50 DAYS OF WISDOM - DAY 24 "The blessings of generosity" Proverbs 11:16-31
SALT WATER
My friend Corrie doing a nice cuttie. Not bad for a 60 year old!
CLEAN WATER
When da Bean make da water clean! Thanks SUR!!!
LIVING WATER
My favorite church meeting is the 1 on 1 talking about God. Always has been.
THE BLESSINGS OF GENEROSITY - PROVERBS 11:16-31
Today I want to talk to you about the blessings of generosity.
There's a special blessing that we get in our life when we operate from a place of giving, from a place of looking at everything that we have in our life as a conduit and a pathway and an avenue to bless other people. The sooner we figure this out, I'm convinced the happier we will all be. Everything that God gives us is something to bless other people. So let's look at a few things today.
Proverbs 11, 17 says, the merciful man does good for his own soul. So a lot of times we think that when we exhibit mercy towards others or forgiving others, that it's for them. Well actually, it does a lot more for us because it allows us to love in an open-handed way and to not look for anything in return. No strings attached, blessing and mercy. A lot of times we want mercy when we've done something wrong, then we don't want to give mercy away to when we've been wronged. So Bible encourages us to give mercy not just for others, mostly for ourselves.
We want to be generous with the mercy that we show to others. 11, 20 says, those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord. Now the only way that you can know if you have God's approval and His acceptance is by behaving and acting in a way that He approves of. Our culture teaches that you get approval and acceptance for however you feel and whatever behavior you're engaged in. Well the Bible doesn't teach that. You actually get God's approval and His acceptance, yes, through Jesus, but every time you decide to sacrificially put your own needs aside to meet the needs of others. That's why Jesus said the greatest among you is the servant of all. So this has to do with having not a perverse heart, but a servant's heart. So if you have a servant's heart, loving God, loving people, putting others' needs above your own needs, then that's the opposite of having a perverse heart.
So we want to be generous with mercy.
We want to be generous with being a servant. 11.24 says, there is one who scatters yet increases more. This is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. Read it again. There's one who scatters yet increases more.
One time at the coffee shop, it was a night when we had a lot of people and I said that my desire with ocean water and my vision is “to give away all of the money and all of the people until we had no more money and we had no more people. “And I've stuck to that and I think that's one of the reasons why we've seen disciple after disciple made, leader after leader raised up, church after church planted.
When your posture towards God is that you can't out give Him, it really changes your complete relationship with God. But I would encourage you to scatter as much as you can and you would think that in scattering you would lose and the opposite is true. The more you scatter, the more you see the increase of God in your life. So we're supposed to be generous with the way that we are in relationship to people and again the assets that we have.
11:25 says, the generous soul will be made rich and he who waters will also be watered himself. Another one of my favorite verses in the Bible, right after one of my other favorite verses in the Bible. You know a lot of times we think that our needs in life will be met by focusing on ourselves and I find the opposite to be true. I try in my life, my heart and my intention to have everything that I'm about to be a blessing to other people and through that posture I've experienced joy and peace in my life even through very challenging circumstances because if you bless others, if you water others, you yourself will be watered. And it's one of the blessings of generosity is that by meeting the needs of others, your needs are met. Really powerful.
Lastly, today the people will curse him who withholds grain but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. So when you have the ability to give and bless others and you withhold it, you miss out. You miss out. So if you have something to give to others today, my encouragement to you is to give it and you will experience the blessings of generosity in your life.
As always, I'm so glad you tune in for these nuggets of wisdom that we get to find every time we look at God's word. Thanks so much for being with me today. Until next time, I hope you have a beautiful day.