Christmas

Childlike Faith

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Jesus loves a good party. In the Old and New Testaments are examples of good friends with good food gathered in the name of the Lord. This is the heart behind our annual GT Gala. We want to usher in Christmas by celebrating what God celebrates: Jesus.

He woke me up in the night with this year’s Gala “theme” if you will. Child-like faith. 

Being child-like might be different from our common holiday goals. Commercials, gadgets, and elvish personas promise to deliver giggles from little kids. And, to be honest, seeing their “eyes all aglow” does something to our insides. We spend a lot of money and effort so our kids get the counterfeit Christmas vibe. But let’s face it, we may or may not hit a home run.

Raise your hand if you have stayed up way past bedtime to assemble some random item. Bikes, car tracks, dollhouses, you name it. A million pieces finally come together and your kids look at the new contraption and. . . go play with the box it came in.

The Grinch taught us well.

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!,’ ”

 

The Lord told me that we think being childlike is something we grow out of. Whew. That stings. Picture the teen years. Once fun outings morph into sullen grunts and blank stares. The beaming children become bored spectators.

The Lord asked this question: Have you been talked out of your child-like wonder?

Are we eager children ready to be enthralled or are we awkward teenagers who occur more like entitled, ungrateful observers?

Jesus constantly calls us to become little children…like right now. Today.

Being Childlike starts with delight. God said that happy children are nice. But there is more.

My friends took their children to the local parade. The mom sent me a video of her 4-year-old trying to catch these huge bubbles. The joy on his face moved me. I kept watching the video. There it was. Sheer glee.

My other friend told me about strolling their almost 2-year-old through Christmas lights for the first time. Her face was beaming as she recalled her son pointing and repeating:  Wow. Wow. Wow.

Beauty does that to us all— if we let it.

God’s purpose in beauty, in surprises, in simple play, is to create moments of delight. Moments of remembering, we are all still His children.

I asked Him, “Why do You go to all this trouble to make such delights for us?”

He asked back, “Well why do you go to all the trouble to bring delight to others (ie, the Gala)?”

I stuttered for a minute. “Because we love inviting other people into beautiful moments?”

I replayed the four-year-old with bubbles and the two-year-old with Christmas lights. There was the delight of the children, but there was ALSO the delight of the moms watching their children. The dots began to connect.

The Lord enjoys us enjoying the things He has created for us to enjoy.

Can you imagine the Glowing Face of God as He laughs over the wide-eyed wonder of His kids? God enjoys us enjoying His gifts in the same way these parents enjoy their children. No needed outcome. No profit loss statements. Only for the joy it produces. 

This begs the question: Do we appreciate, adore, and enjoy His biggest gift, Jesus? It matters to God. It matters to your soul.

Another aspect of being childlike is belief.

God and I have gone through some serious challenges this year. He said He was training my Quick and Willing Yes. He wanted me to trust My Good Father whenever He asked me to do something no matter how outlandish. You can imagine, He has given me many chances to practice giving a quick and willing yes.

I see now that God wants to bless us with adventure. And. He wants us to bless Him back with our child-like response of delight and belief. A natural overflow of His life in ours.

Children believe so much easier and quicker. They don’t have all the mental noise and doubt to cloud their beliefs and thinking. You know this. Tell a child he is stupid and worthless, he believes it. Tell her that some guy in a red suit brings her gifts, she believes it. So guard your children’s ability to believe the truth and guard your own. This delights the Lord.

Jesus invited a little child to stand among them.

“Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.”

Matthew 18:1-5

 

God is inviting us to reacquaint ourselves with childlike faith. Our FAITH causes God to rejoice in the same way we marvel over children with bubbles and lights. We are joining in a Heavenly reality that brings Him deep satisfaction.

Child-like Faith produces Expectation. We believe so we become eager to receive from Him.

Let me just put this out there.

If you can teach your kids to “expect” Santa, which isn’t real, please for the Love of God, teach your children to EXPECT to Hear and receive from our GOOD GOOD Father. Teach your own heart and those around you to Delight, Believe, and Expect all the beauty of Jesus.

