YOUR MONEY - Getting Value For Your Seed
Pastor Bankie
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YOUR MONEY - Getting Value For Your Seed
The matter of money is a crucial part of life, and in fact God judges your spirituality partly from the assessment of your ability to handle money. In the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, “… if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven” Luke 16:11NLT. It is vital therefore that we are careful to learn the correct handling of the matters of money so that we will be found pleasing God.
If you read my book Grace to Prosper, in it I explained that wrong doctrines produce wrong practices. If your believing is wrong, your doing will be wrong. The funny practices that we see often today are produced from wrong doctrines concerning the word of God.
In this short sermon I will quote some of the wrong doctrines I have heard preached about the matter of money, and which have produced abnormal practices in Christianity, practices that actually displease the Lord. I will try to bring the correction of the word of God to them so as to bring deliverance to those who may have been confused by them.
1. It is often said, “the key to receiving from God is giving.”
As much as this statement has some truths in it, it is largely not accurate. Also the way people try to apply it makes it even more out of order. According to the words of Jesus, the key to receiving is asking in faith.
“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.” Mark 11:24 NASB
James also stated this very clearly.
“…you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” James 4:2-3 NASB
The key to receiving is asking, asking in faith (James 1:6).
We are forbidden from bargaining with God with of our good works. Good works are not to be done for the sake of what we hope to get. It is against the principle of godliness with contentment. Godliness with contentment is the act of doing what is right simply because they are right. It is the desire to practice righteousness for the love of righteousness and not because of the gain thereof. When people rely on what they give to receive, and so give so as to receive, they are practicing what Paul called “godliness as a means of gain.”
“…men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” 1 Tim 6:5-6 NASB
Giving is a form of godliness and must therefore not be done for what we will gain. It must be done with contentment. Please let us not forget that the act of giving, just like any other good work, has reward from heaven attached, it is just that we do not know what it will produce, and when it will produce it.
So what do we do?
“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.” Eccl 11:6 NASB
Truth: The key to receiving from God is asking in faith.
2. You have heard it said, “if you need money, you must give money.”
Again, this statement appears true at first, especially because it is supposedly based upon the principle of seedtime and harvest, which is an established law of life (Gen 8:22). However one reason why it is wrong is because it does not bear in mind that there are different types of fields in life and that each field has the kinds of seed that can be planted in it. By this I mean that you cannot plant your money directly into the soil in your farm, nor can you directly invest your corn in the financial market. The direct seed of the farm is the corn while the stock market or bank accepts your cash.
So we see that though we can sow corn (into the soil) and reap corn, we cannot give corn to someone and expect to reap corn from God. The principle of giving and receiving is a spiritual law; it is the application of the seedtime and harvest principle in the field of the spirit. Physical things are not sown into that realm. Money in itself is not a spiritual seed.
Spiritual seeds, which can directly be sown into the realm of the spirit, are things like love, mercy, honour etc. (Pls see Matt 5:3-9). They are the things that are found only in the heart, but which are manifested by the works they produce.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Matt 5:7 NASB
When you give money, God does not see the money as a seed; it is the thing in the heart of the giver that is the spiritual seed. All acts of giving have a motive, and that motive is the thing that God judges as the seed into the realm of the spirit.
“Only the Lord knows! He searches all hearts and examines deepest motives so he can give to each person his right reward, according to his deeds.” Jer 17:10 TLB
If you are giving just so you can get, what you are really sowing is selfishness. That is what registers in heaven. The right thing to do is to give because you love people, because you love the work of propagating the gospel, because you desire good for the person you are giving to. That way you will be sowing love and mercy, and you will receive love and mercy. You cannot provoke God to bless you by your selfishness.
If you want to give to a man of God, give to him because he has been a blessing to you, and not because you want to tap his anointing. That way you are sowing honor and God will honor you.
“…for those who honor Me I will honor” 1 Sam 2:30 NASB
The only person in the Bible that tried to give so as to ‘tap’ an anointing was Simon the former sorcerer, and he was sharply corrected by Peter (Acts 8:18-24).
The rewards for the good seeds we sow into the realm of the spirit will come in greater ways then we can imagine. I pray we will trust God to apportion His reward as He sees best. Meanwhile if we need anything, we ask.
Truth: WHEN GIVING MONEY, MAKE SURE YOUR MOTIVE IS GOOD AND GODLY, BECAUSE THAT IS THE TRUE SEED THAT REGISTERS IN HEAVEN. MONEY IN ITSELF IN NOT A SPIRITUAL SEED!
3. You have heard is said, give your offering a name; tie it to something you want from God. Also you have heard it said, “remind God of all your offerings and tithes when you want to pray.”
From what we have seen in the earlier 2 points, there is no need to say much further in answer to these. These statements break the law of godliness-with-contentment. You do not know what the offering will bring, even though it is a matter of fact that every offering brings a reward from God. We cannot seek the reward; we don’t even know what they are specifically at each time. You may have shown mercy in your giving to the hungry and God repays you with mercy is delivering your from death from a sickness. You may have honoured God in giving to His prophet, and he in turn honours you by giving you a child you were not even asking for. Ask the rich woman of Shunem. (2 Kgs 4)
Once you mention your good deeds in prayer to claim a thing from the Lord, you kill the power of that seed.
In conclusion, we must learn to give continually, and become cheerful givers. Generosity is one of the signs of spirituality. It is one of the out-workings of a heart that trusts God. If you are not a generous giver, you are certainly not walking in faith, no matter how much you think so or confess so.
A real cheerful giver is not only generous but is relaxed and is not giving so he can get. He or she is just a person of faith who knows that God is good. Giving to God is a sign of faith, a sign of our love for God and obedience to His word; it is not a means of demanding.
For more on this subject, please get the book, “Grace to Prosper” by Pastor Bankie. Also read the free teaching tract, “Cheerful Giver” also by Pastor Bankie.
Message series in which Pastor Bankie teaches scores of hours on the subject of money include,
1. Your Money (7 messages)
2. Biblical Financial Management (4 messages)
3. Spiritual Economics (13 messages)
4. The Ministry of Wealth and the Vow of Poverty (6 messages)
5. Foundations and pillars of financial prosperity (16 radio messages)
All the audio message are and tract are available free on this site. Please navigate to the relevant page.
