MEMORISE: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Genesis 14:20

READ: 2 Corinthians 9:1-7:

For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

3 Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

MESSAGE
I have a close friend who was the president of a country.

One day, I said to him, “You’ve been president for almost seven years, and you’ve never given me anything since.”

He looked at me and said, “You’ve never asked.” I replied, “Friends don’t ask. If we are friends, I don’t need to ask you. A friend gives to his or her friend without him or her asking.”

When lovers are in a courtship and there is no exchange of gifts between them, no matter how small, that love might just be questionable because one of the major ways of demonstrating love is by giving (John 3:16).

Many people claim to be God’s friends, but from their reaction when it comes to giving to God, you will realise that they are not.

Real friends of God will not wait until an announcement is made for offerings to be made to God before giving to Him.

Real friends of God will constantly look for ways to give to Him because of how much they love Him.

I recall a time that I went to minister at a church some years ago, and everyone in the congregation was looking so radiant.

By looking at them, you could tell that God had really blessed them. I was thinking about how blessed they were when the minister on the altar said, “It’s offering time.”

You could see the joy in the auditorium as they all clapped and shouted.

Then, God told me, “This is why I have blessed them so much; they give to me cheerfully.”

Those who are always happy to give to God, and who don’t need to be cajoled or asked before they do so, always enjoy abundant blessings.

God sees them as His genuine friends, so He also doesn’t wait for them to ask before giving to them.

David was a man who always wanted to give to God. He said in 1 Chronicles 21:24 that he would never give God anything that costs him nothing.

As a result, God said that He had given him everything he ever wanted and that if he wanted more, He would have given him (2 Samuel 12:8).

He never let him lack anything because he was His friend indeed.

God never asked Abraham for a tithe in Genesis 14:20 before Abraham gave it to Him.

Nowadays, even after God has said that we should bring tithes into His house (Malachi 3:10-12), some Christians still argue about whether they should pay tithes or not.

Such Christians are only pretending to be friends of God.

REFLECTION
Are you really a friend of God?

HYMN 11: I’VE FOUND A FRIEND IN JESUS

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Mark 4-5