God said childlike faith is a superpower.

He told me if we truly understood the power of childlike faith, if we truly understood the joy of dependence on God, we would pray more because we would realize the ripple effects we all have in the lives around us.

This Christmas, remember Your Father enjoys you enjoying this beautiful life. Remember to honor and celebrate Jesus, our perfect Gift. It matters to God.

Advent Reflections Week 4: The God Who Is With Us

/ Jana

I am enamored by The Chosen series, for many reasons. It’s startling to “hear” Jesus speak the words of scripture I know so well. It makes me weep to see the heroes of our faith in their humble beginnings. Matthew the hated tax collector. Mary the possessed woman. Simon the cheating, angry man. What beautiful transformations— just like you and me. We are not who we used to be.

And yet this beautiful offering is more than stories being told in a fresh way.

There is something familiar.

The way Jesus laughs and jokes with His new followers. The firm look He gives when they ask fearful questions. His outrageous instructions on how to live in His Kingdom. The comfort, oh the comfort of His touches and embraces. He is with them in every way.

In this whole new way of living.
In the unknowns of food and shelter.
In the threats of the Romans and the religious leaders.
He is With them, just like He promised from the beginning.

With. Us.

I recognize this Jesus. The fierceness, the tenderness. He locks eyes with me and sees straight into my very being. He heals my heart with a single word of His truth. And oh, the comfort of His embrace.

All of His Kingdom is summed up in two words. Follow Me.

We can make up lots of stories about lots of noble themes. But in the end, the bottom line is whether we allowed ourselves to be deeply known and loved by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Perfect Love is the single greatest hope of change for any and all situations. His love transforms us.

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 MSG

Maybe, just maybe…give Him a present this year. Spend some time with Him.

Advent Reflections Week 3: The God Who is to Come

/ Jana

I went on a crazy rabbit trail with the Lord the other day.  About swaddling cloths. Really? Yeah.

Turns out the details matter to God and ultimately to us when He reveals them.  I have been deep diving into Garments (which will come later).  One thing led to another and the swaddling cloths came into focus where I learned two important distinctions for our Advent meditations.

Speaking of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem:
“So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths,

and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  Luke 2:6-7

The first idea is specific shepherds surrounding the birth of Jesus were Levitical shepherds. As such, they were charged with overseeing the conditions of lambs so they would be “spotless and without blemish” for the sacrifices in the temple.

According to columnist, Linda Littlefield, “when the mother ewe was preparing to give birth, she was taken to a special birth place, or to the only cave designated, to give birth to the sacrificial Iambs.

This cave was kept sterile and clean for the arrival of newborn sacrificial Iambs. The newborn lamb was immediately wrapped in clean swaddling cloths to protect them and keep them from blemish and danger.”

So when the angels declared: And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a  manger, (Luke 2) these particular type of shepherds understood from these specific instructions that they were looking for the Sacrificial Child.

Using our spiritual imaginations, we see how Jesus came as the perfect lamb and God left clues, if you will, to help us discover the beauty and wonder of our Newborn King.

Now, look at this next beautiful detail.

After Jesus laid down His life, they again laid his body in the tomb (cave) and again wrapped His body in cloths. But the cloths this time are not swaddling cloths related to sacrifices.  Instead, these cloths, in variations of the Gospels in Greek,  say Jesus was “wrapped in linen cloth.”

Hold on a minute. Linen? Linen is what the saints are dressed in in heaven. Linen robes.

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints. Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:7-8

Let your spirit connect these beautiful dots.

The swaddling cloths were for God’s only Begotten Son, the perfect lamb to be sacrificed.

The linen cloths were for the Beloved to be the first Resurrected of many brothers and sisters.

I don’t know about you. My heart about comes undone.

The God who is to Come. It was always the plan.
Talk about rejoicing.  Amen!

Let your heart worship with this song today.

Advent Reflections Week 2: The God Who Is

/ Jana

The God who IS. The One who is not created, imagined or even ignored. The great I am that I am.

