Giving Releases Power in Your Life

When you give to God, your gift allows God theopportunity to bless you, to keep His promises, and togive you more than enough. By your faithfulobedience in giving your tithes and offerings, you setinto motion God's principles of biblical economics.Your precious gifts unleash God's power in severalareas of your life. 1. 2. 3. 4. Your gift will prosper you. God promises thatwhen you are a giver, your gift will increase andmultiply. A gift ... whithersoever it turneth, itprospereth Proverbs 17:8 2. Your gift will provide you a place in life, andwill bring you before great (godly) men insociety. A man's gift maketh room for him,and bringeth him before great men. Proverbs 18:16

5. 3. Your gift will bring you friends.... every man is a friend to him thatgiveth gifts.
This does not advocate buying friends with yourmoney. It simply means that your giving sets up amagnetism that draws others to you. 4. Your gift will stop anger. A gift in secret pacifieth anger....Proverbs 21:14 Just for fun, try this when someone is angry withyou. Send that person a secret gift and watch hisanger calm down. Don't ask me how it works; I don'tknow. But it does work, for I have seen it do so againand again. Do you understand what God intends to do toyour life when you give? When you are a cheerfulgiver, God will bless you and give you back manyblessings out of His abundance! God cares about you, and He ministers to you inmany areas when you unleash the biblical process ofgiving. Not only does He minister to you in the areaof finances, He also ministers spiritually to you, andto those around you. Being a great giver produces apositive, cooperative atmosphere all around you!

Step 1Give Expecting to Receive

God gave His greatest gift with full expectationof receiving something in return. He gave Hisprecious Son, because He knew He would receive sons and daughters. For God so loved the world, that hegave his only begotten Son, thatwhosoever believeth in him should notperish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 By understanding His actions, you can see thatgiving is the first step toward God's abundance inyour life. You cannot achieve prosperity just byknowing you must give. You must actually do somegiving, and expect to receive something in return. I hope you have already planted a liberal field ofmoney seed in the name of Jesus. Now expect to reapa money harvest from each and every seed youplanted.

Remember, you reap what you sow. If you sowpeach seeds, you will reap peaches. If you sow (give)money, you will reap a money harvest. Be not deceived; God is not mocked,for whatsoever a man soweth, that shallhe also reap. Galatians 6:7 If you have believed God's Word and plantedmoney seed, keep on believing God's Word. TheBible clearly states you will reap if you don't give up. And let us not be weary in well doing:for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9 Isn't that wonderful? You can give, expecting aharvest. While you are waiting for your first harvest,you can be planting even more money seed towardyour second harvest. Think of it! You can have aperpetual harvest if you have faith for perpetualplanting! Remember, God's Word guarantees that you willreap what you sow. So give, expecting a return.

Be Willing to Receive
Acts 3:5 tells us the lame man at the gate called"Beautiful" was expecting to receive something fromPeter and John before they brought him to his feet.Then he was healed, and he went away leaping andpraising God. Jesus must have walked by the man many times as he lay crippled at the gate. He had never receivedbefore, because he never expected to receiveanything. However, when Peter and John came by,the man was "... expecting to receive something ofthem," and he was healed. The only difference washis anticipation. Those who are expecting to receivesomething are the ones who will receive. For example, have you ever heard of a farmer who planted his precious seed and didn't expect areturn? Of course not. Farmers expect to receive something. They are willing to receive a harvest. Jesus, our role model, was willing to receive.Once when He visited the home of a Pharisee, Heallowed a woman to wash His feet with expensiveointment. When His host criticized the woman, Jesussaid "... thou gavest me no water for my feet ... butthis woman hath anointed my feet with ointment" (Luke 7:44,46). Jesus was a good receiver. Countless times inScripture we see Him receive food, lodging, gifts, andeven the use of a donkey. Jesus freely gave, but Healso freely received. When you are not willing to be a good receiver,you stop the abundant blessings God wants to flowinto your life. Many times pride keeps us fromreceiving, but the Word gives us a strong warningabout pride. Pride goeth before destruction, andan haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 Do not let your false pride harden your mind andkeep you from receiving from God or from others.When Jesus said it was more blessed to give than toreceive, He didn't say we were not supposed toreceive. Unless you begin to develop a receivingmentality, God cannot bring prosperity into your life.