Give, and you will receive

Luke 6:38 says, in the New Living Translation, "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. ”

One of the gifts GOD has laid on this servant is the gift of exhortation. Those of you who share this mantle know that the enemy comes against us more often than others with darts of depression, attacks of despair, slings of criticism, barbs of hurts, bombs of insecurities, bullets of rejection, and countless other weapons of offenses to make us move backward and not fulfill our purpose. There have been many a day when I've given in to the flesh, taken my eyes off JESUS and focused on the problem, but then I'm reminded that I am not alone in this and that GOD has me surrounded by angels on every side and that it is HE WHO fights my battles for me.

I am not a "Mary Sunshine," far from it, but when I hear, see or sense another being beaten down, that gift is stirred up, and no matter what I'm facing in my own life, I am compelled to encourage that dear one to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to let them know that someone is here who is willing to listen or just to let them know that they did not just "fall into a void."

This stirs up the WORD within me that has been deposited by wise men and women of GOD over the past decades, the WORD that is written on my heart and worn around my neck with pride. It then encourages my own spirit to keep moving forward and accomplish GOD's plan for me in HIS grand scheme, until HE sends JESUS to come get me.

I encourage anyone who reads this to do the same. Whenever you're feeling down, use GOD's accounting system: if you need something, give it away, because in many days, that bread that you cast on the waters will return to you. And don't give grudgingly or stingily because that's exactly what you'll receive. Give cheerfully and amply, because the more room you make by giving of yourself, the more room you'll have to receive what The LORD has been waiting to pour into you. And on days when I'm feeling really up, I can pour out of the abundance of joy and share with others and bring a smile, a laugh, and blow on a guttering ember.

One other thing, while you're encouraging another, this will keep your focus off your own situation, and give The HOLY SPIRIT time and space to work on it for you without your interference...

Be abundantly blessed!

The Psalmist