Discuss: 1) What is your experience with giving? 2) How are you “blessed to be a blessing”? 3) What gets in the way of you being a regular, faithful giver? 4) Write a prayer expressing your thoughts on giving tithes and offerings. Ask God to work in your heart where necessary to change any attitudes that counter God’s plan for giving. Ask Him to clear the obstacles in the way of living and giving generously.
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“take this tithe challenge and watch God work”. Many years ago, after attending the Urbana conference, we embraced this challenge despite financial constraints. Since then, we’ve never faced financial hardships. Tithing has enabled us to be faithful stewards while experiencing the fulfillment of God’s promises. It’s remarkable that this is the only challenge in the Bible where God invites us to test Him. Tithing has not only blessed us but also made us more attuned to the needs of those around us. We’ve supported many people in need, helped them with their credit card debt, and instilled discipline by requiring them to tithe before any other expenses. Additionally, we’ve offered interest-free loans to assist others in purchasing their first home or car.
Dear God, You are truly awe-inspiring. We are grateful for Your unfailing promises, which manifest when we faithfully follow Your guidance. Thank you for teaching us the importance of sharing and caring for those less fortunate, mirroring Your compassion. Please grant me the strength and steadfastness to remain faithful until the day I am reunited with You. Amen.
(from Roger)
1) my experience with giving has been terrible. I clutch on to all my possessions as if I’m he rightful owner and I don’t usually let go. Now amongst friends and people in need, I have been known to be less possessive and usually quite helpful but I’ve always looked at what I acquire as my come-ups. I’ve earned them fair and square. This lesson will take awhile for me to live out I believe. I don’t use my new found faith as an excuse but just a reality. To me, it’s a journey. We give more of ourselves to our faith as we delve more into the word and as our relationship grows. At least that’s what I feel happening.
2) I am blessed to be a blessing because the flip side of that coin would be what I was doing before I came into faith. I would be devising ways to steal or commit fraud. Today that mindset has left me. I am blessed that those thoughts of obtaining more no matter the means has left me for the most part. That doesn’t mean thoughts don’t come or stay, but I don’t act on them. I truly believe god has changed my heart and mind when it comes to many of my old ways. That’s a huge blessing, and with that blessing, I’m not wrecking more havoc into the lives of others.
3) excuse me for beating a dead horse but my entire life and what I believed is an impediment to me being a regular, faithful giver. I believe it takes time to change a lifetimes experience of doing things. “Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly”. Maybe that’s a cop out, maybe it’s not. I understand the reading and what it says abt being faithful in your giving. Tbh, I’ve got more learning to go, simple as that. Fear of letting go, of not having enough, of no one helping me when the time comes and I’m in need (probably because I won’t open my mouth). These are all obstacles to me being a regular giver. I believe god knows what he’s dealing with in me. He has a plan. It took me 25 years to see this new way of life. Change doesn’t come easy in me. But I can learn and I can grow. My faith is growing.
I haven’t been the best at giving. I think since I’m getting older and finally starting to get money it’s nice to think like oh I have money to go out with friends and etc. I think I’m blessed to be a blessing because God has given me a lot of patience to work with the youth. I think things that get in the way of being a financial giver is that I’m not financially independent so every dollar in a way feels like it should get saved.
My experience with giving has been consistent, I have been tithing 10% for every paycheck. I have also started now investing into fellowship and giving in other ways as well. Other ways like into the Core ministry.
I’m blessed to be a blessing with God’s guidance on my life. God truly guides me through it all and has done a number on my life. Providing for me a loving grandma when I did not have parents, this place to live, a loving community I can genuinely call family, and much more.
Nothing has gotten in the way, I mean the extra giving part. It might when I’m looking into getting a car and such. But the regular tithe will never be obstructed.
Dear Heavenly Father, you’ve given me redemption, salvation, and much more. I am so grateful for it and thank you so much for this love. I pray you can continue to help me see opportunities to give and continue to give me a heart of generosity. I pray all these things in Jesus name, amen.
