Give and 'it' will be given to you...

I was just praying and during the prayer session I suddenly received a revelation that I did not particularly connect before. It definitely has to do with Luke 6:38 where we are told to Give and 'it' will be given to you, A good measure, press down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap". For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

The key word in the entire passage is 'it'. God has His ways of doing things and this principle of giving is one of the passages that I finally came to understand last year. Even after understanding, I still did not connect it's practical demonstration in my life until a few moments ago.

As you will see in the scripture whatever we give, that same thing will be give back to us; 'give and it will be give to you'... When you give a particular thing, that same thing will be given back to you, not necessarily through the person you give, but according to the scripture, it will also be given back to you. In addition, the word also tells not only what will be given to us, but also how much will be given. The sentence "For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." is clear enough to let us know that the measure (not necessarily the amount) we give will be measured back to us. For instance, if we give $5 and all we have is $7, I would like to believe that this is a high measure and when the money is given back, it will be given back in the measure and not necessarily in the amount. Pretty interesting right? Whatever you give, give as much as you have been blessed and more blessing in that which you give will be given back to you.

Now to my story, for a while I have been volunteering or finding more ways to help more at my church and my contribution has been in the area of volunteering my time to help with things like putting signs up, ushering and some more things which I have to done honestly and with all willingness. While I was praying tonight I was asking God for wealth and he revealed something to me. Because I have been diligent with volunteering my time selflessly, He has also given me people to work and assist me in my business at little or no cost. You see, I run a growing business and in order to grow it, I needed people and the people that have been working with me have been do it practically for free for about 2 years now. This almost sent me to tears. I immediately thanked God for the revelation and learnt a new principle in a practical manner. In other words God's answer was if you want money, give money and you will receive it.

Although I give my tithe on a consistent basis, it is not enough. If one wants to receive wealth, you also must give wealth to the works of God whenever you are led by the spirit. I love God for this new revelation and for giving me the ability to document it.

I wish you all a blessed week!

Covetousness

Recently, I began reading the book of Acts and enjoying the stories of the journey and mission of Paul as he travelled from Jerusalem to Greece and Asia to convert, persuade and preach the word of God to Jews and Gentiles alike. Fortunately, I stumbled into a verse in Chapter 21 that caught my eye, 'I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel' and I initially thought, 'what is wrong with coveting your friend's success or material possession, all it does is motivate you to go and get your own.' So I decided to look in the dictionary to find the meaning of the word Covet, which means To Desire or To Wish For Earnestly. It then dunned on me that Paul was saying that he never wished for or desired any other man's possession which means he didn't secretly desire that his neighbour's wife was his nor did he desire that his friend's donkey was his own.

You see, coveting another man's gold can lead you to steal the man's gold and in order to steal the item which you covet you may have to harm or deceive the man. You have suddenly sinned and may continue this cycle all your life. This is how robbers started stealing, they coveted other people's possession.

There's more, we know that we have been commanded not to covet our Neighbour's possessions which if we break becomes a sin and can lead to more sin, but we have also been warned to take heed/beware of covetousness period. Jesus Christ warned us Himself in Luke 12:15, "Take Heed and beware of Covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possession" and the Lord went on to cite a story about a man who had so much crop that his barn was not able to fit in it, so he built a greater barnyard and after building he said to his soul 'Soul, you have many goods laud up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry' and that night God took his life.

This tells us that yes, you should want to be wealthy, but be careful as you pursue that wealth and that your wealth is not what gives you life nor is it what to should be the determining factor of your living or quality of living. Also, it tells us that our money can not do anything for us if God takes our life. Only God has control over everything; he is the beginning and the end of our faith.