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LIVING BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT E-CLASS SERIES
offered by Sundie Morning Sistas

SESSION 3: THE WILL

Lesson 4: Your Will to Give

Through the Word of God, Paul became a wise master builder. This lets us know emphatically that Christians are in the foundation building business. We are here on this earth to be the very best that we can be. We are to shape and mold an existence for ourselves that not only pleases God, but is also fulfilling and meaningful to us as well. We ought to dream big and want more, and we ought to believe that God wants us to do exactly that. This very premise that God wants us to be happy and live abundantly is something that most of us struggle to fully believe.

Abraham is often referred to as the Father of our believing. Romans 4:18-21 NLT says:

18 When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, Abraham believed him. God had also said, "Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars," even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible! 19 And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children.

20 Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised.

Part of the King James Version of verse 21 says that Abraham was "fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations; He made this covenant with Abraham, and then fulfilled that which He had promised. Abraham is such an extraordinary figure in our minds because his faith in God became the foundation on which God's promise was fulfilled. Some scholars believe that as many as 40 years passed between the time Abraham first received the promise and the time that Sarah actually gave birth to their first son, Isaac. It took Abraham all that time to get fully persuaded, but he finally got his mind and heart in synch with what God had said.

You and I don't want to wait 40 years to witness a mighty move of God. This class is about teaching you how to use your time and efforts effectively so that you don't have to wait year after year for the things you want most. The only distance between you and what you desire is your ability to walk by faith. The greatest thing that you and I can do is learn to masterfully employ the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to grow, expand, and live abundantly. Faith is the way to accomplish that.

Faith is not tolerate of spiritual neglect or apathy. It demands our highest level of respect. The skill of masterfully employing faith is not automatically received upon salvation, nor is it something that we can take lightly. Faith is God's building material. He employed it to create all that we survey. It would be illogical and irreverent of us to assume that we could be masters of this super intelligent substance without studying God's master plan for the use of it first.

As born again believers, we are apprentices who must invest the time and energy to become wise master builders, and the goal to be our best selves and make our greatest dreams come true should serve as motivation. There is no question about it; we absolutely must view our spirituality as a gift from God. This gift can and should be utilized to help us become all that we can be. We must believe that He will continually partner with our efforts to do so. Every time you stray off the path, He is there reminding you that you are headed in the wrong direction. He will let you know in ways that only He can. And here's the thing, if you do not believe that God is 100% in your corner; if you do not believe that He is helping you this very moment to become all you want to be, and that He will never, ever punish you for wanting more, then you will miss the boat. You will miss the opportunities He has placed within your everyday environment; you will miss them because your vision is blurred and your way is blocked.

There is no place within the entire universe that you can go, no circumstances or situation that you will face, where the love of God cannot reach you. There isn’t a place where His love cannot be invited to come in, but we must remember that it is unequivocally a spiritual reality. Conditions must be met, because His love does not abide where it is not welcomed. Your thoughts, your words, and your actions lay out the welcome mat.

Whether it's a new car, new house, new job, or a spouse; whether it's speaking in tongues, healing others, or wisdom, in God's eyes these are all spiritual blessings, because everything under the sun belongs to Him, and everything under the sun is spiritual. He is spirit, and He gives us spiritual goodies. In order for you to reach out and grab those goodies, you must be able to see them, and you must have the spiritual strength and power to pull them in. What do I mean by that? In most cases, it isn't the blessing we seek, but the opportunity to acquire the blessing. If it is a spouse that we desire, we know that God will not drop him or her into our laps. First we'll need an opportunity to meet the person, get to know them, and then prayerfully things will develop in a godly and loving way. Our responsibility is to recognize the opportunity when it is presented by our Heavenly Father. And if your heart isn't right, if the love of God isn't anchored in your soul, if you haven't properly laid out the welcome mat for God's love to come in, then you will not see what is right in front of you.

Acts 28:27 NLT
27 For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes-- so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.'

That we are supremely capable of making our dreams become a reality is the truth, but we must demonstrate our willingness to see the truth. In the flesh, you do not have what it takes to secure a bountiful future, but in the spirit your potential is limitless. What you have on the inside is more power than anyone could hope to have. You have the strength of God's power working on the inside of you. You have access to the same building material that God employed to create the universe. He has given you everything you need to construct a foundation by which all things are possible.

