. When you begin to dance to the music [hope] that only you can hear Read the rest of this entry
Faith Is… VI
‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’ Heb.11:1.
Finally, faith is thanking God even before I receive it. Benjamin Franklin said, “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason”. If you chronicle the life of Jesus you will notice that thanking God before receiving the miracle was a pattern. ‘So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me’ John 11:41. Lazarus was still dead yet Jesus was thanking God in advance. That is faith. Even Jesus thought it was important to thank God in advance. Thanking God in advance is faith Read the rest of this entry
Faith Is… V
‘It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith’ Heb.11:4
Faith is giving when I don’t have it. Read 2 Cor.8:2-3. God prompting me to sow that car is a clear example of giving more than you can afford, giving what you don’t have. God won’t be God if we can reason Him out all the time. God is God because you still cannot fully comprehend His ways. You could give by reason or you could give by revelation. You could give by logic or you could give by faith. Giving by faith is following the direction of the Lord. Believe me God will always stretch you to the point that you are ready for what He is about Read the rest of this entry
Faith Is… IV
‘It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac’ Heb.11:17
Looking at my life, there are many things that God had told me to do that just didn’t make sense at the time. My wife and I had two cars, one of the cars was like half a car and the other was the pride and joy of the family. One day I went to see one of my pastors who is a missionary and my eyes fell on his shoe, well lets just say it had seen better days. So I made up my mind that I was going to get him two pairs of very good shoes. After all how can a man of God be wearing such shoes. So as we were walking out of his hotel room, I heard Read the rest of this entry
Faith Is… III
‘It was by faith that Noah build a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before’ Heb.11:7a
Abraham was about to retire and God said to him ‘pack your bags I am leading you to a land’. ‘Which land?’ He asked. God says ‘don’t worry’, I will show you when we get there’. So Abraham began to pack his bags and his family members ask, ‘AB where are you going?’ And Abraham says ‘I am going to a place, God is going to give me an inheritance, a land’. ‘Really, AB which land is that?’ they ask and he says ‘I don’t know yet but I am going’. They probably said amongst themselves ‘it is confirmed, AB has lost it. We knew there was Read the rest of this entry
Faith Is… II
‘For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.’ Heb.4:2.
Faith is plugging into the move of God regardless of how I feel. Plug into God’s Word by faith. The children of Israel had a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day to lead them. The Bible says where ever the pillar stops they stop regardless of the time of the day and whenever the cloud moves they move. That is faith. It is possible that they did not feel like moving on that day or things were not just right but regardless they plugged into the move of God. ‘The cloud of glory is moving let us move with the cloud –move with the cloud’. Read the rest of this entry
