Life as a River
| Principle #2 I trust God to be my Provider Principle #3 Money has no hold on me Principle #4 I worship a God of abundance and I can never outgive Him. |  |
Principle #2
I Trust God to be my Provider
"Generosity and trust are close allies in this battle. We give generously in part because we trust that God will meet all of our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) If we do not believe that God will meet our needs, we can never be the generous and joyful giver he created us to be. Generosity is an act of trust. When we have been set free to listen for God’s direction and then respond, no matter how outrageously generous he may ask us to be, we are victors in this battle. The great missionary to India, William Carey wrote, “I was once young and now I am old, but not once have I been witness to God’s failure to supply my need when first I had given for the furtherance of His work. He has never failed in His promise, so I cannot fail in my service to Him.” Trust God to be your absolute provider in all things, and watch what amazing generosity will result." - Dr. Scott Rodin
Principle #3
Money has no hold on me
"We must acknowledge the power that Jesus ascribes to money. There is no greater way to rob money of this power than to simply give it away. The world around us is telling us that money is the solution to our problems. With more money we can live in our dream house, travel the world, be admired by our friends, control our circumstances, satisfy all of our pleasures and desires, and be happy. Of course, it’s all a lie, a grand deception. We’ve seen how the love of money brings nothing but bondage, fear, anxiety, stress and despair. Our acts of generosity, our free and joyful giving is a public declaration that we renounce and reject this whole distorted notion about money in our world. We say directly to the enemy, “money has no hold on me." The Lord provides it and the Lord guides me in giving it away lavishly and generously. The Lord will take care of my every need, and therefore money has no place in my heart.” That is real freedom. That is true victory!" - Dr. Scott Rodin
Principle #4
I worship a God of abundance
and I can never out-give Him
"There is a powerful and disturbing lesson that comes from the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5. The entire church in Jerusalem was experiencing an amazing overflow of generosity. Everyone was selling land and possessions and bringing all they had to put at the feet of the apostles. They did it with joy, understanding that God was their provider, that they had been set free and that this money was going to be used to bless others and further the kingdom of God. Their giving was a supreme act of worship. In the midst of this outpouring of generosity, Ananias and Sapphira decided to withhold for themselves part of what they received from the sale of some land. While this may not seem unreasonable at first read, the problem was with the disposition of their heart. So many of the temptations we’ve talked about can be found in this story. Their sin was giving into their sense of ownership, withholding from God was rightly his, and reducing their worship to a financial transaction. If we believe everything belongs to God, then giving is a sacred act.
We cannot separate our giving from our intimate life of worship to the Father in the name of the Son by the power the Holy Spirit. God wants all of us – heart, soul, mind and pocketbook. It’s all his, and he desires that we lay it all before his feet with great joy, anticipating what he will do with it for our good and the advancement of his kingdom. Are you giving joyfully and freely, holding nothing back but responding obediently as God leads you? If so, you’ve won a great victory in this battle." - Dr. Scott Rodin
We cannot separate our giving from our intimate life of worship to the Father in the name of the Son by the power the Holy Spirit. God wants all of us – heart, soul, mind and pocketbook. It’s all his, and he desires that we lay it all before his feet with great joy, anticipating what he will do with it for our good and the advancement of his kingdom. Are you giving joyfully and freely, holding nothing back but responding obediently as God leads you? If so, you’ve won a great victory in this battle." - Dr. Scott Rodin
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