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. 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. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
My Kingdom works on seedtime and harvest. You plant seed to yield a harvest. It is the matter of giving and receiving. But it is based on faith, grace, Covenant, and Kingdom.
Today I am going to teach you about wealth, how to profit, and the way you should go because the devil tries to rule the arena of wealth, but in a perverted way to My Will—wealth in his kingdom of darkness based on sin, oppression, greed, trafficking, and immorality and the striping of the earth to waste places where once abundant forests, rivers, fish, game, and fruitful farmlands were prospering and producing for men.
When I gave the promised land to My people Israel each tribe received land for their inheritance, and no small area, that they divided among themselves and took their portion that was not to leave their possession and the possession of their descendants, and if they did sell or lose it to others it had to be restored in Jubilee year and all debts wiped out and gone, as if they had never been.
A land flowing with milk and honey, a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. A land My loving eyes were always upon to give them rain at the due time for the people who had authorized Me to live among them as they obeyed My Word and looked to Me to teach them the way they should go.
And they were to be a nation that would be a light to the nations showing what it means to be a people of Covenant who keep My laws and obey My Words. A nation of beautiful lives lived in love for one another and for their good and glorious God who shared all He had with them and there was not a poor one among them or any oppressed. So that all the nations would come to My holy mountain, as a house of prayer for all people, and learn to walk in My ways and live in peace and prosperity.
A land where they were to find the place upon which I would put My Name and build Me a house there so that I could dwell among them and protect and bless them. Just as I had traveled and dwelt among them in a tent as they did on their journey to the Promised Land so now I would dwell with them in a house as they did. And just as I had supplied them with abundant wealth to build that first tabernacle for Me in the wilderness, so now they would build Me a house among them with the great prosperity I would give them in this new land. Just as I had built and prepared large beautiful homes filled with good things for them before they even entered the land so now they would do the same for Me. I planted the seed for them to plant and I would give them a harvest in return. I gave again a place to sacrifice the gift of the unblemished Lamb that would take away their sins and give them shalom in every home where the Lamb’s blood covered the doors.
And years later when they left Me for other gods and gave their lives to the lies of the devil, the devil turned the land into a barren waste that looked like it would never blossom again and the temple was burnt to the ground and lay in ruins and My people were taken captive to a foreign land where I was not known.
But then when their hearts returned to Me they longed again for My presence dwelling among them and I again gave them the riches of the nation where they had been slaves and redeemed them back to Me to again sacrifice the unblemished Lamb and they came and the land bloomed again.
And the first thing they did when they returned, even before the foundation of My house was laid, was set up the altar and offer the morning and evening burnt offering of the unblemished lamb. Ezra 3:1-7. And this was so important that I had the succeeding king Darius reinforce the decree of Cyrus to supply the funds for the rebuilding of the temple and he added:
Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the River, and that without delay. Whatever is needed, both young bulls, rams, and lambs for a burnt offering to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem request, it is to be given to them daily without fail, that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Ezra 6:8-10.
The pagan king of Persia funding the sacrifices and asking My people to pray for him and his sons! Nothing is impossible to Me. The provision is in the Kingdom plan. It comes with Covenant and that Covenant is sealed in the Blood of the Lamb. And the true Lamb that takes away the sins of the world would also be sacrificed on the mount across from the temple mount where I had put My Name. And He made you all a house of God and a gate of Heaven where I have put My Name to bless you and prosper you for Kingdom and for Covenant. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart to shine My Light into a dark world. A city on a hill, as Jerusalem and My Temple were, cannot be hidden. You are on Mt Zion, the heavenly mountain of grace.
My servant Paul wrote to the Philippians about prosperity and the law of giving and receiving for Kingdom ministry as My royal priesthood:
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. Philippians 4:15.
When they gave into Paul’s ministry of taking the gospel of grace to all peoples where I directed him by supporting him in this work, what was the result?
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19.
This was the matter of giving and receiving and when they gave profit increased to their account. Philippians 4:17. And this gave Paul joy to see them increasing by their giving, growing rich towards God.
This supplies seed to the sower and bread to the eater, just as My Word does. And when you give to those who are ministering My Word you become partners in their ministry.
For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth. 3 John 1:7-8.
Jesus told you if you give a cup of cold water to a prophet you receive a prophet’s reward. Just as if you had done the great work the prophet did. Those who water others will also be well watered.
The generous man will be prosperous, And he who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:25.
Today we look at a lie of the devil that you see everywhere in the world as the response of people, even believers, who have bought into his lie, often from fear of not having enough born out of a background of lack due to the futile way of your ancestors who had no faith in My Word, “Be a grabber not a giver, your life is all about you.”
