"A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth..." (Ps 112:5; KJV). We learn in many places in scripture that God wants us to be generous to the poor. In Proverbs 19:17 it says that God will pay back to us what we give to the poor and in Proverbs 28:27 it says that if we give to the poor we will not lack.

It's not just in the Old Testament that we read this either; in the gospel of Mathew (Matt 5:42). Jesus said to give to him who begs from you and don’t look the other way. The Greek word for give in that verse is, didomi, which means to give freely as Christ would give. In other words, we have to have a desire to give and be a blessing. We know from many scriptures that when we give God promises to bless us, for example in Ecclesiastes 11:1 it says to: "cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days", also in Mathew 10:42 we are told that if we only give a cup of water to someone we will be rewarded.

The apostle Paul quoted Jesus as saying: “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:25). The early church clearly had giving and meeting needs established; they had all things in common; gave generously and no one was in lack (Acts 4:32-37)!

Lord give us a heart for the needy.

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