A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (September 22, 2015)
Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. Philippians 4:15)
Paul’s letters from prison to the churches are very informative and very appropriate for us today if we’ll just spend time reading and meditating on them. His letter to the Philippians is a prime example of how ageless his wisdom is.
Paul was in prison and he was more concerned with his followers than he was for himself. He told them not to worry about him because what he had gone through actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel. That is just like God to take the very things the enemy means for harm and turn them for the good.
One of the great truths Paul was trying to teach his followers was the principle of giving and receiving. Notice he called it “giving and receiving”! It was not just giving. Paul could have just concentrated on giving, just like some people do today. He was surely in a position to justify that. But Paul was more interested in teaching his followers the “law of reciprocity” as some would define it today. He said, “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account” (Philippians 4:17). Listen to what Paul said next: “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:18-19). That last verse is quoted by a lot of Christians but this is what I want you to see. The supply comes after the giving! They go hand in hand! They are connected!!!
“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).
“The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs 11:25).
I am sick and tired of some Christian teachers slamming so-called prosperity preachers. Would you rather have a poverty preacher? The simple bottom-line is this. We have two types of people in this world, givers and takers. The Bible is replete with promises to the givers, not the takers. This is God’s system, not some preacher’s system. Can you abuse the system? Of course you can. But that doesn’t change the system. God wants to bless His children and the system He has set up to do that is “giving and receiving”.
We encourage you today to get onboard with God’s system. You will never regret it.
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. (Psalm 35:27)
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. (3 John 1:2)
