With so much financial abuse, fraud and religious manipulation in matters of money, organised Church(es) have built for themselves a terrible reputation, within and without.
I am not just referring to the history of the institution of the Roman Catholic Church and its accumulated wealth obtained through direct or indirect involvement in crusades, wars, with the indulgences (Indulgences were payments by Catholics for the pope, and sometimes bishops, to grant remission of penalties for sins. Such indulgences could be made for the payer’s sins or those of another. These payments could pertain to this life; but they regarded mostly an afterlife in purgatory) and an endless track record of engaging in secret schemes for huge profits. I am really referring more to protestant Church groups, specifically Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Word of Faith and yes even Grace church groups. As much as I can agree with many fundamental beliefs, where I am particularly at odds with the said Church groups is on the matters of tithing. A traditional Pentecostal Christian will quickly be able to point out Malachi 3: 10 – 11 and that we are to bring our tithes into the storehouse or else God will not rebuke the devourer who would then come to destroy the fruit of our ground.
Malachi 3
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
I get it. If that’s what people heard in Church all their life, and never stopped to think about it, to perhaps search the scriptures to determine whether this is accurate or not, then one can only know what they know. Or at least what they think they know. It is up to them if they want to grow in the knowledge of God and of Christ. I say leave them be if they don’t want to know.
No-such allowance can be extended to many of today’s preachers who consider themselves a voice or a proponent for the “Grace Message”. Such is the personal life experience of many of these preachers that when they learned about the fundamental truths in the Bible which reveals God’s work of Grace, they also found themselves at odds with the Church or Ministry group they were previously involved in. Most of them ended up having to leave the Ministry or Church they were with because the liberating truth they had now learned could not harmonize with the teachings of that old group. These preachers paid a big price leaving their Ministry post, and friends, sometimes even family, and be exposed to rejection and being branded as heretics, or be categorized as one of those hyper-grace Christians.
I know many Grace-preachers are keen to study the scriptures. One can only really nurture a profound revelation of the Grace of God by thorough study of the Word of God. They are usually really knowledgeable men and women who do have a unique insight into this truth on grace, a truth that has been so neglected by the overall organised Church for the last 2000 years. Let it be said that the Grace message many have caught on to is not a new message. It has always been the principle part of the original Gospel truth, but is now re-discovered in our generation. Nevertheless, I intend to contest that as long as a grace-preacher still preaches the tithe as an obligation for the Christian to keep, he or she is in fact not a grace-preacher. At least not at that point where they are preaching the tithe. Their message on grace is extremely liberating until they throw their hearers back under a yoke of slavery by the preaching the tithe with the threat of a devourer coming to destroy the fruit of your ground if we don’t obey God in this area.
Even if the grace-preacher gives Malachi’s message a “grace-spin” by saying: “you are free to give your tithes and you are free not to give your tithes, God is no longer punishing you with the devourer if you don’t, but grace is God’s ability in you to give your tithes by faith.” Well, that’s like saying: “you are free to sacrifice an animal to God and you are free not to sacrifice an animal to God, God is no longer punishing you if you don’t, but grace is God’s ability in you to sacrifice an animal to God by faith.”
No the commandments around the tithe belong to the Sinaitic Covenant. Yes, Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, but he was not obeying a commandment. Abraham was not under the Sinaitic Covenant either. Abraham’s gave a tithe of the spoil to Melchizedek even though no one commanded him to do so. The rest he gave to the King of Sodom. He did this once but giving a tithe of his profits or wealth was not Abraham’s habitual practice.
Hebrews 7:1-12 were only a means for the author of the book to show that, just as Melchizedek was superior to Levi, who was still in the loins of Abraham, of whom later became the Priesthood under the Sinaitic Covenant, so Jesus the High Priest is also superior to the Sinaitic Priesthood.
In fact the only New Testament verse the tithe preachers assume they have authority to stand on is Hebrew 7: 8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. That’s because the wrong conclusion is drawn that the person who receives tithes there is Jesus in heaven. This is a total error in hermeneutics. The subject matter was referring to Melchizedek, Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3) Context, context, context.
