Jonathan Edwards: Directions

Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2

”God gives us directions on how we are to give…bountifully and willingly. We should give bountifully and sufficiently for the supply of the poor’s need: “Thou shalt not…shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and…lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8). And again, in verse 11: “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Again, we should give willingly and without grudging: “Thou shalt not harden thine heart…from thy poor brother…And thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him” (vv. 7, 10). We may also observe how peremptorily this duty is here enjoined and how much it is insisted on. It is repeated over and over again and enjoined in the strongest terms.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in Christian Charity or The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced (Pensacola: Chapel Library, 2022) 4. Download the PDF copy here.

I am safely back home to Denver. Today marks the second day exploring what is needful to live generously in this classic work. Thankfully Edwards provides clear and biblical giving directions in three parts.

First, give bountifully. This points to the measure of our giving. It implies great volume. So, the first point relates to supplying more than enough to meet a need. Think about it.

Things always seem to cost more than we expect. I am praying right now for resources to host events in Ghana. Already I anticipate a stretched budget. Bountiful giving bridges the gap!

Second, give willingly. This relates to the motivation of our giving. It teaches us that God cares more about the posture of our heart than the level of our giving.

To grow in this area, make a gift today or this week to something that God cares about that you can support with your whole heart. You might rediscover the joy of generosity in the process.

Third, give peremptorily. This is an uncommon word for giving out of obedience. In plain terms, God uses the strongest terms because it’s the right thing for you to do.

This matches the instructions from the apostle Paul. He gives directions to the Galatians, the Corinthians, and us to share our surplus to meet the needs of others.

This brings us full circle to Deuteronomy. When we live this way, we don’t end up with hard or grieved hearts but happy hearts. And needs get met from the resources that God has supplied.

Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you. Leviticus 25:35

“The duty here enjoined is giving to the poor: “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren…thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother… Thou shalt surely give him.” Here by “thy poor brother” is to be understood the same as in other places is meant by “neighbor.” It is explained in Leviticus 25:35 to mean not only those of their own nation, but even strangers and sojourners: “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner.”

The Pharisees indeed interpreted it to signify only one of their own nation; but Christ condemns this interpretation (Luke 10:29) and teaches, in contradiction to their opinion, that the rules of charity in the Law of Moses are to be extended to the Samaritans, who were not of their nation, and between whom and the Jews there was the most bitter enmity, and who were a people very troublesome to the Jews.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in Christian Charity or The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced (Pensacola: Chapel Library, 2022) 3-4.

I’ve had a fantastic and fruitful trip to Australia. Reply if you’d like a copy of my trip report.

This week we turn our attention to learn what is needful from Jonathan Edwards. Download the ebook of this classic work here.

Today we get a good reminder to aid those around us who are in need coupled with the biblical definition of neighbor. It’s not just people who are like us. It includes strangers and sojourners.

And maybe more important is to determine who the Pharisees are in the day in which we live. And akin to that is what the rules of charity are in our cultural settings. Let me explain.

Society pressures us to do certain things or support certain groups. For example, society might say, “Strangers are bad. Don’t talk to them.” Or, “watch out for foreigners. They are sketchy. Avoid them.”

The Old Testament Law of Moses and the New Testament example of Jesus call us to think and act differently.

We do well to open our minds and hearts to strangers. And we may actually receive blessing from extending hospitality to sojourners. Today I exhort you to show to others the care you would want shown to you.

This could be an immigrant, a refugee, a visitor to your country, or a person who’s just not from the place where you live. They often need a helping hand, a bit of advice, or some other form of assistance.

Pray about what it looks like to help them. While Jenni departs today for ten days of ministry in Rwanda, Jesus says to host a bloke from Costa Rica for a night and to buy a meal for a family visiting from Pakistan.

As I think about it, it represents the care I received from Aussies in both Adelaide and Melbourne. Generosity is a two-way street. Sometimes we receive care and other times we extend it.

For the sake of application, let’s all care for our neighbors, shall we? That includes strangers and sojourners. And simultaneously, let’s trust Jesus to care for us according to His riches in glory.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Isaiah 61:1-6

“Holy Father, Thy wisdom excites our admiration, Thy power fills us with fear, Thy omnipresence turns every spot of earth into holy ground; but how shall we thank Thee enough for Thy mercy which comes down to the lowest part of our need to give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and for the spirit of heaviness a garment of praise? We bless and magnify Thy mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 65. Click here to download it freely.

Today marks the last post from A. W. Tozer for now. I have enjoyed sweet fellowship with friends down under. I fly home tomorrow. I pray you have gained wisdom this week.

Lest we think more highly of ourselves than we should, we must remember that God does not need us.

He chooses to work in and through us. He is not only our Savior. He offers us infinite power. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead. But are you tapping it?

And today, we see him go to the lowest part of our need to transform it. He gets His proverbial hands dirty. If you feel like life is filled with ashes, mourning, and a spirit of heaviness, He wants more for you.

He offers beauty, the oil of joy, and a garment of praise.

God generously meets us in our lowest parts and transforms everything. And the best part, after that, we get to help others experience it. He makes us rebuilders, priests, and ministers.

He meets us in the lowest part of our need so we can meet others there.

Think right now of someone who has needs. How can you serve as a rebuilder if they are broken, as a priest to connect them to God, or as a minister to help meet their needs?

Ask the Holy Spirit whom to serve and do it generously.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

“God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. ”I am the Lord, I change not” [Malachi 3:6]. We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bring our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly operative toward us in the manner set forth through the gospel in the Scriptures of truth.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 39. Click here to download it freely.

Tozer teaches us that God wants one thing from us: change.

We have leaned into the idea of obedience this week. Think of “what” is needful for you. But the term ‘change’ explains “how” you get there.

Now I want you to consider into the clearly stated terms. You cannot serve God and money.

I cannot get over how many followers of Christ say they serve God but their actions show they serve money. Hang with me to make a really important point.

If you think having money is the answer to navigate life, you serve money. Let me explain this in power terms. It’s like running your life on car battery. God lets you do it.

You are like an old pick up truck that backfires. You sputter along. You limited your power by choice. You miss out on infinite power that can become instantly operative toward you.

Now imagine running your life by the power of the glory of God.

“The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it. God’s glory gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” Revelation 21:23

In the heavenly city, it powers everything. In car terms, you are a Formula One race car. The choice is yours. Old pick up truck or F1 race car.

Take a step in the right direction. Ask God what change looks like for you. And do it.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4

“When viewed from the perspective of eternity, the most critical need of this hour may well be that the Church should be brought back from her long Babylonian captivity and the name of God be glorified in her again as of old. Yet we must not think of the Church as an anonymous body, a mystical religious abstraction. We Christians are the Church and whatever we do is what the Church is doing. The matter, therefore, is for each of us a personal one. Any forward step in the Church must begin with the individual.

What can we plain Christians do to bring back the departed glory? Is there some secret we may learn? Is there a formula for personal revival we can apply to the present situation, to our own situation? The answer to these questions is yes. Yet the answer may easily disappoint some persons, for it is anything but profound. I bring no esoteric cryptogram, no mystic code to be painfully deciphered. I appeal to no hidden law of the unconscious, no occult knowledge meant only for the few.

The secret is an open one which the wayfaring man may read. It is simply the old and ever new counsel: Acquaint thyself with God. To regain her lost power the Church must see heaven opened and have a transforming vision of God. But the God we must see is not the utilitarian God who is having such a run of popularity today, whose chief claim to men’s attention is His ability to bring them success in their various undertakings and who for that reason is being cajoled and flattered by everyone who wants a favor. The God we must learn to know is the Majesty in the heavens, God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, the only wise God, our Savior.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 84. Click here to download it freely.

What is needful if you want to have a generous impact in this world? Tozer alerts you to acquaint yourself with the only wise God, our Savior.

Let’s lean into this in two ways.

One, your faith in the only wise God, our Savior will only be as strong as the object of your faith. Study the word of God.

Two, to learn more about term ‘Savior’ associated with God, and click here to download and read my International Society of Biblical Literature paper “The Honorific Title ‘Savior’ in Ancient Coins, the Inscriptions of Ephesus, and 1 Timothy.” I deliver it today in Adelaide, Australia.

You discover who was called ‘savior’ in Ephesus in the days of the New Testament and what Timothy and those with whom he served would have heard when the author of 1 Timothy employs the word.

And soon, when the new Generosity Monk website launches soon, you can get access to similar papers to help you more deeply acquaint yourself with the only wise God, our Savior.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

“The various elements of truth stand in perpetual antithesis, sometimes requiring us to believe apparent opposites while we wait for the moment when we shall know as we are known. Then truth which now appears to be in conflict with itself will arise in shining unity and it will be seen that the conflict has not been in the truth but in our sin-damaged minds. In the meanwhile our inner fulfillment lies in loving obedience to the commandments of Christ and the inspired admonitions of His apostles. “It is God which worketh in you.” He needs no one, but when faith is present He works through anyone. Two statements are in this sentence and a healthy spiritual life requires that we accept both. For a full generation the first has been in almost total eclipse, and that to our deep spiritual injury.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 28. Click here to download it freely.

