Light that is darkness...

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

If our treasures are in heaven so is our heart, we just learned that, right?

If our mind is focused on Christ, on Christ in heaven, on heavenly things then we are single minded and our life is fill with the light of Christ.

If our mind is focused on evil then our entire life is filled with evil.

Light and darkness.

Joh_8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh_3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Joh_3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Joh_3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Joh_1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Joh_1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Satan wants us to train our thoughts on anything but heavenly things. Satan will do everything he possibly can to keep our mind focused on things that are NOT ETERNAL. Satan wants our light to be darkness, he wants our understanding to be of dark things, he wants our focus on HIS false light. If we exist in a world that keeps God out, that keeps the heavenly eternal existence at bay then we are caught up in darkness and we are blind to true life. So many want us to just focus on here and now, as long as we are kept from focusing on Christ and His eternity, because you cannot be single minded for Christ without being focused on eternity, then we are focused on a very dark end. If you truly do not believe in an eternal life in Christ then your existence is cut off, you start to imagine all sorts of possible life after death scenarios that are all lies. Every single life after death scenario is shrouded in darkness because it's filled with deception perpetrated by the evil on himself.

The Bible is very clear on the grand scheme of things in our lives if we choose to listen to it.

Christ is our Savior from this world, He came preaching the kingdom of heaven, this was His mission, to bring the good news of eternal life in Him. His entire life was single minded and focused on heaven where the Heavenly Father resides, and wanting us to be there with Him in eternity.

Everything Christ did was focused on heaven and eternity, everything.  And He is our example. As our example we are to be single mindedly focused on the heaven and eternity He revealed for us and made possible to us. Our lives need to revolve around eternity with Him.

In today's world living heaven centered is very rare. 

The cares of this life take over our very existence as Christ foretold.

Luk_21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

How easy it is for us to be caught up in the cares of this life, how easy it is to lose the single minded focus and let darkness into our lives.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Deny himself.

Take up his cross DAILY.

Follow me.

Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

How incredibly great is the darkness that overcomes us when we are not filled with the singleness of our light in Christ.

Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Isa 5:21  Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

There is so much of this today, so incredibly much of this! 

God please help our eyes be single and full of the light of Christ!

Help us Lord.

Satan would have us wrapped up so tightly in his darkness, in his deceptions that we never see any light at all, but only the false light he uses to deceive.

Please LORD save us! Be our all in all!

All in YOU!

All in YOUR LOVE! YOUR AMAZING LOVE ALWAYS!

Our hearts set on heaven

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Do you have a single treasure here on earth right now? A single treasure.  We pity those who have no possessions, we call them poor, we call them destitute, we call them sad and miserable, lowly and unworthy. We call them bums, homeless, and we pity those who have nothing.

Yet we read this-

Lay NOT up for yourselves treasures upon earth.

Treasures- possessions- things that moths can destroy, things rust can ruin, things thieves can steal..

What sort of things are those? In truth, almost all things, right?

If you've ever had your home broken into by a thief you know the damage that can be done to your possessions.  That prized collection of silverware, the costly clothes and shoes, the jewelry you cherish, the electronics you love, they are gone, all gone.  And if all our treasured possessions are gone we mourn them, why, because our HEART is with those possessions.

How much do you cherish your eternal life? Seriously, do you find joy in the heavenly treasure you can possess? Or is heaven treasure so vague and surreal, so very intangible that you seldom think about it, let alone love it, putting your heart with it.

Jesus doesn't want us to TREASURE the things of earth.

Jesus wants us to put our TREASURE in heaven.

You most assuredly cannot put a shoe collection in heaven, in fact you cannot put anything material in heaven so what does that say? We are NOT to treasure material things, not a single one.  Does that mean we can't love our family heirlooms passed down over the years and beloved by great grandmothers, grandmothers, and mothers? That we can't love that hand print in clay that your baby made years ago? That we can't love the pictures of cherished memories of people long gone now?

