GIVING AND RECEIVING – Pastor Chris
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only (Philippians 4:15).
Sometimes, there’re those who get very excited when we say, “In giving to the Lord, it doesn’t really matter the ‘size’ of the seed.” But the Bible says, “…this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6).
In other words, if you’re miserly in your giving, you’ll reap a paltry or meagre harvest, but if you give generously, you’ll also reap generously. That’s the Word; it’s a spiritual law. It’s simply about sowing and reaping, or as Paul puts it in our opening verse, “giving and receiving.” You don’t need to “pray” to God to make a law work which He already instituted. Laws, any kind of law, when applied rightly, would produce the requisite results. Likewise, if you misapply them, they’ll work against you.
There’re things you don’t need to petition God to make happen, once you’ve acted on the Word or on a spiritual principle. This is clear in some of the parables of Jesus on how the Kingdom of God functions. For example, when you read Mark 4:26-28, He didn’t say after sowing into the ground, the man fasted and prayed for the seeds to grow; no! Rather, he went to sleep; and of their own accord, the seeds grew and produced fruits.
When you apply the law of sowing, it works. The Bible says, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). As long as there’s seed time, it means harvest is assured and it can be anytime; the harvest happens automatically.
God isn’t necessarily the one to make the harvest happen. All He does is to channel His grace and favour towards you for superabundance. 2 Corinthians 9:8 (AMPC) says, “And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].” Always give bountifully, for the promise is to the giver, not the receiver (Luke 6:38).
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the privilege of giving into the Gospel. I’m blessed in all I do, and prosper in all things, because I’m a giver. I’ll always give bountifully for the propagation of the Gospel of Christ in all the earth; likewise, my harvest is sure, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY: Ecclesiastes 11:6; Luke 6:38
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 2 Corinthians 2:5-3:1-6 & Proverbs 14-15
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-18 & Jeremiah 22
Leave comments on today’s devotional at www.rhapsodyofrealities.org
