Extravagant Giving

Father God gives in accordance with His nature. That is to say His giving is unlimited, all-powerful, ever present and never ending. The height, depth and width of His giving is actually unquantifiable. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Anything that is good can be attributed to God and His generosity.

Jesus standing in our place for our sin so that we can be reconciled to the Father is the most well-known example of God’s extravagance. For God so loved the world that He gave. He also gave every believer the Holy Spirit without reservation to guide us into all truth. Notice that when He gives, He does it with no restrictions.

He did not stop with imparting His presence to us. He gave us gifts, as well. Our gifts come in a myriad of shapes, sizes and applications. Some are physical, others are encased in our ability to uniquely think and reason and, of course, we have spiritual gifts. All of these come “without repentance” meaning God did not hold back from us due to our lack of righteousness.

We are made in God’s likeness. It is reasonable to say that the more we give the more we are like God. Most often giving is discussed in term of finances. While that will always be relevant to the conversation, the most extravagant way we can give and be like God is in the way we live. Not only did Jesus’ death demonstrate extravagance but His everyday life was a dress rehearsal for how we can also live — with no restrictions.

As believers we may not all get the opportunity to give immense sums of money to great causes and ministries, but we all can give ourselves away. In order to do so in an extravagant manner we have to realize how much we already have in our possession. We are directly connected to the Source that has no limitation – the Creator of the universe. A mentality of lack or poverty is in direct conflict of the essence of God. We must remove those types of thoughts and replace them with the abundance that Jesus gave himself away for.

The Body of Christ must become convinced that God is holding nothing back from us. When our faith steps out in assurance knowing that God will meet us every time, lives will be changed, mountains will be moved and nations will be won. God told us to ask for nations and He would give them to us. That’s way beyond most of our prayer requests. We’re asking for money to pay bills and for kids not be sick. Not to minimize these needs but they have already been provided for. Jesus said that’s what the non-believers worry about. Our asking should involve entire countries coming into the kingdom of God.

The current pandemic situation we find ourselves in affords us a prime opportunity to give like never before. The Bible speaks of a time when men’s hearts will fail them because of fear. Even before coronavirus became a household term, anxiety in the United States was at an all time high. The world needs the Answer that we carry with us everyday. The only way they will get what we have is when we give it away. The challenge for all of us is to realize that giving extravagantly doesn’t actually deplete our personal resources. In actuality, it sets us up to receive even more.

“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Luke 6:38 NLT

Our world is facing a problem that does not have an immediate solution. Outside of us, that is. God has chosen to partner with us to establish His kingdom on Earth. Our Father has made it clear that He has given us everything we need. Now, it is in our hands to execute the King’s orders. The whole Earth is waiting for us.

“I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. And it’s not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God’s sons and daughters—including our physical bodies being transformed. For this is the hope of our salvation.”
Romans 8:18-24 TPT