Give Out Of Abundance!

Beloved,

In my previous post I suggested that what we do with the remaining 90% of our income after we have brought the tithe to God, is really about how we live our Christian lives isn't it? It is because almost every aspect of our lives is impacted by money and our attitude towards it.

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"

And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up."

Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

And Jesus, looking around, *said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mar 10:17-23 NASB)

What Jesus was trying to teach here is NOT that we have to sell everything to follow him BUT that we cannot make MONEY our God. That rich man said he kept all the commandments that Jesus stated. But when he could not let go of his riches, he failed to keep the 1st commandment:

"You shall have no other gods before Me. (Exo 20:3 NASB)

Now, Jesus did NOT teach that being wealthy is bad or that the wealthy cannot enter the kingdom, just hard. He is not against us having money but He is against money having us.

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1Ti 6:10 NASB)

We cannot emphasis more the dangers of letting money become our god.

May I suggest to you all that God's plan for helping us strike a healthy attitude towards money and wealth is simply to give it away for His glory! :-)

Some of my key guiding verses when it comes to wealth/money are taken from 2 Cor 9:6-11.

Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed
in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2Cor 9:6-7 NASB)

Now isn't it amazing that Paul relates the principle of seed-time and harvest to giving? Giving is like planting seed. Whatever seed we plant (ie give away), we will reap a harvest later. With that harvest in, we will then have more seed to plant, which will result in an even bigger harvest, and even more seed to plant later!

This my friends, is the economics of the kingdom of God! :-)

"But I don't have enough to give! I barely have enough to tithe!" Opps! Erroneous statement, we should ALWAYS have enough to tithe. Refer to previous post for explanation on tithe. :-)

Look, God understands that we have needs to meet, so He does not demand that we give more than we are able. How can we honestly give cheerfully if we do not have enough left to buy milk powder right? He wants us to purpose in our heart, ie be deliberate in our giving, being good stewards and thus be able to give cheerfully.

Therefore do not feel compelled or pressured to give and then give grudgingly (ie unwillingly). When the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to this truth, it set me free from guilt whenever I find that I am unable to or feel like giving.

If you have not purposed to give, and you are not willing to give, for goodness sake DON'T give! Don't feel pressured or compelled when the offering bag comes around to you or when people come up to you for donations. Please don't give out of guilt or compulsion. God wants us to give cheerfully, even hilarously enjoy giving... because that is how He gives!

Let me say that again... God enjoys giving! I want you to banish from your heart any thought that may suggest that God gives grudgingly or unwillingly.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; (2Cor 9:8 NASB)

This is my favourite verse on money, prosperity, giving. It says that as we purpose to give, God is able to make ALL His grace abound to us so that ALL our needs will be met and we can give out of ABUNDANCE... not out of poverty or lack! Do you remember those fund raising campaigns like "Sacrifice your lunch and give to ......"? This is what I call a "poverty mentality", thinking that there are only limited funds to go around. Our God is not POOR! Our God is able to provide for our lunch AND enable us to give out of our abundance!

So having all sufficiency in everything, we will have an abundance for every good deed. Problem with us is that we tend to mistake our wants as needs. This is where many Christians struggle. We need to get ourselves to a place where we can say to our Lord that "I have been crucified with Christ, the world has no hold on me anymore... I have overcome the world!" (Gal 2:20, 1 John 2:16, 5:4,5) If we are lusting after the world, no amount of money will satisfy that lust.

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. (2 Cor 9:10-11 NASB)

Notice that it is God who provides the seed for sowing and bread for food. Why separate mention of seed and bread? It means that God supplies BOTH for our needs and our giving! Even our giving is given by God! We do not have to sacrifice any of our needs in order to give! What an amazingly wonderful God!

And notice that God will not only supply but also multiply our seed for sowing! So the seed He has supplied, He will also multiply. So that means He will be able to grow my investments and savings, so I will have more to give.

And only that, we will be ENRICHED in EVERYTHING (not just money) for all liberality, ie for all generosity. God wants His people to be generous people... giving graciously like He does. We are to give our money, our time, our care, our things, our home, our hospitality, our prayers.... we will be enriched in everything so we can give generously!

Ultimately it is to produce thanksgiving to God. All good works give glory to God. You know what? We exist primarily to give glory to God. Let us not forget that.

And it all begins when we plant that first seed...

Hallelujah!

I find all throughout the bible that the biblical purpose for money is always in relation to giving and doing good works. It is never about accumulating it for our own self, or for our family or even for our church.

