Feel drained, hopeless, empty, or just plumb down on your luck?
Here’s a fun life hack. Try giving more.
I’ll never forget being in a camp meeting years ago. “Who needs more of God?” someone asked. “Who needs more?”
“Me!” I shouted out. I mean, duh. Who doesn’t?
“Then GIVE more!” the answer came back.
What a dumb thing to say, I thought. Me? Give more? How’s that one supposed to work? I literally was the one who just got done saying I was needing more! What am I supposed to give?
But Romans 12:3 says:
“...God has dealt to each one of us a measure of faith”.
In other words, I DID have something. I had at least a seed of faith. I just wasn’t doing much with it.
I needed to plant it.
Someone said once that there’s three ways to connect to the Lord, much like the three prongs on an electrical cord.
These are the three ways:
- Prayer/Praise(which–praise is the highest form of prayer, so those are the same things, really)
- Reading the Bible
- Fellowshipping / giving and receiving from others.
Have you ever stained wood before? With oil based stains, the oil in the stain takes the pigmentations and dye and glues it into the wood.
Those dyes and pigmentations often separate from the oil, however, and settle on the bottom of the can.
That’s why it’s crucial to stir up the can before you go to stain wood. If you don’t, your stain won’t come out the right color.
2 Timothy 1:6 instructs us to “stir up the gift that is within you”.
In that verse, it specifies to stir up the gift by the laying on of hands, but that is a key.
Our hearts are much like that can of oil based stain. We need to stir ourselves up in the Lord.
I remember a time when I was working so hard, I stopped giving or fellowshipping with many people.
I just got up, went to work, came back, ate food, and crashed. That was my whole existence.
My spirit really suffered.
I was doing nothing to stir myself up in the Lord.
Acts 20:35 says: “...It is more blessed to give than to receive”.
Not only are the testimonies and encounters we have with God powerful encouragement to others, but giving them away also stirs up our own spirits, and refocuses our hearts on God.
And, for another benefit, that testimony reinforces God’s goodness in our own life.
I was homeschooled in a large family.
As I taught my younger siblings, I learned about reinforcing what I thought I knew. I knew, for instance, after I finished teaching my second or third sibling arithmetic, that I loathed fractions.
The more we give to others, it reinforces what God is doing in our lives. Plus, it ministers to the Lord.
Did you know you can minister to the Lord? You can! Praising Him is a powerful way to penetrate the heavens and touch God’s heart, but also giving to others as He leads ministers to God as well.
Jesus, as a boy in the temple, told His parents: “I have to be about my Father’s business.”
No, God’s business was people.
Do you want to hoard all God has done? Give it away.
God is moving constantly. And we always have a chance to experience Him in our lives.
Chances are, you’ve experienced God in some form or another in your life.
But can you remember how God has moved in your life?
It alarms me because I have seen God move in my life quite a bit. But because I didn’t give it away, I forgot much of it.
Recently, I came across a journal I wrote thirteen years ago. During that time, I met a “man’s man,” “Hank”, who I looked up to and hoped to impress.
But at the same time, I had chosen to put myself in an uncomfortable position where I was constantly challenged in a deeply personal way.
In my youth, I knew I needed to be “disturbed”, to be made uncomfortable, to grow.
So I had other people constantly challenging me, calling me out on my immaturity.
In the midst of one significant instance, Hank, this older, established man, got to see what a total LOSER I was.
Around this same time, someone else was critiquing me to one of my family members.
“Why does John think he wants God? Every thing you tell him, he wants to fight. He doesn’t want God. He just wants to be right!”
I felt like crawling in a hole to die.
But someone else came up to me: “I’ve been where you’re at. God’s dealing with you, going after you in a deep way. It’s okay. Just thank God. Just thank God.”
I heard it that night before I went to bed.
When I woke up the next morning, I knew something had changed. I’d changed. I almost didn’t recognize myself.
“The Spirit of the Lord came on you!” someone exclaimed, and it was true. I’d stopped making it about myself for a moment, and as I discovered the power of praise, the Spirit of God fell.
But here’s the point of this: years later, I completely forgot about this.
It took me uncovering a journal from ages ago. Because I wrote it down, I can testify of it now.
Writing it down is one way. But a better way of remembering is by giving that testimony away.
I could tell you of God showing me the power of prayer through a lady giving me her number. The man who broke my heart with a $100 tip.
The truck God promised me that I had to wait eight years for. I remember these only because they are things I’ve testified of.
But there’s more. I’ve lost some of them. I never gave them away.
I’ve seen so many people touched by God, draw close to God, only to walk away. How to hoard all God has done?
Give it away.
Give, give, give, give, give.
Revelations 12:11 says of the chosen: “And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony”.
God has already provided the blood of the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
To see satan vanquished in our lives, we need to do our part.
Testify!
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