November 3, 2019 LIVING WATER CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE : TOPIC : GOD-PLEASING GIVING – PURPOSELY AND FAITHFULLY
Read previous CAC Devotionals here
LIVING WATER CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Sunday, November 3, 2019.
GOD-PLEASING GIVING – PURPOSELY AND FAITHFULLY
READ: 1 Corinthians 16:1-4
1 Corinthians 16:1-4 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.
MEMORISE: Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble (Psalm 41:1)
EXPOSITION
Following biblical principles of giving saves us from giving divinely unacceptable sacrifices. When God is pleased with our giving, He releases abundant blessing upon our lives (cf. Lk. 6:38).
In our text today, Paul asked the Corinthian church to collect offerings for the less privileged or challenged fellow Christians who were at Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1). This kind of giving was based on a specific purpose – to meet the needs of others. God wants us to be purposeful in giving. Don’t wait to be told before rising up to meet an obvious specific need in the body of Christ. As long as it is in your capacity, give to meet, raise the needy, relieve someone from financial mess, pay the bills (medical, electrical, water, etc.) of the less privileged, award scholarships or sponsorship to bright students, etc.
Likewise, you have to be faithful in your act of giving (v. 2). Give as God has prospered you. Your giving must be in relation to what you have earned. A spiritual malady rampant in Christendom today is that the well-to-do want to give as the poor give in the same local church. Have we forgotten: For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more (Lk. 12:48)? Learn to give with purpose and faithfulness.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lord, help me to see giving as my spiritual responsibility to You and others.
2. I need the grace, O Lord, to be faithful giver.
3. Lord, help our well-to-do brethren to stop cheating themselves by comparing themselves with the low-income-earners in terms of giving.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Jeremiah 20:6 – 23:6; 2 Timothy 3:9 – 4:12