GIVING

HOPES ACTION WAS ONE OF GIVING. IF SHE HADN’T SHARED WHAT SHE HAD WITH HER FRIEND,
HOW WILL SHE CLAIM THAT SHE ACTUALLY LOVES HER. GIVING IS THE ACTION THAT MAKES LOVE
EVIDENT. IT PROFITS YOU NOTHING IF YOU HOLD THE LOVE WITHIN AND NOT SHARE. TO WALK IN
GOD’S KIND OF LOVE, GIVING HAS TO BE PRESENT. GOD WANTS US TO GIVE THAT SAME LOVE HE
HAS GIVEN US. AND HE LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER (2 CORINTHIANS 9:7).

“For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 NKJV

GIVING IS THE ACTION OF LOVE. IT IS THE WORKS OF LOVE. JUST LIKE FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS
DEAD, LOVE WITHOUT GIVING IS DEAD (PROFITS YOU NOTHING).

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding
brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
I Corinthians 13:1-3 NKJV

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does
not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity,
but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love
never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will
cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”
I Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV

“For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to
what he does not have.”
II Corinthians 8:12 NKJV

Giving is according to what you have. God will never require you to give what you do not have.
Giving has to first start from you, what i mean is it has to first start from your evaluation of what you
do have. Everybody has something that is there’s, that was given to them by God. One very simple
example is Jesus Christ. In the book of John it say “For God so loved the world, that He GAVE His only
begotten son….”. God is a giver, the greatest giver if you ask me. God gave us His son. He didn’t give
us something He didn’t have, He gave us what He has, which is His son Jesus. He gave Him to suffer
and die in place of our sin, and it was all motivated by the love He has for us. So now, we all have
something to give back. We all have Jesus Christ who was given to us by God. And now since we
have received the free gift, it means we now have something to give back also. We now have the
Love of His Son to give back to others. The 2 major ingredients for giving is to first  find out what you
have, and then to give it out of Love (a willing mind). Giving always has to be motivated by Love. If
love isn’t present, it is a bribe, not a gift anymore. Giving something to someone is a gift, a gift is
something the person never really asks for, but you still give that person freely out of care and
genuine love for the person you’re giving to. If love is absent in that action, it is not a gift, rather it
becomes a bribe. 
Giving has to be something you do willingly. Not out of guilt or obligation, but out of willingness. Just
as the verse above states, for the gift to be acceptable it has to first come from a “willing mind”. You
have to be willing to give for it to be acceptable. Be willing to give. Be motivated to give out of love.
Not out of selfish interest or gain. But out of Love. 

Giving is a personal action, you can only give what you have. Giving has to start from you having first
of all. If you don’t have, then you can’t give, but if you have, then you can give. You cannot give away
something that isn’t yours, that’s just wrong, instead you can only give what you have because it is
yours. You cannot give God’s love to someone else, when you don’t have it. Jesus’ last
commandments were for us to first of all, Love the lord our God will all our heart, and mind, and to
love others as we love ourselves. So first of all you have to receive a revelation of God’s love for
yourself, then you can now share/give it to others. If you don’t have an understanding of God’s love
for yourself , how can you now give it to others? So you have to first understand God’s love for you
before you can now give it unto others. God would be unjust to make you give what you don’t have.
If he says you should give, it is because He knows you have it, otherwise He wouldn’t tell you to give
it. One clear example of giving according to our possession was portrayed in the book of Acts by
Peter and John. 

“And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention,
expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what
I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.””
Acts 3:4-6 NKJV

Giving has to begin with what you have. If you don’t have, how can you give. When you don’t have
you’re also in a position of needing that help and needing someone to give to you also. But when
you now have, you can now give also. And it really doesn’t matter how much you give. What matters
is the heart attitude. Give out of love. Wether small or Big, for it to be truly acceptable to God, it has
to be done willingly & out of Love. It has to be motivated by Love. Don’t give because you’re
expecting something back in return. Give because you want to, not because of a selfish gain. 

“Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you,
they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in
secret will Himself reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:2-4 NKJV

Jesus was speaking on the mount when He gave this sermon. When you give out of a need to be
seen as a good person or for people to talk about what you did, your reward is that attention and
validation from those people whom you’re doing it for. But when you give out of a sincere heart and
willingness to help, you do it in such a way that you don’t care what others would think or how it
would affect you, wether bad or good, you give it so sincerely and out of a pure heart that your right
hand won’t even know what you’re doing, and your father who sees everything you do in secret will
reward you openly. There is a need to give out of sincerity and love. Don’t try and bribe God with
your so called acts of kindness to others. God knows your heart, so if you think you’re trying to bribe
God, you would only be deceiving yourself. 

“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a
cheerful giver.”
II Corinthians 9:7 NKJV

Giving has to be a decision from the heart, and an act out of generosity not grudgingly or out of
necessity because God loves a cheerful giver. God LOVES a person that gives with a happy heart,
someone who gives out of love and care, someone who is willing to give not someone who is doing it
out of pressure or someone who is reluctant to give. You have to be willing to give. If you’re not
doing it out of love it profits you nothing. God gives us so that we can also give to others. He doesn’t
give us so we just keep for ourselves all alone, He gives us so that we can also give unto others
cheerfully the same way He gives to us out of Love. 

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all
things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
II Corinthians 9:8 NKJV

TO BE ABLE TO GIVE GOD’S LOVE TO OTHERS, YOU NEED TO RECEIVE FIRST THE GIFT HE HAS GIVEN
YOU WHICH IS HIS LOVE (HIS SON JESUS CHRIST), AND RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS
HE WHO REVEALS THE LOVE OF GOD TO US. HE SHARES THE LOVE OF GOD ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS.
YOU NEED TO FIRST RECEIVE JESUS INTO YOUR LIFE, THEN HE’LL NOW PUT HIS LOVE IN YOU, AND
YOU CAN ONLY GIVE THIS LOVE TO OTHERS WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT HE HAS GIVEN YOU
AND TO UNDERSTAND THIS LOVE YOU NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT TO REVEAL IT TO YOU. ROMANS 10:9-
11 TELLS US HOW TO RECEIVE THIS LOVE.

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will
not be put to shame.””
Romans 10:9-11 NKJV

WHEN YOU RECEIVE CHRIST, YOU BECOME A NEW CREATURE. YOU BECOME A SON OF LOVE,
BECAUSE YOUR FATHER IS LOVE (1 JOHN 4:20). ANYONE WHO LOVES IS BORN OF GOD. AS A SON
AND DAUGHTER OF LOVE YOU HAVE HIS LOVE. NOW THAT YOU HAVE THAT LOVE YOU NEED TO
ALSO SHARE IT TO OTHERS BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT OUR FATHER HAS COMMANDED US TO DO. AND
BECAUSE THAT IS THE SAME THING HE HAS DONE FOR US. HE HAS GIVEN US HIS LOVE. HE SENT HIS
LOVE TO COME AND GIVE YOU HIS LOVE AND PUT IT INSIDE YOU.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was
manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through Him. In this 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 also ought to love one another. No one has
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in
us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we
have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world. And we have known
and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and
God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts
out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We
love Him because He first loved us.”
I John 4:7-14, 16-19 NKJV

“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his
brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment
we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
I John 4:20-21 NKJV