God's blessings are all around us, and the opportunities to acquire them are as well, but if our hearts are not open to the will of God, our ears cannot hear and our eyes cannot see. God's bounty is witnessed with spiritual eyes. This is not to say that only your indwelling Holy Spirit can see blessings. Your human eyes can see them as well, but you may not recognize what you see without the assistance of your spirit. Your ability to see what your indwelling Holy Spirit sees may be hampered or flawed. If it is, then you need to sharpen your spiritual vision. The eyes of your spirit are not blurred. No! Absolutely not. The eyes of your indwelling Holy Spirit are beyond perfection. Your ability to see what IT sees is the ticket. It is the difference between having what you desire or not.

Faith is a spiritual reality. It requires that you measure up to it, because it will not step down to anyone's natural inclination in the flesh. It will not yield to your doubts. It will not be subjected to your fears. We must be as fully persuaded as Abraham. This means that what we do, think, and say must all be aligned with the spiritual reality of faith. Realistically, we're not going to walk around like mechanical dolls day in and day out, quoting scriptures and witnessing the gospel, but we have to develop a consciousness for the way in which faith operates. We have to begin to build a solid foundation so that our lives are a steady progression of elevation and promotions.

This doesn't mean that life will be a bowl of cherries. We will not walk around happy as a lamb all the time, but as sons and daughters of the Most High, happiness is definitely part of the plan. We are programmed to want to feel good. It is often our primary impetus for learning to walk by faith. We want to be happy and we want to acquire the things we believe will make us happy. We will make numerous mistakes and expend enormous amounts of energy in search of it, but happiness is not the goal. It, in and of itself, is not foundation building material; it is a byproduct of living the Word.

For most in today's society, everything revolves around this quest to be happy. It's a hunger that prompts many people to seek fulfillment and satisfaction of the flesh continuously. You and I cannot afford to be sidelined this way. We must not be blinded by emotions, even if they make us feel as good as happiness, as superior as arrogance, or as painful as resentment; our vision must be greater than this. A person who is not born again, who has not made Jesus Christ their Lord and savior, will seek to fulfill their hunger for happiness primarily through people, and secondarily through things; for some this is reversed, but either way...it doesn't matter. The thing to caution is that we can't allow our emotions to have power over our decisions.

Psalms 118:8 NLT tells us that it is better to trust in God, than to place our confidence in people. This is not to say that we can't ever trust anybody, but it specifies an order, a prioritization of trust. The order is to trust God first, and then everything else falls into place. Trouble arises because we trust people and things first, and then we give God a try when that plan doesn't work out. And invariably, it will not work out. Nothing ever does when we trust anything more than we trust God.

We want happiness because we believe it has an enduring quality that will sustain us. We all look for something we can hang our hats on, something that will make us feel anchored and secure. The only thing in the world that can give us the security that has this kind of infinite quality we crave is God's love.

God's love and happiness are synonymous. If Jesus Christ had not revealed this in the way that he did, we would not wholeheartedly believe it. We would continue to spiral downward with disappointment and resentment, because our trust would be misplaced. We have to trust that the things of God will secure our happiness, but not in a way that coddles our immaturity and nurtures our bad behavior. It is a known fact that most of us will endeavor to find the quickest route to happiness, but God will not cater to our impatience. And because things don't happen according to our timetable, we will often think that He is punishing us or withholding something from us. This is never the case, but God values our spiritual growth more than our desires. He has made faith essential to all that we do, and faith cannot yield results without our will and intention to grow in the spirit first.

Faith does not respond to ambivalence or impetuousness; it is not flexible to our whims, it is flexible to our will. Our will must be on point, and let's face it, if asked--all of us would say that it is, but saying it means absolutely nothing without proof. Faith without works is dead. Our works and deeds are the proof. What we say must be backed up by what we do. Every aspect of your life at this very moment in time is proof of what your will is now, or what it has been in the past. Your life is the evidence of your will. If you don't like the evidence, then you MUST change what you are doing.

Our dreams begin to take shape and become a reality when our vision is clear, our focus is razor sharp, and our foundation is anchored and steady. Nothing on this earth can give us that. Only the love of God can give us the fortitude to see what we need to see, hear what we need to hear, and do what we need to do, so that the treasures of heaven are within our reach. God will not plop things in our lap, because doing so will not yield growth. He will teach us, through His Word and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to demonstrate the spiritual strength and tenacity to walk by faith and not by sight.

