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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
than you have been willing to do.” We call upon you who have means,
to inquire with earnest prayer: What is the extent of the divine claim
upon me and my property? There is work to be done now to make
ready a people to stand in the day of the Lord. Means must be invested
in the work of saving men, who, in turn, shall work for others. Be
prompt in rendering to God His own. One reason why there is so great
a dearth of the Spirit of God is that so many are robbing God.
There is a lesson for us in the experience of the churches of Mace-
donia, as described by Paul. He says that they “first gave their own
selves to the Lord.” Then they were eager to give their means for
Christ. “In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their
deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their
power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of
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themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the
gift.”
Paul lays down a rule for giving to God’s cause, and tells us what
the result will be both in regard to ourselves and to God. “Every man
according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly,
or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” “This I say, He
which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth
bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” “God is able to make all grace
abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work: ( ... Now he that ministereth seed to
the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed
sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) being enriched in
everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving
to God.”
We are not to feel that we can do or give anything that will entitle
us to the favor of God. Says the apostle: “What hast thou that thou
didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as
if thou hadst not received it?” When David and the people of Israel
had gathered together the material they had prepared for the building
of the temple, the king, as he committed the treasure to the princes
of the congregation, rejoiced and gave thanks to God in words that
should ever dwell in the hearts of God’s people. “David blessed the
Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be Thou
Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is
the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the