Gathering together at church, with other believers, is important. The gifts of the Holy Spirit edify the person using the gift, but when other believers see someone using their gifts, it edifies the body of Christ.

Today, we are in 2 Samuel 4:4, the account of Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of King Saul. When Jonathan and Saul were both killed, Mephibosheth was 5. His nurse heard the news and hurried away but she dropped Mephibosheth and he became crippled. Have you ever dropped something? Our first children were twins. With twins, both mom and dad are on all the time. When our girls were newborn, I fell asleep feeding Ava, our first born twin. My hands went limp and Ava rolled off my chest onto the floor. She is ok - graduated in the top of her class this year. It wasn’t intentional. She is precious and valuable to me, but I fell asleep. We do this in life. There are things we drop or lose unintentionally because we fall asleep or lose focus. 

Mephibosheth wasn’t dropped intentionally. But he was crippled, and as he grew, he tried to figure out where he fit in. We can relate. Even in our adulthood, we can still be the proverbial middle schooler, walking in with our lunch, trying to see where we fit, where we belong. Well, you belong here, in the body of Christ. It doesn’t matter your level of faith. Grace is the foundation of Christianity and the essence of salvation. We are broken, but God is perfect and beautiful. We are all broken in common and we are all blessed in common. 

In 2 Samuel 9:1-13, King David asks if there is any member of Saul’s house he could show kindness to for his best friend Jonathan’s sake. The servant Ziba told David that Jonathan had a son. He didn’t use his name but he described his problem; he was messed up and broken. The king said “Where is he?” Ziba was thinking, maybe if the king knew Jonathan’s son was broken, he wouldn’t want him. But even in Mephibosheth’s brokenness, the king still wanted to know where he was. We pull ourselves away from others, even our God, in our brokenness and pain.  But, we have a king who wants us even though we are broken. 

Mephibosheth was presented to King David and bowed low, probably thinking it was the end of his life as he once was a rightful heir to the throne. But the king said “Do not fear.” Mephibosheth was positioned for one last plea for mercy. But David had planned kindness for him. A lot of us are in a dark place, far from knowing our value and worth in Christ, but the King (Jesus) calls us to Himself.

David restored all Saul’s lands to Mephibosheth and invited him to sit at the King’s table - always. Mephibosheth asked why. He had the mindset of a poor and disabled orphan, a dead dog. He couldn’t forget that he was broken and ashamed of who he was. Can you relate?  Don’t excuse yourself from the King's invitation. 

Church is not a place for perfect people. Don’t walk through the world looking for evidence that you fit in or have worth. Know who you are in Christ. Sometimes we look backward while trying to run forward and it cripples us. Do not negotiate who you are with another person and lose yourself that way, crippling yourself in the process. As long as you’re good with God, you’re good. 

We each have scars. It’s not our fault. We were just dropped. Some are more broken than others. We have scars all over. But, scars show we made it through, that we were not defeated. Thomas asked Jesus to show him the scars on His hands and side. He wanted to see victory. It was not doubt, it was destiny. 

If you’re hurt and broken, you can be restored and receive help. Ephesians 2:3 is the truth, that we were born with evil natures, under God's anger like everyone else. We are beat up on the outside but no one can destroy what’s on the inside. God did great things with Moses the murderer, Rahab the prostitute, Saul the Christian killer and Peter the Denier of Christ. He can do great things with us. 

Church is community in your life. In community, when I fall, my friends, brothers, and pastors will catch me. Do you know where I meet my friends, brothers and pastors? At church! Insecurities would keep you from building relationships, but you have to have relationships to stay safe. We stay outside because we’re afraid of what our past reflects on us. But, it is not our past that disqualifies us. Mephibosheth was able to come into the king’s presence because of who his father was. It’s your father that leads you into your destiny. David invited Mephibosheth because David wanted to bless Jonathan's family. Romans 5:17-19 states we are provided abundantly with grace and righteousness because of Christ. You do not have to live in the shadow of your past or generational curses. 

