In the past few weeks, I kept hearing of this idea from different sources, and as I continue to meditate on it, it does bring fullness and joy to my heart to learn of this realization. It is this: We are Created to Give.
When I surrendered my finances to God, I realized that He will provide all my needs, because He knows what I need more than I do. So when realizing that I am created to give, then I know that He will also bless that which I set aside to give, which gladdens my heart. Because there is a certain joy in being able to give, and it said in Acts 20:35 that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I truly believe that, and so I have started to meditate on how to take what little I can set aside, and multiply it for the sake of increasing what I can give, and not take any penny away from it. And in the process, also explore and learn more about what God has gifted me with, and to embody that in the blessing that He pours through me. Because I feel this is the true directive for Christians, not to just have a job and life and family, but we are so uniquely designed, we should embrace what we are gifted with, and take extra time and effort to share that with the world, and because it is God that gifted us, it is in our very "DNA" to use these gifts for His glory!
So I meditated over what gifts I have developed in the past year of offline soul searching, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself applying and learning two things: (i) artistic expression, and (ii) plant care and propagating. And so, with confirmation from the LORD, I will proceed to investing in propagating plants with my gifting budget (which I set aside on a monthly basis), and just give them to people as gifts. From my year of plant caring, I have experienced great joy and healing through the experience of taking care of and understanding plants, and I feel that it will become such a blessing for many others, especially as there are a lot of agricultural metaphors used in the Bible. It will be physically, emotionally and spiritually filling for those that I bless through these baby plants that I will grow for their sake. In terms of art, I will create art specific for edifying others, just little tiny pieces of art, through the different forms of sketching, painting, and sculpting that I have learnt in the past two years.
Looking forward into 2019 and onwards, my heart is filled knowing that I can be blessed through giving, and knowing that I will get to see what God does with it.
Be blessed.
Saturday, 19 January 2019
2019
Dear friends,
It's been a while. In the past year, I have been blessed to be offline and had spent time in developing relationships, a reflective and God-centered lifestyle that enabled me to embrace my gifts and to take them to a new level. That enabled me to have plenty of rest, to fuel my heart to connect maturely and grow with other deep-thinking individuals, and to be creative in learning and creating new gifts in life.
I continued my meditation of the Word throughout 2018, and have read/listened/meditated through mostly the first 3 Gospels 15-20 times, and it has given me more wisdom and clarity, especially in exploring and establishing deeper connections with people that are like-minded, and deeper understanding of myself. This year, I will continue to do this and enjoy the fruits that I reap, as promised in Joshua 1:9, a life of prosperity and success. And though I don't particularly ascribe to any prosperity teachings, I do believe that when we follow closely with God, He will bless our hands and our works so that through the prosperity of wisdom and financial management, we can build His kingdom through giving to and blessing others, and creating lasting change in the world.
And so with that, I have stepped into 2019 meditating on how I can use my gifts and provision from God to gift and to multiply it to create bigger and bigger ripples starting by investing in the smallest things, for it is written in Luke 16:10, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."
Thus, I step into 2019, hopeful for God's gifts to multiply through my creative thoughts and ideas, with the goal of blessing others and building the Kingdom.
Blessings,
James
It's been a while. In the past year, I have been blessed to be offline and had spent time in developing relationships, a reflective and God-centered lifestyle that enabled me to embrace my gifts and to take them to a new level. That enabled me to have plenty of rest, to fuel my heart to connect maturely and grow with other deep-thinking individuals, and to be creative in learning and creating new gifts in life.
I continued my meditation of the Word throughout 2018, and have read/listened/meditated through mostly the first 3 Gospels 15-20 times, and it has given me more wisdom and clarity, especially in exploring and establishing deeper connections with people that are like-minded, and deeper understanding of myself. This year, I will continue to do this and enjoy the fruits that I reap, as promised in Joshua 1:9, a life of prosperity and success. And though I don't particularly ascribe to any prosperity teachings, I do believe that when we follow closely with God, He will bless our hands and our works so that through the prosperity of wisdom and financial management, we can build His kingdom through giving to and blessing others, and creating lasting change in the world.
And so with that, I have stepped into 2019 meditating on how I can use my gifts and provision from God to gift and to multiply it to create bigger and bigger ripples starting by investing in the smallest things, for it is written in Luke 16:10, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."
Thus, I step into 2019, hopeful for God's gifts to multiply through my creative thoughts and ideas, with the goal of blessing others and building the Kingdom.
Blessings,
James
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