How to Make 2015 Your Best Year Ever

#19 – “Give!”

“For God so loved the world that he ‘gave’! Giving is an identifiable attribute of the nature of the Father. And, as kingdom people, it should be one of ours as well. I’m not just talking about the act of giving our tithes and offerings to the ‘storehouse’,  which is very biblical….and the right thing to do. But giving in every area of our life; our resources, our time, our patience, our love. And the list could go on and on.

Growing up on a ranch in the Texas Panhandle, my dad would at least a couple times a year, get a beef calf butchered and give the preacher in little Allison, Texas half the beef. We didn’t go to church but in my mind we were all ‘squared up’ with the Lord since we gave the beef to him. That’s how immature I was in my thinking in those days. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good gesture but it wasn’t giving in obedience in any kind of biblical way but I think the Lord, somehow, honored it anyway.

When Julie and I started going to church in 1985 I’d put a $20 bill in the offering plate and I kinda felt like I was doing the Lord a favor. Again, pretty immature in my thinking and understanding. But pretty soon we learned the biblical pattern for giving and we decided we’d start tithing. That was our plan but when we got through paying our bills, there wasn’t enough left to tithe. But we had a strong conviction that we should really do it so we changed something up. We started writing our tithe check first and we immediately noticed that we could do that and still have enough to pay our bills. It was revolutionary! Supernatural!

There’s lots of stories I have of how the Lord supernaturally provided as we got more and more obedient in our giving but I’ll save them for another time.  But for now…if I were you, I’d get where I belong (the church where He has directed you to serve), and I’d get obedient in my giving. There’s lots of valid reasons why…..but #1….it should be part of your nature!

*Oh, and when you “give”, and only then, will you discover the reality that “It’s more blessed to give, than to receive”!