Part of teaching us, is helping us to understand that He is not the source of our unhappiness. It is a result of what we either have done, or what we have not done. It is a result of the Word we have not followed, and the love of God we have failed to "put on" and demonstrate in our minds and hearts.

We are not weaklings. God wants us to know our power, because if you don't know it, then you can't use it. He will not leave us alone to fend for ourselves. He is always near...waiting to help us learn the things of the spirit. He wants us to witness firsthand that we can employ His power and strength. He gave us a part of Himself. He gave us a gift that is capable of the same power and strength that He has. And if it was enough to create the entire universe, then it is certainly enough to make our dreams a reality.

Feelings of unhappiness have caused some of us to abandon our foundation. As we look all around us, on some levels it feels like things are just collapsing before our very eyes. The excess we once saw and experienced has diminished at an amazing rate. Some Christians have been completely caught off guard. They were waiting on a breakthrough, but lacked the spiritual tenacity to see it through. Now, they've have lost hope without realizing that they were on the cusp of something that would have turned that breakthrough into a full-blown explosion of blessings on every hand. What's worse is that they have ceased to faithfully tithe, and have lost the covering they once enjoyed. Let me tell you that this is the quickest route to one's own personal "hell on earth"; I mean that from the depths of my heart.

People are more persnickety about money than most anything else. It is the subject that brings out the very worst in folks. This is one of the reasons why I'm not in people's faces all the time, seeking compensation for what I do for the Lord. He more than adequately takes care of me and my precious family; therefore, I don't make money a focus. There's such arrogance and negativity about giving these days, that often the mere mention of it will detract from the message of Christ. The bounty of God's Word is so valuable that I never want to run that risk. The message or the messenger isn't at fault; the demonic influence comes through this attitude of arrogance that so many have developed about finances.

Please hear me well, if you want to see your life fall into the depths of one curse after another, refuse to tithe. I could go into my customary shpiel, using Malachi 3:10 NLT "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!" But I'm sure you've heard it preached enough, so I won't do that. I'm not going to try to convince you to tithe, but I will tell you that it's your privilege, obligation, and responsibility to do so. If you don't have the faith to give back to God by practicing something that is clearly a requirement of faith, then how will you ever expand; because if you don't give it to God, you will give it to the devil. If you don't expand God's Kingdom, then you will expand the enemy's; it's just that simple. Something will increase because of where and how you spend your money.

Tithing represents the immutable law of Giving equals Receiving. It didn't go away when administrations changed or because it was present in Old Testament times. I think one of the reasons why God allowed us the privilege of tithing is because He knew that many of us would not use our talents and abilities for the uplifting of His Kingdom. He knew we would not appropriately prioritize our responsibility to personally witness the gospel, so He gave us a way to stay blessed despite our arrogant ways.

Those who have become disappointed and have abandoned the practice of tithing have allowed their emotions to rule them. They saw tithing as a way to get what they wanted rather than a way to honor and further the Kingdom of God. Truth be told, many of those who became disappointed did not pay 10% of their gross as they should have done. They reckoned within themselves that God wouldn't mind if they skimmed a bit off the top. 1Samuel 15:22 tells us that obedience is far better than sacrifice. We are not hurting God when we disobey; He is God all by Himself. We are only hurting ourselves.

In "Session 3, THE WILL: Lesson1:" Your Will to Live", we began our examination of five key principles that help will us to sustain an abundant life. These principles are foundational to having the kind of life God desires for you. The first of those is to make sure that you diligently study the Word of God. There is no question that Tithing is equally potent and deserves the #2 spot. Remember, these things will help to realign your will, so that your will and God's Will speak the same language. Practicing these very spiritual foundation-building principles reveal your desire to earnestly please God and ultimately bring Him glory.

You will never be able to fully fathom how integral tithing is to your faith capacity. The song says that we can't beat God's giving, no matter how much we try, but it doesn't say that we shouldn't try. The fact of the matter is that nothing we do speaks more about our intention to be like Christ than our commitment to give and be a blessing.