Truthfully none of those things should fill our hearts as much as God, nothing should.  Enjoy them all, yet, but they shouldn't have our HEARTS to the exclusion of our GOD and heavenly treasure. You know that none of those things can go to heaven with you when you are called by Christ at His coming. You will NOT take a single thing with you, not one. 

We need to think about that a little bit because just how often do we sin over THINGS that ultimately have NO meaning at all, in the ETERNAL scheme of things?

I don't think we ask ourselves nearly enough if this or that matters in the eternal scheme of things. There is so much as I've said many times before that is TEMPORARY to ETERNITY.  We need to define and make all those things real as being TEMPORARY to ETERNITY so they aren't holding the importance that only Heaven should hold for us.

May God help us to put our HEARTS in heaven with HIM, and not here on anything earthly.

Our love for others is a HEAVENLY treasure as long as it is love that come from our SAVIOR, a real love, a godly love.

ALL IN OUR SAVIOR BY HIS MERCY, BY HIS LOVE, BY HIS GRACE!

Secret Fasting

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:16  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Mat 6:17  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

Mat 6:18  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Disfiguring your face so you appear to fast.

How many people out there are 'dressing' the part, but not 'living' the part?

Do  you dress the part without living it?

Is there an air of 'holier than thou' about you that is manufactured?

Are you one of those outward sheep but inward wolves?

One who truly follows Christ knows that they can hide NOTHING from Him, nothing.  They comprehend that they can put on garments they perceive are proper, but inwardly be far from proper.

HYPOCRITES play at being God's. HYPOCRITES put on a show of being a CHRISTIAN. HYPOCRITES want others to note their 'goodness', their 'godliness'. 

Fasting.

Why did/do people fast at all?

Fasting is abstaining from food.

When we eat we are replenishing our bodies.  We know that if we stop eating, or are kept from eating that our bodies will grow weaker and weaker until finally we die.  Food is a necessity to us. However food is also a pleasure to us. We enjoy eating. And while we must eat to live, we can eat too much we can in fact live to eat- abusing food, abusing our bodies with food.

Food being a necessity as well as something we enjoy, when we voluntarily choose to stop eating we are choosing to stop doing something that will keep our bodies at their best as well as something we enjoy. We are giving up something that ultimately decides whether we live or die.  Symbolically when we choose to fast aren't we choosing to die unless God sees fit to sustain us through the fast?  What message are we sending to God when we fast?

Hasn't God called people to fast?

Jesus was called to fast for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness.

David chose to fast when his first son by Bathsheba lay dying.  He fast for this reason--

2Sa 12:21  Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

2Sa 12:22  And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

He fasted and wept hoping God would look upon him and spare his son's life. 

His fast was a denial of sustenance hoping his sacrifice of that sustenance would have God look favorably upon him.

And Jesus said this--

Mat 17:18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

Mat 17:19  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Mat 17:21  Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Causing this particular sort of devil to depart from the afflicted wasn't possible unless those trying to cast out this sort of evil prayed and fasted.

Fasting - denying self sustenance while calling upon God, entreating God to intervene and rid someone of the evil spirit inside them. 

Fasting seems to be symbolic of giving up part of our life for God.

Yet people go on fasts all the time for various reasons.

Some are told to fast before medical tests. Others fast to rid their body of what they believe are unwanted toxins. Still others fast to entreat gods other than the One and Only Great I AM. There are fasts for dieting purposes as people try to lose weight in fact I recently read about a man who uses fasting throughout the week on various days as a means to limiting his caloric intake so he can use those calories later when he really wants to splurge, this keeping him from gaining weight by mingling fasting with splurging. 

So fasting isn't restricted to serving God.

Jesus however is referring to those who try to appear godly by putting on a show of their sacrificing their sustenance, wanting everyone to recognize that they are doing this sacrificial act and that makes THEM somehow closer to God than others.

Whenever we try to APPEAR Godly for the sake of APPEARING Godly then it is a false representation, it's a lie and God abhors a lie!