You see, when we become generous and are able to give away, it is because we believe He is generous and we trust in His willing supply. But when we become stingy (some people call it prudent :-)) and horde our money, it is because we don't believe He is generous and is willing supply. We are in effect trusting in our savings, not on God's supply.

The question should NOT be "Is it wrong to seek riches?", it should really be "How much can we give? What good works can we do that will result in thanksgiving to God?" When we ask those questions, God will cause all grace to abound to us and multiply our seed for sowing!

And the amazing promise of verse 6 is that when we sow BOUNTIFULLY, God will enable us to WILL REAP BOUNTIFULLY!

I tell you we can never out give God! Indeed, God is looking for such people for Him to bless the world through them.

So instead of quibbling over our tithe and asking "Do we tithe 10% nett or gross? Before or after tax?" We should be challenging each other to bring the TOTAL TITHE (ie 10% GROSS) and see who can give more ABOVE that :-)

Can we be like Rick Warren, who challenges himself to give 1% more every year? Can we get to a point where we KEEP only 10% of our income? Can you imagine giving 80% of all your income? (not counting tithe lah!)

Hey, I tell you when we get to that point, that 10% we keep is going to be much, much, much, much more than the 80% we are keeping today!

We can never out give God man!

For His Glory!

Is Tithing An Old Covenant Law?

Beloved...

Is tithing for New Covenant Christians? Or is it something only relevant to the Old Covenant? Isn't tithing done away along with the Old Covenant when Jesus established the New Covenant? As New Covenant Christians, doesn't everything we have belongs to God? So do we still have to give a calculated 10%?

I used to feel that way too as members of the New Covenant. However back in 2002 I was moved by the Spirit to search and learn more about tithing. And these are some of my findings. It has not changed the way I feel about the New Covenant, but it has certainly helped me see the tithe (literally means "a tenth") in its proper perspective and how relevant it is to me as a New Covenant Christian.

1. Tithing was not created with the Law of Moses. It existed long before the God gave the Law through Moses. So the tithe was NOT established as part of the Old Covenant.
   
• Cain and Able brought their firstfruits to God
• Abraham brought 10% to Melchizedek, 400+ years before the Law of Moses
• Jesus is now our High Priest. If Abraham gives a tithe to Melchizedek, how much more should we as Jesus is of the order of Melchizedek? (Heb 7:17)


2. The Tithe belongs to the LORD
   
• Mal 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me."
• How can God consider man stealing from Him if it does not belong to Him in the first place?
• Mal 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse..."
• We "bring" our tithes to God, not GIVE.


3. Tithing is an act of worship to the LORD
   
• Tithing is an acknowledgement of the worthiness of our Lord
• Heb 7:4 "Just think how great he was: Even the patriach Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!"
• Heb 7:7 "without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater"
• that is why we bring the firstfruits, the BEST of our increase to honor the LORD. We don't bring what is left over at the end of the month, that is dishonoring Him.
• Some of us ask do we calculate the tithe based on Gross (ie Total) pay or Nett take home pay? Should we include Employer's CPF contribution? What about bank interests and dividends?
• The question really should be "Who do we honor FIRST with our wealth?" Do we pay the taxman, the mortgage, the car loan or CPF before God?
• No! We should honor God first before all else!
• Pro 3:9 "Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;"
  


4. There is a difference between Tithe (the first tenth) and Offerings
   
• Mal 3:8 "...in tithes and offerings..."
  
• the Tithe is the first tenth (firstfruits) of all our increase, an offering is anything beyond that. That is why God wants us to GIVE offerings cheerfully, or as my pastor would translate it "hilarously", as in 2 Cor 9:7. Here Paul was talking about the offerings given to his mission ministry, not about the tithe brought to the local church.


5. Tithing comes with a promise
   
• Mal 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse... see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it"
• Pr 3:9-10 "Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine." (NKJV)
• If you read Mal 3:9-11, that 10% is all God asks to have the legal right to "rebuke the devourer" (NKJV), ie the curse that the devil will enforce that will cause you financial ruin. This curse was put on the earth when man fell (Gen 3:17). Everything we have comes from the ground: food, raw materials for making cars, buildings, clothes, medicine, even semiconductors etc. Even the paper money is printed on comes from the tree that grows from the ground.
  
