Cheerful Giving
Have you ever given a gift or donated money but felt like you were forced to do it? It is one of the ugliest places to find yourself in when you give without joy in your heart. How about being in a situation that you were taken advantage of ? You got robbed and what are you going to do about it?
We’ve been in all these situations before and it is possible to turn that resentment or anger into joy by bringing God’s heart of love into the transaction. 2 Cor 9:8 says that Yahweh loves a cheerful giver. What an incredibly powerful statement that is!
How do we bring the Lord’s heart into our giving if the cheerfulness is not there?
- We can remind ourselves that we are the children of a giving Father,
- We can stand on the truth of sowing and that the reaping is coming,
- Trust in Yah’s promise that He is able to make all grace abound toward us.
One of the tings that we have learned to do is to make sure that the cheerfulness is in our hearts before we give by thanking Him for the opportunity to be like Him and be a giver. When we give only from a sense of duty or habit, we are missing out on a lot. Heavenly things are set in motion when we give with a cheerful heart.
His great grace begins to flow freely and a divine confidence that all our needs are sufficiently met builds up and surrounds us and preserves our sense of peace and being cared for. The temptation to start worrying about how our needs will be met is squashed.
Then, an expectation for abundance to come to us takes over so that we can rise to the occasion and see that every good work that we are called to do is finished. We have now set the wheels of multiplication in motion and harvest time has come upon us.
Where does all this bring us? Cheerful giving brings grace, which produces faith in our loving Father, which results in our needs being met and then moving beyond to multiplication and good works being accomplished, all coming to a glorious conclusion of thankfulness to El Shaddai (All Sufficient), Yahweh Yireh (Provider).
What an indescribable gift!
Michael and Charleen Ecuyer