Once you recognize that every single thing you have has come from God’s hand, generosity is the natural expression of gratitude to Him.
We came to the United States in our early twenties with little more than the clothes on our backs. We arrived here newly married and full of faith, dreams, vision, and hope. I came as an international student, and Yvonne depended on my visa. Neither of us had a work permit, but we did have the Holy Spirit. We had few worldly possessions, but we possessed the ability to trust the Lord, listen for and hear His voice, and obey His leading. Neither of us were permitted to work, but my student visa did not prevent us from being resourceful. At the time, we had two old but reliable cars. Like the Lord responding to Moses with “What’s in your hand?” we followed God’s prompting and sold one of our cars at a profit. We soon bought a replacement and repeated the pattern.
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The defining verse for my life at that time was, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” That’s just what we did. We sought God and His kingdom. We gave from our increase and honored God consistently with our time, treasure, and talents.
Generosity is not something you plan to do when you finally have enough to give.
Again and again, His faithfulness was made known. Yvonne worked for cash—odd jobs like babysitting or whatever she could find to earn income, and we continued to honor the Lord through wise stewardship and generosity from anything we had. We knew that our words carried great power, and we began to decree that it was God who gave us the power to create wealth. Shortly after, Yvonne miraculously received a work visa and started a banking career, accelerating our financial growth exponentially. We learned to live from a place of abundance—out of the overflow of our love for God and the incredible, miraculous opportunity to live as victorious overcomers, with every spiritual blessing available to us. All we needed to do was simply access God’s promises, agree with them, and begin to live heaven here on earth.
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Once you recognize that every single thing you have has come from God’s hand, generosity is the natural expression of gratitude to Him. You can no more help living generously than you can help breathing—it is vital for life.
Living in right relationship with God is the foundational principle for life. We are made in His image, and if we walk in agreement with who He is and how He created us to be, we soon find out that being in right relationship with Him expands to every area—including finances. In 2004 when I was fresh out of Bible school, we purchased our first home. From our humble beginnings, God has blessed us exponentially in our marriage, with our children, and in our businesses.
God loves to bless His children. His eyes run to and fro across the earth, looking to strongly support those who are devoted to Him. I can testify that the favor of God is real. The kingdom of God is at hand. The more we walk in faithful stewardship and generosity, the more He heaps blessings upon us.
Generosity is not something you plan to do when you finally have enough to give. Generosity begins wherever you are right now. It starts in your heart. It begins with acknowledging God is good, His Word is true, His principles work, and His plans for you include living in abundance.
You are His child. You are creative, resourceful, and generous because He is creative, resourceful, and generous.
Jesus said, “I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!”