Walk Boldly With Jesus

Give And It Will Be Given To You

Episode Summary

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Today's episode talks about how important it is to give even though it is not always comfortable to give. We don't need to worry that we are going to give too much and we won't have enough for what we need. God will always provide for us! There is a great story of how my parent relied on God to provide and He did! Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Notes

Give And It Will Be Given To You

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

I think this is a great verse and I think it is something to remember.  I remember when I was young and I saw my mom writing out checks for the offertory at church I thought she was not giving enough.  Now, remember I said I was young.  I would see her write a check for $5.00 or for $15.00, sometimes even $20.00 and I thought that wasn’t really a lot of money.  Now when I look back  I can see that was actually a lot that she was putting into the basket.  My parents had 11 children.  I only have 3 boys, who happen to be teenagers right now, and our grocery bill is so expensive, I can only imagine what it was with 11 children.  We lived in a big house because we had so many children and it was expensive to heat it and keep the lights on.  

When I hear the story in Mark 21:41-44 I always think of that day in church when I thought my mom wasn’t giving enough.  Mark 21:41-44 says, “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.  But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

My dad had a great job working with the state and my mom stayed home to take care of us kids.  Although there were a few times she did try to work outside the home also.  For instance, she tried to take a third shift job at Frito Lay so she could work while we were sleeping and then my dad would pick her up on his way to work.  Can you imagine that?  My mom took care of us all day and then worked at night.  The only reason she quit is because they had mandatory overtime.  If you shift was over and they needed you to stay, then you had to  stay.  This wouldn’t work for my mom as my dad needed to get to work and us kids needed to get to school.  I honestly am not sure when this was, so I am not sure how many of us still lived at home.  I would say at least the 5 youngest.  

Today, it is tough to make ends meet with a two income household.  I honestly don’t know how they did it with one income.  Actually, I do know how they did, with a lot of prayer.  Every time they realized they needed something and they didn’t have enough money for it, they would pray and ask God how He wanted them to handle the situation.  And God always showed up for them in a big way.  They were obedient in putting money into the basket each week, even if it meant they didn’t have enough money for other things.  I was about to say, they didn’t worry, but I don’t think that is true.  I think they did worry, and yet they also trusted that God would provide, and you know what, He always did!

I am sure I have told this story before but in case you haven’t heard it, my parents’ friend asked them to watch their 10 kids because they had something important they had to do together.  My parents didn’t even hesitate, they just said yes.  However, they were already worried because they didn’t know what they were going to feed their own children and now we added 10 more to the mix.  My parents prayed together and asked God to let them know what they should do.  They told God if they just had some spaghetti or something they could feed a lot of people.  No sooner had they finished their prayer when there was a knock at the door.  Their neighbor had a bunch of extra food because his father had to move in suddenly and his dad had just gone grocery shopping before the move and his neighbor had just gone grocery shopping as well.  They had no where to put this extra food.  

My parents graciously accepted and when putting the food away the realized that there was plenty of spaghetti and sauce to go around.  My parents praised God and thanked him for the wonderful surprise food that showed up.  They were talking and happened to say, if we only had some ground meat for the spaghetti it would be perfect.  I don’t think they even prayed for this, I think they were just talking to each other.  However, no sooner did that statement leave their lips then there was a knock on the door.  A different neighbor had gone out hunting and had brought home a lot of meat.  They filled their freezer and fridge with meat and yet they still had meat left over.  They wanted to know if my parents wanted it.  Again, my parents graciously accepted and they realized they had the ground meat they were looking for.  It was so amazing.  The Lord really is so so good!

I think relying on God is something that seems foolish to a lot of people today.  I remember when Tony and I were talking with neighbors one time we were discussing the idea of how much we give to the church and how much we give to the giving campaign that the military has.  I forget what it is called, but they did it every year.  Everyone was expected to give something.  I remember we were discussing how much we each thought was reasonable and I explained how much my mom gave, even though most months it was hard to even pay the bills.  They thought it was crazy, or bad financial management to give more than you really can afford to give.  I whole heartedly disagree with this.  My parents were being obedient to the church and trying to give as much as they can.  Some weeks were more than other weeks, but they did what they could.  

If you ask me there was no better way for them to spend that money.  Remember what the verse above said?  “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  My parents gave and it was definitely given back to them.  I have heard the saying, God will not be outdone in generosity.  Whatever you give to God will be returned plus more.  God did not give my parents pack the exact amount they gave in church, he gave them more.  Although they didn’t have a lot of money, they never went without the essentials.  God always sent people to help them when they needed it.  Some days we would go outside and there would be a box of random things on our porch, like clothes, food, toys, etc.  My parents did their best to give God all they had and He repayed them by providing for their needs.  

Are you giving all you can to church or other charities?  Are you being gracious and forgiving towards others?  Are you giving them the patience they require?  The verse above says, “Give and it will be given to you.” Are you doing this?  Are you giving?  If you want God to give to you, you must give to others as well.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we ask you to open our hearts and to soften them to the idea of asking you how much we should give.  We ask you to soften our hearts to the idea of not just giving out of the abundance but giving even if it stretches us a bit.  More importantly than the giving, help us rely on you better.  Help us to trust that you will provide for us, that we don’t have to do everything ourselves.  Lord, we thank you for this.  We thank you for always providing for us.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ powerful name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to seeing you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!