But the more you grab and the more you seek only yourself and your increase, the more you lose who you really are. For you are made by Love, live in Love, are sustained and thrive in Love, for I am Love and you came out of Me, and a life of no real Love is miserable, like a fish out of water, an unrooted fruit tree, a branch of the vine cut off—a useless, wasted life stacked up with possessions that are of no further use to you the day you die.
This happened to My people Israel when they were taken captive by Babylon and forced to serve a godless nation. They had become greedy, oppressing their fellow Israelites and putting them into debt and slavery. And they refused to keep Jubilee and restore them and let them go free. I warned them through My prophet Jeremiah but they tried to destroy him.
But when they saw danger coming they complied and let the slaves go and the debts be forgiven, but like Pharoah when he released My people, the next day they regretted it and forced them back into slavery and oppression to make themselves wealthy and living in luxury while My temple was abandoned to idols and unrepaired because they took all the funds. As the priests and ruling class on the Sanhedrin was doing in Jesus’ time. He called them hypocrites and robbers and the temple a den of thieves.
Greed is idolatry, serving Mammon to enlarge and glorify yourself in pride or in fear of lack, believing your needs can be met by no one but yourself and what you can grab and stack up for yourself of earthly goods.
But the things of the earth are not on solid ground. And I am going to shake them. Why would I do that? For the same reason I did it in Egypt and Babylon, to bring you back to My house and to the Kingdom so you can know true and lasting wealth and be with Me forever provided for and knowing joy unspeakable filled with glory.
Are you watching in love as all My promises to you are being fulfilled one after another? Or are you missing it in your life of grabbing and stacking.
For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.” Haggai 2:6-9.
The Kingdom is based on giving and receiving but a certain kind of giving and a certain kind of receiving. And if you are not careful about this you can go in a ditch on either side of the truth. And the devil is doing his best to help you out on this so that he can keep the wealth in his house and keep it out of Mine. But the church should be the most wealthy, healthy, and victorious body on earth.
The devil knows the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous but he is a grabber and not a giver so he does not want you to know this, and if he can’t get you to serve him to acquire wealth his way and use to advance his kingdom of darkness he wants to keep you from getting any wealth at all.
If Satan cannot make you a money hungry grabber he will put you in the ditch another way. The way of religious poverty, i.e., that you cannot enter My glorious and rich Kingdom of Heaven or be pleasing to Me unless you sell all you have and give it to the poor and keep nothing for yourself, your family, your church, or building My Kingdom on the earth. And he will use Scripture to tell you this.
But I do not tell you that serving Satan will make you wealthy and wise. I tell you that the wicked cut their lives short and their wealth is stored up for the righteous. I tell you that My blessing makes RICH and adds no sorrow with it. And I told Abraham that to call him to follow Me. And I made him and his son and his grandson very rich in gold and silver, herds and flocks.
Why? I told you, because Abraham would command his children and his household after him to keep My way, the way of the LORD, by doing righteousness and justice, so that I could bring upon Abraham what I had spoken about him. And what had I spoken? That all the nations and families of the world would be blessed in him. And it has come to pass in his descendant Jesus.
And I thought of creative ways to bless My people for giving. I gave them an opportunity to share in Kingdom work by just giving Me one tenth of their income so I could open the windows of Heaven and pour down a blessing they could not contain.
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. Malachi 3:10-12.
And I tell you that when you do not give tithes and offerings out of fear you won’t have enough for yourself or some other reason such as you see no value in it and you say your church is rich enough without your contribution other than a few dollars a week and spend your ten percent elsewhere, if you do that you rob Me. But I need nothing and really own everything so why do I say you rob Me by not giving something so small as a tenth of what your income? Because you rob Me of the opportunity to bless you with prosperity you cannot contain and the protection of the of your funds, your family and yourself, by My rebuking the devourer for you. Which I generally tell you to resist Satan in Jesus’ Name yourself.
Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10.
You notice I say “from your wealth.” I am talking of tithes and offerings. I honor those who think of Me first and honor Me.
Then why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give all to the poor and follow him? I will tell you but first think of this, that young ruler and the Pharisees were the only ones that Jesus told to give all they had to the poor, not to the Temple or the religious leaders, but to the poor.
And consider also that Jesus never told the wealthy women who were giving to His ministry out of their means to give all they had to the poor. And of all the times He and His twelve disciples stayed at the lovely, large home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus where there were expensive perfumes of pure nard, many supplies and a large kitchen, and the ownership of a tomb cut in the rock where Lazarus was later buried for a brief time, Jesus never told them to sell all they had and give the money to the poor. In fact, Jesus defended Mary using the very costly perfume of pure nard to anoint His feet at the banquet they gave in their home to celebrate the resurrection of Lazarus when Judas criticized her saying it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus rebuked him for that. And I tell you that He loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus very much and worked miracles for them.
