Giving ~ God's Principle

Giving ~ God's Principle

"Tis better to  give than to receive"~ 

Has anyone heard that? I was always told that as a child, but I didn't really understand it. I always thought people were telling me that to manipulate me into not wanting to receive! 

     Now I finally understand! One of the principles that God has tried to teach us from the beginning is to not worry about what we receive, we should be more concerned with what we can give~

     He shares so many examples of this idea~

Proverbs 11:24-25 

Some give freely and still get richer, while others are stingy but grow still poorer. The person who blesses others will prosper; he who satisfies others will be satisfied himself.

Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him 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.

Psalm 21:26 b
the righteous give without sparing.

(I am striving to walk a righteous path, so I'm told here that giving is part of that path...without sparing.)

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully

     There are many more of God's teachings about giving and receiving, because He wants to bless us, but we have to be a willing participant, doing our part! He wants to give but He wants us giving also!

     Why do you think He wants us to give? Maybe so we recognize that what we have is from Him? He will let us scrape and get by with little, but He longs to bless us. He is our Protector and Provider.

     

"Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. Malachi 3:10(The Message)"  

     If you're like me, you can have some pretty wild dreams of blessings! But also notice, He doesn't say I'll shower you with blessings and then you give...it's for us to bring our full tithe in and then He will pour out the blessing. 

     But finally, we're not doing this just for the blessing that God wants to give us, but we're doing it to honor Him! In giving, we become His tools here on Earth, we're His body, fulfilling His work, and bringing Him glory and honor through our lives, our actions and our giving. 

They Comfort Me

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

The rod God uses against our enemies, to beat them away.

The staff God uses on us, to guide us, to change our direction, maybe even to get our attention? 

Anyway, it is a comfort to know that He is in control, He will protect us, but He will not neglect correcting us also. 

Thank You Heavenly Father.

Father's Prayer aka the Lord's Prayer

                                                     

Dear Father,
(Address Heaven)

    I love You and honor even Your name Father!
    I long for You to be here, Your will and Your purpose to be done here with me, as You have it done at home with You! 
    Please give me the things I need today, food, shelter, You know what I need better than I do!
    Forgive me Father, when I fall short of Your purpose in my life, or when I make really bad choices and do the things You don't want me to do, and help me forgive people when they make bad choices against me.
    Please help me avoid those things that You know are bad for me, You know, the tempting things.  Please keep me from the evil things!
     You are my Father forever! It's Your Kingdom, Father, it's Your power and for Your glory!

I love You Father,
Your daughter

PS Please write back soon!  XOXO

“Pray, then, in this way:

 ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

 ‘Your kingdom come.Your will be done, On earth as it is in    heaven.

 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.

 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

 For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.’

Matthew 6:9-13

Are You A Saint?

     Are you a saint? Your automatic response is probably, "NO WAY!". You hear it often as people speak about themselves, they say, I'm no "saint". 
     But shouldn't you see yourself as a saint? In scripture Paul often refers to God's people as "the saints", such as
"To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi Philippians 1:1" NASB. 

     Is it humility to refuse to see yourself as a saint? Or embarrassment in front of the world? We don't want to appear any differently from the world right? They might hold us up for ridicule. Yet we are called to be a holy people.

     We have a holy God and He calls us to be holy. Maybe we better start trying to be what He calls us and not be concerned with what the world holds up for ridicule? If God calls us to be saints, which is actually a person set apart for Him, then hadn't we better start calling ourselves saints?

     When I searched for the definition of "saint" in the dictionary I found several we could accept, but if we put it in perspective with scripture, I don't believe they will all work.

     One definition says it's for "those noted for their holiness and venerated during their lifetimes or after death" but if we go with that definition, it definitely limits those that had been addressed in Paul's writing. He wrote "To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi" and now we read it as part of the scriptures for us, the people he wrote it to weren't dead and neither are we! 