In the most basic way, the Christmas story confronts my Christian story.  The Christmas story is loaded with miracles, the unexpected, the impossible. It turns our socially acceptable religion upside down. Instead of the most likes and plastic fantastics, instead of going through the motions in a powerless life, it is a babe in a borrowed manger bringing a new reality to the whole world. Instead of us having it all together, the Christmas story holds all things together. Instead of settling in my small world thinking, this new born King releases all of Heaven’s glory to me and to you.

We talked about this at the Gala. How God looked at
—the state of our marriages
—the behavior and challenges of our children
—our fear anxiety, sorrow, selfishness
—the deep, deep need to be truly loved and known
—our helpless state to truly fix all that is broken.

And He said, “I know just what they need. I have the Perfect Gift for all of this. “

Yet even in this extravagant offering, He gives us the choice to receive or not receive it. Imagine it. The very Giver of our breath gives us the choice to believe.

“It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

Christmas is an invitation to remember the Gift. To remember Wonder. To remember our faith in the God is so committed to His world that He would give His son. Not one day in heaven, but today. In the tears, sorrow, and madness of today’s world. And to remember the God who is, who rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The wise men. The shepherds. Something pulled them toward Someone greater. May your Christian story be renewed this year by the God who Is.

Enjoy this worship.

An Advent Reflection 1st Week: The God Who Was

/ Jana

We live in a world of multi-layered confusion. “Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes.” (Isaiah 59:10)  So many in and out of church ask questions about our origins, identities, purpose, and calling.

And yet a greater Truth proceeds the resounding “what about me” question.
It is the eternal matter of  I Am—the God who was.

The Ancient of days.
Before the foundation of the world.
In the beginning.

These words shift me. Much like standing on the shore to look out over a vast ocean, I am simultaneously overwhelmed with God’s bigness and my own smallness.

Whatever my life may mean, or hope to mean, whatever my list of needs or weaknesses or desires, whatever deep joy or grief I may experience, there is One who is long before me and long after. There is One whose power is plainly seen daily and whose love is revealed to any open heart.

When we read Isaiah 59 fully we see our great sin and wandering. But the chapter begins and ends with the hope of our Ever Existing, Ever Interceding, Ever Saving God.

1Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord.
“My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you,
and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips,
on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants
—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

As we approach the Christmas season, with its built-in distractions and stresses, let’s pause and breathe in the comfort of The God Who Was.

Enjoy Him in these moments of worship.

Look Full on His Wonderful Face

/ Jana

Jesus Christ is the great leveler.

He creates a level playing field regardless of who you are and where you are.

The shepherds had very little regard or wealth.

The devout carpenter and virgin teenager were simply willing to believe.

The Wise Men knew how to use their intellect and science to follow signs.

The Angels knew the greatest miracle of all was happening

What they all had in common is they personally encountered Jesus.

Not just know about him, or sign a card, or put him in a line up of greatest teachers, they encountered Him.

Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceived Jesus, then went on to deliver her deliverer.

Joseph was led in a dream to not only receive Jesus as the Son of God, but also to protect his new family in a second dream.

The shepherds had the gift of interacting with the heavenly host singing great news.

Wisemen were led by stars in the sky and also in a dream to find Jesus.

All of these God-breathed moments led them to Jesus the person.

The King. The Life changer

God moving into flesh.

I have the seed that’s been planted in my heart in recent weeks.

The notion first came from author Baxter Kruger who talks about what it meant for Jesus to come to earth. We sometimes reduce it to the forgiveness of sin. I know that language, the forgiveness of my sin and your sin, is monumental, earth-shattering.

But Kruger explains how the man in the woman in the garden, when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they lost their sight of the loving Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They lost the reality of Presence they had enjoyed up to that moment.

Now blinded, they groped for something to put in place of the true, beautiful, loving, joy-filled, all-providing God. Kruger calls their feeble but deadly replacement, Adam’s god.

Little “g” god.

With increased knowledge of good and evil, they also discovered selfishness, consumerism, hatred, evil, division, deception, lust hopelessness hiding, shame.

Truly they had “fallen” so far from the place of total love, total adoration, the total provision in the presence of the living God, the beauty of the Son, and the power of the Spirit.

