THE GRACE OF GIVING
Through the years I have noticed that, as soon as I mention the sermon topic is going to be about the grace of giving, people either choose to stay home or, at least, leave their wallets at home. Most people have an aversion to this subject.
However, if they feel this way, it is all the proof they need to begin to see how the devil has been at work in their lives trying to shut down the grace of God from flowing freely. They need to understand how God always works through the grace of giving while the enemy is always trying to put a cork in it in order to stop God from accomplishing what He wants to do in and through them.
This teaching is not geared toward getting more money, as is commonly taught, nor is it about getting more money out of people, but it establishes how God’s grace is intended to flow through us and how money just happens to be one way to measure how much cork is in our hearts. It is as if God has put pipes in our hearts through which everything flows. It was through this plumbing that Peter felt led to say to the crippled man begging at the Gate Beautiful, “Silver and gold have I none but as such I have, give I thee. . . .”
The grace the man needed flowed through Peter in the form of healing power, but Peter could have just as easily given him money if Peter had that to give. I like to say it is all the same plumbing through which all the grace of God flows. So, if the devil can crimp the pipe of giving, he can effectively stop the power of God from flowing through us.
Once I began to recognize the grace of giving at work in my own heart, it helped me to know what to preach and which preaching invitations to accept. It helped me to discern in which countries I should do mission work. It has helped me to know who to mentor or who I should invite into discipleship. It all comes through the same impulse to give.
What I present in this book is a lifetime of learning about how to be led by the Spirit of Christ. Jesus began to teach this to me early in my walk with Him. I thought He was trying to teach me about money, but He was actually enlarging the flow of grace in my life. Money just happened to be the means to do this. I wish I had understood all this back then like I do now; I would have enjoyed the journey more. Few subjects have blessed my life as much as this one.