A few weeks ago I was listening to a sermon and one of my favorite pastor's in preaching said "Some of you feel your life has lost passion, excitement and adventure in your daily walk with God. I do not have a dull life, but one full of amazing miracles in which God continues to use me in amazing ways and do exiting things in my life. He has long been doing this in my life and I tell you the only thing I am doing to experience and live this kind of life is asking, listening and obeying what God tells me to do."
When he said that it spoke to something in my heart because that is not how I have been feeling nor my walk with God like for quite some time.
It was also one of many things in a series of a common messages God was speaking to me regarding the Holy Spirit and hearing, living and walking in relationship with Him, the Son and the Father. There have been times in my past when a common theme or subject would be repeatedly addressed or spoken to me regarding the same theme or message from many sources of whom had no connection with each other and of whom did not know what I was going through or thinking about. Needless to say God has been getting my attention.
I began to think I have had some slow times financially and while I had been seeking to tithe on my income, my tithe had not been a lot of money because of the reduction in my finances. It is more to us when our income is less, but the amount to help others and the kingdom is not as much and I want to be a kingdom impacter.
I began to think of the times I have heard of love offerings and sacrificial offerings above and beyond the tithe. About two years I had a heart change in my thinking towards tithing and giving and I understood the purpose of giving and tithing or the right motive is not in giving to get. That completely misses the motive and heart behind giving - for tithing and giving is a sign of the condition of the heart and it is something in the right motive that is done out of a deep love and appreciation for what God has done for us. It is not something we are to do out of obligation or to try and move God to give us something more, but to do out of obedience in the tithe because we love Him and in love offerings because we are that moved in love for him.
This made a big impact in my life a few years ago and gave me more peace in tithing and made it much easier to do, but giving love offerings and sacrificial gifts had remained something I struggled with and I had fears about.
Yet in hearing stories of people who felt God tell them to give something to someone and then upon doing it hearing amazing stories of how they had been in need of that exact amount sounded exciting and pretty amazing. To hear from God to give to another a specific amount and then to do so in love and then learn that person had been praying for that specific amount not only provided that need by God's providence for that person, but both the giver and receiver would know they had been in direct confirmed communication with God.
I have long waited for God to speak to me and tell me what to do. Recently I have felt God leading me to start asking Him to use me and volunteering to be used. So I began asking God what he wanted me to do. When I started to think God was telling me to give a set amount of money I was not certain I should and I wondered what if the amount I thought I was to give was more than God really wanted me to give.
What if I heard wrong and gave more and then came up short because I heard God wrong. It was not long after that I heard a pastor address that very question and his response was that to have that question is to assume that we some how would be more generous than God would be. That was to me an answer to my question. It was unlikely that I would be more generous than God and in the event I in the right motive and heart gave more than He had asked, I also know I cannot out give God.
Again, though remember that our motive in giving must be in doing so out of love and not in giving to get more back. God knows our heart and our motives, we can't give more than we feel God has called us to with the idea that then we will get a lot of money back because the result we want in that may not be what God provides back as a blessing. While God often does give back more than we can give, we should do so in the heart and motive that we do so in love and expect nothing back. Even though we are very much likely to be given more back and in regarding tithing God does promise to take care of us and provide for us in our obedience to tithing. In regards to love offerings though I think we need to make sure our hearts are in the right place in doing them.
One thing that love offerings and sacrificial giving when done in the right motives also tend to do is push us out of being able to rely on ourselves and truly needing God to provide.
When I finally came to a point where I told God I would give the amount on my heart to give to who He wanted me to give it to I expected Him to tell me that day who to give it to. What I soon learned was that what I thought was the hard part in deciding to give what God told me to give, was actually the easy part. It would be over a week before God put someone on my heart to give the gift to and confirmed it, although I still had some doubts when doing it, but did so out of faith and love that God knew who I was going to give it to long before I did and got me to them.
In my next blog entry I will share my experience and what happened upon giving the gift to the person God put on my heart to give it to. I also would like to thank the friend who encouraged me to blog about this and what I am learning. I did not feel at the time I had learned or experienced enough to share about this, but I am seeking to do this from a student approach and bringing my readers with me instead of doing this as a teacher. I invite you to share your experiences and join in with me in seeking to experience daily miracles dependant on God too.