Tozer helps us understand that it is needful for us to choose the path of loving obedience while holding elements of truth that appear to stand in perpetual antithesis.

This points to the faith and the work parts of the spiritual journey. Both are vital. And soak in this paradox. “He needs no one, but when faith is present He works through anyone.”

He does His best work through those society would least expect. We see this through the various characters of the Bible. Through the ordinary, He does the extraordinary.

I am at a conference with biblical scholars. They could appear in biblical stories as proud Pharisees, or as humble teachers. Today the Spirit reminds me that the purpose of biblical knowledge is loving obedience.

The same is true for you. As you grow, it is for a purpose. To renew your sin-damaged mind and walk in obedience. We figure it out as we live it out.

To think anything less is to remain in deep spiritual injury. So what is the application today? Work out your salvation, or in plain terms, aim at obedience and God trust God to take care of the rest.

It will cost you everything but the gain will be unfathomable. Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

“Christians today appear to know Christ only after the flesh. They try to achieve communion with Him by divesting Him of His burning holiness and unapproachable majesty, the very attributes He veiled while on earth but assumed in fullness of glory upon His ascension to the Father’s right hand. The Christ of popular Christianity has a weak smile and a halo. He has become Someone-up-There who likes people, at least some people, and these are grateful but not too impressed. If they need Him, He also needs them.

Let us not imagine that the truth of the divine self-sufficiency will paralyze Christian activity. Rather it will stimulate all holy endeavor. This truth, while a needed rebuke to human self-confidence, will when viewed in its biblical perspective lift from our minds the exhausting load of mortality and encourage us to take the easy yoke of Christ and spend ourselves in Spirit-inspired toil for the honor of God and the good of humankind. For the blessed news is that the God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension set Himself to work by and in and through His obedient children.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 26-27. Click here to download it freely.

Over the last two days, we learned that it is needful for us to understand that God needs no helpers or defenders. Today we discover some really blessed news.

“The God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension set Himself to work by and in and through His obedient children.” That’s you and me, but only if we choose the path of obedience.

The obedient appear with the easy yoke of Christ. The obedient spend themselves “in Spirit-inspired toil for the honor of God and the good of mankind.”

Is the Spirit convicting you of human self-confidence that needs rebuke? For God to work by and in you for His honor and the good of humankind, the only pathway is obedience.

As a practical application today, read one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John), in your personal study this week. Read it and write down time Jesus tells the disciples to do something.

Ask the Spirit to help you obey the list, to help you in your unbelief, and to give you courage to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus.

The International Society of Biblical Literature conference is going well in Adelaide. I am learning a lot, having rich discussions with scholars, and will share my paper at the conference and with you on 9 July 2026.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“Again, God needs no defenders. He is the eternal Undefended. To communicate with us in all idiom we can understand, God in the Scriptures makes full use of military terms; but surely it was never intended that we should think of the throne of the Majesty on high as being under siege, with Michael and his hosts or some other heavenly beings defending it from stormy overthrow. So to think is to misunderstand everything the Bible would tell us about God. Neither Judaism nor Christianity could approve such puerile notions. A God who must be defended is one who can help us only while someone is helping Him. We may count upon Him only if He wins in the cosmic seesaw battle between right and wrong. Such a God could not command the respect of intelligent men; He could only excite their pity.

To be right we must think worthily of God. It is morally imperative that we purge from our minds all ignoble concepts of the Deity and let Him be the God in our minds that He is in His universe. The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man’s only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing. The psalmists and prophets of the Scriptures refer sad scorn to weak man whose breath is in his nostrils, who grows up like the grass in the morning only to be cut down and wither before the setting of the sun. That God exists for himself and man for the glory of God is the emphatic teaching of the Bible. The high honor of God is first in heaven as it must yet be in earth.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 26-27. Click here to download it freely.

Our Bible passage today tells us that Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. In plain terms, it teaches us how to live rightly.

Yesterday, A. W. Tozer taught us that God needs no help or helpers. Today, he adds that God needs no defenders. This stood out to me in my reading because I am at a conference with biblical scholars from around the world.

God has tasked us as biblical scholars to help people understand Scripture, to do research, to deliver papers, and to write commentaries in order to help His people know how to live and to equip them to teach, rebuke, correct, and train others in righteousness.

So to say God needs no defenders for me this week means that I speak truth in love not to defend God but help people understand and know Him and show this by making sure my actions match my words.

You can do that where you are too, and it comes into view as the most generous thing you can do! Practically speaking, you study the Scriptures which train you how to live and then show and tell people about the life-giving way of Jesus.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find him, though He is not far from any one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ Acts 17:24-28

“Almighty God, just because He is almighty, needs no support. The picture of a nervous, ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one; yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see. Twentieth century Christianity has put God on charity. So lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy, not to say enjoyable, to believe that we are necessary to God. But the truth is that God is not greater for our being, nor would He be less if we did not exist.

That we do exist is altogether of God’s free determination, not by our desert nor by divine necessity. Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help. We commonly represent Him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world, but, as said the Lady Julian, “I saw truly that God doeth all-thing, be it never so little.” The God who worketh all things surely needs no help and no helpers.

Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God. An effective speaker can easily excite pity in his listeners, not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support. I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of. Add to this a certain degree of commendable idealism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today.”

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) in Knowledge of the Holy, 26.

For the next seven days we will explore what is needful through the eyes of A. W. Tozer in his classic work, Knowledge of the Holy. Click here to download it freely.

It is needful for us to understand that God does not need help or helpers. The key word here is need. We must go from thinking too highly of ourselves to showing through our actions we think more highly of Him.

God is the Almighty! This should humble each of us. As Tozer notes, we should not speak of God as needing our help in our Christian efforts. Rather, He redeemed us for doing good works that bring glory to our Father in Heaven.

He wants us to live by faith and show our reliance on Him. This positions Him to get glory for anything that happens through us. But often, we who have been blessed with resources, trust in what we have rather than in God.

God wants us to know Him. When we do, we become overcome by His goodness, His faithfulness, His absolute trustworthiness, and His matchless generosity.

In response, our actions show a growing willingness to give not a portion of ourselves and our resources to Him but all we are and all we have because we know He bought us with the price of His blood.

Where do you fit in this picture?

Are you speaking of God as one who needs help or helpers. If so, please stop. Instead, join the ranks of those who show that because God helped them for the purpose of doing good works that bring Him glory, they surrender everything to Him.

I have arrived safely in Adelaide, Australia, for the International Society of Biblical Literature conference. It runs from 6-9 July 2026. I speak on the last day. More on that later.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:7-11

“Prayer is not about changing God, but being willing to let God change us… Jesus goes so far as to say that true prayer is always answered (Matthew 7:7–11). Now we all know that is not factually true—unless He is talking about prayer in the sense that I am trying to describe it. If you are able to switch minds to the mind of Christ, your prayer has already been answered! That new mind knows, understands, accepts, and sees correctly, widely, and wisely. Its prayers are always answered because they are, in fact, the prayers of God too… Paul puts it this way: “You are hidden with Christ in God. When Christ is revealed — and He is your life — you too will be revealed in all your glory within Him” (Colossians 3:3–4). It does not get any better than that, and you are now personally in on the deal. Basically prayer is an exercise in divine participation — you opting in and God always there!”

Richard Rohr in Breathing Under Water (London: SPCK, 2016), 75.

This marks the last post in exploring what is needful from this book by Richard Rohr.

We live in a time when the idea of “opting in” takes our minds to choosing to put our name on a list, or deciding to join some group. Today Rohr suggests that it is needful for us to see prayer as opting in.

I like this notion because all too often prayer appears as us asking God for what we need.

This exposes the fact that we see ourselves and our needs at the center of all things. Alternatively, when prayer is an exercise in divine participation, we discover that God is always there and in Him we have all we need.

This relates to generosity because it transforms the person whose life is hidden with Christ in God.

We shift from feeling anxiety about the future or whatever petition we want to bring to the Lord to feeling confident that He will give us bread and fish if we need them and not stones and snakes.

What is the meaning of these words for us practically?

The significance of God giving us bread over stones in the Scripture is giving something useful to sustain us instead of something useless. The link to fish and snakes is giving something beneficial instead of harmful.

We can live, give, serve, and love generously because that’s God’s posture toward us when we opt in with Him in prayer. We are participating with the One who is always ready to do good toward us.

This is a good word on Independence Day in USA.

While the nation celebrates 250 years, I am over the Pacific heading to Australia. I want to remind readers in USA and anywhere else where they can pray and worship God freely to pause and give thanks to God.

And let us lift up and brothers and sisters around the world who do not have this same freedom.