“Pastor, I give alot, but why do I end up being in lack, to a point that I have to borrow or beg?”

There’s something in between the time you give and the time you receive, that thing is called “faith”. Faith is the action birthed from your convictions from God’s word concerning your hopes or expectations.

There has to be a connecting factor. Many believers who give do so with hopes to receive a reward for their generosity. Meanwhile, the Just is expected to live by faith, not by hope. It is faith that empowers you the receive. If you give, believe that you will receive, and you will. If you only hope to receive, then chances are that you’d end up frustrated, because God only responds to our faith.

Having understood this, you’d realize that giving isn’t all you need to prosper financially in this kingdom, you also need to express your faith or simply act on God’s word.

Let me show you a few scriptures I act on that has guarded my giving life successfully:

SCRIPTURE 1:

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:

This scripture deals with the possibility of being in lack after you give. It promises that God is able to make the grace for wealth available to you as long as you continue to apply this equation to whatever He gives you; take what is sufficient for you, then use the rest to do good.

So at the early stage of your financial commitment to God and His kingdom, this is how He expects you to operate. He doesn’t want you to go about begging just because you gave. You’re expected to take what is sufficient for you and use the rest for good works.

Note that “sufficiency” in this case simply means that you should only take what you need, and not more than you need. According to Proverbs 11:24, anyone that withholds more than he needs has a tendency of becoming poor.

So if God gives you hundred dollars, He expects that you’d allocate a portion of that money for good works, even if it’s just ten percent of it. Your good works becomes the seed that brings your next harvest. But if you spend all, you’d get back to poverty.

SCRIPTURE 2:

Hebrews 13:
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Contentment is a big deal in God’s sight. After you’ve taken what is sufficient for you, God expects you to be contented with it, at least till your next harvest. Some people go about making pitiable statements just so that people can have pity on them or reward them for their giving. It’s not man that rewards our giving, it’s God. So making covetous statements just to attract help from man will disqualify you from receiving from God.

Don’t touch God’s tithe just because you think what is left for you to spend isn’t enough. That’s a practice of discontentment. The tithe is not your own, and putting your eyes in something that isn’t yours is coveteouness. If all you have in the house is garri and salt, soak it in water and drink, you don’t have to go and borrow sugar from your neighbour or that aboki down your street, that’s a practice of coveteouness.

Kingdom prosperity isn’t just about giving and receiving, it’s also about the attitude of faith that comes before, during and after you have giving. Many givers have the wrong attitude towards giving. I remember how my Jollof Rice was a mixture of Indomie seasoning and rice. No onion, no tomatoes, no pepper, no protein, nothing else. I had neighbours or even retailers around that I could reach out to, but I chose to be contended with what I had. I remember eating that jollof rice till I was full. And believe me, it wasn’t that bad.

Today, I can walk into any eatery or restaurant and have any rice of my choice. Jollof, fried, Chinese, you just name it. Yet this was me who couldn’t afford a proper concoction. I knew I would overcome that stage according to what I believed from God’s word, so I was contented.

SCRIPTURE 3

Proverbs 22:
7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

You must avoid borrowing to survive, and that’s because a borrower is servant to the lender. As a Christian, you can’t serve two masters. If you mismanage your financial blessings, you may be compelled to borrow to survive. Once you do, you’d be serving the one who you borrowed money from, and God doesn’t want that, you can’t serve God and mammon.

Be a giver, but give within your budget. And don’t ever break that burget except God lays it in your heart to. Needy people will never cease in the land, so it’s wisdom to have a fixed budget for them weekly or monthly. Once you exceed that budget, everybody else should wait till you reimburse. It’s not wickedness, it’s called financial discipline.

Someone may begin to think that I must be selfish to say this. On the contrary, I give daily, but when I exhaust my budget, I’m not ashamed to say “NO”.

SCRIPTURE 4:

Proverbs 13:
11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

Beware of financial fraud. The seeds of a thief or fraudulent person is an abomination before the Lord. And if that’s the case, don’t expect to receive an harvest from God.

There are quite a lot of scriptures that would help you build a good attitude when it comes to giving. However, if you practice these four, you’d begin to see results in your life.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem
#writer
#inspiration
#knowledge
#understanding
#wisdom
#revelation
#trending
#UnthinkableHeights