Gratitude and Generosity | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life Teaching
Gratitude and Generosity | Joyce Meyer | Enjoying Everyday Life Teaching
On this episode of Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer shares biblical stories that inspire generosity. Learn why it is better to give than to receive.
Follow Joyce:
Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives.
With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way.
You know, every morning, you should give all of you to God. God, I give you my mind.
I give you my mouth. I give you my hands. I give you my feet.
Serve god with your whole life.
I do what I do because I’ve seen god’s power for my own life, and he will do it for you.
The key to everything is found in god’s word.
I’m Joyce Meyer, and I believe that god can heal you everywhere you hurt.
Well, thank you for joining me today for enjoying everyday life.
You know, the word of god is full of things that we are told to do or not to do, that put us in a position if we obey them of really being able to enjoy our everyday life.
And one of those things is to be thankful instead of murmuring and grumbling and complaining and fault finding.
To look for things to be thankful about.
I’m gonna teach again today on how being thankful causes you to be generous.
We need to remember how powerful Thanksgiving is. The power of thank you.
There’s weakness in complaining, but there’s power and gratitude.
Today, I wanna talk to you about how a grateful person is also a generous person.
And I don’t know about you, but I think that generosity is absolutely beautiful.
And, you know, god is a generous god.
One of his names in the old testament was El Shaddai, And that means the god of more than enough.
God never does just what he barely has to do to get by but he always does more than enough, and I think that we should be the same way.
John Bunion said you have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.
I love that. I love all the giving that I do to help preach the gospel, but I love to be a blessing to people.
So many people in the world are hurting.
So many people, really, to be honest, never have any anyone give them anything.
I mean, I’ve done things for different people that are not even believers and had several of them say nobody’s ever done anything like this for me.
In my whole life. And, you know, in our Christian community, we are accustomed to blessing one another in giving, but We’ve got a whole world full of people out there that that’s a whole new concept to them.
And I think one of the ways that we can actually spread the gospel is by getting out in the world and just living the life that Jesus has told us to live.
And one of the things that he has constructed us to do is to be generous.
God is very generous to us, And while we’re generous to other people, I believe it shows that we are thankful for what god has done for us.
I believe there’s a very close connection between a person who has a grateful heart and a person who has a generous heart.
When I have my prayer time in the morning, it always includes an abundance of thankfulness.
For my blessings. I start wanting to do something for somebody else as soon as I do that.
I’m telling you, I mean, it’s the absolute truth.
When I the more thankful I get, the more I wanna do something for somebody else.
I’ll start praying for god to show me somebody something that I can do for somebody else.
And I can tell you, I spent most of my life not being like that.
And I believe that a thankful person is a happy person and a generous person is a happy person.
God is a giver.
And when you respond to him by giving to others, it puts a smile on his face and a smile on yours.
Acts 2035 says in everything I did. I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the week remembering the words, the lord Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Think about that. We all love to get things.
Sadly, most of our prayers are full of things that we would like god to do for us.
But how about when you pray asking god to show you what you have that you can give away?
Or to show you what you can do for somebody else that day to put a smile on their face.
Once again, the world is full of hurting people. And we need to be doing things for other people.
You don’t have to wait for something good to happen to you before you start being good to somebody else.
You can actually start the cycle going in your life of being good to somebody else first.
And I can tell you you can never out give god.
He said that he would give us seed to sow and bread to eat.
That means that god will give us what we need for our own lives but he’ll give us an abundance of other things and and finances that we can always be a blessing to other people.
Live a lifestyle of giving. Live to give. What does science say about gratitude.
I always get such a big kick out of this when science comes up with something that the word of god has already said for forever.
They have studied gratitude for 2 decades.
That’s 20 years and have discovered that it has value and benefits. Gee.
I think god told us that already.
Science says being thankful makes you happier, promotes better sleep, keeps us healthier and makes us more generous.
Wow. I read a story about a blind boy who sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.
He held up a sign that read I am blind, please help me.
There were only a few coins in his hat.
A man came by and changed his sign to read.
Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it.
His hat soon began to fill up Both signs spoke the truth by saying the boy was blind.
But the second sign conveyed to everyone how grateful they should be because they could see.
When he said today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.
Then people suddenly realized, well, I can see it, and that made them want to help him.
Realizing that they were blessed made them want to give. Thankfully people want to give. Luke 18139.
I love this story. Jesus entered Jericho was passing through, and a man was there by the name of Zacias.
And he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
And the Bible also says that he was short. He wasn’t very tall.
And there was a big crowd, and he couldn’t see over the crowd, and he knew Jesus was coming, and he really wanted to see him.
And so he climbed up the Sycamore fig tree in order to be able to see him because Jesus was coming that way.
And I thought about that for a little bit last night, and thought about some of the trees out in my backyard.
And, you know, climbing a tree wouldn’t be all that easy.
