Title: Prayers and generosity – not prayers alone
By: J.O. Lawal
Date: April 23, 2023
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 11, No. 51
Title:
Beloved: grace and mercy to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great joy that I welcome you to the last week of the month of April 2023. My prayer is that God will rid your heart of all forms of stinginess to Him, so that all the flow of His blessings that you have blocked in your life will be opened for your prosperity, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Often, many of us wonder why certain individuals who are not Christians at all keep enjoying God’s favour of promotion, protection and prosperity in ways that even the believers around them are not enjoying it. And one main reason for this, as we see in Scriptures, is generosity. See, when the bible says that God loves a cheerful giver, it does not mean that this is applicable to Christians alone (2Corinthians 9:7). If an unbeliever also happens to be a cheerful giver, God will show His love to him in very remarkable and obvious ways as well.
For example, we are told this in the bible about a man called Cornelius:
“At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.”” (Acts 10:1-4NIV)
Who was Cornelius, according to this text? Was he a Christian? No! Was he a Jew? No! Instead, he was a gentile soldier. And he was not an ordinary soldier; he was an important officer in the Roman army. Yet an angel of God appeared to him to tell him that God recognised him. What did God recognise him for? He recognised him for his prayers and also for his generosity.
Evidently, Cornelius, as a soldier, must have been a very busy man. Yet he was not too busy to pray. In fact, he was so devoted to prayers that God recognised him as a man of prayer. Are you also known by God as a person of prayer? Or are you too busy to have time to talk to Him?
Then, even though Cornelius was a soldier, he would not use his position as one to extort people, as many soldiers and other security men and women often do. Instead, he was using his own money to help the poor. And he was so generous in doing this that God recognised him as a cheerful and willing giver. So, someone does not have to be a Christian before God takes them seriously. If the person takes God seriously by praying to Him and being generous to others, He also will take him seriously and manifest Himself to them.
As we see in Cornelius’ case, because of his consistency in praying to God and in giving to the poor, a day came when God remembered all that he had been doing and decided that something must be done about his eternal salvation. And remember that the bible tells us not to become tired in doing good to others because, at the right time, God will remember us and reward us (Gal 6:9). How will God reward us for our generosity? No one can say. It all depends on Him. But He will surely reward us for it, whether we are Christians or not.
When God remembered Cornelius on that occasion, it was not only his prayers that He remembered him for. He also remembered him for his generosity and then sent an angel to him to lead him to Peter, the man who would show him the way of salvation. So, praying is not enough for us to receive certain things from God; we must also accompany our prayers with generosity. And there are non-Christians who understand this and often practise it. Why? They have learnt by experience that it works.
Unfortunately, many of us who are God’s people don’t understand this spiritual principle at all. We don’t know that there are times that it is not our prayers that God will work with but our generosity. So, we have to be devoted to both. That is because we don’t when today’s prayers or (and) generosity will be the very key to our promotion or salvation tomorrow. I pray that you will never again miss your promotion or salvation from trouble because of your failure to adequately pray or give. Amen.
Have a great week.
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