“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
If you are not offering of your financial increases to places that you have performed diligent research on and found them to be accountable to the Living God for what has been sent to them, or if you cannot do so because of your own financial burdens, then I would suggest praying for the Lord to reveal to you how you can assist the hungry.
If you have eight coats in your closet, then either one of those or the next one you purchase should be to give to one who does not have even one.
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matt. 22:39)
This love is an action, and shows to those you help two things, one, that you actually care, but the second can only be done if you open your mouth, that you care because you are cared for by the Lord Jesus Christ.
“For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:41)
Politicians make it a point to let you know when they are performing these deeds, as do most organizations that do the same, they have their reward here.
There are some things that we are to do in secret, and the Father will reward us openly, but there are times when you must let the recipient of the gift you are offering know why you are doing so. If you do not, you also will receive your reward for that action in this life, but not in the Kingdom of the Most High.
“And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” (Mark 10:18)
What the world calls “good” is relative my friends, there are no good people, there are not even any good Christians, only God is good, and when you reveal to that person why you are doing what you are doing, you take their eyes off you and show them the reason for your actions.
But I ask you to contemplate this verse now in context, “For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” (Mark 12:44)
We give out of our increase, of that which the Lord has bestowed upon us above what we need, I have never met, and I include myself here, anyone who has given all they have.
I really want to know what happened to that woman, did she go back home and find a package on her doorstep that would fulfill all her needs for the next week or so, or did she die destitute?
There is nothing wrong with giving of your increase, in fact, if you do not and are truly born-again, I would not expect that increase to last much longer. But I offer a word of caution here, if you believe the Almighty is asking you to give all you have, test the Spirits, for that means you also will be destitute.
“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2nd Cor. 9:7)
The rich young man could not do what the Lord asked him to do because of his love of the things of this world, Zacchaeus gave half, Judas Iscariot loved money, the Lord Jesus Christ had no place to lay His head. Each of us are different in this respect, but each of us are the same in this regard as well, we can end up loving our things more than we love our neighbor, and your things are not going to heaven with you my friends.
A man who has four hungry children does not put his neighbor above their needs, but of his increase he willingly gives.
Wisdom on an individual basis must be applied, much prayer for a heart and ears that can hear the Holy Spirit.
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:” (Matt. 6:20)
We do that by giving with a cheerful heart, whether it is much, little, or all we have.