For the longest, even as a kid, I thought that Church offering was what remained after all expenses. Our parents would ask, “Are there any coins left that these kids can give to Church as offering?” This culture grew in us that to date, we just give coins to church.

I believe if my parents gave me notes then, then I would understand the value of giving unto the Lord. The government, a worldly system, doesn’t even trust you with their money. They tax you first before they give you your ‘hard-earned’ money. God, who gave you breath and strength to work, gives you the liberty to give unto Him whatever and however you see fit. How amazing.

Giving is NOT Complicated

So we have really complicated what giving is and how giving should be. I will start by quoting this verse;

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Mark 10:13-15 NIV

Whenever I feel that a task is so hard, I go back to reason like a small child. I really love this line, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” This means that you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you banish pre-conceived knowledge and receive it with meekness (openness).

What is the kingdom of God? Most people think that the kingdom of God is only found after the rapture when people go to heaven. Only a handful know that the kingdom of God is found here on earth. Most have misinterpreted this verse to just mean the humility, joy and love found in children.

We tend to complicate the Lord and in turn we complicate ourselves.

This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 GNB

We have complicated what giving is, we have also complicated what and how you should give unto the Lord. Have you ever been somewhere minding your own business and a small child hands you something, maybe a banana or a toy. A small child you do not know? Do you realize that something instantly warms your heart?

And guess what, as you move to maybe hug the child, their parents come rushing apologizing to you and telling the child something like, “Brian, I told you not to talk to strangers.” Without knowing, they are killing the spirit of giving. The reason why Jesus says that you cannot enter the kingdom unless you receive it like how a child receives it is because children’s spirits are pure. Children are with time taught to take the selfish spirit of this world.

It is so easy to convince a child. They would openly give you anything without minding what they are left with. This is because their reasoning tells them that somehow, ‘I have not lost by giving and I will have a bigger and better one’. A child will roam freely without suspecting danger because they know that safety abounds around them.

When that same child grows up, they grow to become insecure and fearful. They move away from abundance to scarcity growing to know that they have nothing and everything has to be toiled for. You see, the Christian journey is a remembering, it is a remembering of a pure life once lived, it is about retracting steps from the current journey full of lying vanities to one that is full of life. That is what now what is called the kingdom of God, the place where Adam was before the fall.

Because as a child you were taught that God is given handouts of pennies, 5, 10 and 20 shillings, you have been accustomed that you are serving a routine God who doesn’t avail much. It is so easy for someone to bribe KES 500,000 for an assured job than give the same to the church. The same Christians who proclaim God are not sure that their God will give them a job.

I see many so called Christians in the village bribing as high as KES 200,000 so that their sons be recruited into the army and Kenya Police but will only give a maximum of KES 200 in offerings and KES 1,000 in church fundraisings. Don’t they believe in their God? Is their God that weak?

Giving is A Transaction

In Part One of this series, we talked about mentalities in giving. In this second part of the series, we are going to talk about the transaction of giving. The heathens so much know about the transaction in getting anything. That’s why they will give a big chunk of their money, wealth or even the blood of their own kin to receive something.

I was watching a movie where young witches were told to light fire using their palms. All of them were successful but one of them got really burnt and the instructor came and whipped her. The instructor told her, “You were the first to achieve the task but your haste got you burnt. You cannot get something from nothing. A life has to die for another to rise.”

I really learnt a lot from this scene and I understood when the Bible said:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20 NKJV

The above means that you had to die to gain a new life. A life for a life. An old life had to be transacted for a new one. Abraham had to ‘give his son’ to be a father of many nations. Many people do not understand why Abraham was a man of great faith.

This is the scenario of Abraham, ‘God is promising you that you will be a father of many nations. According to you, time is running out and you do not even have a son of your own.’ God has promised a lot of people that they will take dominion in different sectors an positions while currently they do not have the basics like rent or food. Most choose to focus on their current situations.

A man of little faith will focus on the food (daily bread) but a man of great faith will focus on the dominion. Abraham chose not to focus on a son (or lack of him thereof) in his old age but regarded himself a father of many nations. You couldn’t just convince him that he has got no son, you wouldn’t sway him out of the fact that he is the father of many nations.

