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. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I love a cheerful giver. Why? Because in the measure you give, I can give back to you. And I love, I delight, I enjoy showering you with blessings and loading you daily with benefits.
I will make them and the places around My mountain a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26.
The nature of love is to give. I so loved you I gave you My Son so that you who believe in Him will NEVER perish but shall have eternal life. And with Him, I give you EVERYTHING besides. Every good thing given and every perfect gift comes down from Me, your Father of lights. There is no darkness in Me. My giving is free and for only one motive: Love gives.
When love sees a need, love steps in to fill it. But the wonderful thing is that when you give out of love, Love gives back to you.
One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed. Proverbs 17:19.
And I pay back with interest, thirty, sixty and a hundredfold.
The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:25.
Those who water others will be watered. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6. My Son told you when you are thirsty for living water, He will give you that water from My throne and it will become a well-spring that leaps up to eternal life within you and that fountain will overflow until rivers of living water run out of you to a thirsty dying world. This is the flow of giving and receiving. It is the law of the Kingdom of Heaven.
You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Philippians 4:15-20
YOU MUST GIVE TO RECEIVE.
Out of love for all I made, I gave My Son, I sowed the seed of My Son into the earth, and I received back a tremendous harvest of souls for eternal life. I gave Him to receive you into My Kingdom forever but I also got Him back whom I sowed along with a tremendous harvest with Him.
Cast your bread on the face of the waters, for you will find it within many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what will be evil on the earth . . . Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2;6.
He is the first fruits of those who believe. I taught My people that to prosper and have their seed produce abundant crops they had to bring the first fruits of the produce to offer to Me. Leviticus 23:9-14. And the priest would take up the first sheave of the barley harvest on the Sunday after Passover, which was on the third day after the Passover, and waive it before Me foretelling the resurrection of Jesus. If the first is offered to Me in My house, then the rest is blessed.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22.
The first parable My Son told, that is the key to understanding all the other parables, was of the sower sowing the incorruptible seed of My Word. I am a sower of seed, the incorruptible seed of My Word which once implanted in you has the power to save your souls.
“I will espouse you to Me forever; yes, I will espouse you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will espouse you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD. “It will come about in that day that I will respond,” declares the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, and they will respond to Yizreel (God sows) (from Zara (sows seed) and El (God)).” “I will sow for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on Lo-ruhamah (no compassion) and I will say to Lo-ammi (not My people), ‘am·mî (You are My people)’ and he will say, Elohay (‘You are my God!’).” Hosea 2:19-23.
First, I tell you that I will espouse you to Me forever in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, in faithfulness. This is Covenant. I make you righteous with My own righteousness in Jesus because of the love I have for you to draw you back into Myself.
And what happens? You will know Me. And when you know Me and open your heart to Me, I can act in the earth to bless you and all creation responds to you as the children of God all creation is waiting to be freed from the corruption and futility that Adam through his rejection of truth released into the earth.
And in this passage I reveal another of My Covenant Names. It is “Yizreel (יִזְרְעֵאל),” which means “God sows.” It is from the Hebrew words “zara (זָרַע),” to sow, scatter seed, and El (אל),” which is My name of “God.” I gave you seed but I also sowed seed into the earth. I give you seed to sow and bread to eat. And I sent My Son as the seed that fell to the ground and died to produce a great harvest.
And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:23-24.
This is a serious matter, it is a basic law of the Kingdom. You should not take it lightly or think giving is unimportant. Many, and even many believers, are takers and not givers. And I mean with their fellow believers and also with Me. You must give to receive. You cannot get the harvest you desire in your life without sowing the seed that will grow that harvest. A farmer understands this, with no planted seed, cultivated and grown to maturity, there is no harvest.
Your words are seeds that set your healing, your prosperity, your deliverance, your destiny in motion and your tithes and offerings are seeds that open the windows of Heaven (floodgates of Heaven) to pour out blessings you cannot contain until they overflow to fund your projects for the Kingdom and those of others and to bless everyone on earth.
Think BIG (Beautiful in God) and give big. Take your seed, whether it be the imperishable seed of My Word spoken, the imperishable seed of My Word responded to and acted upon, the seed of your good deeds that follow you beyond the grave, and/or your seed of your tithes and offerings which go to work to bring the harvest you want to produce, and put it to work by giving it! Freely you have received My Words, My Son, the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, freely give them to others.
I have caused you to prosper and blessed the work of your hands. I have poured My love into your heart and that love should have made you into a cheerful giver, a person who lives to give. And that is My servant, and where I am My servant will be.
And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his soul loses it, and he who hates his soul in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone is serving Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone is serving Me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:23-26.
