Overcoming the Deceitfulness of Riches, Part 5: Giving

(Matthew 13:22 NKJV) “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”

Throughout this series of books, we have been absorbed in a detailed look at Jesus’s apprenticeship program. He chose, called, and trained twelve disciples to take over and to multiply the ministry mission on which his Father sent him.

Jesus began his apprentices in their leadership training by having them follow and watch him; then he taught them in his classroom; he trained them some more on the job as the did the work together. The Master next assessed and corrected them through some supervised assignments and missions (I watch you). Then, before their final commissioning and sending, he needed to teach and train them some more in the finer points of how his kingdom and ministry should work.

We are currently in Jesus’s second classroom-style teaching, where he gave his apprentices irreplaceable, priceless keys about how God’s kingdom works. This is found in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. His first installment was the parable of the sower. In it, he reveals the way to blessing through full multiplication of God’s word—when it is sown, grown, and matured in our hearts.

However, Jesus also reveals that Satan has a plan to stop God’s word from dominating the world; he tries to prevent it from coming to harvest through the soil of the human hearts into which God sows it.

Our enemy has six blessing-blockers:

? He steals the word-seed that lands on hard earth;

? He probes for rocky hard places in the heart through persecution and affliction that arises for the word’s sake. The rocks prevent the seeds taking root, and thus they wither. If rocks are not already present, he provides every reason for the shallow believer to create some in their heart.

? He tries to overwhelm kingdom growth by introducing some cursed thorns (weeds) to choke God’s seeds enough to prevent their fruitful multiplication: the cares of this life; the deceitfulness of riches; and the lusts of other things entering in.

We are currently looking at how to overcome the deceitfulness of riches. Today, the topic is giving. If the enemy can get us to harden our heart in any area where giving is concerned, he can prevent the harvest that God says we can have—if we fully trust our heavenly Father and his word.

? “God is love” (1 John 4:8 KJV).

? Love isn’t always, “me first!” (1 Cor. 13:5 MSG).

? Jesus said, “Give …” (Luke 6:38 KJV).

? The apostle Paul quotes Jesus as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35 KJV), and

? He reveals from the Holy Spirit that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7 NKJV).

? God the Father is the role model in giving: he “loved the world so much that he gave …” (John 3:16 NLT).

Clearly, God’s way is unselfish giving; God gave, and he wants us to give. He said that giving is sowing, and that whatever a man sows is what he shall reap (Gal. 6:7). God understands and lives by this unalterable law; he sowed his only begotten son, believing that he would reap many more of the same kind and quality. Correspondingly, Jesus described himself as a seed—a seed that God sowed into the earth, with the objective of harvesting multiplied sons and daughters for his Father:

(John 12:23–25 EMTV) But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. (24) Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (25) He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it for eternal life.”

This has certainly proved to be true; since Jesus’s victorious death and resurrection, Father God has reaped billions of begotten sons and daughters—begotten through the incorruptible word (spora) of God:

(1 Peter 1:23 EMTV) having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

(1 Corinthians 4:15 MKJV) For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

God wants us to be like him in every way; and in particular, he wants us to be like him in giving and generosity. What’s more, he wants us to focus our thoughts on giving where finances are concerned: giving is love’s way; giving is sowing; and sowing is the only pathway to reaping. After all, the foundational principle God describes in the parable of the sower is that whatever is sown has the potential of producing a harvest. God is a giver/sower, and he wants us to be one too.

What do you want to reap? If you need finances, the plowing, sowing, nurturing, protecting, and then reaping process may not be the fastest way to get money; but it is the most sure and lasting way. Today, you can defeat the “deceitfulness of riches” that Satan uses to thwart God’s harvest ... by giving and generosity. What can you give today? Who is the Holy Spirit prompting you to give it to?

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