I believe so strongly in this principle, that I personally encourage you to tithe. Sow a seed on good ground, either at your place of worship or at another Christian organization, church, or fellowship that is dedicated to accurate teaching and steadfastly moves the gospel of Jesus Christ. Never allow anything to keep you from giving in this way. It signifies that you have faith that God will protect and cover the fruit of your labor, your health, your family's health, your relationships, your job, and on and on.

Tithing is right action! It backs up your faith. Practicing it clarifies that you understand that right action is required to back up right believing. It is one of the actions required to align your will and intention with the Will of God.

There is little doubt in my mind that you have heard how important tithing is. You've probably heard it from multiple sources. So if you have not made a consistent practice of it, you really must pull back the layers to look a bit closer at your will and intention. Don't be afraid to confront the reasons why you aren't a tither. Don't run away from your doubt, and don't allow arrogance to trick you into skirting the issue altogether, because even if you don't believe that tithing is a spiritual requirement, you must still examine why you have not viewed it as the very least you could do as child of God.

Because this is such an essential component to employing faith and growing in the spirit, because it is so crucial to helping you to keep your eyes fully open to opportunities and blessings, we can't afford NOT to get to the root of our attitude about giving and why we neglect to give in this way. The same right question that Necia asked--is the one we need to ask of ourselves, "What is going on in my soul?" What is the true conviction of your will right this moment? That is what you must come clean about, and then you must make a shift.

Either the fear or attraction of one emotion or another is usually at the root of why we do not give. Any time we flat out refuse to do what is required of us, pride is usually the culprit. Now, when it comes to this word "pride", there are two sides of the coin. On the one side, feelings of gratitude and honor may come into play, where a parent is proud of a child who does well in school. This is a good thing. On the other side, arrogance rears its ugly head. Of the two, of course arrogance will land us in the danger zone. 99% of us who have been on the Christian journey a while would balk at the notion that we are exhibiting such behavior. That's the insidiousness of this tricky little devil; most of us don't realize the degree to which it hinders our spiritual growth. You need no further proof of this than to look at the present credit crisis. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to admit that they borrowed exorbitant amounts of money that they couldn't afford to pay back, all in a quest to keep up with the proverbial Jones's.

Arrogance is a refusal to acknowledge that God's way is the right way. It will cause us to place our value in how much we can attain rather than how much we can give. If it were just a matter of finances and materiality, then we could probably get by, but the truth is that arrogance has a few running partners that will surely undermine our intimacy with God and keep us in a constant state of negativity.

An unforgiving heart is tied to arrogance; they are partners in crime. People who are unforgiving are that way because they feel they can do no wrong. They will not accept responsibility or be accountable for violating God's laws. They do not believe in the immutable law of giving equals receiving because they are not interested in giving something of quality. This is why forgiveness is so incredibly important to God, because the willingness to forgive confirms, with crystal clarity, our will and intent to grow and expand.

The very nature of forgiveness is to give up, relinquish, and surrender all claims relative to a particular account or matter. It is to cancel another's indebtedness. The only reason why you wouldn't forgive someone is because deep down you want them to be connected to you in a way that gives you permission to feel superior over them. This is the very same attitude present in one's neglect of giving back to the Kingdom of God. We hold on to our finances because we believe doing so makes us superior. The more we can buy the more superior we feel. No matter what anyone says, this attitude is at the root of a soul that refuses to tithe, and it's not very pretty.

Giving and forgiveness are intrinsically linked, because an individual who will hold on to something as painful as resentment, will seek to hold on to everything else as well. If we will not learn to forgive, we will not cultivate a love for giving. People will say that they forgive you for the wrong you may have done, but still harbor the blame against you in their hearts. Deep down they refuse to forget what you’ve done and continue to lay it to your charge. In our heads, this failure to forgive means that we cannot trust that the person who wounded us will not wound us again, when in actuality it is ourselves that we do not trust.

We will receive what we give. If we believe that a person who wounded us once will wound us again, it is because we have not changed the quality of what we are giving out. Not only do we lack confidence in WHAT we give, but we will not give more. There is nowhere to go from there but down. The love of God does not fail. It's quality is immutable, and that is why we ought to be incredibly interested in giving it out; because when we do, we will expand. We will receive the unfailing quality of God's love back in an abundance of meaningful ways. You don't have to be afraid of what you get back if you give out the love of God; it has no fear, for it casts it out.