Can you genuinely look perhaps gaunt from an extended fast, that goes beyond a person purposely making themselves look bad as they fast? Yes. God is against us putting on a show, because the truth is hidden and a lie is born.   If fasting is going to cause you to change outwardly it has to be a natural, not a manufactured change. 

Jesus tells us we are to NOT to appear as if we are fasting at all, why? Because the fast is a personal connection between God and the one fasting, not a public show. God doesn't want the public show He wants the genuine heart involved in fasting. 

It makes you wonder how many stopped fasting when they couldn't put on that show. Seriously. If they weren't reaping the reward of acknowledgement from other people of their supposed piety then why bother at all. They truly were NOT fasting in the way God intended.

Fasting can be an offering we make to God, a giving up of self, a self sacrifice.  Just because we fast does not mean we will automatically get any petitions we are asking of God, it's not a magic lamp effect.  David did not receive what he was desiring by his fasting, yet others fast and do receive their petitions.  It is ultimately all the WILL of God.  We must want the WILL of GOD no matter what we are seeking. It must be HIS WILL and our faith in HIS WILL over our very finite comprehension of all things.

Again Jesus says this--

Mat 6:18  ... unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Our Father sees us in all our supposedly secret acts. We don't need others to see us because that draws attention more to ourselves than to God. There is a grave danger in drawing attention to ourselves, a danger Satan loves to encourage. We are to do these things in secret so we are NOT tempted to draw attention towards ourselves taking it from God who deserves all the GLORY, all the PRAISE, all the HONOR!

In HIS amazing LOVE ALWAYS! By HIS GRACE and MERCY!

May we forgive

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

After the Lord gave us the manner in which we should pray- including this in that very well known prayer-

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

He EMPHASIZES this -

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Mat 6:15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

What does forgiveness mean?

If I forgive your debts what am I doing? I'm telling you that you no longer owe me anything, right? If I forgive your trespasses I'm forgiving what?

From Strong's dictionary-

'From G3895; a side slip (lapse or deviation) that is (unintentional) error or (wilful) transgression: - fall fault offence sin trespass. '

I'm forgiving any error you've committed, any transgression, any fall, any fault, any offence, any sin.

And if you notice the verse reads- forgive men their trespasses.  It doesn't say specifically here to forgive men their trespasses they've committed against just you.

If forgiving a debt means the debtor no longer is in debt, then forgiving a sin means that sin is no longer being held against you.

We NEED to be forgiven our sins against our God, without that forgiveness we are not reconciled to God, there is a barrier between us and God, an offence between us.  Only when the debt of sin is erased  can we be reconciled to God, we can stand before God with nothing keeping us from Him. We want God to forgive all the wrongs we commit against Him, every single wrong.  For this to be possible WE have a part to play, we have to FORGIVE OTHERS.

They won't deserve forgiveness any more than we deserve forgiveness from God.

There won't be any criteria they'll have to follow to earn our forgiveness. WE have to forgive them freely if we want to be forgiven freely. We love to put conditions on our giving others forgiveness. If they do this, if they do that, if they don't do this or that THEN we'll give our forgiveness.

IF we forgive men their trespasses, our Heavenly Father will also forgive US! 

Jesus spoke these words, they are TRUTH.

Satan will do everything he can to keep us from extending forgiveness to anyone, from the least offender, to the worst.  Satan wants us to believe that if we extend forgiveness to those who have wronged us or wrong others we know, or even those who have wronged themselves, that we are somehow telling them that what they've done doesn't matter, that they've gotten away with their act without the consequence of our un-forgiveness as a punishment.  We somehow imagine that our not forgiving others hurts that person, but truthfully it hurts only us. It hurts us not them. In some ways it hurts us more than the act whatever it was that turned us against them, making us refuse them forgiveness.  Not forgiving others lets that sin rest upon us.

Our Savior died so we could be forgiven. Our Savior tells us if we forgive others their trespasses, our Heavenly Father will forgive us.

People want to know how to be forgiven and the usually reply is to ask for it and it's given freely.  This is true, but our Savior's words to us are also true and we can't neglect them just because we don't want to think too long and hard about having to forgive others. 

