The Bountiful Servant

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work…. Now may he who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God” (2 Corinthians 9:8,10-11, NKJV).

In these verses Paul urged the Corinthian church to take an offering for the suffering saints in famine-stricken Jerusalem. He asked them to give not grudgingly but generously, as the Macedonians had done, with an offering out of their own poverty. 

As I studied this passage, the Spirit spoke forcefully but lovingly to my inner man, asking, “David, where is your joy and happiness in your service to me?” I realized his Word wasn’t just talking about giving money to help the poor but also about ministry to the Lord and his church. The Holy Spirit whispered to me, “I have not called you to minister without my supplying help and abundant resources. All you need is available to you: strength, rest, power, ability and cheer. You have access to all strength and joy.” 

This passage is not just a hope; it is a promise. It begins with the words, “God is able.” The Lord always wants to give you not only what you need but more than you need. That is what “abound” means: an ever-increasing, superabundant supply. “Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

When God calls us to any work, he has already made provision for everything we need to accomplish it with energy and joy.

Think of what is being promised here. When you are down and tired and don’t think you can go any farther, God is able to so invigorate you that you will have all you need. This is always true, in every circumstance. 

This promise includes power to keep you from falling. I know many Christians who trust the Lord but not themselves. They’re utterly afraid of falling and missing the mark. They’re scared the devil is going to entrap them somehow and that they’ll grieve the Lord. God’s promise, however, includes his power to keep you from falling. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24). 

It doesn’t matter how powerful your temptation is or how discouraged you are about your lack of resistance.     God promises you, “I want you to have an overabundance of all you need at   all times.” 

Many Christians have not honestly faced the power of these promises of God. They’ve read the promises many times, but these treasures have not been claimed with a heart-cry of, “Lord, reveal to me what you have prepared. Open my mind and my spirit to the resources you have for me so I can claim them for your glory.”

Have you proven God’s promises by drawing on the bank of heaven, “that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work…”? (2 Corinthians 9:8).
 

Do you fit Paul’s description  of a bountiful servant, one who has all he or she needs and more at all times, in every crisis?

In short, as the battle gets hotter, God’s grace to you increases. As weakness comes upon you, his strength comes on even greater. When your burden becomes heavier, his power and strength increase in proportion to it.
 
Make no mistake, God gives this strength only to those who want it and appropriate it. Often, I have prayed, “Oh, Lord, you’ve laid an awfully heavy burden on me. It seems more than I can handle.” Yet he has answered each time, “I have provided greater strength for you than you know. I never put a burden on any of my children without also making provision for more than is needed to bear it. You have my promise of joy and rest, especially in your worst crises.” 

The harder our situation, the more difficult our path and the heavier our burden, the more cheer, rest and hope we can have. God is saying, “You shouldn’t be worn out, drained or cast down. You have more than an abundance of resources promised to you. So, you should be increasing your efforts rather than pulling back.”
 

Since God has promised superabundant supply, he expects us to give him all we have with our whole heart.

Paul isn’t just talking about financial offerings when he writes, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:7-8). 

Note Paul’s dual application here. We are to give financially, yet we are also to do “every good work,” and he promises sufficient resources for that work. 

This abounding spirit was in the church in Macedonia, which literally begged Paul to let them take up a collection for the suffering saints in Jerusalem. The Macedonians were so wholly given to the Lord that they gave out of their own poverty. 

Despite their poverty, the Macedonians gave all the money they possibly could. When they had no more money to give, they gave of themselves. “…but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God” (2 Corinthians 8:5). These were bountiful Christians. They spared nothing in serving the Lord and their brethren. “For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing” (2 Corinthians 8:3). 

You may say, “I genuinely love the Lord, and I’m doing my very best to give him my all. My heart really is in the ministry I do for him. My flesh is weak and weary, though; I’m worn out, and my spirit is cast down. I just can’t help it.”

Beloved, Paul experienced all that you describe. He wrote, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying  of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). 

Through all of this, Paul had a revelation of the resources available to him. When he was most overwhelmed, his faith laid hold of what he needed to bring him through every trial with victory and overcoming power. 

We see Paul rebound again and again, with renewed faith and strength to go on. “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart…. as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things (2 Corinthians 4:1; 6:9-10). Paul could do this because he drew on the resources of his heavenly Father. 

Beloved, only those who are involved in the battle receive his great provisions. Stay in the battle, but trust his strength over your own, for in the heat of warfare God makes you stronger. That’s when he comes to you generously, showering you with his resources and giving you inner strength, exchanging your burden for his. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). 

I want to encourage you with a simple quiz. 

•    Does the Word of God promise to supply all your needs? Did Jesus say he would never leave you but would be with you to the end? Did he say his ear is open to your prayers, and that he will give you the desire of your heart? Did he say you will be more than a conqueror? 

•    Is he more willing to give than you are to receive? Is he greater in you than he that is in the world? Will he do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think?

•    Are his thoughts toward you good thoughts? Is he a rewarder of those who diligently seek him? Is he acquainted with all your ways? Is his eye upon you night and day? Is he interceding for you right now?

•    Is he preparing a place for you in glory? Is he coming in the clouds to gather his people home?

Your answer to all of these should be, “Absolutely, yes!” 

•    Finally, can anyone or anything in heaven or on earth separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? No, never! 

Dear saint, we have a bountiful Savior. We have become spiritually rich through all his resources toward us. “While you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11). He is calling us to be bountiful servants, with hearts of thanksgiving.  

Pray with me: “Lord, you have made me rich. I’m rich in strength because you told me you have everything I need at all times. From now on, when I’m tired, rather than complain to you about it, I’m going to draw a check. Pour forth your strength into my heart, give me a restful spirit, and make me stronger today in you than I’ve ever been. Amen.