Guarding the *Stuff* & Sharing the Spoils

My late, great Commander Daddy, as my heroine, Maggie St. James, calls her own father, was a journalism major who painted theater sets in college ( and ended up a Navy flight instructor in Stearmans, as in the photo--my mother flew those, too, as did Maggie's mother-in-law--but that's another story--a skipper of a PBY, and a Navy photographer. ) With his love of the language, he encouraged us not to use the word, stuff, since there are always better, more specific words.

So, we were amused when I showed him stuff in the Bible--in a very interesting admonishment:

1Sa 30:24 "For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part [is] that goeth down to the battle, so [shall] his part [be] that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. "

If we help soldiers in battle by guarding their stuff back home, we share equally in the spoils.

If we give for the furthering of the Gospel, we share equally the blessings of the missionaries! Amazing!

By the way, I believe this following means garage sales are not necessary, yay!

Lev 19:10 "And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather [every] grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I [am] the LORD your God." (also Deu 24:21 )

But I digress. Receiving back should not be our only motive, as we know from "It is more blessed to give than to receive," " the love of money is the root of all evil" and "God loves a cheerful giver."

But it's not wrong to expect to receive when we give, because as the saying goes, we can't outgive the Lord:

Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].

Luk 6:38 "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. "

Mat 19:29 , Mar 10:30 "But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. "

(Wish He hadn't included persecutions.)

Skeptical, I once tested this and gave $1 after hearing this teaching on The Hundred-fold Return at an evangelist's meeting. I told a friend I'd let her know when I got my $100. ( And I do believe it's not often just handed to us, it's usually opportunity to work and earn it. )

A few days later, I realized they hadn't called me in over a week to substitute teach, my job at the time as an otherwise stay-at-home-mom. So I called the sub clerk and she said I had said I didn't want to sub anymore. I assured her that wasn't me.

Later that day, I also realized that since giving that $1, I had earned just over $100. I called my friend and reported it.

And the sub clerk called back and said a teacher wanted to go home, if I wanted to work that afternoon!

So, I had more opportunity as soon as I kept my promise and acknowledged what the Lord had done in keeping His promise.

(Yes, of course, I called my friend to report that, too! God has made me rather excitable. And I'm convinced, sometimes He says, "I need some PR down there on earth, so I'll do something nice for Margo because she gets all excited and tells everybody." And He created me that way! So it's a double blessing. God is so good!)

So, we needn't hesitate to give and share in the blessings--the spoils of the war against the spiritual darkness of this world!

And we can't outlove the Lord. The nature of God the Father is expressed in every part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit-- love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,Gal 5:22 all of which we receive through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us! Wow! (Glad He's still workin' on me!)

Well, that's what I'm excited about this morning, anyway.

Once again, meet your abba--Daddy--Father God-- here.