Before you accept Christ, your spirit is dead. Jesus came to make dead things alive. There’s a place for you in the house of God whether you are broken, blessed, lame or living large. Mistakes and shortcomings accepted. You belong here. We’ve got a seat for you at the table. Your damage doesn’t define you. God has a plan and purpose for your life. It didn’t matter who Mephibosheth was. It mattered who his father was. Damaged doesn’t mean undeserving. Mephibosheth was seated at the king's table. When he sat down, his brokenness was covered because his lameness was in his feet. Come sit at the table so that everything that is wrong with you is covered. The name Mephibosheth means “idol breaker, exterminator of shame”. Like a crumpled box that has been mishandled in shipment, you are “Damaged but Still Deliverable”.  What is on the inside is still a tr

Today, I will continue my series about habits. I am introducing habits that we don’t often think of and this week I wanted to talk about the habit of excellence. Excellence is doing the best you can with what you’ve got. The key is to treat what you own and live your life with excellence - make it a lifestyle.

You may have noticed, it is very easy to be a mediocre person. All you have to do is make no extra effort of any kind and drift through life making no difference in the world. But if you will dare to form the habit of being excellent in all that you do, you will be a bright light in the darkness, which is exactly what God has called you to be. God is excellent and we were created in His image. So if we are to reach our full potential in Him, then we also must choose to be excellent. 

Excellence is not perfection. I read somewhere that the pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy, but the pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a waste of time. There’s a big difference. Striving for perfection can make you feel like a failure and actually, procrastination can result from being a perfectionist. Fear of falling below the expectations of people paralyzes progress.Do your best and trust God to do the rest.God wants us to always grow and make progress, but He is never angry with us because we have not yet arrived. 

To be excellent means to do a little more than you might have to do to get by. When we compromise, it means that we do less than we know is right or proper. Go the extra mile, but don’t take on more than you should in order to properly do what you’ve committed to. Making the commitment to be habitually excellent and following through on your commitments will be very rewarding. Pursuing excellence won’t be easy at first, but eventually it will become a habit.

Develop a system to pursue excellence. I suggest making five signs that simply say “excellence” and put them in places where you’ll see them several times a day. I also believe strongly in the power of verbal confession to help you form a new image of yourself. Try saying these things out loud daily, even multiple times a day. “I do what I do with excellence.” Then expand your confession. “I am an excellent person. I do my work with excellence. I take excellent care of myself and all that I own. I treat people excellently. I think excellent thoughts and I speak excellent words.”

The confessions that you make, which may be totally by faith in the beginning, will help you to remember to do things with excellence and also change how you see yourself. Once you see yourself as being excellent, it will not be a struggle to do what you do with excellence.Remember, habits are developed through repetition, so when you form the habit of excellence it will help you break the habit of mediocrity.

We know in our hearts if we are truly doing the best that we can do, if we are giving it our all. If we are not, then we should make a decision to adjust and move toward excellence. Let’s always do our best not just for significance or praise from others or for worldly promotion, but let’s do all that we can do to glorify God and live an excellent life for Him. I believe He will reward us for our excellence.

The excellence lifestyle starts small, right where you are. Put things back where you got them. Return the grocery cart to its spot in the parking lot. Pick up the trash on the floor.Excellence is a lifestyle… and I believe it’s part of a godly lifestyle.

Ask yourself…

• How often do you compromise and take the easy way out?
• Do you keep your commitments?
• Do you drift along in life or are you pressing toward the best?
• Do you always tell the truth?

I could keep adding to that list but I think you get the point that I’m trying to make. We will never get where we want to be unless we truthfully admit where we are right now. Start making the choices and facing the truth and the truth will set you free.

When we are excellent we feel better about ourselves. I found the reward of excellence is peace, peace I receive when I make an effort to do things the way they should be done and don’t compromise to do less than I know is right. 

Actions follow what we think, so we must first become excellent in our thoughts. “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8 NLT). “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 AMPC). What kind of thoughts do you entertain? When you recognize that your thoughts are not good, do you take action to cast them out of your mind or do you just lazily let them remain? It is impossible to become an excellent person without first developing an excellent mind. Thoughts are the first line of defense and we must deal with them. Our mind and thoughts belong to us and we should not allow the devil to use them as a garbage dump.

Just as we can direct our thoughts, we can also direct our words with God‘s help. The power of life and death are in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Our words affect us and the people around us. They also affect what God is able to do for us. We cannot have a negative mouth and end up with a positive life. The apostle Peter teaches us in I Peter 3:10, that if we want to enjoy life and see good days even in the midst of trials we must keep our tongue free from evil. Change your words and you can change your life.

It’s also important that we treat all people excellently. God loves all people and does not take it kindly when we mistreat them. Be polite, respectful, and appreciative. Be encouraging. Everyone in the world wants to feel valuable and many are struggling with feelings of low self-esteem. We are in a position to be used by God to help them by treating each one with excellence. Be an oasis of love. “But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all–love]” (1 Corinthians 12:31 AMPC).