For you to be saved, someone had to die. Something had to be given for your salvation. Let’s read the most crammed verse in the world.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16 ESV

A transaction had to happen for something to be birthed. This is why people of old gave sacrifices unto the Lord but it reached a point where the Lord said, “Enough, now let me be the sacrifice so that man can have eternal life through me.” You have to follow this same process for increase, you need to sacrifice your insufficient money to gain the eternal one.

It is so sad that most people want to receive without giving. They want to merely land on things. It is extremely sad that they will give in other realms but not for the kingdom agenda. Someone will give himself up for education and invest heavily, another will invest heavily oiling the gears of some dead business but not in that which is eternal.

The Bible says that the same measure will be used to reward;

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Luke 6:38 NKJV

I keep asking myself, “Why do almost all rich heathens have foundations? Foundations that give heavily?” This is because they know better. They know the secret which is giving. The giving instruction is a spiritual law that cuts across every religion, society and even beliefs. It is not just reserved for the child of God.

It is so sad that a heathen who gives to nations will tell a child of God not to give for the agenda of God because their money is being stolen, because they give to cults and greedy men of God. Heathens are so tactful, they are 100% sure that their NGO money is being squandered like nobody’s business but they don’t care because they know that they are making a transaction.

You see, they have to give heftily to receive heftily as well. In the kingdom, your giving is backed by your cheer, your freedom, and the anointing that you are giving to. This will make you lethal and dangerous to heathens because your measure will come back infinitely and it will be secured for years. This is the true meaning of storing your riches in heaven.

You cannot receive from nothing. Those who give are in the heavenly books, they have rank. This is why the Bible says, in John that;

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

John 11:2 NKJV

The Bible literally had to remember of Mary and what she did. People who give abundantly and with an open heart are always remembered by the heavenlies. Ask yourself, “Can the heavenlies say, ‘it was that Remnant‘ that anointed the heavenlies with his giving?”

Strive to Give More But Have Understanding in Giving

People like David openly said that they cannot give unto God that which doesn’t cost them nothing but people like Saul gave a miss because they thought the prophet delayed them. What happened is that David got elevated and Saul got rejected.

Have a look at this;

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

Psalms 51:15 NKJV

I was having a conversation with friends about giving and this verse came up in my head and I thought, “This is the old testament and David says that the Lord doesn’t desire sacrifice nor delight in burnt offering? Why?”

Sometimes you can give a miss. You might think that the Lord wants you to be poor and that He needs to milk you dry for His glory. I have seen most people take loans and dry themselves off their wealth for the ‘sake of the Gospel’ with no full understanding.

To tell you the truth, the kingdom of God doesn’t rely on loans. Never take a loan to give it to the church. If He is truly a God who makes a way where there seems to be no way then He doesn’t rely on loans. There is actually a time for heavy sowing but people often do it without understanding.

Service to the Lord is also giving. Tipping a waiter complements giving and that’s why you need to be close to God to hear what He says. He also needs you to enjoy life and its fullness. A person who has gone to Bali for a holiday freely gives than one who is too stingy to buy themselves good lunch.

Always strive to give more unto the Lord because the Bible says;

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.

Deuteronomy 16:17 NKJV

We are supposed to give according the blessing of the Lord. If I am blessed in millions and I give in thousands then according to the heavenlies, I have not given according to my measure, I have merely given pocket change. I am blessed in billions and give in even tens or hundreds of millions then I have just merely supported a ministry that I am supposed to give.

The idea is not to milk you dry but the idea is for your giving to cost you something. The Lord would want to rely on you and the more you give, the more you receive.

Most times, a person is convicted to give and do what is right. The Bible says;

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

James 4:17 NIV

Guys, let us stop casually giving unto the Lord. Let us stop giving pocket change and completely remove the mentality of supporting the ministry. Please don’t go with that mentality while giving to the Lord. Let us give freely without compulsion knowing that it is an honor to give than to receive.

Let us not give God timelines and nor gamble with giving. We are not in a Casino, we are giving for the agenda of God.