WHY SHOULD I GIVE? PART 2

a)      God is always seeking to meet your needs. Giving opens the door for Him.

1Kings17 GW
1 Elijah, who was from Tishbe but had settled in Gilead, said to Ahab, "I solemnly swear, as the LORD God of Israel whom I serve lives, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I say so." 2 Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn east, and hide beside the Cherith River, which is east of the Jordan River. 4 You can drink from the stream, and I've commanded ravens to feed you there." 5 Elijah left and did what the word of the LORD [had told him]. He went to live by the Cherith River, which is east of the Jordan River. 6 Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. And he drank from the stream. 7 But after some time the stream dried up because no rain had fallen in the land. 8 Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah: 9 “Get up, go to Zarephath (which belongs to Sidon), and stay there. I've commanded a widow there to feed you.”

Elijah wasn’t desperate. He wasn’t starving, God had been supernaturally sustaining him. He was living in divine abundance during a time when people were dying of famine and starvation. This woman had enough food for only one day and then she and her son would die.
However God planned to take care of her and provide for her. So He spoke to her and told her He was sending a prophet to her whom she should feed.

This prophet was Elijah, a man who was already blessed, healthy & well taken care of. This may seem unfair and unreasonable at first, for God to tell a woman who is about to starve to death to feed a guy who is healthy and well taken care of. However we must remember that God has provided for us giving as a way of receiving.

Realize that God could have told Elijah to take this woman & her son some food rather than go to her to be fed with the little that she had left.
Today we would look at this as pure exploitation. Imagine the headline on the news that day, “Pastor takes widow’s last meal! Leaves her to starve to death!” and what would the public be saying “how could a so called ‘man of God’ exploit such a woman? Preachers are all the same, they always want our money”

However, our ways are not God’s ways, our thoughts are not His thoughts, God had a plan for this woman and her son, He didn’t send Elijah for Elijah’s sake only but for her and her son’s sake. No doubt she had been praying to God to save them. Elijah was God’s unusual answer to her prayers.

10 He got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town's entrance, a widow was gathering wood. He called to her, "Please bring me a drink of water." 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her again, "Please bring me a piece of bread too." 12 She said, "I solemnly swear, as the LORD your God lives, I didn't bake any bread. I have one handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I'm gathering wood. I'm going to prepare something for myself and my son so that we can eat it and then die." 13 Then Elijah told her, "Don't be afraid. Go home, and do as you've said. But first make a small loaf and bring it to me. Then prepare something for yourself and your son. 14 This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Until the LORD sends rain on the land, the jar of flour will never be empty and the jug will always contain oil." 15 She did what Elijah had told her. So she, Elijah, and her family had food for a long time. 16 The jar of flour never became empty, and the jug always contained olive oil, as the LORD had promised through Elijah.

When we give, we not only minister to the one we give to but also to us who give. Giving opens doors for us into God’s abundance. Elijah didn’t come to this woman only for his benefit, God sent him so that her & her son would also partake of this divine provision that Elijah was enjoying already, so that they too would be sustained miraculously by God.

By obeying God’s voice to feed Elijah, she and her son were supernaturally sustained the same way as Elijah. Elijah didn’t need this woman to feed him, if she had refused God would just speak to someone else!
But she needed to give to him if her needs were to be supplied. If she had refused to give, she would have starved to death with her son but Elijah would still be sustained by God. When God sent Elijah to her, it was for her benefit, not his. Our gifts are for our benefit, not just for the ministries/churches/ministers that we give to. If you refuse to give, others will but you will have lost out on an opportunity to trust God to provide for you and prosper you.

b)      Giving opens doors for us to be ministered to

17 Afterwards, the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. He got so sick that finally no life was left in him. 18 The woman asked Elijah, "What do you and I have in common, man of God? Did you come here to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" 19 He said to her, "Give me your son." Elijah took him from her arms, carried him to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he called to the LORD, "LORD my God, have you brought misery on the widow I'm staying with by killing her son?" 21 Then Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times and called to the LORD, "LORD my God, please make this child's life return to him." 22 The LORD heard Elijah's request, and the child's life returned to him. He was alive again. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room of the house, and gave him to his mother. He said, "Look! Your son is alive." 24 The woman said to Elijah, "Now I'm convinced that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is true."

What if when you needed prayer, counsel or any other ministry the minister or pastor wasn’t available because he was out working a job to provide for his family? Or what if when you were in an emergency and needed help, the pastor or minister wasn’t available to help you because they went away to look for money to provide for their family?

Many times we do not realize the importance of our giving to us. When we give and meet the material and financial needs of those who minister to us spiritually, we enable them to continue ministering to us since they don’t have to go out and provide for themselves financially and materially. 

Thus they are available and able to minister to us and pray for us and help us when we need help, prayer and ministry.
This woman’s obedience in meeting Elijah’s need not only supplied her physical need, it also led to her son’s resurrection from the dead. Because she sustained & ministered to Elijah’s physical need, when she needed ministry because of the death of her son, he was around to raise him from the dead.
Her situation was an emergency situation but this is not the case most of the time. However our giving ensures that we will be able to receive ministry every week when we go to church because there are people who will be there to minister to us, to counsel us, to pray for us, to help us etc. These people are sustained through our tithes and offerings. If we stopped giving, they would simply go and find ways to meet their material needs hence making ministry to us less likely.


You never know what a gift given in obedience to God can achieve for you. God is a lot wiser and knows a lot more than us in the flesh, we need to obey Him. This widow learnt a valuable lesson in that season. Where has God told you to give? Have you obeyed?

Comments