So, You Want To Know About Giving

So, You Want To Know About Giving

There Is No Getting Away From It; The Kingdom Of God Is Operated By Tithes And Offerings.

One thing that surprises many people who come to our ministry for the first time is how we don’t manipulate, threaten, or beg during offering times.

They are literally amazed that we only receive one offering in our service, and we show people we trust them to hear from God by not put any pressure on them whatsoever to give.

However, people are distrustful of the system that God has set up because of greedy flamboyant men and women who have exploited the teachings of sowing and reaping for personal gain.

Most people can give you a version of some type of exploitation they have seen, or heard about as it relates to ministries not being good stewards of the monies they receive from well-meaning givers. Sometimes it seems that these trusted leaders have no qualms about inventing new names for offerings to persuade people to give more.

Something is wrong here! While I see in the Word that the gospel will cause us to prosper in every area of our lives, there surely is a limit to how many cars a single individual can drive! It seems that the work of the ministry is far from their minds, and they have forgotten the weight of the commission Jesus gave to us all.

However, just because we have witnessed these things, does that mean we should stop engaging in the dynamic spiritual principles of sowing and reaping and of seedtime and harvest?

Let’s set some records straight. As people on assignment, we should not have to apologize for anything we do when it aligns with the Word of God, including taking offerings, because we are born again, and we want the fullness of what God has for us as believers.

What many people don’t realize is it is spiritually illegal for a pastor to receive tithes and offerings from people he does not feed.  So a pastor who merely shares some thoughts, or gets everyone excited and shouting, without giving them anything from the Word to build their lives with, is an abuse of spiritual law. It is the responsibility of the pastor to nourish and feed the people God has entrusted to Him before He can think of taking an offering.

On the flip side, when a believer receives spiritually, you should reciprocate with the natural. It is equally wrong for the people of God to receive spiritual enrichment and fail to make a contribution;  to be closed and unresponsive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to release an offering, this too is an abuse of spiritual law.

When people don’t understand the significance of their spiritual connection, they fail to close the loop with tithes and offerings.

If you are in the right ministry, you will receive spiritual food when you show up. That’s an indication that THIS is the man or woman of God who God has sent to you. That is your cue to sow into that anointing that is feeding you. That is the seed which will bring your supernatural increase.

Ministry Costs Money, but we never resort to gimmicks and emotional manipulation. Consequently we don’t promise special privileges to the person who gives more, and we don’t invite people to flaunt their generosity for all to see by making it public knowledge in the service. These are tools for the manipulator. However, divine prosperity is a closed loop. You can only tap into it through releasing what’s in your hand. Harvest will only respond to seed and you can’t pray past giving.

We recognize that people’s money and resources are precious and their offering is a gift from God Himself. We have respect for people’s walk with God and their ability to act responsibly towards the purposes of God. Their finances can’t be abused. I learned very early in ministry not to ask people to give any specific amount, since that is between them and God.

We expect people to be sensitive to what God is prompting them to do, and to give freely and willingly so that the work of the gospel can prosper.

When we get people to understand why they give a contribution, and the pastor to understand that he must not prostitute God’s people for money, we can then achieve balance. The needs of the gospel will be met, and the people of God will prosper and increase as they are supposed to.

You can’t keep someone broke who gives according to the principles of the Kingdom!