‘Tis the Season to be Giving!

“Will a man rob God?

 Yet you rob me.

But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

In tithes and offerings.  

You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.  

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty.  “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi 3:8-12 

I know what you’re thinking: “What an odd text just days before we celebrate Christmas.”

And yet, there is no greater evidence of Emmanuel – God with us –

than the giving nature of God revealed through the Christmas story.

We cannot ‘out give’ God and yet we can cause His blessings to be withheld.

You see, you cannot get a blessing from God without first being a blessing to God. 

We are made in the image and likeness of God.

We could state it this was: “We are made in the image and likeness of the ultimate giver.”

It pleases the Father and it reveals the Father to others when we give to God and to His work. 

In our generous and heartfelt giving, He is honored.

We are a blessing to God when we give to Him and to those made in His image and likeness.

If you are a parent you know the joy in giving.

Just think about how much you love your children and desire to bless them.

You gladly sacrifice in order to be sure they have all that they need.

That is the Fathers’ heart toward you as His children.

But first He challenges us to test Him by our giving to Him.

 He asks us to give in order that it might be given back to us in good measure, pressed down shaken together and running over.

In other words – we receive out of the storehouses of heaven an abundance greater than what we can even contain!

So we have learned this week that God is not greedy.

God is not stingy.

But God does requires of us that we sow in order to reap.      

As we move through this Christmas season and into a new year ask God to give you that generous spirit that seeks to bless and seeks to give so that the supernatural power and provision of heaven can be made manifest in your life!