(by pastor Jean)
“The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will be watered himself” (Prov 11:25; MEV). God obviously wants us to be generous; He has much to say about giving. In Proverbs 19:16 we are told that when we give to the poor we are actually lending to the Lord and He will pay us back! Proverbs 11:24 encourages us to, “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything” (NLT). (See also Prov 22:9, 28:27). Moses gave instructions to the children of Israel that they should be generous to any poor person among them and adds that God would bless them for that (Deut 15:7-11). We also learn that the “godly are generous givers” in Ps 37:21. When we give, we are following God’s example. In John 3:16 God gave out of love and that should be the motivation for our giving too. In order to become a giver, we must become aware of the needs of others and then obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit (James 2:15,16 and Matt 25:31-45). When we are generous, we know that God will take care of our needs (Phil 4:19) and give us even more than enough (2 Cor 9:8). Notice in all the above scriptures that we have to give first and then God responds (See also Luke 6:38, 2 Cor 9:6 and Eccl 11:1). When feeding the multitudes it wasn’t until someone gave the small amount of bread and fish that God set about to multiply it (John 6:5-13, MK 6:35-44). Finally, don’t forget that “God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or do without) a cheerful (joyous, prompt to do it) giver (whose heart is in his giving) (2 Cor 9:7; AMPC). Let’s be that person today!