Relationship Topic - 11 Things You Need To Know About Giving
#1 It’s the Heart of God John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Luke 11:13 - So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
#2 Whatever you give – isn’t even yours. It came from God. (It’s like playing with house money.) I Chronicles 29:13-14 – Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as open-handedly as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
#3 Your giving determines your receiving. Luke 6:38 – Give, and it willbe 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.
#4 Even in Giving, there is God’s Way and Man’s way. Giving is a test of your heart. If you love, you will give. You love God, or you love money. You cannot love God and money.
Isaiah 55:9 – “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
#5 The Tithe belongs to God – your management begins with 90% 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 there will not be room enough to store it.”
Luke 11:42 – “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
#6Giving protects you from the love of money. Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also.
Luke 18:22 – When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when he heard this he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.
Luke 12:33 – Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
#7 The amount you give doesn’t matter as much as the heart with which you give it. Mark 12:41-43 – Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.
2 Corinthians 8:12 – For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. (CEV – It doesn’t matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you do have. GNT – If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don’t have.)
#8You can never out give God. If it is your heart to do it (not manipulated by others), it probably is God telling you. And God is able to give you much more than that.
I Chronicles 29:3 – “And now, because of my devotion to the Temple of my God, I am giving all of my own private treasures of gold and silver to help in the construction. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected for his holy Temple.”
Proverbs 11:25 - A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters will himself be watered. (NASB)
#9 Giving only counts if its out of obedience. Matthew 6:2-3 – “So when you give to the poor, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.
2 Corinthians 9:7 – Let each one give just as he has purposed in this heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.
I Corinthians 13:3 – And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, (God said, "If you love me, you'll obey, if it's not out of obedience) it profits me nothing.
#10 Giving brings Joy Acts 20:35 – And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 – And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they begged us to let them have the joy of giving their money for God’s people. And they did more than we had hoped. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, just as God wanted them to.
#11 Everything you give on earth out of obedience to God, is really stored up for you in heaven. Matthew 10:42 – And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, truly, I say to you, he will never lose his reward.
Mark 14:3-7 - While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus' head. Some of those at the table were indignant. "Why waste such expensive perfume?" they asked. It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a good service for me. For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me! She has done all she could by pouring perfume on my body to prepare it for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
2 Corinthians 8:7 - But since you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you --see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Matt 25:40 - “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
So How Do You Grow in this grace of giving? First: Realize everything you have is His, not yours.
Second: Decide to let God make your money Decisions. Just do what He tells you, and what He prompts you!
Third: Learn to obey financially – if you do, you will earn, save, spend and give hilariously the way God wants you to. He will direct your steps, and you will see financial miracles happen in your life. It all starts with obedience. That's the giving that honors God!
See the PRISM Topic: Give an Account. Ask God about starting a 4C’s Accounting Tool that shows you where God’s money is, so you can do what He tells you to do with it. When God makes your money decisions, He grows your ability to give, your heart to give, and your obedience to give. May God bless you to learn the joy of obeying financially, grow in the grace of giving, and store up treasures in heaven.
A PRISM Topic: is God’s Word on a single subject. A Relationship Topic is a perspective from God's Word on relationships. A PRISM Topic Packet is a grouping of PRISM or Relationship Topics of similar subjects... part of the M: Meditate on theWord of PRISM – (5 Things You Can Do Daily in God’s Word) to transform the way you think. Ask God what PRISM Topic or Relationship Topic He wants you to meditate on today.Take your PRISM Topic, Relationship Topic or Packet with you! Come back to them multiple times a day! “It is to be with him, and he is to meditate on it day and night, so that he may learn to fear the LORD…” - Deuteronomy 17:19