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The Holy Spirit reaches us through our hearts. Effective faith only works through love. (Gal. 6:7 1 Cor. 13:1-3) Give because of love, not because you know that it is a good thing to do. Love makes our faith and service effective. Our treasure is where our heart is. (Matt. 6:21) If our heart isn't with the Lord we will not have freedom to give. Seek the Lord for a pure heart. Give from your heart. Give to what you care about. Give to what you pray for. Give to efforts that you would like to see grow and improve. Give to those who labor for your spiritual growth.
2) Don't give grudgingly or under compulsion.
Don't allow outside pressure to influence the way you give. You are getting ahead of the Lord if you feel you are under compulsion to give. You may be out of the Spirit, or you may not. One thing is sure, God does not want us to give reluctantly. Let this reluctant feeling draw you to Jesus. Shut everything out and listen to God. Turn to God and delight yourself in Him. God will give you the desires of your heart (Ps. 37:4). God will cause you to desire to do His will (Phil 2:13). Yield to His love. You won't regret it. It is a blessing to give in love and faith.
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Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart;
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Have we achieved joy in giving? Cheerfulness is the test. If you are not cheerful when you give, you have not touched God on this issue. You may have moved ahead of God's work in your life. Can you give cheerfully? If not, turn to the Lord first and get close to Him. A close relationship with Him frees us to give as He directs. Don't get down if you don't want to give. It is best to wait on God. He is not finished with any of us. What God wants, is people that are committed to Him. If He gets that, He will get everything we have, including our money.
4) Sow for the future.
Consider two people. One decides to go to college and start a career. The other decides to get a job right out of high school. The college student lives in a dump and doesn't have a car. He goes to school in the day and studies at night. He is always short on money. The other guy gets a job right away and has a lot of fun partying. The college student has a vision for a better life. The guy who gets the job is trying to please himself now. Giving to God is like the college student. It is an investment for the future. Entrust your life to God, knowing that He has your best interests at heart.
Don't hoard all you have. Seed for sowing is for sowing and not for eating. If you eat your seed grain you will face starvation and famine. At harvest time you need some for tithe some for consumption and some for sowing the next year. Seed for sowing could be retirement, college, a business or other investments. Sowing to the Lord's work will give the best return. It also is the safest. There won't be robbery, inflation or a market crash to eat up your investments. (Matt. 6:19,20) Sowing to the Lord is important, because where our treasure is there will our heart be also. Luke 12:15 gives us a key to letting go of our money. "And He said to them, 'Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.'"
5) God will provide.
"Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness." (2 Cor. 9:7,8,10)
Scriptures taken from the NASB
- - - Scott McCrae
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