TOPIC: Giving Hands, Happy Heart (Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries Monday, 18 June 2018)
TOPIC: Giving Hands, Happy Heart
FIRE SCRIPTURE: Mark 8:35-36
MEMORY VERSE: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:28
The MESSAGE:
Very recently, one of our brothers walked up to me and asked me an interesting question: he said, “Pastor, do you think that planned giving is giving at all?” Initially, my thought was “Yes, of course” But the more I thought about this, the more I realised the answer is not that simple.
Obviously, gifts, donations, tithes, offering etc we make during our lifetime represent a purposeful and voluntary separation from some of our resources. Planned gifts on the other hand, represent a purposeful but involuntary separation from our possessions after we can no longer use them. With the former, your possessions are voluntarily leaving you. With the latter, you are involuntarily giving whatever possession remains. With one, you freely give from what you have, while with the other, you are giving the leftovers. From this perspective, a major difference emerges between the two.
The manner in which we use our God-given resources is affected by the urgency of our heavenly perspective. Believers who are not passionately engaged in doing something with eternal value will see little difference between life-time giving now and planned giving later. Either way, the purifying fire of Christ’s judgement seat will one day “test each one’s work of what sort it is.” and only those activities built on this sure foundation will endure and receive a reward in eternity (1 Corinthians 3: 3-14).
In the end, the best giving approach calls for a balance between the two options. First, on the bountiful and cheerful “sowing” during life (2 Corinthians 9:6-7) followed by a purposeful leaving of whatever might remain. Gifts made during our life-time, provides us with the added blessings of seeing the increase God will produce for the cause of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). So if we can willingly trust God for our eternity, surely we can trust Him to take care of us while we support worthy Christian Ministries, doing His work on earth.
To have a happy heart you have to practise generosity every day. Matthew 20:28 says, “Even as the Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” Jesus came to serve and to give. Those are the two things that will bring more happiness in your life than anything else, and they define what it means to follow Jesus. If you are not serving, if you are not giving, then you are not following Jesus. It is very simple.
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE:
Those who leave everything in God’s hand will eventually see God’s hands in everything.
PROPHETIC WORD:
You will have money to spend for God.
PRAYER POINTS:
MORNING
1. O God my Father, take my life and let it be consecrated to You, in Jesus’ name.
2. Everything God gave me, I give them back to You, in Jesus’ name.
3. Power of stinginess, my life is not your candidate, catch fire, in Jesus’ name.
EVENING
4. O God, forgive me where I have held back in offerings and tithes, in Jesus’ name.
5. My Father, let me be like You in giving, in Jesus’ name.
6. Power to give my best to the Master, fall on me, in Jesus’ name.
7. I will not come to my Father’s house empty handed, in Jesus’ name.
If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read MFM Mountain Top Life Daily Devotional HERE
MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE is a daily devotional by Dr. D.K Olukoya (General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Worldwide)
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