Fw: December 13, 2012 - Unselfish Giving Is the Anecdote to Materialism - Daily Hope

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Thursday, December 13, 2012     Unselfish Giving Is the Anecdote to Materialism by Jon Walker “God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you.... Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory.” (1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT) When God gives, he holds nothing back. He gives you every spiritual blessing available in the storehouses of Heaven (Ephesians 1:3), and he meets your every need. Do you know what that means? It means you are free to be abundantly generous because God is taking care of you. He wants us to bless others on his behalf. We receive from God, then we give to others: “Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it” (1 Peter 4:10 MSG). As Pastor Rick has been teaching, God is generous, so he wants us to become generous. It is a Jesus-like characteristic. Since we belong to Jesus 24/7 and our generosity is unlimited when guided by the Holy Spirit and energized by the life of Christ within us, we need to apply more creativity to our generosity. We often complain about the superficial materialism that has overtaken Christmas. Godly generosity is the anecdote to superficial materialism. Give some serious, intentional thought to how you can be generous this Christmas season, not in the sense of excessive gift giving but rather in helping and blessing those in need. Talk About It Who are the people in your life whom God wants you to bless this Christmas? In what ways are you teaching your children or people under your influence how to be generous?   Jon Walker’s Breakfast with Bonhoeffer: Best Christian book this year!! - Jon Walker weaves the words of his own story of brokenness with the words of salvation from Jesus Christ teaches us all where our true treasure resides. … He gives us Bonhoeffer’s biblical guidance to inch closer to God, to focus on God, and make God the center of his life. By jc via Amazon. This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.   Choose Joy Why are some people - even in the toughest times - always filled with joy, while most of us can't seem to find lasting joy no matter how hard we search? Do joy-filled people know something we don't? The answer is yes! And in her warm, candid style, Kay Warren shares that life-transforming truth with you. MORE   Love Powered Parenting While there are many helpful tips that can help you sustain the role of mom and dad, none surpass Jesus' greatest teaching about love, where we find the foundation, encouragement, and lasting power that every parent needs. MORE Missed out on one of the Daily Devotionals? View the online archives. Did someone forward this Daily Devotional to you? Get your own free subscription to The Purpose Driven Connection Daily Devotional, your daily inspiration via email. Follow Us: Follow Pastor Rick on facebook and Twitter. You can unsubscribe at any time by changing your e-mail preferences. http://profile.purposedriven.com/managesubscriptionssimple.aspx?eid=E9D4E5A