As New Covenant believers we are not called to tithe, but rather to express our faith by love in the form of giving. Giving arguably can take on many forms. Giving is certaonly not restricted to the giving of money. But when it comes to money, you are encouraged to financially support a Ministry, which has enriched your life significantly. Because you want many others to benefit like you do from the service that ministry provides you are helping financially for that Ministry to exist and effectively reach more people.
Giving, a natural thing to do
The principle of giving existed before creation. God gave us a beautiful planet when He created it. He has loved us and He will always love us. He is a giver. God gives because He loves. Again giving and expressing love can take on many forms. The New Covenant adds a powerful new dimension to this grace of giving. But this type of giving has nothing to do with tithing!
Someone may say that’s just semantics but we can still call it a tithe. Well, using the wrong words has got many people into trouble in may areas of their life’s. Especially when it come to Theology. As teachers and preachers of the Gospel we must rightly divide the Word of God, which means to rightly divide between Old Covenants and the New Covenant. If a Christian want’s to give 10% of their income, then they choose to give that portion. It is 10% and you may insist to call it a tithe, but it is still not the tithe in accordance with the Torah instructions.
I cannot, therefore, comprehend how it is even possible to have such an insight into grace, the unconditional love of God, the finished work of Jesus, but outright ignore the true place of Malachi 3:10 and the tithe, which is under the Sinaitic Covenant, not the New Covenant of Grace. It is in no way possible to make the instructions about tithing in the Torah congruent with the Gospel of Grace and Peace revealed in the scriptures.
The devourer in Malachi is often presupposed by many Christians to be a reference for satan. I would argue that the devourer in Malachi could have been anything that could destroy the crops of the Israelite’s harvest. Animals, or an attacking army, plagues of insects, thief’s, drought, storms, any of those things could have destroyed the crops. Notice, that Malachi is talking about “fruits of your land”. He was talking to farmers and so leaving the assumed symbolical cross reference to fruit in the life of a Christian just for a moment, was Malachi referring to spiritual fruit? Was he talking about fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of a cultivated godly character? The fruit of evangelism? No, none of the above. He was simply referring to the crops of harvest of the land farmed by Hebrew farmers.
But lets just consider these points, after all, Malachi was a prophet and that there is indeed a deeper or double meaning to what he was saying. There are easily multiple cross references in the New Testament which talk about the harvest being plentiful, clearly referring to the evangelism of the people, (Matthew 9:38, Luke 10:2) sowing and reaping and sowing by way of sharing wealth or substance with those who taught the Word, (Galatians 6:7-9) and collections in the form of money and substance was sowed bountifully and entrusted to Paul and Barnabas to take to the Churches in Judea who were suffering (2 Corinthians 9) because of a severe famine that had come over all of the Roman empire. (Acts 19:28)
Was Malachi who lived during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah approximately 500 B.C. warning both the Hebrew farmers of his time and also the Christian believers who lived long after he delivered his prophecy? Could the devourer indeed be our spiritual enemy satan who seeks to destroy our harvest of new believers, and the manifold harvest of all our financial giving? Why would the Father who is 100% loyal to the New Covenant in Christ allow disasters to destroy the fruit of our labour and giving?
The idea that God intentionally will not rebuke or stop the devourer, or whatever physical phenomena, or spiritual attack from satan and his cohorts and allow them to destroy the fruit of our land, our evangelistic efforts, our giving and sowing into the work of the Gospel, because we didn’t give our tithes is absolutely ludicrous. The idea is a presupposition based on a wrong premise. The premise being that Malachi is talking to our generation. He was not. He was addressing the Hebrews, the people of Israel who lived under different Covenants. Does satan still try to rob us of the harvest of our giving? Does he try to hinder our evangelistic efforts? Yes. Do the attempts by satan to try and exert influence in this world make him the devourer from the book of Malachi? Just to be clear, satan cannot rob you of anything. He can only try to get people to believe his illusions by which they lend him opportunity to have access.
