Loving Without Getting Tired

God speaks frequently in the Bible of our responsibility to the oppressed, widows, orphans, fatherless and foreigners. He mentions those who are lonely, neglected, forgotten and devalued. He cares deeply for the oppressed and the hungry.

People can be hungry in many ways. They may have plenty of food to eat but be starving to feel valuable. God lifts up those who are bowed down with sorrow; He protects the stranger and upholds the fatherless and the widow. How does He do this? He works through people. He needs committed, submitted, dedicated people who live to meet the needs of others.

Mother Teresa once said, ‘Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.’

I have come to understand that many people we encounter daily are just trying to survive until someone rescues them, and that someone could be you or me. Let’s allow God’s love for the hurting and broken to work through us, meeting the needs of those who are hurting spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Let’s love without getting tired.

Prayer Starter: Holy Spirit, empower me to love without getting tired. Give me Your heart for the hurting and the needy and show me how to meet their needs.

—from Joyce Meyer’s daily devotional

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Be Generous and Cheerful

As Christians, we should be generous people, giving whatever we can whenever we can. And that doesn’t just mean money, we can give help, encouragement, time, talents and forgiveness.

This means we can’t let selfishness get in the way. A lot of people are stingy, clinging to what they have and afraid to give it up. Others aren’t stingy in their actions, but they are stingy in their hearts, giving because they feel obligated, not because they really want to.

But this isn’t the way God calls us to give. Second Corinthians 9:7 tells us, “God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, ‘prompt to do it’) giver whose heart is in his giving.”
If you think about it, when we give our lives to God, everything we have is His anyway, it no longer belongs to us. We should be givers, using our resources the way He wants us to.

Give cheerfully today. It pleases God, and those who give cheerfully are happy, fulfilled, and highly effective.

Prayer Starter: God, I make up my mind and purpose in my heart right now to be a cheerful giver. Show me how I can generously give to You and the people in my life today.

—from Joyce Meyer’s daily devotional

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You Can’t Out-Give God

Some put money or the world’s system of commerce before God. But the Bible states in Revelation 18 that if we put our trust in money, it’s going to fail. I’ve found that the way to deal with money, instead of struggling with it, is to try and out-give God…because we can’t.

The more we give away, the more we’ll receive. The more we obey Him with our finances, the more He blesses us. The more we do for other people, the more God has other people do for us.

Society tells us to invest everything in the world’s system and work all the time to make more money. But if we do, we’ll really never have anything that matters, especially joy. And we won’t be able to enjoy the money we have because we won’t be using it God’s way.

It may not make sense according to the world’s system, but God doesn’t want you to simply make money and hoard it away. God says that by giving it away, you will have more in the end. I challenge you to increase your generosity today. Trust me, you can’t out-give God.

Prayer Starter: God, Your plan for my finances isn’t like the world’s, but I know that when I give the way You tell me to, You will take care of me. My money is Yours and I will use it as You see fit.

—from Joyce Meyer’s daily devotional

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Share With Others in Need

When you share with others, God shares with you.

The world says, “Get everything you can and you will be financially secure.” The Bible says share with others in need and you’ll sow what you reap.

God says that when you give to somebody else, you’re not throwing it away. It’s an investment in the lives of others. And God says the one who gives will gain even more.

When you see somebody in need and you give to them, God looks at this as if it were a loan to Him. He says, “I will reward back.”

That’s why I never hesitate to encourage people to give money to other people when they see somebody in need. I know God is always going to take care of it. He’ll always repay them. Generosity is a matter of faith.

—From Rick Warren’s daily devotional

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Serving Should Define Your Life

Service is not something to be tacked onto our schedules when we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came “to serve” and “to give” – and those two verbs should define your life on earth, too.

Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.

Yet serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we’re more interested in “serve us” than service. We say, “I’m looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me,” not “I’m looking for a place to serve and be a blessing.”

But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, “Who’s going to meet my needs?” and starts asking, “Whose needs can I meet?”

–》》From Rick Warren Daily Devotional

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