Remember if someone slaps you on one cheek let them slap the other? Remember if someone sues you and takes your coat, give them your cloak too? Remember is someone wants you to go a mile with them, you go double that?  What is all this- but EXTENDING FORGIVENESS, FORGIVENESS IN ACTION.  You're hurt and while sometimes it's justified, meaning you deserved the hurt because of something you've done, other times you are hurt unjustly and whether it's one or the other- you FORGIVE, you accept more hurt if that's what the one you're forgiving wants to give you, but you FORGIVE.

We are to forgive and our Heavenly Father will forgive us.

We have to believe that we are truly owed nothing by the one who has offended us. They hurt us and we cannot change that by any anger or retribution we want to enact.  Even if we somehow manage to hurt them in return for their hurting us, or get them to pay for what they've done, does that change the initial hurt at all? Does that alter the offense? The offense was still committed and nothing can undo the committed act. You can dwell on the committed act or you can seek forgiveness.

Forgiveness is NOT deserved.

We can never deserve to be forgiven.

We cannot pay for forgiveness because if we are paying for it, then it automatically is no longer forgiveness but a debt paid by other means outside of forgiveness.

We need to forgive others and we need to do it daily, in all things, in the tiniest of offense to the biggest offense in existence.

Choosing to forgive is just that- an act of will, a decision.

There is no magic that happens when we choose to forgive someone. There isn't a choir singing around us, no fireworks go off, we receive no pats on our backs, no medals or awards for choosing to forgive another. We gain no money, no brownie points in our favor at all.  We forgive and it frees us to be forgiven in turn, but it must be a true forgiveness, born out of the love we are to give to others in loving our neighbors. God's love.

Love, forgiveness.

May we forgive, and by our Lord's grace, be forgiven.

All in HIS LOVE.

After this manner pray..

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

This prayer to pray is given right after Jesus told us NOT to use vain repetitions. 

So why is this prayer used as a vain repetition over and over and over again? Seriously.

Lot's of people know the Lord's Prayer.  But do they realize that He said these words just moments before-

Mat 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Sure you can explain it away by saying He means something totally different.  But does He? 

I'm not saying we shouldn't RECITE the Lord's prayer if that's what we want to do, but to recite it without any personal, heartfelt words of your own, what is that? Is that you really talking with God, really communicating with Him? Or are you hoping that if you repeat the words He said that it will enact some magical communication doorway between you and God?

We are to pray after this MANNER.  Pray in a like manner, pray after this fashion…  Jesus did not say, Pray exactly like this using these words and only these words. Would Jesus have wanted us to imagine that we are using special words that no matter the speaker or their intentions they force communication with God?  We are to pray like this…

To the Father in heaven whose name is HOLY, whose kingdom is paramount, whose will is to be done right here on earth just as it is in heaven where He dwells. Father in heaven give us our daily sustenance- spiritually, physically. Father forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us. Father lead us not into temptation because we know when we give in to our temptations we begin to lust and when we let lust have it's way we are full sinning. Father DELIVER us from evil.   Only You have that power, evil would keep us captive but You have the power to deliver us from that evil.  Father, YOURS is the kingdom, YOURS is the power, YOURS is the glory for ever. AMEN.

This prayer reveals that the FATHER in HEAVEN is ALL in ALL.

This prayer reveals that we are to pray only to the HEAVENLY FATHER. That He and HE alone will hear us and by HIS GRACE keep us as HIS.

This prayer reveals we have to FORGIVE others.

WE HAVE TO FORGIVE OTHERS.

And we have to forgive them ALL THE TIME and FOR EVERYTHING, for EVERY WRONG however slight or however huge it is.  We must FORGIVE, this is an active part of our lives- praying that we will be forgiven as we forgive- comprehending the impossibility of our obtaining forgiveness if we are unwilling to forgive.

This prayer reveals we will face temptation- but God is GREATER than all our temptations!

This prayer reveals we cannot deliver ourselves, we cannot save ourselves from the power of Satan, the FATHER can save us through His Son.