The book of Malachi and The Sinaitic Covenant
Just because Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament just before Matthew makes it no more a New Covenant book than the diesel tank next to the unleaded tank makes them both the same type of fuel. No it doesn’t.
The whole book of Malachi is part of the canon of scripture which is directly linked to the Law of Moses. The Hebrews who lived under the Sinaitic Covenant in Malachi’s day had broken their covenant with Yahweh by numerous transgressions of the Law of Moses.
Many of these offences against the Law of Moses by the Hebrew people are pointed out by Malachi.
The List in Malachi
1: 2 They denied that God loved them
1:6 They did not honor God, they did not fear (Worship) God, and the Priests despised His name.
1:7 The Priests offered polluted bread upon the altar. The Priests said that the Lord’s table is contemptible.
1:8 The Priests offered blind, the lame and the sick animals for sacrifice.
1:13 The Priests said that their duties were a weariness and disesteemed it, by bringing the tron and lame and sick animals as offerings.
1: 14 The Priests sacrificed a corrupt thing.
2: 8 The Priests had departed out of the way. They casued many to stumble at the Law. They had corrupted the covenant of Levi. (the descendants of Levi, who included both priests and Levites held specific terms and conditions according to the terms and conditions of the Law of Moses)
2:9 The Priests had not kept the Lords way, and had become partial in the Law.
2:10 The people had dealt treacherously every man with his brother, by profaning the covenant of their fathers.
2:11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
2:13 The Priests covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he (The Lord) regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
2:14-16 The Priests dealt treacherously with their wife’s. They were divorcing them and covering up domestic violence against the wife’s.
2:17 The Priest’s narrative had become corrupt and they wearied God by saying: “Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?”
3:5 Among the people there were sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers, and those that oppressed the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turned aside the stranger from his right, and they feared not God.
3:7 The people had gone away from the Lord’s ordinances.
3:8 The people robbed God in Tithes and Offerings.
3:13 The people’s words have been stout (proudful) against God, and they were in denial about it.
3:14-15 The people said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
So as you can see the book of Malachi is not just about tithing, but it is the open rebuke of the Lord upon a rebellious people and their Priesthood for a whole list of offences.
The offences listed here were all transgressions of the commandments in the Torah, the Law of Moses. The beginning of Chapter 3 is all about the Judgment of God that came upon the people of Israel between 66 and 70 A.D. Chapter 4 of Malachi is about the promise of God of a Messiah who would save the remnant of faithful believers from that destruction, (and give eternal life) and the promise of Elijah who would come first before that great and dreadful day of the Lord, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. We now know that John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecies that were talking about him, as he came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
The principle that has habitually been ignored by many preachers who emphasise an obligation to tithe, is that the book of Malachi was for those people who lived under the Sinaitic Covenant, and most assuredly that the Law commanded that every commandment was to be obeyed. The people couldn’t pick and choose the commandments they liked and leave others unobeyed.
Deuteronomy 27
26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.
The word “confirmeth” has many meanings including: to fulfil, to make binding.
Matthew 5
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
What Jesus was saying when He used the phrase “jot and tittle” is that every part of the Law to the very smallest and minute detail was binding and had to be kept until heaven and earth pass. Not just tithing, but everything to do with the sacrificial system, the maintenance of the Temple, the Priesthood, and all 613 commandments had to be obeyed. If you broke but one commandment, you had broken the whole law.
Notice also that Malachi said in chapter 3 verse 8 that the people had robbed God not just by withholding the tithe, but their offering as well. Both the tithe and offerings were lumped together. So the offence was not just in not bringing the tithe to the storehouse. It was also by not bringing their offerings. This word “offering” is linked to the regular sacrifices the people made, whether it be a lamb or goat, or of course some other sacrifice submitted to the Priests to burn upon the altar and for the Priests to take their part. In today’s Church environment both the Tithe and Offering are translated into money. Really? Are we sacrificing our money to God? Or are we giving to support a work of God as an expression of our faith and love and a desire to help that Ministry?