An unforgiving heart has fear, and therefore its owner cannot master faith. This is a person who wills to be blinded from the truth. It's someone who refuses to pull back the layers of emotional wounds and strongholds to get at the truth of who they were destined to be in Christ. In Romans, Chapter 1, we will find a record of folks like that. They knew the truth of God's Word, but flat out refused to honor it. It says that they refused to understand; they were heartless and unforgiving. This can be said of someone who uses the wrong blueprints and the wrong building material to construct the foundation of their lives. They refuse to understand their purpose and intend to have an unforgiving heart.

As we discussed in previous lessons, the soul wants to hold on to stuff, no matter how dysfunctional it is. It would rather experience the pain of holding on to toxicity than to experience what it perceives as the discomfort of surrendering it. Throughout His Word, God constantly reminds us that we are in the world, but not of it. Jesus Christ tells us that we ought to be storing up treasures in heavenly places, “where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves.” (Matthew 6:20 NLT) You can’t lay up what you can’t see. An unforgiving heart not only grinds your life to a screeching halt, but it blocks your view. We cannot see what He would have to see because we are stubborn and refuse to be pliable to His will; we refuse to give up the worst within ourselves to gain something infinitely better.

And so it is with the willingness to give. If when you give, you will receive, and "Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over..." as it says in Luke 6:38 NLT, imagine what happens when you do not give. Can't you see how things will begin to decline and deteriorate, rather than expand and flourish?

The arrogance that causes us to hold grudges is the same arrogance that perpetuates a refusal to tithe. They’re both cut from the same cloth, and both will hinder our intimacy with God. We can’t be close to Him and simultaneously hold on to resentment. One of those things will have to eventually fall away or drop to the ground, as it were; and when it does there will be undeniable proof that we have released it.

Matthew 6:24 makes it very clear that we cannot serve two masters at the same time. In spiritual terms, this means that we do not have the capacity to both love sin and love God as well. We must choose which one we will honor. God admonishes us throughout the scriptures to choose His love, and to forsake the nature of the flesh. He doesn't want us to stop caring about our physical being, quite the contrary. He is telling us through His Word that the absolute best way to love ourselves is to first honor the one who created us, and allow Him to direct our paths. God sets the standard for how to love ourselves and others, not us. And He says we have to pull off some stuff in order to love from a really good place. If we were able to love ourselves rightly without His love, then God would not have had to step in and give us His son, but the fact of the matter is that we desperately needed to be led; Jesus Christ had to show us the way to God's heart.

Proverbs 14:16 and 16:25 both tell us that there's a path before each person that seems like the right one, but it ends in death. Sometimes we are so sure we are doing what we ought to be doing, that we close our minds and hearts to the Father. This is the nature of arrogance and inflexibility. We know what we know—and we don’t want to know any better. We refuse to allow God to prune us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We must remember that to prune is to remove those parts that are either diseased or unproductive. God wants to prune us to prevent death to our finances, relationships, and all the other important aspects of life.

You and I sometimes choose to be ignorant about the part of our souls that is holding us back, but the indwelling Holy Spirit is fully aware of it. The scriptures tell us that it knows what to pray for even when we do not. (Romans 8:28 NKJV) It sees our decisions. It knows our thoughts, and it knows the core of who we are, but we must bear in mind that it isn't enough for the indwelling Holy Spirit to know; we have to know. We have to wake up! The indwelling Holy Spirit will show us the path, but we are the ones who will have to follow it; it takes our body, our mind, and our intent to walk it. God wants us to wake up and come into consciousness about who we have groomed ourselves to be, so that we can make a choice to become better.

Why does God desire that? He desires you to acknowledge and confront the parts of your being that need to be pruned, because you cannot expand and grow if you do not. Growth is the name of the spiritual game! The world is such a corrupt place that many of us forget that God designed us to experience bliss. Through Jesus Christ, God has shown us how to have victory. We are more than conquerors and we can bask in the glorious reality of our salvation all day, every day. But the truth is that most of us are not basking in joy or bliss. We are just barely getting by, and cannot even remember the last time we were genuinely happy.

