The More You Give Away, the More Influential You'll Be - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - January 20, 2016

The More You Give Away, the More Influential You’ll Be
By Rick Warren

“They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor.” (Psalm 112:9 NLT, second edition)

Generosity expands your influence. The more generous you become, the more influential you will become.

Influence comes not from what you get in life. Influence comes from what you give away in life, and the more you give away, the more influential you’ll be.

The Bible says in Proverbs 11:24, “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller” (MSG).

The Bible also says, “They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor” (Psalm 112:9 NLT, second edition).

Forty years ago when Kay and I got married, we started tithing 10 percent. At the end of our first year of marriage, we raised our giving to 11 percent. At the end of our second year, we raised it to 12 percent. At the end of the third year, we raised it to 13 percent. Every year for 40 years, even in tough times, we have raised our giving a little bit.

Why? Because I wanted my heart to grow bigger every year. I wanted to be more like Jesus. I wanted to be godly. I wanted to be holy.

We weren’t doing this to show off. In fact I didn’t tell anybody about it for more than 25 years. We just quietly did it every year until 10 years ago when we started giving away 91 percent of our income and living on 9 percent.

We do it because we cannot out-give God. And while my giving went up, so did my influence.

God wants to do the same in your life. How are you doing with being generous?

Playtoday’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

Talk It Over

• Why is it just as important to be faithful to God in the small things as it is the big things?
• How are you doing with your tithe (giving 10 percent back to God)? How has God led you to give above and beyond your tithe? What was your response?
• What kind of influence do you want to have in your circle, in your community, and in the world? What can you do to show God that he can trust you with that influence?

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Daring Faith-The Key to Miracles Study Kit

Do you want God to do miracles in your life? In this series, Pastor Rick shares why faith is the key to miracles and challenges you to grow and be stretched in your faith so that you can experience God’s blessing, spiritual maturity, answered prayers, and even miracles.

This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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