God’s solution to disrupted love was to repair our sight through a newborn king. However, Jesus coming in human form did not mean that he was unscathed. God in flesh did not somehow give him a magic bullet to dodge or minimize real life on planet earth.

Our lives on painful planet earth.

Quite the opposite. He walked in our flesh and blood, he experienced our broken emotions, he was tempted to minimize and criticize, he was rejected and scorned, abandoned, wounded, all the things that you and I walk around with every single day, and yet.

The one distinction that Jesus made as his aim and intention was to experience our human brokenness and yet maintain eye contact with his loving Father.

When Jesus says “I only do what I see my father doing,” I think that means far more than we’ve ever considered. Certainly, more than I have ever considered.

Jesus stared down Adam’s little “g” god, stood in the face of all of the brokenness. By doing so, Jesus opened the way for us also to restore our ability to see, restore our connection to the loving Father. Jesus fixed our eyes so that we might maintain our connection with God, locking eyes with the one who made us, loves us, perfects us, heals, and changes us.

Kruger’s notion of Adam’s god sent me diving into the Spirit. I’ve been just swimming around in the spirit trying to unpack and ask for more understanding and revelation.

I just had to laugh because the Spirit brought me a scripture that he showed me years and years ago.

16 But the moment one turns to the Lord[a]with an open heart, the veil is lifted and they see.[b]17 Now, the “Lord” I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit,[c]and wherever he is Lord, there is freedom.

18 We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil, we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus.[d]We are being transfigured[e]into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another.[f]And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.[g]

2 Corinthians 3

We, with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord’s glory.

You, like me, have probably heard this verse many times. Heck, I have taught on it many times…

But today I want to share with you the different angle the Lord is sharing with me. We know when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the holy of holy‘s was rent from heaven to earth. Top to bottom, the veil was torn open so that we have access to the holy of holy‘s with God: intimate access, intimate connection, intimate proximity.

I love that reality and I also love the visual picture. But this scripture from Corinthian’s has awakened something different for me recently.

I previously thought that God put up that veil.

When I look through the eyes of Adam, seeing Adam’s god, I see all these fears, formalities and legalisms and rules and laws and efforts and pressure and performance.

Even in the middle of my love for God, I still see how that I sometimes put on God that he is not being who I think he should be.

As I have been listening in the spirit, I realize the veil is what I allow to come over my eyes.

When I experience fear and panic and anxiety and hatred and disgust and disappointment, I have allowed a veil to come between me and the true God.

The moment, the very instant, I turn my eyes on Jesus and look full in His wonderful face, the veil is gone and so are all of the distortions associated with Adam’s god.

The bitterness. The hatred. The smallness. The limitations.

The “I can’t, I won’t, I don’t” fades in the light of the glory of Christ.

The glory of his face, the glory of his love and connection to the Father shines through his face to me, to us.

As 2 Corinthians says, the moment one turns to the Lord with an open heart, the veil is lifted and we see. The moment we look for his face with an open heart we see the Lord and where you see the Lord, there is freedom.

Jesus prayed in John 17:

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Since Jesus gave us His glory, the glory the Father gave him, why don’t we experience more glory?

Why are we not looking for glory?

Perhaps our eyes are veiled by Adam’s god?

Whenever we see the Holy They for who they really are, the veil is taken away and we see and share their glory and we become bright like stars in a dark and perverse generation.

My invitation to you this Christmas and going forward is will you look on the face of Christ?

Lock on his eyes.

His look of love.

His look of belonging.

His look at acceptance.

His look of compassion.

I’ve been doing this little exercise with the Spirit of God as I try to embrace this revelation down in my own heart. When I feel angry or anxious or forgotten or unloved or abandoned or fearful I just hear in my heart “this is Adam’s god” and I turn back in prayer.

“Spirit lead me back to the face of Jesus.”

Chuck was praying the other morning for God to replace judging and condemning with forgiveness and generosity.

This is the stark reality between Adam’s god and the Living God.

Adam’s god is all about judging and condemning ourselves and others.