Maybe a ten year old kid could climb up a tree pretty easy, but I think I’d have a tough time climbing a tree at this stage in my life.
So Zack Keeas put some effort into wanting to see Jesus. He was determined.
When Jesus reached the spot where Zacaeus was, He looked up.
Now why did Jesus look up at that particular point?
Something in that man’s spirit, touched something in Jesus’ spirit that caused him to see Zacias.
And when he saw him, he said, Zacias come down, do it immediately, because I must stay at your house today.
Wow. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
And all the people saw this, and they began to mutter and to murmur.
Just exactly what I’m talking about today.
They’re complaining because Jesus is gonna go to his house and not go to their house.
Why not be thankful? God, it’s so awesome that you’re gonna go to Zack Kias’ house.
Thank you for being a blessing to him.
He had gone to be the guest of a center, and they didn’t approve.
But Zakiya stood up and said to the lord, now listen to this.
Look lord, here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor.
And if I’ve cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.
Now you see, Zackias was a tax collector and they were probably among some of the most hated people.
Tax collectors had a certain amount of money that collect for the Roman government, but then they could tack on more and keep it for themselves.
And so most of them were very crooked, and they were, thieves and people just hated the tax collectors.
Well, apparently, Zacius was kinda tired of living life the way he was.
We don’t know exactly what caused him to change, to want to see Jesus.
But whatever happened between him and Jesus, something touched him And he’s the first thing that Zakius wanted to do after Jesus touched his life was he wanted to start giving.
Now I don’t know about you, but I think that is awesome.
Let me ask you a question.
Maybe you have to think about it for a while.
Are you generous or are you stingy?
Do you go the extra mile and give all that you can, or do you give the least amount that you feel like you can to satisfy God.
You know, I believe that we should give as much as we possibly can.
Zachias must have been tired of living the way that he was.
And I tell you a lot of people when they come to Christ, they’re tired of living the way that they’ve been living.
And what he does for us is amazing.
And I’ll just be honest with you and tell you, if if you’re saved, if Jesus has saved you, And you just still don’t wanna be a giver.
You have no generosity in you.
Then you probably need to go back and talk to god again because I don’t see how we could not if we’re thankful for what god’s done in our lives, going.
If we are thankful for what God has done in our lives, how can we not want to give?
Most churches are conferences you go to when they receive offerings, they call them love offerings.
And that’s really what they are.
When we give, we’re showing our love for god, We’re showing our love for other people, and we should be very happy to do it.
Offering time and a service should be one of the most joyous parts of the service.
A lot of people use the offering time as a time to go to the bathroom or go get a drink of water.
We should be very respectful to offering time and be as generous as we possibly can.
Aster is another good example in the Bible.
Aster had successfully saved her people from the wicked hamon who had a plan to have all the Jews killed.
And god raised Esther up for such a time as this, her uncle said, and it’s a long story.
I can’t tell you the whole story, but By being obedient to god, she was able to save her whole entire nation of people.
And it was such a joyous occasion.
And so they set the 14th 15th day of the month of ADAR which we don’t have that month anymore, but that’s what they called it back then.
As a day for celebration and for feasting.
So every year, on the day when they had been delivered from their enemies, they feasted and they celebrated.
And guess what else they did?
They sent gifts to one another, and they sent gifts to the poor.
I love that. God saved them.
And the first thing they wanted to do, I were told to do was once a year celebrate and send gifts to one another and send portions to the poor.
Let me say it again. If you’re thankful for what God has done in your life, if you’re really thankful for what he’s done in your life, Don’t take it for granted.
Maybe you’ve been saved so long. You you don’t even realize anymore what a blessing it is.
Just think about what Jesus has done for you.
And don’t just think about it once a year on Easter or Christmas, but think about it every day.
And it will make you a generous person.
Giving to others was one of the ways that the Israelites celebrated what God had done.
In their life. What if every year on the date that you gave your life to Christ?
Say you gave your life to Christ on January 20th some year.
Well, what about if every year on January 20th, you celebrate it.
And you sent gifts to somebody, or, or just a gift to somebody.
And you sent something to the poor.
Oh, that would make the devil mad if we did that.
You know, we don’t even wanna take the time to celebrate our birthdays.
Let alone remembering to celebrate the things that god has done in our life.
I tell you god has done so much for me. I was such a horrible mess.
When god got hold of me, and what he has done for me, how he has changed me, the life he has given me, I think it’s worth being generous to other people as a way of saying thank you to god.
God often instructed the Israelites to celebrate.
Times each year where they had been delivering. He had done special things for them.
What about some of men and women in the Bible that were generous.
You know, Abraham was a very generous man.
A lot was his nephew, and he had helped lot And god blessed them both so much that they had so many cattle that for them to all try to feed their cattle on the same land was causing problems between their herdsmen.
The Bible says that there was strife between their herdsmen.
And Abraham went to law, and he said, you choose whichever portion of the land you want And I’ll take the part you don’t choose.