Love is the most excellent way of all.

This will be a year of unlimited possibility. Declare it with me!

Right here at the beginning of this new year, let’s consider our habits.Weare what werepeatedly do. If you haven’t read my book,Make That, Break That, this would be a great time to get a copy!

I desire real change this year, a transformation. In any area of life, if you want to see something new, you’ve got to make a change. The way to live life the way God has for us is challenging; it’s doable but it’s challenging.

For 2023, let’s develop some habits that are intentional and worthwhile. What I want to share with you are God principles. If we apply these principles, they will change our lives. Get rid of excuses that keep you from achieving and seeing the changes you desire and jump in all the way. Let’s do this thing.

For our journey this year (check out my sermon, “Unlimited Possibilities”), you will need hope, hope your marriage can be restored or that your finances can be improved, hope for whatever it is you long for. I have a word for you… “But God.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) promises, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

In addition to hope, the second thing you need is repentance from the past, a course correction. 

Repentance is not a negative thing. It means to stop going in your current direction, change the way you think, and go the opposite direction, no looking back. Recovery programs sometimes use a tool, “My Life in Five Chapters”. The first four chapters involve no real change, going down the same road, falling into the same hole or nearly falling into it, and taking a long time to get out. But, chapter 5 is the key. Just go down a different street. This is transformation. My goal is to help take you down a whole different path this year. Like Philippians 3:13 says, let’s forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead.

The last thing is to form some new habits. Romans 12:21 says it this way, “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evilby doing good.” The things we put first not only show truths about us, but they have power. Let’s focus on what to do first. 

Put God first. I promise you, if you put God first in your life, it is going to be a completely different year for you. Let me make a strong statement. If God is in your life, but he’snot firstin your life, then he’snot really in your life. He will not take another place on your list if he’s not at the top of it. The first of the 10 Commandments is all about him being first, “Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:1-3 NLT). That little “g” god is really just any love or passion we may hold dear. He does not mind you loving something, but he does mind you loving itmore than him and he will not take another place other than first. Here at the beginning of 2023, I challenge you to develop a habit of putting God first.  

Give God the first of everything. Many preach this as a money principle. It is not just a money principle. Leviticus 27:30 NLT teaches that one tenth of all we have belongs to the Lord, 1/10th of everything. This includes your thoughts and your time. Set apart a tenth of your time and your thoughts and give them to God. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God in first place in your life (Deuteronomy 14:23 LB). Thank God that our giving feeds the hungry and builds buildings. But that’s not the purpose. Give to God the first of everything you possess.

Consider the following. Give God the first of your year. We are in a time of prayer and fasting at my church during January. We set aside this time to put God first in our year. 

Give God the first of your month. Review your schedule and make sure he is in your schedule. Likewise, don't schedule things that will schedule God out. 

Give God the first of your week. A good example of this is to make sure Sundays are set aside for him. Spend time in God’s presence and skip that additional golf game on Sunday morning or sleeping in. We gather on Sunday to worship God not only because that was the day Jesus was resurrected, but because the early church decided they wanted to celebrate on the first day of the week, putting God first in their week. Take the day to worship and to rest. if you give God this time, you'll be surprised what you get done the remainder of the week. 

Give God the first of your day. Talk to him first thing in the morning before anything else. Give him your first thoughts. Pastor Chris Hodges challenges people to give the first fifteen minutes of the day to God - 5 minutes in the Word, 5 minutes in worship, and 5 minutes in prayer. Do this and then watch God work in your life in amazing ways. 

When I give God the first of my time he multiplies my time. When I give God the first of my finances, he multiplies my finances. I find that the 90% will go further than 100%. When I give God the first of my thoughts, he multiplies my thoughts. Keep a notepad handy. You will want to write them all down!

Give God your first and your best. “Seek his will in all you do, andhe will show you which path to take. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Thenhe will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine” (Proverbs 3:6, 9-10 NLT).

Happy Easter! This is the day we celebrate Jesus conquering death and the grave. During our service today at MCC, we heard an amazing testimony of redemption and restoration, literally a story of a life bound for death and destruction to a life of promise and hope. It reminds me of God's goodness. It makes me crazy about God. I want more of Him. On Easter, there is so much pressure to preach well in hopes that people will love the message and return for more. How do I get this message right today? If I do well, maybe people will come back for Christmas. How do I make Jesus’ torture, crucifixion and death exciting? How do I explain the resurrection which is the most exciting part? All of this is hard for some to believe because they don’t understand. But actually, people believe a lot of things they don’t understand and can’t explain. God wouldn't be a God worth believing in if we understood Him completely. He is a big, amazing God. We just need to ask the right questions.

