Thats mine

Thats mine

Do you have kids or have you ever watched them?  If so, there is a 100% chance that you have heard them say this statement…THATS MINE!  Usually it happens when they pour out all their toys into your nice clean and manicured living room.  2 Kids start playing and its not long before you hear them fussing over what the other one has. 

If you asked me if I have ever been that way as an adult, I would have to say most definitely NO!  Ha ha just kidding!  More like YES times a thousand!!  Its funny how we tell our kids to share, share, share but then as adults we grasp, grasp, grasp.  Did you know that the word give is mentioned over 800 times in the bible?!  Seems like this God we have is more fixed on giving then He is on getting.  In Psalms 24:1, David says this:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.

The fact of the matter is this…Everything your eyes can see, is His.  Everything your hands can touch, is His.  It really changes my perspective when I don’t look at “my stuff” as mine but His.  I am simply a steward of what I have in my hand right now.  Whether its a lot or a little, it doesn’t matter.  If its in your life, its not yours anyways…Its His. I don’t think we really realize how much the stuff we call ours has us instead of us having our stuff. 

I remember when the Lord asked us to give a car…it was not a piece of junk either! Only had 75000 miles on it! We felt like we were supposed to give a car that year in January.  4 or 5 months went by and we kept thanking the Lord that He would show us who we were supposed to give it to and when!  All of a sudden, I got a phone call one day from a guy that was broken down in Tulsa.  He said that they were driving a car over the weekend that they were going to be buying on Monday but then it broke down!  They had plans to travel up to Branson after Tulsa and needed a car.  In that moment, the Lord said “its time!”  I told the guy that he could use our car for the week.  Hung up the phone and look at my wife and said “I think its time to give the car!!” We prayed for like 30 seconds and Gods presence hit us! We began jumping up and down as high as we could because we were really doing this!! I will never forget God saying “green pastures” like Psalms 23!  Immediately I went outside, vacuumed and dusted the car out.  Filled it up with fuel and told them that we would be by in a couple hours to get it to them.  We showed up and we talked to him and his wife for a little bit and I said “we know that things have been kind of tight for y'all so we just wanted to let you know that the car is full of fuel and you don’t have to bring it back filled up.”  "Just enjoy your time on the trip!“  I said "in fact, just don’t even bring the car back to us because its yours now!”  Both of them began weeping and telling us how just the night before they were crying out to God asking Him for a vehicle!  

God wants to use us to give!  Life is so much more fulfilling when we look outward at what we can do to help someone else. 

To many times, we think we are losing something when God says to give it.  That is not how this works!  If God asks you to give it, then He is preparing you for better!  Live life open handed.  An open hand can receive and give at the same time.  A grasped fist will allow nothing in and nothing out.  Which hand do you have?