Courageous Generosity (Pt.1)

(Part 1) 

“While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”-Luke 21:1-4

Generosity is showing a readiness to give more of something than is necessary or expected. However, it goes far beyond just giving. Generosity is a reflection of God’s character, a tool for bringing honor and glory to God, and a way to point people to Christ. 

Generosity has far more to do with the condition of our heart than it does the abundance of our bank accounts. That is precisely what Jesus is teaching us in Luke 21:1-4. Jesus is well aware of our giving and whether our giving was shared out of our abundance or out of our need. Jesus was careful not to associate generosity with abundance. Instead Jesus gauges generosity based not on what we have to give from, but rather what we have to give up. 

The rich, obviously, gave more numerically, however they only gave a tiny portion of their surplus. They were not going to miss a meal or have to adjust their monthly budget to make room for their gift. The widow, by comparison, gave far less, but she gave everything that she had. There was no safety net. Giving, knowing that you will have to give something else up to give it takes courage. 

The Apostle Paul recognized this in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 as he recounts the generosity of the churches in Macedonia: 

“Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

The church were being tested by many troubles. Many of them were just trying to put food on the table and provide a roof over their family’s head. They were very poor Living paycheck to paycheck at best.  

Yet, they gave not only what they could afford, but the scripture says they gave far more. How often do we base our giving on what we can afford? Some may argue, Well, isn’t that being a good steward? Certainly, but how many things have we obligated ourselves too that have crippled our ability to be generous? 

When was the last time any of us actually sat down and said, if we give up “this” and “that” for the next month we can give towards the need of another? Here is what made them stand out to Paul. No one had to tell them to do it. They did it of their own free will. According to Paul, they did more than was even hoped. That kind of giving did not come easy. 

How many know that it cost them something? There were things that they had to give up, in order to participate in the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. What does generosity look like? It’s people in need giving generously to bless others in need.

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Courageous Prayer (Pt.3)

Part 3 

“Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.” So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.”A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God.”-Daniel 6:14-23

King Darius, obviously, had a lot of respect for Daniel. Scripture tells us that, upon leaving the lion’s den, Darius didn’t eat or sleep that entire night and refused to be entertained. When morning dawned, he rushed out to see if Daniel’s God had rescued him. When the stone was rolled away, not a scratch was found on him, for Daniel had trusted in his God. 

The last key to a courageous prayer life is trust. Courageous prayer trusts God. Remember, that when they came and took Daniel into custody, they found him in prayer asking for God’s help.

I don’t know how he envisioned that looking, but as they were tossing him in the lion’s den it may have appeared as if God didn’t answer. When the stone was rolled over the top sealing him in, it may have appeared that the Lord didn’t answer. When the King sealed the stone with his signet ring ensuring that no one could come and save Daniel, it may have appeared that God didn’t answer. When the first lion roared and bore his teeth it may have appeared that the Lord didn’t answer. 

If it were me, my prayer life would have found new life in that moment. How many would have been throwing out every prayer you could pray? However, Daniel didn’t learn to trust God in the moment, he learned to trust God three times a day, seven days a week, in his upstairs room with the windows open toward Jerusalem. If you can’t trust Him to show up in your prayer closet, you will never trust Him to show up in the Lion’s Den. Daniel didn’t learn the value of prayer in the Lion’s den. He learned it in his prayer closet. 

Daniel, did however, experience the value of prayer in the lion’s den, because of the value he put on prayer when he was petitioning God from his upstairs chamber. 

Sometimes we stop valuing prayer because we didn’t see God show up when or how we expected. We stop trusting God, when in reality we should stop trusting our weak prayer lives. Let’s be honest, we want to experience the miracles Daniel did, but we don’t want to pay the price. We don’t want to develop the discipline of consistent prayer, we don’t want to sacrifice our comfort to make prayer a greater priority, we don’t want to learn the value of prayer in our prayer closets, we just want to experience it when we need it. 

Courageous prayer takes consistency, priority and trust. 

Pastor Scott Burr

Courageous Prayer (Pt.2)

“Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help.”-Daniel 6:11

They found him praying! When’s the last time someone found you praying? When was the last time your kids found you praying? Your spouse find you praying? Your co-worker find you praying? I’m not talking about praying in a way that draws attention to yourself.  I talking about giving enough time to prayer that people, without prompting, can tell that prayer is a priority in your life.

Daniel’s accusers didn’t just stumble upon him praying. The scripture says that they went looking where they knew they would find Daniel praying. If you and I are going to have a courageous prayer life we are going to have to make prayer a priority. You don’t think that something had to take a backseat three times a day when Daniel stopped to pray. You don’t think that other things had to be pushed back or left undone so that he could build that consistency in his life. 

Daniel wasn’t working a 10 a.m.-3  p.m., Monday-Friday, with weekends off kind of job:

“Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.”-Daniel 6:1-3

Daniel didn’t try to fit prayer into his day, he scheduled his day around his prayer time. What you schedule your day around will become your priority. They knew that his prayer life was a priority. They knew that even if the king issued a decree declaring that anyone caught praying to any other person or god would be thrown to the lions, that Daniel would not sway in his prayer life. 

“ 11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. 12 So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions?” “Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.”13 Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.”- Daniel 6:11-13

When prayer is a priority, it’s going to take more than a death threat to stop you. What have you allowed to be the “decree” that has crippled your prayer life? Think about that. Darius decreed death to those who prayed to anyone else or any other god, yet Daniel was still not deterred in his prayer life. 

Some of us need to repent because we have abandoned prayer for far less. We will binge watch 16 hours of Stranger Things on Netflix while not giving a single solitary hour to prayer. We will stand in line at Universal Studios for two hours to ride the Fast & Furious, but not sit and pray for an hour with the saints of God, because it’s too long, too boring, or too uncomfortable. 

I am thinking if we can endure two hours in line to experience five minutes of fun, surely we can endure an hour prayer meeting to see people experience eternity. It is in prayer where people’s lives are changed, saved, healed, delivered, and restored.

 It takes courage to make prayer a priority. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church