In considering the message today, I looked to Jesus for answers. The Gospels talk about Jesus and how He spoke to large crowds with lots of visitors and guests. What did He do? I usually try to make things simple and easy but Jesus seemed to make things more confusing. In Luke 8:4-10, He tells the parable of the sower. Keep in mind, people had traveled long distances to see Jesus speak and hopefully perform a miracle. They’d heard about healings and teachings and raising of the dead. So what did Jesus teach this crowd of guests and visitors who were so anxious to hear Him and see Him? He taught them a parable and then closed with the statement, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen and understand.” His take on his talk that day was,  “If you get it you get it (and if you don’t, you don’t).” Then, He just walked away, dropped the mic, left the stage. The disciples were so curious to know what He was doing. They followed Him and asked about the meaning of the parable later. Jesus explained that the parable was for the seeing who don’t see and the hearing who don’t understand. Parables were not supposed to be easy to understand. He taught parables so the ones who really wanted to understand would go after Him. He was trying to reach those who wanted to search out the truth. He only wanted to speak to the ones who really wanted to hear and learn and understand. Like the farmer in the parable, He wasn’t going to take time to water a beaten down path where seed could not grow. He knew He couldn’t get through to people who couldn’t receive because of the cares in this world. That ground was not ready. Those seeds would wither and their roots wouldn't go deep.He knew that those who wanted God would clear everything else out of their lives in pursuit of learning and understanding what God was saying. The disciples were those people. They were all in. They wanted something different so they did something different. A farmer looks for good soil. This is where he will water.

Jesus knew those seeking truth would come after Him. They were hungry for the truth. Are you hungry for truth? Often, we don’t want to know the truth. In fact, belief systems are often based on desires rather than truth. John 8:32 tells us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. If we accept the truth, we will be set free. Unfortunately, we want the lie in many cases.

Jesus was tortured, taking on our iniquity in exchange for His healing. He took on the crown of thorns for our thoughts and mental health, and He shed His blood for the remission of our sins. He conquered death and the grave.  Through his death and resurrection, He restored us to God. Jesus’ passion shows us the truth and He did it all for each of us. In fact, He would have done it even if we were the only one who needed it. Before Jesus, people could only approach the temple with an animal sacrifice which did not deal with sin but covered it for a time. Jesus’ death and resurrection restores us to real fellowship with God. We can talk directly to God and be in His presence. The perfect sacrifice was made that paid the price once for all.

There is a story of a famous artist who found his very first painting on display in an antique shop in his hometown. It was dirty and the frame was broken. The painting needed restoration, but it was no longer his to restore.  Even though he was the artist, he couldn’t just walk in and take it. He had to purchase it to restore it and bring it back to its original beauty. Jesus purchased healing and restoration for us. Why did Jesus die on the cross? He did it to bring us forgiveness, new life and hope for the future.

Are you restored? Are you living the life Jesus paid for? Let me use a Detroit Motor City analogy. To be a Christian you have to have Christ in your car. Christian has Christ in it. If you are a Christian and Christ is in your car, where is He sitting? Is He in the trunk? Do you let Him out when you get to church and say “Come on Jesus. Let’s go in to church for religious happy hour? Is He in your back seat? Maybe He is your companion in the front passenger seat? There are some who have given Him the driver's seat. So, if He’s in the driver's seat let me ask you, are you a back seat driver? When He wants to turn down the road of forgiveness or generosity, do you tell Him to turn the other way? When you let Jesus drive, you will see the fruit of His spirit begin to develop in your life - love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He paid for you to have life and to have it more abundantly. Give Him the driver’s seat. Let Him take you wherever He wants to go. We are Easter Christian’s living in a Good Friday world, but Sunday's coming! Jesus can restore situations in your life. He can make beauty from ash. Do you need to reposition Jesus in your car? Or do you need to ask Jesus to climb into the car for the first time? Take possession of all God has for you today. Clear the way for God to have control in your life. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. Life goes better when you put God first.

Happy Easter!

We have been in our series called “Make That Break That” talking about habits that we need to develop and habits that we need to get rid of in order to live a year of unlimited possibilities. I would like to consider a habit today that I call “The Happy Habit”. Proverbs 3:13 AMPC says, “Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God's Word and life's experiences].”