I am fortunate to have learned the practice of tithing from a young age. When my parents gave me weekly spending money, they also showed me the importance of giving a tenth to the church. I have carried this practice with me throughout my life, although there were times when I became a bit self-centered and neglected tithing. Fortunately, I have a faithful wife who supports and joins me in our giving decisions. I can attest that as I remain faithful in investing in His kingdom, God, in turn, provides me with much more than I could imagine. Despite being in a considerable amount of debt, I am eager to take on the challenge of tithing my gross monthly income, considering it as ‘my first crop.’ It is my desire to trust and experience even greater blessings from Him. Father Lord, I thank you for everything You have entrusted me with in life. Please help me be a faithful manager and a wise investor for Your kingdom on earth.
From Cyndi
I’ve been very blessed by others..giving generously whenever I am in need. Giving to others has brought me joy.
I’ve been paying it forward when I can with what I have and when I have extra. Serving and cooking meals for our small group, my family, meal trains for new parents, and giving donations.
In the past-Forgetfulness, inconsistency, and feeling that I don’t have enough money are obstacles that gets in the way of being a regular and faithful giver.
God thank you for always blessing me and giving me more than I need. Help me to continue to be consistent with my tithing and to give more generously. Help me to continue to invest in your Kingdom and give freely. Help me to not hold back on giving more and to trust that you will continue to meet my financial needs when I give more than I have.
(Brandon)
I try to give as much as I can. Whether it’s to help out family or friends with something or just treating them to something nice I try to give what I can and sometimes more than I should. I don’t do it expecting them to pay it back or even give back more. I do it because I love being able to help those I care for whenever I am able to. I am “blessed to be a blessing” by enjoying to help the people in my life and in return they help me when I am in need. My financial situation is what mainly gets in the way of being a faithful giver. There are still many things I have to figure out with my finances and how to improve them. However I can still try to give whatever I can even if it is not much. I pray that I may be able to better my financial situation so that I may give back to the church and to God. I ask that God may work in my heart wherever is necessary to change my attitude that may counter His plan for giving. I ask that He clears the obstacles in my life so that I may give back.
1) I think that I started tithing once I finished med school and got my first job during my residency training. I was only making less than $27K/ year and my 7 years in college and med school taught me to live frugally so it wasn’t hard to tithe %10 and put away 10% and live off of what was left. When I finished my residency and started making a attending physician’s salary, which was multiple times more, tithing initially was more difficult because it was 10% of a much bigger number but God has always proven Himself faithful.
2) we’re “blessed to be a blessing” by blessing the church community and the work of the ministry with our tithe.
3) I think one impediment to being a faithful giver is the initial fear that we won’t be able to achieve our financial goals on 90%.
4) “God, you don’t want my money (which is all yours, anyways), you want my heart. You want me to experience the joy of radical generosity and the freedom that it brings. Help me to trust that you will always provide for me/my family’s every need, even beyond. Material needs.”
I don’t have much experience in giving. Maybe sometimes i give people care packages. I don’t know if it counts, but I do know that it gives them joy. I feel very blessed for the opportunity to give to others. The only thing that gets in the way of me being a regular and faithful giver is when I am away from thinking about God or when I am mentally unstable. Dear God, I pray that you will continue to be in me to change my attitude that goes against your plan of giving and help me to respond to the opportunities You give me.
1. I think this year I’ve been giving a lot of my time for God. I’ve been sacrificing a lot of my time for Cru, the church media team, and for my school. I’ve been offering a lot of my time for the media team because I really love serving God through the computer screen.
2. I’ve seen myself be a blessing to the youth at GLA, TLC, and RPC and to the media team of GLA and God has blessed me with a great community in Cru and that blessing has allowed me to bless others with Cru. I went to TLC for 2-3 months because I was devoted in building my relationship with God at Cru and I wanted to allow others like TLC youth to experience Cru as well and build their own relationship with God.
3. I think when I feel like I lack a lot and that I don’t have enough. When I want to keep everything to myself, that prevents me from being able to give to others. Laziness also stops me from being able to give to others.
4. Dear God, You have taught me that how much I receive should be how I much I give out. Lord, it gets tough when it comes to giving out because I get lazy and stubborn, and I treat it as a chore rather than an act of godliness. Please give me the heart to serve you, and to give to people who are in need and who are in poverty. Please continue to clear any obstacles that will trip me. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.