The Loving God is all about forgiving and blessing ourselves and others.

We have the opportunity to turn with an open heart, to remove the veil, and see the Lord for who he is and who he wants to be for us. All that we desire, all that our heart can stand, and all that we were born for, Jesus has revealed his glory. He has placed eternity in our hearts and eternity we will have with him. Come, Lord Jesus.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full on his wonderful face.

Remembering the Why

/ Jana

Merry Christmas from Our Greater Things House to Your House

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Friends! Just want to take a deep breath and review all the Lord has done and is doing. We prayed at New Wine Church yesterday, “Lord please don’t let us have Christmas and miss You!” He is so worthy of our praise and adoration.

Through His power and your generosity, Greater Things has discipled multiple groups, with new groups springing off of these original gatherings. The GT house has been used for ministry to inner city teens, prayer meetings, worship nights, New Wine Church, men’s group, Kingdom Moms, The Unveiling Women’s Event, and our still unnamed Wednesday Women’s group. Wink.

We had our largest Beach Retreat to date and I can truly say it was ground breaking.

In addition, God has opened up a whole new territory for us as Chuck has gone on two mission trips this year to the Middle East. God told me while Chuck was gone that he would never be the same. “Part of his heart lives there now,” the Lord said. So we are planning and learning how to love on those from different countries there and also here.

And 2020? I don’t know if you ask the Lord for a word every year, but it is a practice I began years ago under the teaching from John Dee. The how-to is ask God for a word or phrase that He wants to deposit, teach or reveal to you in the coming year. It has been incredible to see Him move in this way and how we spur one another on in the process. Let me just say for this coming year my word is a doozy. I will have to unpack it for you as I get more clarity.

Speaking of clarity, a couple of REALLLLY fun things for 2020:

1) Three books in the writing and refining process.

Whaaat? I know, that was my reaction to God’s instruction too.

It has been remarkable to see Him breathe on the dreams that I have hidden for too long.

2) Another new thing is Listen and See Podcast Not sure why this thrills my soul, but please listen in.

We are talking about topics that matter with some of my favorite people.

3) This is SUPER early announcement, but Kingdom Access School is starting in August. Please stay tuned for more about this!

Where Credit is Due

I want to give a shout out to Caroline Ervin, Sarah Mason, Hailey Keene. These women have been incredible to serve and put strength into the workings of Greater Things. Also a shout out to Jessica Counts, Laura Jones, and Beth Hungerford for the unseen ways they serve the many activities. I want to give thanks to the GT Prayer Team for their incredible intercession. And finally, a shout out to Chad Brooks, Peter Simeone, and Joanna Simeone for beautifying and keeping GT grounds. This goes without saying, but I must shine the light on Chuck Spicka for rocking it as my co-heir. I love doing this with you with Him.

There are so many others who love, give, support my crazy, and benefit Greater Things. Thank you.

You know, maybe you could take a moment to just reach out to the people who help you be you. We really can’t say “thank you” enough. God is so gracious to connect us and help us link arms so that we might advance His Kingdom together.

Okay. My last thought.

This Christmas season, God has ever so kindly asked about my offering to Him. I know we are consumed with gift-giving to others. However, the wise men brought gifts of honor to the King.

The Lord has been breaking it down like this. He is offering me the presence of His Son, fresh and new every year, and what is my response? Will I leave my duties like the shepherds to go and see? Will I treasure what’s right in front of me like Mary and ponder all that God is? Will I bring my costly gifts like the wise men and lay them at His feet because I recognize that I all I need and long for is found in Him?

God gave me this beautiful phrase yesterday: Jesus gets personal when Jesus gets personal. Ask Him and respond to Him. I truly believe these acts of devotion are life-changing.

I bless you with a rich, full of glory Christmas.

With deep love,

Jana

P.S. Just in case you haven’t heard, our giving can now be done online at greater-things.org Thank you. Our ministry is 100% donor funded so we appreciate doing this part together too.