     I have written a lot here just to convince you that you are a saint and should recognize yourself as one and live as one! However, here's one more bit of evidence that you are called as a saint, if we look at other translations of the same verse the word "saint" translates to "All God’s people united with the Messiah Yeshua"(Philippians 1:1 Complete Jewish Bible Translation).

     Don't you want to be one of those people? If you are one of those people then accept it, you are a saint! See yourself as God sees you, a person set apart for His purpose, to live a holy life, to be joined with Jesus. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a saint.

Too Heavenly Minded? (Updated)

     Too Heavenly Minded to be of any Earthly Good?
     What can that really mean? I seem to get caught up in phrases and wonder what their real meaning is, and this is one that grabbed my attention in class a couple of Sundays ago.
     The phrase seems like a contradiction in itself, we are to be focused on God and the things of His realm. I don't mean we have to be focused on what's going to happen when we get to heaven, but to be focused on the One Who lives there and on the things that flow from heaven.
     Love, joy, peace~ 
Love ~ God's love, our love for Him, our love for the things He loves. 
1 John 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Joy ~ Joy comes from knowing God and the reality of Who He is and the reality of who we are. 
John 15:10-11 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
Peace ~ Peace doesn't come from earth, it comes only from God. 
Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
     I had these thoughts and then I read a Pastor's article about this subject and believe that there is no way I can say it better than he did, so here is the link to his article . (Heavenly Minded and Earthly Good (1 Corinthians 3:18-4:5) by Keith Krell)

Prayer October 21, 2014

     Good morning Lord!
  
     Thank You for today! Thank You for Your word ~ Your promises!
     This morning in my study Your word speaks of: 
Your creation ~ Genesis
Your power ~ Psalms
Your concern for Your children ~ Matthew
     You have given people so much, all that we need! - but we focus on our "wants".
     Please forgive us Lord, please open our eyes, our hearts and our spirits; soften our hearts that we hear Your voice, Your call - Let us learn to walk with integrity and righteousness, bringing to You first, pleasure in Your children and second, glory in Your workmanship.-
     Let our love and worship please You Father, let it wash away the bitterness of our neglect.
     In Jesus name~

In The Garden~

     In the garden one morning I found a big fat tomato hornworm on the cherry tomato plant,  the worm is pretty huge with a voracious appetite and would have been certain death for the plant if I hadn't found and removed it! It had already stripped the leaves from several stems.
     A few days later when I went to the garden I found another tomato plant starting to wilt and not looking well at all! I started looking more closely at the plant expecting to find another tomato hornworm, but as I brushed a leaf I saw little, tiny white flecks fly up. It was little, itty-bitty leaf hoppers! Often a spiritual lesson is brought to me by things of this world that I observe; the small, still voice of God speaks to me and I learn lessons that transfer from life situations to spiritual situations. 
     The lesson that day was that people often feel only the big errors or sins, like the big tomato hornworm, are worth their battles or of any real threat to their spirit and that something as tiny as a snowflake, the leaf-hoppers can't be too dangerous.
     We need to be vigilant even against the tiny sins. If we're not alert, we never even see some of the little sins slip in and suck the very life from our spirit! But there is even a scripture that warns to deal with the little sins so they don't ruin our fruit! 

“Catch the foxes for us, yes, the little foxes! They are ruining the vineyards when our vineyards are in bloom!” Song of Solomon 2:15

     

     We need to understand that for the Christian, there are no big or little sins, God calls them all sin, period!        The big worm was obvious and could eat the whole plant in just a couple of days, but the the little leaf hoppers went easily unnoticed until the plant started wilting and then it was a major battle! While I could pull the big worm off of the tomato plant and save it, I was not able to save the plant with the little leaf hoppers! I did try! I Googled leaf hoppers and followed all of the recommended steps, but the plant was too weak and the leaf hoppers too determined. 
     The spiritual moral to this story? While you still are able...take the little things/sins in life seriously, get rid of them! 
     We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back.  Hebrews 12:1b