“Pastor, why does it always feel hard for me to give, especially in church? When I eventually give, I’d begin to feel like something has been taken from me”

Oh, that’s normal. Giving isn’t something anybody enjoys by default, your heart has to be programmed or trained to give. If anybody tells you that he was born a giver, please run away from him, nobody was born a giver.

If you generally feel bad when you give, then you just need to train your heart to give. And the only way to train your heart to give is to be more delibrate about giving. Some people only give when they are being asked for help; if you don’t ask them, they’d never give. An opportunity to give would always appear as a burden to such people.

The bible speaks about a certain man who went to Jesus to enquire about what he needed to do to have everlasting life, he had practiced the 10 commandments from his youth and honestly felt he would qualify. I can imagine the audacity by which he approached Jesus. Unfortunately, he got the shock of his life that day. Let’s read from scriptures:

Matthew 19:
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Even without reading verse 23, I know that many rich people will not make heaven. Not necessarily because they did evil, but because money has occupied the space that God should occupy. Just look at that, the man went away sorrowful, only because he had great possessions.

Imagine if that man had trained his heart to give, do you think he’d walk away sorrowful at the instance of that instruction? Ofcourse, he’d feel the pain, it’s not easy to give everything you have, you may even be in tears while obeying the instruction. The bible isn’t silent about that possibility. It says, “they that sow in tears shall reap in joy”. But that’s it, even with the pain and tears, deep down somewhere you’d still find joy because you know your harvest is sure.

If God tells me to give everything I have to Him right now, I’d definitely feel pained, and that’s because my heart has not been trained to give everything I have at once. However, unlike that man, I won’t walk away from that instruction. There are people who would not feel a thing when God instructs them to give all that they have, and that’s because they’ve done it over and again. That’s what training does.

I’ve often said that if you can’t train yourself to give God ten percent tithe, then given twenty percent will be a burden. The only way to overcome the burden of ten percent is to give twenty percent. If you want to overcome the burden of twenty percent, start giving thirty percent. One of the beautiful things about training your heart to give is that you’d find it difficult to stop giving or to even give lesser than you usually give. For instance, if you’ve changed your tithe from ten to twenty percent, going back to ten percent wouldn’t feel right in your heart, and that’s because of how you trained your heart.

As I conclude, we must all train our hearts to a point where we can give God all. I’ve often said that a man that cannot give God his treasure hasn’t fully given God his heart, because where a man’s treasure is, that’s where his heart will be. God is looking for people who He will enthrust with wealth that can feed nations, but He can only trust people who have given their hearts to Him. If your treasures can’t go to God, then your heart will be divided between God and wherever your treasure is. A double minded person is unstable in all his ways. God cannot deal with an unstable person.

There’s no height that God won’t take you as long as He has your heart. Bishop Oyedepo has often shared the stories of how God swore a blessing on him; he went to worship God alone and suddenly God asked him what he brought for Him. After a deep thought, all he could remember was the salary he had just received, and he immediately offered the entire salary to God. God didn’t ask for all the salary, I’m sure Bishop Oyedepo learnt that through training. Another time someone gave him a car gift, and he was excited because he didn’t have a car, but suddenly he heard God telling him to sell the car and give the proceeds to the less privileged. It was after that event that God said, “My son David, even if you don’t want to be rich, it’s too late”. Today, he’s not just rich, he’s the richest in his field of endeavour.

This is a very hard message to preach, and many pastors would rather not preach it, mostly because of the criticism that may come. But not me, I won’t hide what can change your life. My life began to change when I started training my heart to give. I’ve seen God grant me access to money I never imagined I’d have, all because of training.

It honestly feels like a PhD course in the kingdom, not everybody is a student at this level.

Save this message. Read it every day until it becomes your lifestyle. 2023 will be your best year ever!

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem