I am a well educated woman. If there is one thing that I have experienced through and through to the point that I could afford, it was the American Education System. I attended a magnet elementary school and excelled, the number on high school in the region at it’s time, the fourth oldest HBCU, and a prestigious Big 10 public institution for graduate school. My resume was chock-full of internships, awards, presentations, and grand accomplishments all by the time I was 26. I nailed the American Education System. But the one education system I had not nailed, was God’s school of obedience. The lesson I kept failing? Pouring out.

When you experience the American Education System, different principles are engrained in you so implicitly that you barely remember that you learned them until you exercised them and saw the result. I was taught:

• Don’t let people see the your plan. They will try to steal it and take the credit, so when you have an idea, write it down and send it to yourself sealed and don’t share it until it is copy written.
• Never give 100%. Give 98% because everyone else is giving about 75%. If you give 100% you will be taken advantage of.
• Save your best ideas for you. DO NOT SHARE THEM. Why would you give your best to others for them to say the credit is theirs.
• DO NOT teach someone everything you know. Why would you give someone for free what you had to pay for, and are STILL paying for.

These and more were the messages that plagued and conflicted me. I wanted to be obedient to God and be generous with what I know and could give others when He said, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed (Proverbs 11:25).” I just did not know how. I was so scared to lose my edge, my secret sauce, my niche! But underneath all of that was a fear to lose status, compliments, being seen as a expert, and wealth-generating opportunities. It was all counter-Christian. Without realizing it, I was trying to preserve my selfish ambition. But my good God was so kind to me in teaching me otherwise.

God sent a beautiful person into my life to remind me that the biggest gift I got in my life was given to me… for FREE. Give and free. I could not earn salvation. Someone, Jesus Christ, gave up his status, compliments, being seen as a king, and wealth-generating opportunities, so that I would not be eternally separated from Holy God. My Elizabeth gave me me things for free that no school, no seminary, cold ever teach me. She share biblical truths with me so profound that I wept. I deserved nothing, but God by way of this woman was giving me revelation of scripture that my studies would have taken 20 years to produced if at all, because was a spiritual hoarder. he could not trust me with more because I would hold onto it and not give it away. Money, I’d give easy because I valued knowledge as my currency. But when God taught me how to give it away and pour, He gave more, and in abundance. Now I look back on the spiritual currency and how it blesses others, and I think, “How could I have been so selfish.” Followed by, “Thank you God for teaching me how to give authentically and freely.”

The scriptures God shared in “From God, To: The One Who Won’t Pour Out,” still serve as a reminder and checks an balance to assure that as much as He is giving, by leading of Holy Spirit, I’m pouring out to others for refreshment. Take a look at the scriptures and evaluate, How does my heart respond to these invitations of obedience? With resistance or willingness? Which one sticks out to you? Meditate on it and apply it to your life. Let me know in the comments what area God is asking you to pour out in. I’d love to partner in prayer with you.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.^[a]

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Matthew 8:10

“Come, all of you who thirst, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost!

Isaiah 55:1

I encourage you, give freely. Pour without fear of losing you. From my experience, when I got to the end of me, the only thing I had left was the only thing I ever needed, Jesus Christ. Don’t you want others to be free for free? If someone charged you for spiritual truths that the Bible made available to you, I am sorry you had that experience. I was willing to pay for truth because I genuinely wanted it so desperately too, but, salvation only costed me my pride. What a small price to pay for the rich abundance of knowing Jesus Christ. Pour out, so He can pour in.

#pourout #refreshothers #refreshher