Well, Abraham didn’t need to do that. He was the older man.
He was the one who had helped lot lot woulda had nothing if it wouldn’t have been for Abraham.
And sure enough, lot chose the best portion of the valley, which left Abraham with the part that wasn’t as good, But you know what?
God took him up on a high place, and he said, look around you, North, Southeast And West.
And however far you can see, I will give that to you. You cannot outgive God.
He was generous to his nephew when he did not have to be.
And god said, now I’ll give you everything that you can see. Joseph was generous.
His brothers treated him so cruelly They threw him into a pit, sold him to slave traders, and told his father that a animal, a wild animal had killed him, and He he just had so many unfair things happen in his life.
He became a a servant in potifer’s house.
In Egypt and potipur’s wife took a liking to Joseph and wanted him have sex with her, and he refused because he was a man of god.
And because he refused, she lied about him, and he ended up in prison for 13 years for something he didn’t do.
While he was in prison, he helped a baker and a butler get out of prison by interpreting a dream.
And he said, remember me when you get back in the palace. Well, they didn’t remember him.
They forgot all about him. But you know what? He didn’t get bitter. He didn’t get resentful.
He didn’t murmur, he didn’t complain. He just kept being a man of God.
You know, we need to learn that no matter what anybody else does, our job is to keep doing what’s right.
Come on. Somebody needs to hear that today.
No matter what somebody else is or is not doing for you, your job is to keep doing what’s right.
And if you keep doing what’s right, even when the right thing is not happening to you, god will in due time reward you And when he does, it is going to be something outstanding that nobody else could have done for you.
Well, Joseph Eventually, did get out of prison by interpreting a dream that the King had.
And long story short, he eventually became, like, 2nd in control in all of Egypt.
The only person that had any more power than him was Fair himself.
And a famine was coming, and Joseph being a wise man had stored up grain enough that would last through the 7 years of famine that God had warned him about in this dream.
And Farrell put him in charge of distributing this grain.
Well, his family, his father, and his brothers, lived a distance away, But they knew that the only grain that was available was in Egypt.
So they came to Egypt to get some grain.
Well, they had to go before Joseph to ask for this claim, but they didn’t know it was Joseph.
They didn’t recognize him, but he recognized them.
And boy, what an opportunity he had to get them back for what they did to him?
Sometimes we delight in that, don’t we?
Somebody did something awful to us, and now they need help and It’s our opportunity to get them back.
Don’t ever do that. God does not want you to do that. He God is your vindicator.
Always walk in love with people no matter what they’ve done to you and pray for them, pray for them to be blessed.
And then when you do that, you open up the door for god to do great things. In your life.
And listen to what Joseph said. He said, don’t be afraid of me.
Am I in the place of god?
You intended to harm me but god intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, which is the saving of many lives.
In other words, Joseph is saying You did something terrible to me, and you, you thought you were harming me, but actually, you were doing something that turned out good because God used what you did.
He used the evil thing that you did.
To put me in a position where I could be in a place to save many, many people.
What’s one of our favorite scriptures in Romans 828?
All things work together for good to those who love god and are called according to his purpose.
Joseph was a generous man. He fed them.
He told them that he would take care of them. They didn’t have to worry.
They didn’t deserve it, but he did it. That’s what a generous person does.
They don’t just give to people who deserve it. They give, to be honest, because they have to.
I kinda feel like at this point in my life, I have to give. I am not happy.
If I don’t get to give. You know, every morning, you should give all of you to God.
God, I give you my mind. I give you my mouth. I give you my hands.
I give you my feet. I wanna do what you want me to do.
I wanna go where you want me to go. I wanna say what you want me to say.
I wanna think what you want me to think. Sir of god with your whole life.
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna help support Jesus’ ministry. And his disciples out of their own money.
Do you know the way we use our money says a lot about how thankful we are for the life?
That we have. 2nd Corinthians 9, 6, and 7 says the point is this.
Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully.
Each one must give us he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion.
For god loves a cheerful giver, hallelujah. God loves a cheerful giver.
Under the old covenant, they had many different types of offerings.
And one of the offerings that they had was called a thank offering.
And at different times, throughout the year, they would bring a special gift to god just to say thank you for what you’ve done for me.
Well, we don’t live under the old covenant anymore, but we certainly can learn from some of their example.
And I think it would be great if you would go beyond your tie, that your regular offerings, or whatever you’re used to doing, and just occasionally give a thank offering to God.
A special offering to say thank you God for what you have done in my life.
Every month, I set aside a certain amount of money at the beginning of the month that I wanna give throughout that month to people in need are people who need a blessing.
You know, somebody doesn’t have to be poor to need a blessing.
You might know a rich person that still needs a blessing.
Show your show your gratitude. By being generous.
I believe that gratitude, thankfulness, and generosity go together.
And I can tell you the more generous you are the happier you’re gonna be Winston Churchill said we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
