When we choose to follow the instructions in God’s Word regarding our time, attitudes, giving, priorities, and willingness to yield to His influence, we will create an atmosphere around us in which God can move.
The conflict is that there is an inner desire to please God and express our love to Him, and yet the outer influences and attitudes of independence continue to say, “I can do it on my own and still succeed.”
Our readiness to pursue God’s will increases as we discover the blessing of yielding our will to His will.
It seems that one area most Christians struggle with is finances. In their hearts they want to be givers, and yet they have not realized that intentions without actions are equal to disobedience.
The Bible is clear about the kind of giving that God expects. In fact, God has a heart to give and that same heart to give has been deposited on the inside of us. He gives us the simple guidelines to follow for giving: tithes and offerings.
There is a vital link between a person’s use of money and his or her life of obedience toward God. A person’s priorities can be determined by observing how they spend their money. They put their money toward what they view as important.
We will invest in the thing that we value the most. When we value the advancing of the Gospel, we want to invest in the ministries that are promoting God’s Word. When we hunger for real spiritual growth, we will spend time and money on the CD or book materials that will cause us to grow.
Our giving into the Kingdom of God brings our personal financial world under God’s dominion. It is one way of demonstrating that Jesus is Lord over our lives. When we give, we are giving a part of our life because it took some of our life to earn that money.
Dennis and I have discovered over the years that as we honor God with our tithes and offerings, we are positioning ourselves for God’s favor and increase to overtake us. It really is true!
Proverbs 11:24-25 says this about generosity: “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself” (NKJV).
Contrary to carnal thinking, our faithful giving, or scattering of seed, will bring increase to our lives.
It takes a heart of faith and obedience to remain yielded to God. He will influence and touch various areas of our lives from finances to attitudes, and everything in between. But expectant obedience creates the atmosphere that will cause our seed to grow and His increase to become a reality. Sow a seed now and set your harvest in motion.
