Friday, March 15, 2013 "For God Loves a Cheerful Giver"

In God's economy when you give, you gain.  You gain blessings of joy in your heart and you gain treasures in heaven and the increase to give again.  When God puts you in a position that requires you to receive from another, do it with graciousness, with gratefulness, and with humility.  Don't deny the other person the blessing of giving to you.- Roy Lessin

My husband and I found ourselves on both sides of this coin.  For years we have been blessed financially and it allowed us to bless many.  When I left my job three years ago, everything changed.  I was still blessed with prosperity but this time it was different, for it came in time, peace, love and freedom...not financial.  Financially it was the hardest time of my life.  I rebuked any negative thoughts of being broke and/or poor for I was then and am still now, rich in spirit and have never felt broke, for I am rich.  When you obey the Lord, you will be blessed.  For the Lord blesses the righteous with His favor and my life has favor.  But the reality was we were not as well off as before. And when someone would offer my husband and I a love offering, we would never accept. Yet my husband and I diligently prayed for the Lord's blessing on our lives, direction for our new future and the wisdom and strength to stay on the narrow path.  One day the Lord interjected my prayer and said, "how can I bless you when you do not allow it?" and it was then I realized that those offerings were from the Lord and we were saying no.  I shared with my husband, who God love him struggled for many years with pride issues, that the Lord wants us to accept our blessings with grace and gratefulness.  So the next time someone offered help my reply was, "thank you so much, I will accept your blessing" and it changed everything. For I knew we were reaping what we sowed in others. It was our harvest. "Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him".  Psalm 41:1 We have never been more thankful to the Lord for He was delivering us. And as time went on, we became even more thankful that He had risen us up once again to be the giver.  We are far from where we used to be financially, but we are wiser than ever before.  Therefore, we continue to ask the Lord to enlarge our territory so that we can help others, for we realized through our own journey, that it is far better to give than to receive.  We love to help others.  The offerings may be $25 instead of $100 but that is okay for the Lord knows our hearts.  He knew the rich man gave of his excess when the poor woman gave her last cent.  He knows the heart. "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver". 2 Corinthians 6:9 

Acts 20:35

^{35 "}I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'."

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