Here I am talking about giving and then I say if you love your soul you will lose it but if you hate your soul IN THIS WORLD you will keep it to life eternal. You soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions, it is either ruled by your flesh or by your spirit. It is the bridge between your spirit and your body and governs your reasoning and your actions. If your mind, will, and emotions are ruled by the world, the flesh, and the devil, your soul will reason you out of tithing and giving by selfishness, worldly values, and fear of loss. This will set your mind upon and limit yourself to prosperity in this life only. This is the parable My Son told about the rich man who grew rich for himself, hoarding all his increase and wealth for himself only, instead of being rich towards Me. That night, just when he had built bigger barns to store all his grain so he could feast for years to come, his life was required of him and his piled up wealth could not go with him, and yet if he had tithed and made offerings, helped the poor, and used his wealth to advance Kingdom business on earth, his good deeds and giving would have gone up as a memorial before Me.
Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.” Acts 10:1-6.
Stop a moment here. Do you see where he was giving? Into good soil. He was giving to My covenant people. Like the centurion who built the synagogue for My people and My Son healed his servant. Tithes are to keep My house running and ministry going. Like Paul as a missionary for Me and your own church family and meeting place. When I told My people to give to the poor that were with them, their country was Israel and it was a nation of believers in My Word and there should not have been a poor or oppressed one among them if they were following My law.
But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18.
Tithing, giving, alms to the poor all start in My house, in My Kingdom that is being built upon the earth, with My Covenant people and then can move out to others. But why should you be supporting blasphemers and those who scorn and hate Me to My face? Good works towards unbelievers, and you should be good to all men, should draw them to My Kingdom, but what did My Son tell you to do with those who reject My love and My salvation? Yes, shake the dust from your feet.
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Galatians 6:9-10.
If you recall because a famine in Jerusalem had been prophesied, the believers in the outer areas decided to take up a generous offering for the believers in Jerusalem because they were very grateful to them for risking their lives and coming out to them and preaching the good news of salvation so that they got saved and came to know the truth. Notice there was going to be a famine for all in Jerusalem but the believers raised it for the household of the faith where they had received the life changing gospel and where it was continuing to be lived and preached.
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. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:10-15.
You who believe in My Son should have no fear of giving, it will not impoverish you but will prosper you. You are with Me always and everything I have is yours. You will see the difference between the son who serves Me and one who does not. And I tell you that in the context of where I tell you to tithe and give offerings.
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts. “Your words have been stout against Me,” says the LORD “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.’” Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him. Malachi 3:8-18.
Tithing is extremely important in your life. It is the dividing line between prosperity and toil. It is the dividing line between those who honor Me and those who do not. Between those who are grateful and those who are not.
If you do not tithe, I call it robbing Me. This goes back to the beginning. Of all the trees of the garden, one was set apart as Mine, all the rest you could freely eat of. But they took the fruit that was Mine. This went much deeper with Adam’s treachery and rebellion to go above Me as beyond command, but there is still the idea, that as a royalty to the creator and source you share ten percent of the increase you have from using My products, seeds, elements, and things that I have made for your use in the earth. It is the parable of the tenant farmers and their unwillingness to share any percentage of the profit with the landlord from whom they had the land, the grapevines, the seed, the equipment, and their very life and livelihood. And what did the Jesus tell you the owner would come and do to those tenants? “He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” Luke 20:16.
This is serious. But not for you who love Me. You love to give. You live to give like Jesus did. Like I do. The wisest thing you can do when you have a need is to sow a seed.
And do not forget those who have shared the Gospel with you as the Philippians never forgot Paul. This kind of giving is pleasing to Me as well. Sow where you are fed the Word so that the Word can go to more and more.
The one who is taught the Word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Galatians 6:6-9.
Use what you have to insure your prosperity and your reward, why bury it in your flesh when you could be sowing it in the spirit?
If you understand the rewards of Kingdom giving you will be running with your tithe to the church every time you receive increase, whether a paycheck, a sale, a commission, a royalty, a gift, an inheritance, or a bonus. If you could only see the miracles that come from giving you would be a generous, cheerful, hilarious giver knowing your seed is bringing the harvest to work the impossible in your life and is rebuking the devourer.
Why would you be afraid to give when I am your source and I have asked you to do so in serving Me? I have given you everything, cannot I give you more besides? Of course I can. The cattle on a thousand hills are Mine, the gold and silver is Mine, and you are Mine. I made Abraham very rich in gold, silver, and cattle and he was a generous giver as well. Follow Me and all good things will follow you, and not just follow you but pursue you and overwhelm you.
“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you if you listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 18:1-2.
Do you remember that Paul told the thief to work, but he did not say it was to support himself, Paul said the purpose was to give to others in need.
He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Ephesians 4:28.
I give so many promises of prospering to those who freely give that it is amazing to Me that even people who profess to be My followers are so fearful and unwilling to give out of their funds to Me and others. Giving is the way to increase in the Kingdom.
I love you and I love a cheerful giver. It means you delight in doing good like I do and you trust Me to provide for you to give and have all sufficiency for yourself as well. A cheerful giver is on the lookout to give. It is the narrow road that leads to life that few find or run along on. Most are grudging givers, but this does not do much for your spiritual development or reward.