Proverbs 19:17

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.


Devotional Thoughts

By David Wilkerson

A man once told me, “After I give ten percent of my income to God, I do whatever I please with the rest. And I expect God to bless me as he promised — because I tithed.”

My experience has shown that if a person is grudging with his giving, he will also be grudging with his time, his energy and his work for the Lord. But I want to tell you, if you are stingy with God, he will be stingy with you. By that, I mean that you are cutting yourself off from God’s blessing by your actions and your attitude.

Our attitude should be, “How much of myself can I give to my Lord?” Our joy should be in how much we can give, not in how much we can keep for ourselves.

We read in the Word, “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich” (Proverbs 11:24-25). The fact is, the more strength and energy you spend for God, the more he will pour back into you.

The apostle Paul experienced every emotion and trial that we experience, yet through it all he had a revelation of the resources available to him. When he was overwhelmed, his faith laid hold of all he needed to bring him through with victory! He drew on the resources of his heavenly Father and rebounded again and again with new faith and new strength to go on.

In making the commitment to give yourself wholeheartedly to the work of God, you are putting yourself in a position of being blessed. If you are thinking about giving up, I encourage you to stay in the battle, for it is in the heat of warfare that God comes to you generously, showering you with his resources and strength. Only those who are involved in the battle receive his great provision!