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GIVING IS LIVING

Giving is what Oral Roberts (Founder of Oral Roberts University and author of the Miracle of Seed Faith) calls The Blessing Pact Partnership. He says: "The principles are eternal. They apply to any situation in life. They work in whoever will work them."
 According to Oral Roberts, the Blessing Pact Partnership has three components namely; 
1. You look to God, not any person or any man as your source
2. You give as seed faith
3. You expect a miracle and watch out for it so you may recognize and receive it. The interesting aspect is that giving raises your expectancy to receive. Your mind is attuned to receive. And as you think in your heart, so are you. You are a living magnet; attracting resources according to your inner expectations. Your inner state of mind becomes your outward reality. As you give, you expect a miracle and sooner it happens. This easily brings to mind, the definition of faith as the substance of thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, even though you are not able to see the physical cash, you are so confident that it will come. Also remember that faith wothout works is dead. Your expectations must have something to back it up. It should not just be an empty expectation. That "something" is your giving. In that instance, you will have faith because the facts warrant it. Don't just wait on God emptily- with nothing to back it up.
"As day follows the night, receiving follows giving. You will get your harvest and you will know a joy you have never felt before."
-Oral Roberts, Miracle of Seed Faith, Page 117.
This is certainly God's system for meeting your needs on earth and enabling you to help others. The inside of you begins to influence the inside of the instruments that God will use. Your trust should be in God, not in man. By the laws of men, the stock market will inevitably go up and go down. It will never be completely stable. It is not in the nature of man for anything to be completely stable. Stability is in God.
"God is in control on this earth more than you think. He can cause men to change towards you just by what has happened in your spirit. They cannot resist you if you do what God says."
-Oral Roberts





"If you will honestly put God first in your personal lives...by looking to God as your source, by making giving your lifestyle as Jesus did, and by expecting a miracle after you have done all you can - if you will do this sincerely and with faith, God will prosper you and it will be to His glory. You will have the favour of God."
-Oral Roberts, Miracle of Seed Faith, Page 72.
Truly, giving opens you up to a whole new level of joy. You feel differently good. That is because you open yourself up to God when you give knowing it will come back to you multiplied. Expecting a miracle everyday makes life exciting - wondering what God will do today. You carry a new level of optimism. You know God is going to cause something good to happen to you. 
"Ask and if shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you." 
This principle goes beyond money however. Give seed-smile, seed-time, seed-love and seed-patience and they will come multiplied to you. If you are lonely, find a lonely person and offer friendship. Look beyond yourself.
"A man that hath friends must show himself friendly."
-King Solomon in Proverbs (18:24)
Only what you give is multiplied to you. If you give nothing and it were to be multiplied, it would still be nothing.  I read from one of Dr. David Oyedepo's books that the elephant, though large in size gives out more than it takes in (eats). This confirns the principle all along. It is little wonder that the elephant remains one of the fattest animals in the jungle. It gives out way more than it eats. You must have heard that nature abhors a vacuum. It is like creating space by walking on sand in the beach. It is not long before the space made by your footprint is refilled by waves and breeze.  Similarly, when you empty yourself, it is not usually long before you are refilled. 
"A rejected opportunity to give is a lost opportunity to receive. Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you..." Receiving follows giving. A miracle follows believing. The harvest follows seed-sowing and soil tending"
- Oral Roberts, Miracle of Seed Faith, page 104.
The most interesting part of it is that you cannot outgive nature. Nature will give you far more than it takes. Importantly, it is not what you give that comes back to you in return. Nature could give you what your most pressing need is at a particular moment.Jesus comes to you at the point of your need, in form of that need and to meet that need according to His riches. According to Mahatma Ghandi, not even God will dare to appear to a hungry man except in the form of bread.
"Men who run lending institutions may think they are in control, but when they are dealing with a man who has begun to look to God as thd source of his supply, they find that God will move heaven and earth, if necessary to meet his needs."
-Oral Roberts, Miracle of Seed Faith, page 59. 

"Even though you give to God or to some other person, you are really giving to God...look to God as the source of your supply, not those who are recipients of your giving. God is the one you have in mind when you give. God is the one you are given to so start looking to Him as the one who will take what you give to help others and multiply it to meet your own needs."
- Oral Roberts, Miracle of Seed Faith, page 51
"Everything I have ever attempted, building a university, going on national television or important things in my personal life. Evelyn (my wife) and I always give something first."
- Oral Robert, Miracle of Seed Faith, Page 66
One of the most important principles about giving however is that the greater the sacrifice, the greater the blessings. It is not the quantity of what you give but the quality that truly matters. Someone who gives ten naira (a significant chunk of what she owns) would have given more than someone who gave one million naira if it is less than half percent of such a person's possession. Even though Jesus observed the rich put much into the treasury, he commended the widow who put in all her living - her mite. According to Jesus, the poor widow had cast in more than they all. 
Think of giving as a means of expressing your gratitude to God for his goodness, graciousness and favour over your life. Giving frees you from greed. Giving is proof that you have conquered greed and the love of money. Money is not the root of all evil but the love of money is the root of all evil.  Giving frees you from that love of money. 
Think of giving as the rent you pay for your space on earth. In fact, when you really internalize your gratitude to God, you will realize that ten percent is way too small. You would stop seeing giving as a debt you owed but as a seed you sowed. Giving becomes your lifestyle as it was Jesus. When Jesus told Judas Iscariot that "That which you do, do it quickly", Judas' interpretation was giving to the poor. He had stayed with the master too long to know that when the master spoke with much urgency, He meant giving to the poor.

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