Under the Sinaitic Covenant within the sacrificial system, a sacrifice was made as per instruction of the Torah in order to refresh or confirm the Covenant, and obtain its benefits.
Under the New Covenant we don’t do anything to obtain anything. We have it all in Christ.
If we give we do it because we realize this truth, and our giving is an expression of that faith.
Of course we have all made sacrifices, and over more than 2000 years many Christians have made many sacrifices, even to the point of being persecuted and martyred for their faith. But these sacrifices are not something we do to obtain a blessing from God. We make the sacrifice of our time, and effort and sometimes give more than the usual amount of money into a Ministry, stretching our faith, but we do it because we believe we have everything we need and more than enough in Christ.
As a reminder the words “heaven and earth” in Matthew 5:18 is not a literal reference to our universe, space and earth. It is Covenant language. Heaven and Earth was symbolical language for the Sinaitic Covenant enshrined in the Temple of Jerusalem with it’s most holy place, and with the inner and outer courts. Jesus was saying that the Sinaitic Covenant was binding until the Temple would pass. When a Jew of that generation came to believe on Jesus as their Messiah, it ultimately meant that they also identified with the death of Jesus and that they to had died with Jesus and were therefore delivered from every obligation to obey the Law of Moses for righteousness. (Romans 7:6) In 70 A.D. the Temple was destroyed, so it meant that the symbolic heaven and earth represented by the Temple had passed away and the Sinaitic Covenant had been abolished.
Those who preach from Malachi and zoom into the part about tithing in chapter 3:8-11 to tell the Christians of today they must bring the tithe into their local Church are selecting a small segment of the Law of Moses and imposing it on New Covenant believers. If those preachers were consistent with their theology they would demand full adherence to the whole Law of Moses, not just the part about tithing. And if they were to do that no Christian would listen to them, because no one wants to begin sacrificing animals to God again. This is even eternally impossible to do, because according to the Law (Torah) without a Levitical Priesthood there can be no sacrificial system. No modern day Jew today can claim or prove they are the direct descendant of Levi. That’s because all the original documentation of the ancient genealogy was kept in the Temple in Jerusalem, and was destroyed when the Temple burned down in 70 A.D. And without a Temple in Jerusalem their can be no revival of the ancient Sinaitic Covenant. Let me restate. The Sinaitic Covenant required a tabernacle, which later became the Temple in Jerusalem. It also required a Levitical Priesthood. Without either of these two elements, i.e. the Temple, and the Levites to serve as Priests, it would be impossible to keep every jot and tittle of the Law of Moses. God made sure the Sinaitic Contract (Covenant) had ended and all the terms and conditions for termination on the contract were fulfilled in Christ. He did this ratify and eternally establish the New Covenant of Grace.
What are these preachers doing when they demand that Christians today should bring their tithes to their local Church? They are putting their people back under the yoke of that old contract. They are selecting what part of the Law must still be valid for today and leaving the rest out. Therefore, they are also being partial to the Law, even though it was a system of Law which has no jurisdiction over anyone today.
Hot or Cold or Lukewarm?
In that first century Jesus appeared in a vision to the Apostle John who was exiled to the island of Patmos. There the Lord gave John the Apocalypse, which means Revelation.
In His address to the seven Churches Jesus said in Revelation 3
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Christians who lived prior to 66-70 A.D. had to make a decision to completely uphold the New Covenant. A faithful Christian was hot for the Gospel truth. The Jews who were not believing in Jesus as their Messiah but claimed their allegiance to the Sinaitic Covenant and the Law of Moses, were in fact cold for the New Covenant. Jesus was saying that being hot or cold would at least clearly distinguish where someone’s loyalty lies. The problem Jesus spoke of were the lukewarm Christians. They were the Jews who had come to the faith and believed on Jesus as their Messiah and King but then turned back to the Law of Moses. They would end up mixing the principles of Grace with the principles of the Law of Moses, and demanded that all the other Christians did the same.