And why did Paul never tell Lydia she was to give up her lucrative business of dying purple goods, sell her home and give the money to the poor where she invited him and his companions to stay and later offered it as the meeting place for the church established by Paul in that area? Why was Joseph of Arimathea a rich man though he believed in Jesus and buried him in his own tomb and brought costly spices and anointing oils to anoint the body of Jesus? In fact I loved him so that Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be with a rich man in His death though Jesus was counted among the wicked.
Why did I make My people wealthy when they came out of Egypt and promise them great homes and riches in the promised Land? You know the answer to that already for I just shared it with you—to give Me a dwelling place and establish My Word as their way of living for all nations to see how I prosper those who keep My Words and live by My laws—show the Kingdom on earth. They authorized Me to work on earth through them and with them and in them. They, like their father Abraham, let Me back in My earth to share My life with you.
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.
Why, and I reiterate, do I tell you that My blessing makes you RICH and adds no sorrow to it? That, if you keep and grow My Word in your heart that you can reap 30, 60 and 100 fold? That you will have 100 times more houses if you give for the Gospel? Why do I say wealth and riches are in the home of a righteous man who gives lavishly to the poor and lends without usury? Why did Jesus make 180 gallons of the finest wine when He could have made a bare minimum of just acceptable wine? Why did I give all that fine oil to the widow to sell and pay the debts of her husband the prophet? Why did Paul have so many wealthy people that helped him and welcomed him to their homes and he never told them to give it away?
With respect to wealth and prosperity in your life and home, I look at three things: the source of your wealth, what you do with the wealth, and the motives of your heart towards Me for your life and treasures. I honor those who honor Me. I bless you to be a blessing, not a hoarder.
And you will find the wealthy and prosperous in My Kingdom on earth are those whose wealth is gained by the work of their hands that benefit themselves and others and not that abuse and oppress others for their gain. Their prospering should be a prospering for all.
In the early church community to stay untied as one body, each sold all they had and came to join, but they did not give the money to the poor of the world that had no regard for the Kingdom, they laid it at the apostles’ feet for the household of faith and there was not a poor or needy one among them and great grace was on them all.
They worked quietly, I tell you, with their hands to benefit all and have something for those in need. In fact, the rule was if you did not work, you did not eat.
They were fruitful and all admired them, and more and more joined that prosperous community of healed, holy, prosperous and blessed people filled with joy and the Holy Spirit whom nothing seemed to take down to despair, not persecution or even martyrdom. They knew the secret of eternal life.
And it made Satan furious. He sought to divide it as he has done with believers down the ages creating factions and different denominations who hate and abuse one another and call themselves followers of Mine!
I look for those who give willingly tithes and offerings to build up My house and give offerings to those who teach you the Gospel and grow you up to full maturity and to the stature of Christ—the shepherds who feed you My Word to grow thereby. And those who also give to those in need particularly those in the household of faith, and to those whose hearts are towards Me and will give as I direct.
Though I had given them very great wealth as they came out of Egypt the Israelites gave willingly to build My tabernacle with joy and gratitude and Moses had to finally stop them and tell them to keep the rest for themselves. Generous hearts towards Me are well supplied. I fed them manna and quail and gave them water from rocks the whole time they walked in the wilderness.
So what about the rich young ruler? Whole doctrines have come from this that you must have nothing to serve Me and sell everything you get and give it to the poor. It makes the tithes and offerings 100% instead of 10%.
Look at what Jesus looked at for He only does My Will. I tell you in the Gospel of Luke that the young man who came running up to Jesus to question Him as a Rabbi for instruction in gaining eternal life was not only rich, but a “ruler,” which in the Greek language is “archon (ἄρχων),” meaning a ruler and leader, particularly in government over a group. Here Rome was the ultimate authority since it had conquered Judah but the ruling executive body of the Jewish people was the wealthy Sanhedrin (remember this was the ruling body that met and condemned Jesus to death). The Sanhedrin was made up of the Sadducees, who were the priestly class, the Chief Priest being the leader, who were strict believers only of the Word as set forth in the Torah, and the Pharisees, who believed in the oral tradition as well as the Torah. The Pharisees started the synagogues and ruled there whereas the Sadducees took care of the affairs of the temple.
The rich young ruler was obviously Jewish and not Roman because he knew and had kept My commandments from childhood and addressed Jesus as “Rabbi.” Luke 18:18. He also believed in eternal life. So it is clear this young man (being about thirty-three years) was a member of the Sanhedrin and was a Pharisee.