For far too many of us, a downtrodden state-of-being feels normal, and we are afraid now to allow ourselves to experience the joy of the Lord because we fear disappointment. We do not want to give up the stuff we know we should, because we do not have faith in what we’ll get if we do. We are afraid that God will disappoint us, that He won't give us what we desire most. Our brains tell us that since we've experienced pain in the past and God did not prevent it, then we are doomed to continue to experience it. So we cower, quake, and become anxious. We beg, plead, and get angry, with little or no movement in our circumstances. This is sometimes an emotional trap, and we must recognize it. It's a vicious negative cycle that can spiral out of control rather quickly. We can dig ourselves so deep in disappointment and doubt that we cannot see our way to come out of it.

Fear is ultimately a refusal to release and surrender what hinders us most. An unforgiving heart, holding grudges, refusing to tithe…these are all remnants of arrogance, and arrogance is of course a byproduct of fear. A negative cycle envelops our existence when we refuse to recognize the connection between them and our relationship with God.

The will to give and forgive is proof that the love of God abides deep within our souls. Forgiveness forces us to go to that very deep place that love calls “home”. This is the place where all giving emanates. It's a place where you may have to do some reconstruction. It's your soul, the foundation of your being. God has told us that the only way to build a solid foundation is to employ the tools of the spirit. Then others will be able to add to it. You are your greatest gift. You are the foundation, and how you build upon yourself will determine whether or not you have the faith, love, strength, and power to not make your own life a thing of beauty, and help others do the same.

Whether you are a wise master builder or a foolish one, you are building a foundation that will little by little, day by day comprise the structure that is your life. You are obligated to expand that structure. God is encouraging you to make it as large and solid as you possibly can, but you must use the things of the spirit to do that. Your feelings and emotions are not spiritual building material, but they are guides that will help you get to the root of your will. You mustn't be afraid to pull back the layers of those emotions, investigate your intention, and then change it to line up with God's will for your life. Learn to forgive, and cultivate a love for giving. This is the only way to be a wise master builder.

RECAP

The only distance between you and what you desire is your ability to walk by faith. The greatest thing that you and I can do is learn to masterfully employ the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to grow, expand, and live abundantly. Faith is the way to accomplish that.

If you do not believe that God is 100% in your corner; if you do not believe that He is helping you this very moment to become all you want to be, and that He will never, ever punish you for wanting more, then you will miss the boat. You will miss the opportunities He has placed within your everyday environment; you will miss them because your vision is blurred and your way is blocked.

In most cases, it isn't the blessing we seek, but the opportunity to acquire the blessing. Our responsibility is to recognize the opportunity when it is presented by our Heavenly Father. And if your heart isn't right, if the love of God isn't anchored in your soul, if you haven't properly laid out the welcome mat for God's love to come in, then you will not see what is right in front of you.

We must not be blinded by emotions, even if they make us feel as good as happiness, as superior as arrogance, or as painful as resentment; our vision must be greater than this. A person who is not born again, who has not made Jesus Christ their Lord and savior, will seek to fulfill their hunger for happiness primarily through people, and secondarily through things; for some this is reversed, but either way...it doesn't matter. The thing to caution is that we can't allow our emotions to have power over our decisions.

We have to trust that the things of God will secure our happiness, but not in a way that coddles our immaturity and nurtures our bad behavior. It is a known fact that most of us will endeavor to find the quickest route to happiness, but God will not cater to our impatience.

God values our spiritual growth more than our desires. He has made faith essential to all that we do, and faith cannot yield results without our will and intention to grow in the spirit first.

Tithing represents the immutable law of Giving equals Receiving. It didn't go away when administrations changed or because it was present in Old Testament times.

Either the fear or attraction of one emotion or another is usually at the root of why we do not give.

Fear is ultimately a refusal to release and surrender what hinders us most. An unforgiving heart, holding grudges, refusing to tithe …these are all remnants of arrogance, and arrogance is of course a byproduct of fear. A negative cycle envelops our existence when we refuse to recognize the connection between them and our relationship with God.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton , Illinois 60189 . All rights reserved.

"LIVING BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT E-CLASS SERIES- Session3, Lesson 4- THE WILL: Your Will To Give" written by Reverend Fran Times-Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2009. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Sundie Morning Sistas is dedicated to spiritual inspiration and encouragement through the Word of God.