This was a problem then for the first century Church and it is even more of a problem today. The Church world-wide is absolutely full of lukewarm Christians. This says nothing about their excitement and emotions or feelings for their Christianize’d version of religion. People can be red-hot passionate, and have great zeal, and be passionate for the wrong thing all day long.
We must chose whether we are either in the New Covenant in Christ or trying to be in another covenant or mix and match them all up. Let go of that old for behold says the King, I make all things New. Revelation 21:5
And so the Lord made the New Covenant the fulfillment of even every jot and title of the Law of Moses.
Grace for Giving
Luke 6
38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
As Jesus makes this statement He is not giving a commandment to give. He is revealing that giving is a divine characteristic, and something we do by nature. Giving is the eternal expression of God and His creation. It didn’t just came into effect when Jesus said this. Jesus is also revealing how the power of giving, and it must be said, giving by faith activates the law of sowing and reaping. First of all, it is presupposed here that faith is a prerequisite to giving, even though Jesus does not use the word faith here. A person who doesn’t trust God, but believes that they are working hard for every penny they get will find it harder to freely give anything. Their own fear and unbelief will hold them back from giving money to a ministry or give in general. Though it’s not really that black and white. Some people are more confident to give in some areas where others are less confident. What will guarantee a confident level of faith is being rooted and grounded in the love that God has for us.
Having a growing revelation of the love that God has for you will translate into a believe that God is your provider, He is your source, He makes a way for you, He opens doors of opportunity for you. Whether that’s jobs, business deals, divine appointments with the right people. You have seen the result of when you gave of your finances by faith, not long after, supernaturally, means (monetary or otherwise) came to you via some other way in a significant larger proportion. That’s the harvest of your sowing in faith. Remember faith worketh, is energised by love, the revelation of God’s love for you and the rest of the world. (Galatians 5:6)
This doesn’t mean that we should irresponsible and give disproportionate amounts of money away that could cause us to get into trouble financially. Definitely avoid lending money to give away and you end up into debt. This article is not dedicated to providing you with practical wisdom on how to be a good steward of your money. Here I focus in on teaching truth that will set people free from toxic religious teachings about the tithe and giving. In addition I aim to share some of the most powerful Gospel truths about giving that could help you tap into your supernatural provision.
Foundation for Supernatural Provision
- One of the names of God/Yahweh is El Shaddai (Genesis 17:1-2). The names of Yahweh reveal something about His nature. He first revealed this name when He appeared to Abram (Abraham), and it was always in connection with promises God made to making his seed multiply and fruitful in the earth. El Shaddai means “more than enough”. Yahweh is the God of more than enough, not just enough or barely get along.
- Another name by which God revealed Himself to Abraham was Yahweh Jireh. This is how Abraham described Yahweh in Genesis 22:14 after God provided himself a goat for a sacrifice instead of Isaac. The name literally means: The Lord who has seen the need, will provide. The story here in Genesis was prophetically pointing toward Jesus who became the sacrifice Yahweh Jireh would provide. He had seen ahead in time, and saw the need of humanity, and provided Jesus, the lamb of God for the redemption of mankind. The Lord has seen everything you will ever need in this life and when you enter into heaven. God knows what you need for your life here on earth. You name it, houses, cars, jobs, money. God has put everything in motion for you to access your provision.
- God loves us. That’s why He provided redemption in Christ for all. In Christ we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:3)
The word “blessing” means; empowered to prosper. There are spiritual, supernatural empowerment’s in the heavens ascribed to us in Christ. - The death of Christ secured our New Covenant, which primarily includes forgiveness of sin. But Jesus also died carrying our sicknesses and pains (Isaiah 53:4-5). I think many Christians know something about this. But did you also know?
2 Corinthians 8
9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Did you also know Jesus was wealthy, but when he went to the cross He became poor with our poverty, so that we might be made wealthy. The Greek meaning for the word “rich” is wealthy. That’s not just referring to being spiritually rich because we have eternal life. Just like “with His stripes we are healed” does not just refer to spiritual healing, but specifically physical and mental and emotional healing. Come on. The context of 2 Corinthians, both chapter 8 and 9 was all about giving financial support and other substance to the churches who were suffering in Judea.