• "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts; " Mal 3:11 (NKJV)


6. Offering (ie giving) also comes with a promise
• 2 Cor 9:6 "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously"


7. The best part is that God promises to provide for our Offering!!
   
• 2 Cor 9:8,10,11 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;... Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God." (NASB)
  
  
8. God chose to gave the Tithe to the priesthood not man
   
• Num 18:21 "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting."
• As far as we are concerned, we bring the tithe to God, NOT to the priesthood for services rendered.
• Likewise we do not tithe to the church, even though the church has a budget to meet.
• If we think that way, we totally misunderstand the purpose of the tithe and cheapen it. I think that may be why so little Christians tithe.
• It was God who chose to provide for the priesthood with the tithe in the Old Covenant days as the tribe of Levi does not have an inheritance of land in Israel.
• But don't get distracted from the main purpose of the tithe... it is NOT to feed the pastor :-) It is to honor the Lord and to allow Him to bless us to be a blessing to the nations.
  

Don't get hung up on the "ritual" of giving 10%. Just do it for all the above reasons. Those of you who feel that as children of God under the New Covenant, ALL of our wealth belongs to Jesus, GREAT, so do I! So do you give it all away? Not necessarily. It is just not practical is it? And God knows that too. That is why God wants us to be cheerful givers... hard to be cheerful when you have no money to buy milk for your baby when you have given away your last dollar right? :-) He wants us to give purposefully, not grudgingly. If we can determine in our hearts who and how to give, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can truly give with a cheerful heart for we can see the joy it brings to the receiver or the fruits the giving produces.

But we are talking about tithing here, not offerings. Offerings is another topic which I will share about in another message. If we honestly think about it, what we do with the 90% is really about how we live out the Christian life isn't it?

For His Glory!

What is praying in the spirit?

Beloved,

I used to wonder what is meant by praying in the Spirit. It is something I felt I need to be able to do as a Christian because the Bible exhorts us to pray at all times in the Spirit for the saints:

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times
in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the
alert with all perseverance and petition for all
the saints" (Eph 6:18 - NASB)

And the Bible further exhorts us to build our faith up by praying in the Spirit:

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit" (Jud 1:20 - NASB)

I heard a number of possible explanations for what it means to pray in the Spirit, for example prayer that is very emotional and intense, or praying when (or until) we have a strong sense of God's or the Spirit's presence.

But I want to know what the Bible says about it. Like one pastor once said, we got to let the Bible interpret the Bible, not use our own logic or wisdom.

So I fired up my e-Sword PC Bible and did a search on "pray" and "spirit". And I found that the phrases "pray(ing) in the spirit", "pray with the spirit" only appears in the New Testament! It does not appear in the Old Testament.

So it is something that only New Covenant believers can do. And the big difference has to be our baptism in the Holy Spirit.

One of the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the ability to pray in other tongues. And as Paul clearly stated in 1 Cor 14:14, it is his spirit that is praying with he prays in tongues.

"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays" (1Co 14:14 - NASB)

So my conclusion has to be that when we are exhorted to pray in the spirit, we do it by praying in tongues.

We should not resist speaking/praying in tongues just because our mind tells us it is illogical, silly or meaningless. Paul tells us that when we speak in a tongue, we are speaking to God!!

"For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men
but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit
he speaks mysteries." (1Co 14:2 - NASB)

And not only are we speaking mysteries to God, we are actually praying the WILL OF GOD for the saints!

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the
Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too
deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows
what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes
for the saints according to the will of God." (Rom 8:26,27 - NASB)

Have you always wondered how we can "pray without ceasing" (1Th 5:17 - NASB)? I have wondered for many years! I have trouble praying just 10 mins! I run out of words to pray very quickly. Especially when I don't have a prayer list like those I get from church or mission organisations. Even then I can go through a full page in 15 mins or less.

But now I know how! By praying in tongues I can practically pray all the time because the Spirit Himself is interceding for me. I can pray quietly under my breath wherever I am and during whatever I am doing.

Does my mind need to know what the Spirit is praying through me? No need because God does... but I can easily pray for anyone and everyone I can think of even if I don't know any specific prayer requests. I can even pray for strangers I meet on the road as the Spirit leads. Sometimes when I see a person walking along the road with a heavy heart, I will pray in the Spirit for that person. In English I may begin by saying "Father, have mercy on that person..." and then I will continue in tongues because the Spirit knows how to pray for that person. I will continue to pray in tongues for that person until I sense a peace or a release of that burden in my spirit, then I can move on to pray for other things.

Now there is a life to my prayer life! There is a joy and a refreshing whenever I pray in tongues. Even when I think I am praying for someone else, I am sure the Spirit is praying for me too!

"One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself" (1Co 14:4 - NASB)

So don't resist speaking in tongues. After all, speaking in other tongues is something our Lord Jesus says all believers can do:

"These signs will accompany those who have believed:
in My name they will cast out demons, they will
speak with new tongues" (Mar 16:17 - NASB)

For His Glory!