The Prophetic Word - Day 25: Give freely.

“Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬, ‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus told a compelling parable about a servant who was forgiven a large amount of debt by a king. The king was going to lock him up until the debt could be paid, but the servant begged him to have mercy on him, which he did.

The thing is, when that forgiven servant went out from there he found someone who owed him money; and, although that person begged for mercy, he had him thrown in jail.

Unfortunately for the servant who had been forgiven, some of the other servants—seeing this—went and told the king what the forgiven servant had done to his fellow servant. And, That didn’t turn out well for him.

“Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭32‬-‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Obviously, our Lord was not trying to veil the meaning He intended: If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven.

Actually, the principle of reciprocity is easily extended to other areas: Whatever we’ve been given by the Lord, if we don’t do the same for our brothers and sisters, we will pay the price.

Additionally, once at a banquet, the Lord spoke of the importance of doing for those who cannot do anything for you in return.

“Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The bottom line is, we have not earned anything the Lord has given us. Therefore, we have no right to pick and choose to whom (or whether or not) we will dispense the gifts given to us by the Lord.

In our opening scripture we see the Lord explicitly commanding that because we have received freely from the Lord, we should also give freely to those (in the household of faith) who are in need in some way or another.

It’s sad to say, but there are people—having been forgiven by God of great offenses—who will hold much lesser offenses against others.

As well, there are people who would never pray for the healing, deliverance, and salvation of their enemies. In fact, they may express their sentiment toward those they abhor by relegating them to hell!

Yesterday we discussed the fact that what we give is what has first been given to us by the Lord. Therefore, we can be confident of being able to minister those things to others as it’s not coming out of our own storehouse, separate and apart from the Lord.

With that, let us remember: If you want to keep the flow of good things coming from your Heavenly Father, they must flow through you as a spring, and not stop with you, like a dam!

“Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. People curse those who hoard their grain, but they bless the one who sells in time of need.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭11‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#ThePropheticWord