But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
As I was studying this scripture, it reminded me of a story a friend shared with me a few years ago of how God used her to bless a family in her church that were going through some financial difficulties. She said there was a couple in her church (500+ in attendance) who had three young children. My friend had never met them before but had seen them from time to time as you do in church mostly. One Sunday morning during worship, she looked over to her left and saw the couple from a distance. When she looked at them it was like she had a tunnel vision. She was not aware of anyone but them. Then she felt an overwhelming thought, she sensed was from God. In her mind, she heard "give them a thousand pounds." She immediately just turned this thought back over to the Lord an asked Him to lead her if this was from Him.
Two months later at Christmas time, another close friend of ours and her decided to partner in doing some outreach ministry. They purchased children's gifts and made arrangements with the local hospital to give them to the children that were having an extended stay and would not be home for Christmas. The day that they gave out the gifts, they had many that were left over because there weren't enough children to give all of them to. Our other close friend told her there was a family in the church who had small children, that God had really put on her heart to pray for. She asked my friend if it would be okay to give them the remaining gifts. She said yes why not. When she told her their names and asked her if she knew them, she replied, " no". She had no idea who she was talking about.
A couple of days past and our other friend called her on the phone and told her that had met with the family and initially got a hint that they were having financial troubles, so she gave them the gifts. She explained to me how the wept as she gave her the gifts for the children. The mother then told our friend she had been behind on her bills and the financial pressure was great. The next Sunday during church service, our friend pointed out to her the family from a distance. It was the same family that she was looking at when she had that thought to give them a thousand pounds.
Now she knew that God was confirming to her that she heard Him correctly. She sent them two cheques in the mail for £500 each, for two weeks in a row. On the line where you are supposed to place your name, she wrote God loves you. She never told anyone who they were, not even our friend and the family knows it was her who gave the money. It's a secret between her and the Lord and He will reward her for giving Him the credit instead of them knowing the gift came through her hands.
Many times, we are led to show compassion, kindness and to favour others sometimes it is friends and other times they are complete strangers with no relevance to us in any way. In the same way others are led to favours in our time of need and difficulty and sometimes they are complete strangers too and we marvel, oh God you are so good. My dear mother used to always say, no good deed goes unnoticed by God or goes to waste. It's like having a reserve in you or savings in the bank for emergencies.
Reflections:
Today, why don't you look around you and see who needs a helping hand and help in any way you could. It could be just helping the old lady or man who lives down your road on his or her own with their shopping, someone at work or it could a church member who needs some assistance is too embarrassed at ask.
Power verse:
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."-- Matthew 6:2
"He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done."-- Proverbs 19:17
"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them." Hebrews 6:10
"When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."-- Deuteronomy 24:19
By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved.
it important to do things anonymously because, it gives all glory to Christ, not to self, which can be a very dangerous thing.
ReplyDeleteYes, He knows our heart that's what really matters.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chizzy, God bless you.
Enyonam