Do you remember what Jesus revealed about the wealthy Pharisees and scribes of the priestly class?
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Matthew 23:14.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Matthew 14:25-26.
And what was the solution?
But give that which you have as charity, and then all things are clean for you. Luke 11:41.
Jesus looked at this young ruler whose heart was for Him and loved him. But Jesus knew where this man’s wealth was from, not the work of his hands, but like the Sadducees and priests, from the abusive treatment of the people who were “lost anyway” that did not have their “superior knowledge and holiness” but paid the temple tax, the offerings, the tithes, like the poor widow that put in all she had to live on while they lived luxurious lifestyles in homes like palaces. You can view the remains of these homes today in the archeological sites in Jerusalem.
So Jesus told him to give back the wealth to the poor he and his ancestors had defrauded and then come and follow Him. And the man did not obey. His possessions like the rich man who at the poor Lazarus at his door, were what ruled his life even though they really were not his at all because they belonged to the poor they had taken things from in the name of religion. It is hard for those rich to enter My Kingdom if they have not come to believe in Jesus as Lord. And this man left before he could do so because he was a grabber rather than a giver.
And yet Jesus said that if the ruler had done what He told him to do to come, he would have received a hundred times more than what he gave up. So he was not giving away all to have nothing, he was giving away all the unjust wealth to get everlasting wealth now and forever.
“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30.
Zacchaeus was another case of defrauding the poor and his fellow countrymen not because of religion but because of greed and working for the enemy. He took more tax than due. He was not content with his pay so he took matters into his own hands and cheated others instead of honestly charging them what was due to Caesar. And his solution after he spent the day with Jesus? To give half of what he had to the poor and pay back those he had cheated four times as much. And what did Jesus say? “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:9-10.
I do look at the source of your wealth to tell you what to do with it.
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the LORD of Hosts. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you. James 5:1-6.
And I could give you many more examples of this who ignored the Jubilee, lent money at usury, made false weights and measures for the products they sold.
The rich man to whom I gave bountiful harvests who stored it all up for himself and told himself to take it easy and just eat, drink and be merry for years to come, but I called him out that very night.
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 20-21.
Consider this as well, I did not tell the young ruler or any of the Pharisees or Zacchaeus to give their money to the temple and the priestly class. Why? They were not using it for My Kingdom, like Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas had done long before that, but to grow rich for themselves. Jesus went in the temple where they collected the tax (with an exorbitant exchange rate from Roman coins to the temple shekel) and sold animals for the sacrifices and overthrew the money changer’s tables and drove out the blemished animals they were selling and called it a den of thieves.
Make sure you are giving your tithes to those who are truly teaching the Gospel and feeding My sheep with the true Word of God and not the Word mixed with doctrines of Satan that would turn converts into devils twice as evil as themselves.
In Jesus’ time the Temple was not good ground for planting seeds in, they even threw Jesus, the Messiah they were waiting for, out of the Temple and the synagogues and had Him put to death.
Plant yourself and your tithes in the good ground where My Word grows thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.
You will know them by their fruit. Look around at the members of the church and listen to the sermons of the pastors.
Paul was very enthusiastic about a collection he was making for the “mother” church of all the Christians at that time—the first community of believers in Jerusalem that began on Pentecost Sunday and from that community came were birthed those who were going about preaching, teaching and healing those in surrounding regions near and far. A prophet of the early communities predicted a famine coming to Jerusalem and started a collection for the community there and Paul was urging the worthy work of giving. But you see, it was a giving for the household of faith, not just the unbelieving people who would be affected by the famine but those of the church family. And Paul had written before about giving and receiving to further ministry objectives and he wrote under the inspiration of My Spirit:
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. 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. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.
This was not a tithe; it was a free will offering, there was no set amount, but Paul gave them guidelines that are for you as well:
For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.” 2 Corinthians 8:12-15.
Believers who cared for one another and not just their own interests. And they proved to be generous, not grabbers but givers for they knew when they sowed they would reap—the matter of giving and receiving is a Kingdom law.
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.
And what is it all based on? Jesus, My great gift to you.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9.
I love you. Kingdom living takes Kingdom giving. Be wise and do not spend your money for what is not fruitful. And look at your place of employment and how they acquire their wealth. Look to at how you clock your hours and see if you are giving an honest day’s work. And never go to a gambling casino saying are going to get money to give to the upkeep of My house. Wrong source. Watch your sources, pay your tithes, and keep careful watch on your herds and flocks, meaning your work, finances and what I have given you stewardship over as your own.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:16-17.