Jesus died and carried our sin, sickness and pain, and poverty to the grave. And we died with Him on that cross. We died to our sin, sickness and pain, and poverty in the death of Jesus. Oh, but we rose with Hm into newness of life as a new creation, and we are now a new creation, we are now healed and made wealthy! - And finally, we have all heard the prosperity preachers talk about our bank account in heaven. Well, I know that sounds a bit outrageous, but lets keep an open mind here. Here on earth we have had the Central Banks across the world all tied into the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Each country has their own Central bank and in turn they are all interlinked with the BIS (Bank for International Settlements) for the purpose of utmost centralized control of all asett movements. This system has been fraudulent and corrupt to the core and has been the cause of gigantic amounts of harm and injury to humanity and this planet. However, we are living in the day where we are witnessing this evil fall apart quickly now since a large majority of the worlds population have woken up to their agenda. For the record, I’m not saying that all people who work in some capacity within the banking industry are corrupt. I’m sure there will be many who are good and honest people. But I’m saying that the system is corrupt and it is likely that those who work at the top of this structure know how corrupt it truly is, and may very well be complicit in this age old evil.
Since decades the banks have been printing money out of nothing, which is really worth absolutely nothing. But as long as people believe in the illusion of this banking system the banks keep up their facade. Many decades ago now, our paper money used to be backed by gold and silver and precious metals standard. The fiat currency system is based on debt and the promissory note for repayment with interest. This is how the central banking system hold the people and their governments under their yoke of slavery like a ring or collar around their necks. (think “Lord of the Rings” in a metaphorical sense)
No matter what you think of our banking system in this world I think you know that with all the threats of recession, economic breakdown, falsely inflated prices on everything, it is more than ever crucial now that believers learn how to walk in the supernatural provision of our heavenly Father.
When we know we have £1000 in our bank account we can not withdraw £1500. (ignore overdraft allowances) You can only withdraw what is in the account. We use our bank card to withdraw cash amounts from the local branch Bank or a Cash Machine (ATM). With that currency we withdraw we can buy goods or pay for services. So in an ideal world, our currency (banknotes) are gold standard backed. That currency allowes us to buy or trade.
Philippians 4
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
What is Paul saying here? Look. Can you see it?
Our God, our Father who knows what we need tomorrow. He has seen the need ahead in time, and He provided for our every need. Not just enough, not barely enough, but more than enough. Everything you need for this life on Earth, He has provided abundant grace for provision for you, why? Remember grace is God’s ability to save, to heal, to deliver, to guide, and to provide. Yes, God gave us grace for provision because He loves us. Because in the risen Christ we were made wealthy. And you what’s more? Everything in this world belongs to God. Houses, cars, goods, and lands, everything, you name it. All the gold and silver in this world. He is the owner of it. He owns it all and we are only the stewards of it.
Now the Apostle Paul is saying that God will supply all of our need according to something. According to what then? He is saying that there is a massive storage of wealth in heaven that provides the standard backing up heaven’s currency. Just as our bank card can access our money in our bank account, and the currency we use to pay for goods and services and our money should really be backed by precious metals standard, Paul is saying that we have heavenly endorsed currency here on earth backed by His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. “By” Christ Jesus means He is the channel through which this heavenly backed provision is garanteed.
Currency is something (such as coins, treasury notes, and banknotes) that is in circulation as a medium of exchange.
He is saying that “Faith is our currency” Not just any kind of faith, but the faith that is of Christ Jesus! Paul is saying, the fact that we are in Christ, a new creation, with our citizenship in heaven, and our giving and sowing was done with this kind of faith links our giving with His riches in Glory, Heavens Treasure Rooms. Applying this kind of faith allowes our giving and sowing to become empowered with the supernatural grace of God for provision.
There is an endless supply of wealth in the treasure rooms of heaven. An infinite quantity of wealth beyond our ability to comprehend. And all the wealth of this world, belongs to God.