I believe the desire to be happy is the main thing that motivates us in most of what we do. But do we truly know what makes us genuinely happy? And is happiness just a feeling or is it just an emotion that we search for? I think it’s much deeper than that.

Abraham Lincoln said, “People are as happy as they make up their mind to be.” I like that and I would agree. I am convinced that happiness is a choice and a habit that we can develop. When we make the choice, the feelings will then begin to follow.

The Psalmist David said, “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it”

(Psalms 118:24 NLT). Did you notice it said we will. That is the deciding factor in the enjoyment of our day. If I don’t choose to rejoice, there will always be something to steal my joy and poison my happiness.

It has been said that focusing on good things is the first law of happiness, because what we focus on or what we think about determines our feelings. I’ve said it many times, what you look at the longest becomes the strongest. I am not suggesting that we ignore our problems, but there is a big difference between focusing on them and working on them to solve and resolve them.

Our number one goal, the number one habit we need to develop, is a close, intimate, personal relationship with God through Jesus. Put God first. Being in fellowship with God and learning to obey Him in all things will make you happier than you could ever imagine. Since God is life, how can we hope to enjoy life apart from Him.

I’ve discovered in my search for happiness that my joy is fed by doing things for other people. This is a great secondary goal and a commandment! Love God. Love people. No matter what kind of problems I have, if I focus on what I can do to put a smile on someone else’s face, I find it that makes me happy.

Our personal beliefs can greatly affect our level of joy and happiness. Purposeless people are frequently unhappy as well as people who feel unloved. God loves you and He is for you. He has a plan for your life and a purpose.

I have also found that hopeful people are some of the happiest people in the world. Hope is powerful. Trials test us and refine us. As character is developed within us, we gain the joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. And this hope never disappoints, deludes or shames (Romans 5:3-5 AMPC). People who can remain happy in hope, no matter what their circumstances, are powerful people. 

Are you trusting God in all the areas of your life? Romans 15:13 (AMPC) says, “May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.” Joy and peace are found in believing. What do you believe about yourself? If you believe you are a failure, unloved, worthless, that it is too late for you to have a good life, then you’ve got to change what you believe about you. Believe what God says about you in His word, not what others have told you, or even how you feel. 

Are you putting off happiness until some other time? I’m personally trying to avoid saying, “I will be happy when…” We fall into the trap of thinking we will be happy when… There can be a million “when’s” that keep us from enjoying now. We have got to learn how to enjoy today. Make a decision not to base your happiness on some future event, but choose happiness today. Today is all you have.

Are you waiting for some other person in your life to change his or her behavior so you can be happy? That is a huge mistake. Why should you let someone else determine your level of joy? Nobody else can make you happy at least not permanently. And people can be rude or hurtful. Take responsibility for your own joy and happiness and make a decision today to never again base it on what someone else does

I would encourage you to develop the habit of laughing more. When we laugh, we momentarily forget all of our concerns and struggles. It energizes us and it’s one of the healthiest things we can do. Sometimes we think too much and try to figure everything out. We become so intense that we forget to laugh at ourselves as well, as well as many other things in life. Laughter can pull a person out of depression and despair, and it can turn an ordinary day into a memorable day. I urge you to find people who make you laugh and spend more time with them. Laughter is more important than you know. Even the Bible tells us it is like a medicine.

I think the root cause of a lot of our unhappiness is simply that we are not happy with ourselves. We’re not happy with the way we look, or our talents or our level of perfection. We may compare ourselves with others, instead of happily being the person that God created us to be. We all make mistakes and yes, we want to be serious about the changes we need to make in our lives, but it’s also good to learn to laugh at ourselves, and not be so intense about every little mistake we make. We all have faults and are likely to have some as long as we’re alive, so lighten up. Don’t take yourself, so seriously. Learn to enjoy yourself.

Trust God to show you what needs to be changed and then work with the Holy Spirit toward those changes. Being unhappy with yourself, won’t make you change any faster. I highly encourage you to enjoy every step of your journey.

Someday your life is going to come to an end so I just want you to be sure to live this one life that you have to the fullest. Your life is a gift, a precious gift from God and it would be tragic if you lived it unhappily. Put the happy habit on your list of good habits to make, and the sad habit or the mad habit on your list of habits to break. Having a life worth living does not happen by accident. It’s something that you have to choose on purpose… It’s your choice to rejoice.