This prayer reveals the KINGDOM is God's and NO OTHERS.

This prayer reveals the POWER is God's and NO OTHERS.

This prayer reveals the GLORY is God's and NO OTHERS.

In all our prayers we need to recognize these things.

We need to fully realize this--

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

And this--

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Where our treasure is- there will be our hearts also.

In our prayers GOD must be all in all, His will all in all, His ways all in all, His love our all in all.

If we are going to pray for our wills to be done, we will be very sadly disappointed.  But how often do we pray just that way, desiring our will to be done. 

We pray to God but refuse to submit to Him.

We must submit to God and HIS will if we truly are praying sincerely.

There is so much we need to learn and by the GRACE of GOD we will learn, by HIS WILL! In HIS LOVE!

All in HIM!

Pray to the Father

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Prayer-

Entreat, make supplication, intercede.

When you pray.

Not IF you pray, but when you PRAY.

You WILL pray, and when you pray Jesus is telling them and us, that we aren't to pray like those who LOVE to pray in public, desiring to be seen by others. 

Prayer is talking to God- entreating God, making supplication to God, asking for intercession from God. Prayer isn't something you EVER do to be seen by others. Your relationship with God isn't something you use to impress ANYONE, ever! If we are praying in public to use that image to impress others then we are very far from knowing God, let alone truly speaking with Him. Those who USE God in this way have a reward and it's NOT the reward of eternal life with our Savior.

Mat 6:6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

When we speak with God we are to do it in SECRET.

God sees in secret.  God knows the heart of those praying, He knows their sincerity. God will reward those who do NOT pray with selfish aims.

Mat 6:7  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

If we pray NOT from the heart but using words that are void of all true meaning, void of all sincerity  then we are speaking in vain.  People who pray rehearsed prayers, prayers that are in truth VAIN repetitions- speaking the same things over and over and over again, these people will NOT be heard, they can't be heard because they aren't speaking from their hearts in any true way. They are speaking and believing that by repeating words over and over that they'll be heard, but that's NOT what God wants from us! He wants words from our HEART, words from the depths of our spirit! God wants our LOVE, not something twisted and done just to do it, without any true feeling at all.

Mat 6:8  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Our FATHER knows what we need even before we speak, before we ask.  Our FATHER knows us! HE KNOWS US! 

I love this verse--

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

This says so incredibly much!

Jesus doesn't stop this message without telling us more about prayer.  More tomorrow all by the GRACE OF GOD!

IN HIS LOVE!

Giving Secretly

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Helping others is not supposed to be about getting a pat on the back, a congratulatory note to pin on your bulletin board, a thank you card to collect, a trophy to set in a case, etc. All too often there exists a circle of people surrounding the needy causes and they vie for attention that comes from the amount of money or gifts they give to that cause. People are quick to point out that it's a great thing if it spurs on even greater gifts  for that cause, that they're the ones benefitting from all the vying for the title of most charitable, biggest heart, best giver, etc. I can't argue with the fact that the cause benefits from such behavior, but that's not the issue here.  The issue is the person giving not the cause, the issue is the REASON you are giving.

We have already been taught by Jesus just a short bit ago in the book of Matthew that GIVING is a necessary attribute of one who would follow Him.  Now in this new lesson we are being told NOT to give just to make ourselves look good, that giving in that manner isn't what is meant by giving to help others.

We are to take NO reward whatsoever for our giving, none!

How easy it is for us to tell others just how much we've helped, especially when they are going on and on about how much they've contributed. We want others to know that we aren't failing to give, and why do we want them to know that? Because we do NOT want to appear to be selfish, greedy, stingy, cold-hearted, etc. We want to be THOUGHT well of by others. We are CARING what others think about us. OUR PRIDE is rearing its ugly head and holding it high when we cannot refrain from announcing our own goodness.