One more time: Our earthly currency if gold standard backed determines the value of our that currency on which basis we can pay for goods and services.
Our heavenly currency (giving by the faith of Jesus operating in us) is backed by His riches in the treasure rooms of heaven, allows us to receive God’s grace for provision here on earth. God moves things in this world to your advantage, and money comes your way, houses, cars, jobs, open doors of opportunity, whatever it may be within the context of that situation, God moves the wealth and abundance of this world to your benefit.
Here on earth you probably have a bank account, and there is also a heavenly bank.
But please understand that you don’t have a bank account (for the lack of better words) in heaven. However, Jesus does. He owns it all! ~ What’s so amazing is that you are in Christ, and Christ is the currency backed by the glorious wealth in heaven.
Operate in this faith when you give, and when you sow your financial seed and all of your needs here on earth are met according to what’s backing it, His riches in glory.
Money has been such a sensitive subject and some preachers are afraid to talk about it because they don’t want to be identified by the people they minister to as one of those “prosperity preachers” known to have manipulated and abused their people. But just as there have always been dingbats, who hijacked a powerful truth to cater to their selfish lusts, we are called to teach this truth to help God’s people. God’s people struggle because of a lack of knowledge. If believers knew this stuff their confidence and boldness in God would become so strong. They would be so sure of God’s ability to provide for them even in times of trouble.
Giving to the poor, sowing money into a healthy ministry, giving to people in need, is not something you do just because you believe their will be a harvest from your giving coming your way. You genuinely give because your are motivated by compassion for people. Fear that you would struggle if you give is what will hinder you from helping anyone. Faith that is based on God’s love for you and this world, and a faith that say’s my God will supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory is what empowers me to want to give so that the receiver will benefit and I put to work the supernatural power of God for provision for me so I can give again.
The love for money.
Timothy 6
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Prosperity is not about having a lot of money. If God called you to do a work for which a lot of money is required, then He knows how to get it to you, provided you also walk in that faith. But what if the type of prosperity you need for a specific situation requires you to obtain materials to be able to build a house, or a school for children in lets say Ghana. God knows how to hook you up with the right people, and connections. It’s short sighted to assume that prosperity always comes in the form of money. It can, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When my wife and daughter and I moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA to Austria in July of 1996 we had no car on arrival. But someone had dropped a set of car keys for a nice ford into the collection basket in the church service the day before we arrived.
We drove that car for at least a year. I have hundreds of stories to tell like this. One more. In 1999 God told me to organise our first “Gospel Conference”. I didn’t have all the funding to cover the payment for the three day event. In the last meeting a lady came to me and handed me an envelop and she said “that’s to help cover the cost for the conference”. I was grateful and said “thank you”, but I didn’t open the envelop until later. I guessed that there would be a generous gift of money in the envelop. After the meeting had ended I opened the envelop so the gift could be added to the rest of the collections. I did not expect the gift to be 50.000 shilling. It covered more than enough for the expenses of event.
Wisdom
With wealth comes power. When we look at today’s billionaires of the world, isn’t it interesting to see how much power and influence they exert? The worlds richest may allegedly funded all kinds of philanthropic projects. It may look like they have the best of intentions to do something good for this world with their financial power.
But they will inevitably support those projects which they believe will further the outlook on life as they see it. No matter how good their agenda may be should they have the power to cause their influence in this world to be imposed upon billions of others? Their view of the world may not be right for someone else. It could even seriously harm or injure them. No one should have the wealth of the super rich without the character to match with it.
Sudden riches
For example. We all know how some people who won the lottery waist their money and caused themselves and others around them a lot of pain. So you see,…
Proverbs 1
32 …the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
A godly character should support the wealth a person gains in this life because it takes God’s wisdom and guidance to know how and where to invest, and spend and give.
I hope this message encourages you to know that God, your heavenly Father loves you and therefore prepared all provision for you in this life in a most powerful way.
Rejoice. Now you can give because of His great love for you, by His faith…and in wisdom to.
2 Corinthians 9
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
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