God has given every person a Spiritual Gift, or a Supernatural Ability, to help other people. To some, God gave the gift of supernatural generosity. The truth is, we serve a God who is very generous to us, and when the Holy Spirit fills your heart, he opens your hand to be generous to others.
GENEROSITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH
In Acts 4:29-35, we see that when God inspires unity and generosity among a Holy Spirit-filled Church, miracles can happen! In this Scripture passage, we see that the Holy Spirit entered the believers and miracles began to break out. People were healed, and many were turning away from sin to live for Jesus. Verse 33 says "And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them."
The early Church in the book of Acts shows us that living in unity with other believers had an interesting effect: Generosity! Their unity and obedience to the Holy Spirit allowed the early church to open their hands and share everything they had.
3 WAYS YOU CAN START EXERCISING GENEROSITY
Do you have an abundance mindset like the early Church did, or a scarcity mentality that holds on to what you have? These Spirit-filled believers with an abundance mindset believed everything they had belonged to God - and as a result, they were happy to share. Contrast that to a scarcity mentality, which means you hold on to everything you have, because you believe there isn't enough to go around. But when the Holy Spirit moves in a Believer's heart - when you experience how truly generous God is - You can't help but respond with generosity.
If the Holy Spirit is moving your heart to start practicing generosity more intentionally, here are three ways you can begin.
#1: RETURN THE TITHE BACK TO GOD
First, you can start tithing. The practice of tithing means that you keep 90% of what God gives you and you return 10% back to Him to build up the Church, the body of Christ. If you've fallen away from Tithing or stopped giving due to difficult financial times, you can start exercising generosity again. If 10% is too much in this season, start small with 3% or 5%. The point is to faithfully give back a portion of what God has so generously given to you. If the Holy Spirit is leading you to start tithing, you can give online at LiquidChurch.com/Give.
#2: SHARE AN OFFERING
Second, you can give an offering, which by definition is anything above and beyond your tithe. When you see someone in need and the Spirit speaks to your heart, you can give an offering. Tithes show your obedience and love for God, while offerings show your heart and love for others.
#3: GIVE FROM YOUR GAINS
Last but certainly not least is Supernatural Generosity - a giving from your gains. Acts 4:34-35 says "For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet." In our world today, this would be the equivalent of selling stocks or crypto or whatever your financial investments are to give from your wealth. That's supernatural generosity, and a powerful way you can advance God's Kingdom right here on Earth!
Maybe you've been blessed in this season and God has entrusted you with much. Pray about investing in a spiritual portfolio with an eternal ROI! If you go to LiquidChurch.com/Give, you'll see there are new buttons there to help you simply and securely give stock or give crypto. All you do is click the button, enter your email and it will send an encrypted code to your phone so you can easily give directly from your mobile device. If the Holy Spirit is leading you to make that kind of Spiritual Gift, you can also check out answers to Frequently Asked Questions - just click here.
However you give or whatever you give, it's because of your generosity that lives are being changed! So, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you this week as you take steps to exercise generosity.