THE SUPERNATURAL HABITS, PAUL & NUALA O'HIGGINS [red novels .txt] 📗

Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuzas Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered unto them of their substance.” (Luke 8:1-3)
It is humbling to have to receive help from God and other people but it is absolutely essential. Supernaturally empowered believers never manipulate people but are always open to receive help from others and to allow God to use people to help them.
Every believer lives in a constant river of blessing, which God brings to us directly and through other people. Acknowledging this and receiving them makes us interdependent and creates a network of loving relationships.


Chapter 4: THE HABIT OF GIVING

CHAPTER IV
THE HABIT OF GIVING

Giving is not primarily a duty - it is a privilege. It is the expression of a heart that loves. Endless appeals for money constantly remind us of our duty to give. This is unfortunate because it makes it difficult to separate the privilege of giving from the pressure of appeals.
Philanthropic giving harnesses universal laws of generosity. Giving blesses not only the receiver but it blesses the giver even more. As Jesus said, “There is a greater blessing in giving than in receiving.” (Acts 20:35) Giving not only aligns us with universal laws of the universe, it also increases our alignment with God’s promises and supply. God observes the giving of the believer and rewards it. “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:4)
“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” (2 Cor. 9:10)
God actively involves Himself in the finances of generous givers.

Giving & Abraham’s Blessings
Abraham was uniquely chosen by God to be blessed. God promised to bless him and to make him a blessing to all nations.
God’s plan was to bless this man and to extend through his offspring the same blessing to all nations. “I will bless you and make you a blessing and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
The conditions for the extension of these blessings were realized when Jesus died for the sins of the world. The curse of sin and guilt, which is common to all men, was borne and broken by Jesus. Since Jesus has borne the curse of our sins, Abraham’s blessings can come on all sincere believers through faith. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14)
We are told that Abraham was blessed in all things: “Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.” (Genesis 24:1) God blesses us in all things too as He did Abraham when we believe, receive and obey. In addition He empowers us to be a blessing to others. Having received blessings we can become a blessing to others. The curse has been borne and we can now be a blessing. This is our destiny. We are blessed to be a blessing.
God not only blesses us for our own sake but also equips us with the resources to bless others. He gives to us so that, not only are our own needs met, but we also may meet the needs of others. Giving is a major part of the practical expression of Jesus’ new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

Give What?
When we think of giving we usually think of giving financially. It includes financial generosity, but it is much more.
The relationship between the believer and Jesus is like a marriage relationship. As we enter into covenant relationship with God, God’s resources are made available to us and ours are made available to Him. Guess who gets the best of the bargain! Our sharing with God, however, is not a bargain but a mutual sharing based on the covenant with God in the blood of Jesus that has merged our lives with His.
The believer’s giving flows from the reality of his covenant relationship with God. God makes His infinite supply available to us as we need it, and we make our meager resources available to Him also. The resources of God belong to those who belong to Him. As the father said to the elder brother: “Son, you are always with me and all I have is yours.” (Luke 15:31)
The primary giving of the believer is, therefore, not financial - it is the giving of himself to God in the same way as a husband gives himself to his wife, and a wife gives herself to her husband.
“We want you to know, brethren, about the grace of God which has been shown in the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of liberality on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will … but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.” (2 Cor. 8:1-5) These believers became very generous because they had first given themselves to God. They were free to be generous not because they were rich but because they were sure of the reality of God’s faithfulness to them.
God first looks for us to give ourselves to Him. He invites us to come into a loving, sharing union with Him that can only be compared to a loving marriage. He wants us loosed from the world and available to Him. The kingdom of God is the loving wedding of our hearts with God’s heart, our plans with His plans, and our lives with His life.
“Present your bodies a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1) Once we make ourselves available for the interests of God and His kingdom then every other kind of giving comes into right perspective. If we give our money without giving our hearts it means little. Giving our money is simply the overflow and fruit of our loving union with Him. Giving is not something measurable by a calculator. It operates in a spiritual dimension of the heart. It is the response of the heart to the boundless loving of God who gave His Son for us and gives us all things in Him.

Giving is Greater than Receiving
“Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:38)
It is every man’s destiny to be our brother’s keeper. Giving makes us a channel of help and blessing to others. It is one of the practical ways we express love for others and fulfill the great command to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Giving relates us to the world and the people around us, as we ought to. We were made to be blessed and to be a blessing. We were made to be receivers and to be givers.
To give out of compulsion or from mere religious duty has no reward or blessing, but giving out of a heart of compassion and love brings joy and life to the giver and to the receiver. “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3)
Though no one can give what he has not received, Jesus says “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Being a blessing to others through serving and giving promotes us to greater levels of blessing. Giving to others, as love directs, actually enlarges our capacity to receive more and give more. The essence of the kingdom of God and the message of Jesus is that we enter the highest joy when we all become receivers and transmitters of blessings.
Receiving with thanksgiving enriches and enlarges us, but giving with joy enlarges us even more. Receiving brings blessing to our lives, but giving brings an even greater blessing. “The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness”. (2 Cor. 9:6-9)

Give To Whom?
Scripture teaches another kind of giving that is only available to the believer – giving to God. This kind of giving expresses our love for God and our recognition that He is the source of all blessing.
God is the Possessor of everything so He Himself does not need our gift. However, the only finances available to Him to use on the earth are those which have been released to His use (He is not a counterfeiter). Through the giving of the believers the work of the Lord can advance. When giving is withheld God’s work is hindered.
In the days of the Temple believers were required to bring the tithe (one tenth of their income) to the Lord for the work of the Temple and for the provision of the Levites.
Today God’s work is not located in a physical temple. What we have now is a body of people who are indwelt by the Spirit of God. This is the temple of the Body of Christ of which every believer is a part. Since the “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifice for sins. What is necessary now is to proclaim the fact and the benefits of the great “once for all” sacrifice. When the benefits of this sacrifice are proclaimed everywhere, God’s mercy and blessing can be known and received “to the ends of the earth.”
Our giving to spiritual causes no longer goes to a physical temple but it goes to advance the work of the Lord in our local area and the work of God’s kingdom around the world. The body of Christ is a temple bringing the benefits of God’s mercy to the ends of the earth. When we bring our money to the temple today we make it available for the manifold work of the Body of Christ.
Our special obligation is to give to our local church (Ephesians 4:16), to those who instruct