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I am a firm believer in being a giver in life. One lesson that has shaped
the direction of my life is that it is the giver who gains the most. Most
people today are only interested in themselves and in what they can get
from others and pay very little attention to what they can give away. They
fail to realize that it is in giving that we receive and it is in blessing
others that we become blessed. It is a Bible fact that we will reap what
we sow. Whatever we put into the ground will come back to us one day to
either bless our life or curse our life. We are the shaper of our
tomorrows by what we do today. When we sow goodness, mercy, charity,
love, encouragement, we will receive the same in kind, but when we receive
it, it will be multiplied unto us. (Galatians 6:7)
Jesus says those who sow will reap 30, 60 and 100 fold. It is not a
matter of if we will be rewarded; it is only a matter of how much we will
be rewarded. The Lord who is the righteous Judge sees every deed that is
done openly and in secret and has promised to give a just reward. Be
encouraged to seek the benefit of others even more than seeking your own.
By doing so, you will not only be blessing others, but you will also be
securing your own future. (Mark 4:8) (Matthew 6:1-4) (Philippians 2:3)
I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to always have a
giving mindset. When we bless others with the little that we have, God
multiplies it and blesses both the recipient and the giver.
HOW TO HAVE A LIFE OF JOY
Do you know how to have a life of joy?
A businessman on his deathbed called his friend and said, “Bill, I want
you to promise me that when I die you will have my remains cremated.” “And
what,” his friend asked, “do you want me to do with your ashes?” The
businessman said, “Just put them in an envelope and mail them as taxes to
the government and write on the envelope, 'Now you have everything!'”
Paying taxes is not usually a joy. But Giving can be joyful. We pay the
taxes because we have to. But when we choose to give time or money, then
giving can add to our overall happiness.
Mother Teresa teaches us an important lesson about happiness. She was one
of those people who emanated joy. Born in 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia, she
felt called as a teenager to move to Calcutta, India. Some months later
she saw a sight that completely revolutionized her life.
Shortly after moving to Calcutta she spotted a homeless, dying woman lying
in the gutter, being eaten by rats. After seeing that, compassion compelled
her to beg an abandoned Hindu temple from the government and convert it
into a crude, make-shift hospital for the dying. “Nobody should die alone”
she would later say. Mother Teresa went on to establish homes for the
destitute dying in numerous cities. But in spite of devoting her life to
people in such dire straits, she radiated joy and happiness.
This incredible woman was once interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge from the
BBC News. He asked her an unusual question: “Mother Teresa, the thing I
noticed about you and the hundreds of sisters who now form your team is
that you all look so happy. Is that a put-on?”
Here was a woman who had none of the things we like to think of as bringing
happiness: a home, a family, prosperity. Rather, she lived in near-poverty
and spent her time wiping dirt and various body fluids from half-dead
cancer and leprosy victims -- and appeared to be blissfully happy. “Is
that a put-on” she was asked?
She replied, “Oh no, not at all. Nothing makes you happier than when you
really reach out in mercy to someone who is badly hurt.”
She would agree that happiness does not come from acquiring, but is a
by-product of giving: time, money, love. Do you want a life of joy? Start
by giving.
By Steve Goodier
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
1 John 3:16-19 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down
His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But
whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed
and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure
our hearts before Him.”
James 2:14-17 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath
faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be
naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart
in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those
things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith,
if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
1 John 4:7-11 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and
every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God
toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that
we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: TEN RULES FOR A HAPPY DAY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem133.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: GOD HAS BEEN FAITHFUL
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony157.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry |
