A Life of Giving
The partnership letter for August 2011
Greetings to all my precious saints of God in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. This month I would like to share with you along the lines of “A Life of Giving”
My Scripture reference is as follows: Galatians 6:7-10“7 Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others-ignoring God!- 6:8 harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. 6:9 So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. 6:10 Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.”
When we give thanks to Ministers, it is the same as sowing seed. In this light, God will not be mocked, which means He will not disappoint. People will not be able to mock God and say they gave to support His Ministers or His work and were left penniless because of it.
Every action causes a response. In the realm of sowing and reaping, scripture assures us that whatever we sow is what we will reap. The great scientist Isaac Newton expressed this principle in his famous third law, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” Paul says that when we sow to the flesh we will reap corruption. Since this is said in the context of teaching on the giving of money, it is reasonable to assume that Paul is implying that if we fail to give, then we are sowing to the flesh; but if we are faithful to give, then we are sowing to the Spirit.
This is obvious if we stop to consider that when we support a preacher of the Word of God, we are supporting the work of the Holy Spirit because the preacher is engaged in building the church, in preaching the Word of God and in training men and woman for ministry. When we give to a minister who is doing these things, we are sowing to the work of the Spirit.
It is inevitable that God will bless us in our work when we give to His work. He will ensure that we reap as we have sown. However, this reaping is far broader than we imagine; It is not conformed to our finances. Paul says that we will reap ‘everlasting life’-a life that is inextinguishable! People who give and support the life of the Spirit in the earth will reap that same life into their own.
Generous people tend to be energetic. They are fired up and enthusiastic about life. They don't give up easily. They are inspired, thinking of new ways to bless and to create opportunities for themselves and for others. The practice of giving to ministers is described by Paul as ‘doing good’. He tells us to ‘not grow weary’ in doing this. There are times when it is easy to become discouraged because we cannot see the harvest. Like any sowing process there is always a period of time between the sowing and the reaping. This can seem a lot longer than we might want it to be.
When it comes to spiritual matters, the harvest can be very different in its timings than the natural world. Sometimes we can reap quickly, at other times the harvest seems to take far longer than anticipated. But it will come, the Word of God assures us of this. The only condition (other than giving in the first place) is that we do not grow weary. In other words, never lose heart and give up on giving. There will usually be a point of time when we feel like giving up on what we are doing. It may seem as though the results have not come through as we had expected. But they will come. We have God's Word on it.
Continuing generosity will always increase your sowing and will provide a perfect spiritual climate for your harvest! Paul tells us when we are given the opportunity to do good (which, in this context, means giving), we must apply this to all people. We may have special people whom we feel we want to single out to give to, but God does not want us to display partiality. Rather, we should take advantage of every opportunity to give whenever one presents itself. By the very fact that Paul says, ‘especially those who are of the household of faith’ he implies that we should also engaged in giving to those who are not in the kingdom.
When we get saved, our motivation in life must change from getting to giving. We live to give, not to get. When the word opportunity is mentioned, most of us focus on the benefits that could come to us. However, Paul uses the word opportunity in the context of an opportunity to give. He sees our lives as being conducted so that we are people who are constantly seeking to give others, not to receive from them. This is a kingdom mentality. It is revolutionary. It is entirely different from the world. Yet it is also the key to your reaping a mighty harvest.
The proper behavior for the believer is to bless with ‘all good things’ (Galatians 6:6) those who teach them the Word. This includes finances, accommodation, food, clothing, and recreations-anything that is good for the Minister of the Word.
Paul makes a statement that includes both a warning and a promise. Whichever way we respond to being taught the Word, we will be affected. If we fail to give to teachers of the Word of God after they have taught us, then we are considered to be sowing to the flesh. This is because we have yielded to the selfishness of our flesh and have justified to ourselves why we are not contributing to the ministry from which we have been receiving. Paul warns that this will cause corruption in our lives. When we strengthen our flesh, we only strengthen its negative consequences in our lives.
When we contribute to teachers of the Word of God, we are sowing to the Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to spread the Word of God. He works through ministers to accomplish this. When we support those ministers He has chosen, we are giving to the Holy Spirit. He therefore gives back to us ‘everlasting life’ in other words, energy, motivation, health, and life that are unquenchable. The miser has no such promise. He can expect only corruption, decay and lifeless days void of true peace and blessings.
May God continue to richly bless you and your family. We pray for you daily and take pleasure in seeing you enjoy God’s blessings that make Rich & adds No Sorrow.
We Love You very Much,Pastors Roshan and Zubeda Sing