Give!

Give!

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9:7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

My heart is the battlefield. There is a lot of earthly and eternal ramifications to the focus and contents of my heart. By it does a man decide and determine what his actions will be, and by the heart will be a man be justified or condemned. Even the creator of the heart gave this damning verdict about the heart; he called it corrupt and desperately wicked. The natural human heart is capable of anything; there is almost no limit to what the devil can sow in a man's heart, and what evil he can originate and perpetuate through the things he drops in a man's heart. However, one good thing is that the same heart, if it is totally surrendered to the One who made it, has a limitless capacity for good. It is the same God who made Saul who also made David, but by the act or lack of total surrender, one was called a man after God's heart, while the other was rejected by God due to rebellion and disobedience. It really matters what the level of surrender is; God can only use what has been given over to Him for mighty things. 

I can only give the right way when my heart is under the control and influence of God. How would I know the right way if I do not know God the right way? When I come before the Lord, I need to know the person I have come to meet. He is not a God who can be bribed or deceived by hypocrisy or eye-service. He is not a God who can be given something He does not already own. What do I hold now that has not been given to me by God? What can I lay hold of if God does not permit me to have? If God is the One who has given me all I own, what can He then ask for that I will struggle again to surrender to Him? I cannot afford to give grudgingly, as if He were forcing me to give. I cannot afford to give with a heart full of complaints. God looks at the heart first, not the size of the gift. That is why Abel was accepted, as well as his gift. As I come before the Lord on a regular basis, I come with all I am and have, knowing I stand where I am simply by the dispensation of the grace of God. There is no room for pride. I am, simply because God is. That is enough for me. God's time of favour is here.