Hilarious Generosity

/ Jana

The Giving seasons are upon us. First we’ll focus on the Giving of Thanks. Then we focus on Giving Tuesday. And then there is the great push, pressure, panic of Christmas Giving. I wanted to share what God is  brewing in my heart about His kind of giving.

Giving of Thanks. Sunday at New Wine Church we just released God Stories. My heart was so full after spending time bragging on our strong, healing, loving Father. Be sure to spend some time with someone you love and count your blessings. I mean it. Make a list and say them out loud. So good for your soul.

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Giving Tuesday.  I have an abundance of ministry emails and letters flowing into my inboxes. My own letter is going out shortly. There must be a better way to navigate all the needs.  Here is one thing to try. For every “asking” letter we receive, or social media fundraiser we read, let’s stop and pray for that ministry. Each group really does need the fullness of Holy Spirit to do what they are doing.

Christmas Giving. Maybe, just maybe, the Grinch had it right. “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store.”

I have been pondering what it means to… slow…down… a… bit… and let the Spirit teach us about how to be generous.

One of my favorite passages on giving comes from 2 Corinthians. The whole chapter is amazing. But for now let’s look at verse 7.

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

Decided.

This word fraught with freedom. We get to choose. Decide. Determine. We get to decide: who is important to us, what issue is moving us, who is feeding our soul and spirit, who is in need?    Obviously God cares THAT we give, but He also cares HOW we give.

Not Reluctant or Under Compulsion

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” NLT

God loves a person who gives cheerfully.  Let that sink in.

Are we more concerned about how we look? Do we feel guilt or pressure to give?  Or, are we motivated by love for the One who loves us, and loves that we give willingly, happily, trustingly, even cheerfully?

We love it when our kids share happily and cheerfully. I think God loves it when His kids do too.

Here is the beautiful equation about generosity. We give because God gives. We give because we trust God to refill our cups. We give because it pulls us out of unhealthy Me-syndromes. We give because we know that God does miracles with our two fish and five loaves.  We practice “hilarious generosity” because it reveals that we are overflowing with the same hilarious abundance that God has.

What do we give?

Money. Sure it’s a real thing. Giving can be a real thermometer for how well we are trusting God financially. No shame here. Just a reality check. It all comes from Him. And He never runs out. So do we feel the freedom to share our money because we know God will replenish? Just sayin’.

There are other resources that God asks us to share as well.
• Our God stories. They are like seeds that reproduce once they are shared.
• Our food, clothes, possessions can be shared. Do we really NEED all that stuff?
• Our wisdom and skills. Others may need what we carry but we have to be willing to share and to sacrifice the time, effort and comfort to give to others.
• Hope. Peace. Grace. Love.  More than cheesy Christian-ese these are tangible resources that we store up and give away to others.

I keep hearing in my spirit, “Am I willing to be hilarious generous all these things?”

Everyone is tapped out during the holidays. So it makes me question if we’re tapping into the overflow of Heaven and giving out of His abundance.

“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do. “

Listen. I get the squeeze. I am just really confronted with “God loves a cheerful giver.” So what if we give a little less out of obligation and pressure but we give a whole lot more with honesty and hilarity?

Here is more of this passage out of the Passion Translation. Enjoy it. And ask the Spirit how you are doing with generosity. May all your Giving Seasons be full of cheer and overflow.

Hilarious Generosity

6 Here’s my point. A stingy sower will reap a meager harvest, but the one who sows from a generous spirit will reap an abundant harvest. 7 Let giving flow from your heart, not from a sense of religious duty. Let it spring up freely from the joy of giving—all because God loves hilarious generosity!8 Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do. 9 Just as the Scriptures say about the one who trusts in him:

Because he has sown extravagantly and given to the poor,
his kindness and generous deeds will never be forgotten.

10 This generous God who supplies abundant seed for the farmer, which becomes bread for our meals,is even more extravagant toward you. First he supplies every need, plus more. Then he multiplies the seed as you sow it, so that the harvest of your generosity will grow. 11 You will be abundantly enriched in every way as you give generously on every occasion, for when we take your gifts to those in need, it causes many to give thanks to God.

(Quote from Dr Seuss book The Grinch)