Help me listen to you. Tune my heart to your melody.
“Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia, that during a severe ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of their generosity. For I testify, they gave according to their means and beyond their means. They did so voluntarily, begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping the saints. And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God... But as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you - make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too. ..For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich. …For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have. For I do not say this so there would be relief for others and suffering for you, but as a matter of equality. At the present time, your abundance will meet their need, so that one day their abundance may also meet your need, and thus there may be equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” (2 Cor. 8:1-15)
Lord Jesus, I am joyful over Your amazing gift of the cross! I still am saying “Thank you!” for Your extreme gift of love that although You were rich, You became poor for my sake, so that I by Your poverty could become rich. (v.9) Lord Jesus, help me “pay forward” to others the gift I received from You. Help me today to “overflow in the wealth of my generosity”(v.2). Help me to excel in the act of kindness to others (v.6). Help me not only out of my abundance, but out of my poverty seek for the blessing and fellowship found in help others (v.4). Jesus, You remind me today that all I have is a gift from You to be used to pour into, relieve suffering, and bring relief to others. “We must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35). However, I am called to give because I have been blessed in receiving from You. Jesus, free me from my fleshes desire to hoard, store up, collect, claim, keep, save, and hold onto my items and my finances I should freely give. Open my heart to others as Your Word says, “your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’(Deuteronomy 15:11-12).
My family, You have been given the greatest gift you will ever receive through the greatest act of generosity and outpouring of grace this world has ever know in and through the saving works of Jesus’ death and resurrection. I pray today you will “pay it forward” and be a tangible example of the love and generosity of Jesus that we who call ourselves “Christians” are supposed to be, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you friends! He Has!
Please share with me and others your reflections and what God is speaking to you from todays reading in the comment box below.
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