Go ahead, justify your announcements.  Tell yourself and others that you are 'Just saying because…'  go ahead make up a reason, any reason at all.  You're just saying because you want others to help too and that's your way of encouraging them, you want others to realize how much you've done already and why you cannot do more.  Are either of those excuses anything but prideful, really?  Getting others to contributed based on your own contribution- that's just another way of saying HEY I GAVE NOW YOU GIVE, and you're trying to extract gifts NOT truly given freely but guilt driven from others. And to get others to understand why you can't give more than you already have- isn't that just patting yourself on the back, isn't it really to make you look like a good person in the eyes of others- making SURE they know just how charitable you are. You are caring that they comprehend you are a giver of alms, not lacking in that particular area. You are caring that they don't expect more from you. You want others to be able to say that you helped so much already.  In short you are trying to appease your need for others to believe you are very charitable otherwise why would you care at all if others knew that you helped? Isn't it truly supposed to be between you and God, no one else? Isn't it the Holy Spirit's job to convict a person to be charitable, not ours? Yes, we want the charity helped and no we can't do more than we have, but is it really our place to announce that we've done so much and can do no more? The Holy Spirit will convict a heart in ways our (even inadvertent and not meant to be bragging) trying to help cannot.

We aren't to CARE about others knowing the extent of our charitableness. IF the receiver of the alms chooses to publish your charity to others, that's one thing. But if the giver of the alms wants to publish their own charitableness, that's another thing altogether. We are NOT to draw attention to ourselves an our giving.  Our PRIDE loves being fed with accolades from others, and our pride is the last part of us we ever need to feed.

We can tell ourselves over and over that our reasons for revealing our gifts to others is a justified one and not borne out of pride at all, and maybe, just maybe it's true. But we cannot help but read these verses and have to wonder at our own motives, right?

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Mat 6:3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

Mat 6:4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Don't left our LEFT hand know what our RIGHT hand is doing!

How secret is that?!  Seriously.  We know truthfully it's impossible, but it is emphasizing just how closely we need to guard the secret of our giving, and that has to be as closely guarded as you can possibly get.

Now if your motive for doing secret alms giving is to receive rewards from God, at least you are looking for rewards from the Creator, the Redeemer, who has rewards to give that are eternal.

Told to do this so our Heavenly Father will see and reward as HE deems fit, this is a lesson we really need to learn, isn't it?

It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, you can still be selfish in your giving, you can still be prideful in your giving. Being poor is no excuse for not being charitable.  We talked about the following verses just a few days ago…

Mar 12:42  And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

Mar 12:43  And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

Mar 12:44  For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

She cast in ALL that she had- even ALL her living.

Just the other night we were talking about in reality people 'casting in ALL' they have.  'Giving up everything' to follow Jesus. 'Going and selling ALL they possess' in order to become a disciple.  And we were very quick to determine that we aren't REALLY expected to give up everything, because how then would we live?

Yet at what point do we make the cut off- of giving enough and having just enough to live by?  And how exactly do we equate this poor widow casting in ALL that she had, ALL of her living? 

This truly is a lot of FOOD for THOUGHT isn't it?

Our giving, our alms, our charity where does it come from exactly?

The ability to do so must come from our SAVIOR who gave all.  From our SAVIOR who taught that we should lay up our treasures in HEAVEN not here on earth. 

Satan would have us give selfishly, every last penny we give to the poor is stained if we are giving it with a prideful heart, with a selfish desire at its core. 

Another trick of Satan's however is trying to keep us from giving anything at all because we fear we are doing it with a prideful heart or selfishly.  Satan loves to box us in and confuse us, he'll do all he can in any way he can to get us on his side and away from our SAVIOR.

Ultimately we have to prayerfully go forward and do as we believe we are being shown to do, praying for the Holy Spirit to guide it all and teach us the way to go in CHRIST, keeping us from Satan's many, many wiles.

We cling to CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, as we comprehend over and over again how filthy our own righteousness truly is.

Please Lord, bless us. Please LORD show us the way we are to go. Please LORD help us to give alms as You desire us to, all for YOUR glory, not for our own.

In YOUR amazing love, forever!