I have been doing a series “Make That Break That” about habits that we need to develop and habits that we need to get rid of in order to live with unlimited possibilities. One of the bad habits we should break is being selfish and self-centered, and the best way to do that is to form the habit of being generous.   

I learned a long time ago that generosity is the cure for greed. Generosity makes one’s soul truly beautiful. God is generous and all those who wish to be like him must learn to be generous. I once heard someone say that when we give, we are more like God than at any other time.  

You know when something is a habit when you actually miss it if you’re not doing it. We can and should form a habit of being generous. That means that we must choose to do more than we would have to do and always do as much as we possibly can. We should never be the type of person who only does what they absolutely have to. Some even do this little and still murmur and complain. 

We should give generously with no expectation of the person returning the favor. Now, God promised to bless and reward the generous person so we expectGod to fulfill His promise. But we do not look to collect from the person we give to. We lean on God to take care of that. 

I don’t believe we are truly generous unless we do what we do with a willing heart. Giving may begin as a discipline, but it should develop into a desire. We can learn to give for the sheer joy we find in doing it.

A spirit of generosity causes a person to give even when it seems unreasonable to do so. The Apostle Paul speaks of the generosity of the church of Macedonia in 2 Corinthians 8:2-3. Just reading about these people makes me admire them and want to be like them. We are drawn to generous people and we instinctively don’t want to be in the presence of stingy people for very long. Greed causes a person to never be satisfied or appreciative for very long no matter how much they have. Greed steals the life of the greedy person because he can never be content. 

God has either created, or given us the ability to create, many beautiful and needful things and I believe he wants his children to enjoy them. But he wants us to enjoy them with the right attitude. That attitude should be one of gratitude, contentment and a willingness to be generous to others. I try not to have anything in my life that I would not give away if God asked me to. If something is hard to give away it has mastered me instead of me mastering it.   

So the best way I know to fight against the bad habit of greed is to develop a good habit of generosity. God‘s word instructs us to not even associate with anyone who is known to be guilty of greed. Why would He say that? I believe it is because greed is a wicked spirit and God doesn’t want us to be affected by it. God wants us to grow in generosity not in greed. If you want to be a generous person, make friends with other generous people. Watch how they live and learn from their example

Now people who are not in the habit of being generous may have to force themselves to be generous for a period of time, but I can assure you that after a while they will become addicted to it. There is nothing more fun to do with money than give it away.Money is like manure … spread it around and it does good but store it up and it starts to stink.Make a decision to be more of a blessing to others and start looking for opportunities to be generous. Learn to be generous and teach it to other people. 

Let me quickly dispel a misunderstanding. You can be a tither and still be stingy. I have known people like this. They understood the principle of tithing, but it wasn’t in their heart to give… and they never had abundance. Another myth to put down,you do not have to have a lot of money to be generous.Generosity can be practiced no matter how much or how little you have. If you share what you have with others, you are a generous person. 

Be a conduit. Allow good things to flow out from you to others. Be a river, not a pond. When blessings flow to you, that is the time to press in and be a blessing to others more than ever. Commit to generosity, no matter what.Do you possess your possessions or do your possessions possess you? Are you able to use what you have to be a blessing? God is a giver and if we want to enjoy life and fulfill our purpose, then we must become givers also.

If you know in your heart that you’re not a generous person don’t feel guilty… But start today by developing a habit of being generous.Let me make it practical for you. Make a plan. Every day think about people you can bless and then what way you can bless them. The more you think of others, the less time you will have to be concentrating on yourself and your own problems. I’ve discovered over the years… the less I think about myself the happier I am.

If you don’t know what the person needs then begin listening to them and it won’t be long before you will hear them mention something they are lacking. They may need encouragement. They may need help with something. Maybe you have something they could use. There are always people who are desperately in need or maybe would be blessed mightily by something we own but don’t use. My motto is use it or lose it. Bonus: Never  sell when you’re in a position to sow. Give it away and let God take care of you.

Ask God to show you ways that you can bless people. The more generous you become the more you will be blessed in your own life. Proverbs says the world of the generous gets larger and larger. We cannot outgive God. He said if we give it will come back to us, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing (Luke 6:38).

Generosity is not only giving ourselves, our money, our things. It also involves how we treat people. Generous spirited people will be patient with the weaknesses of others. They are quick to forgive and slow to get angry.

We are creatures of habit, but bad habits can be broken and replaced with good habits. We can form the habit of being a generous person who continually reaches out to others to make their lives better. By doing so, the bad habits we previously had will find no place to live.