THE BIBLE TEACHING ON GIVING
(How to give, who to give, where to give and when to give)

2 Corinthians 9:7, "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver."

The biblical standards and principles of giving, either in giving to God's work or to people, include how to give and who to give as children of God. Giving must be willingly, freely and personal! Let's look at them one after the other:

(1) WILLINGLY: Giving must be willingly!
"Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze...Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments." Exodus 35:5,21

In giving to the work of God, to the people of God or offering in the name of God, it must be willingly, that is, it must be your own willful giving, not a matter of "give or you have problem", "give or no blessing of God". God does not accept anything from us without our willful interest; though He gave us everything we own or have, yet, He doesn't force us or compel us to give Him anything back. God created us as free moral agents to make our own choices. From Genesis to Revelation, anywhere in the Bible where people were asked to give for God's work, you will not see any where people were compelled verbally or prophetically forced to give for God's work.

In many churches system today, when it's time to give for God's works, a minister would come out and begin to preach the message of "Give or miss everything", "Give or have problem" in the name of motivating people of God to give, which is not biblical and not necessary. When people are told about needs for God's works, for church projects as it may be the standard of the Bible is that people should be allowed to willingly make their choices to give or not, people should be given the chance to make up their minds on the amount to give as the Lord leads them. The system of persuading people to give and give big during the period of offering is extra-biblical system.

What makes an offering or giving acceptable and reward-able by God is willingness, not the amount you are persuaded or prophetically forced to give by the so-called motivating messages. The willing mind is what matters not what you give simply because you don't want to disappoint your pastor or you don't want to be embarrassed for not giving. In our churches today, we are practicing several unbiblical means of collecting offerings. Some churches even go to the level of calling names of their church members if people are not willing to give or come out to pledge; they call names of the people in the church and tell them they must give. That has turned the giving to compulsion, such is unbiblical and unacceptable.

Some pastors say they can compulsory it for you to give because they want you to be blessed. That is wrong and ungodly. God desires and wants us to be blessed more than any man or minister, the great desire of God for His children is to enjoy His full blessings, including financial blessing; God says giving brings His blessing BUT He does not force us to give. Much as God want us to give and be blessed, He only wants us to give willingly.

2 Chronicles 29:31:

"Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings."

Using the name of God to enforce people to give unto God is ungodly and unbiblical, God never directed His servants anywhere in the Bible to push or force people to give for His work in the name of loving to bless them.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8:12, " For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have." It means your willing mind is the basis for your giving to be acceptable by God. The first thing is your willing mind, then your willing amount, no matter how little or how big. If you willingly give $2 for offering, it is acceptable than when you give $2000 by the will of your pastor or any minister.

So, if you want your giving to God's work or anyone to be acceptable and rewarded by God, don't allow any preacher to push you to give against your willing amount through their "so called" motivating speeches, and don't let anyone spoil your mind by despising your little amount. Your offering can be accepted and appreciated by a pastor and not accepted by God and it can be honoured by God and at the same time despised by men.

(2) FREEWILL: Giving must be freely. In giving to the cause of God or to people, it must come from your free mind. Ezra 2:68, “Some of the heads of the fathers’ houses, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God, to erect it in its place"

Anything we give to God's work or to people must be from our free minds and free decisions. Anything you give to your church's project or to interdenominational ministries without your own free will is like a religious duress and not acceptable by God. When it comes to giving to God's works in our churches and ministries, should we not look into the Bible and check how the people of God gave to God's work or we should just ignore biblical examples of giving and receiving, and be presumptuous?

Freewill system is not the type of system of many churches today where specific amounts are dictated to people to contribute without allowing them to freely make their decision by themselves. The system of "dictating" or "sharing" specific amount for people to contribute in the name of God's work is non-biblical and ungodly. No place in the Bible where offerings were collected or given by sharing or dictating system, it is more or less forcing people and indicating that people of God cannot give less than the exact amount, and that is out of their freewill.

Some tactics against Freewill Giving
(i) Psychological Force: This is commonly used by many churches today. It's "Offering Call" just as Altar Calls are made. The minister calls several amounts of money from the higher amount to the lowest amount, and asking people to raise their hands or come to the altar as he calls each amount. In a local church where almost everybody knows one another, you may be forced to go out when a particular amount is called, the amount that will fit your level, the amount that will not embarrass you in the present of others, which will not disappoint your pastor also; even if that amount is not freely from your willing mind. You may go out to give or pledge to give certain amount to be acceptable by your pastor and fellow people in the church, but the bad news is that it’s not acceptable by God.

2 Corinthians 9:5, "Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation."

From this Bible verse, we see "which you had previously promised" before the arrival of Paul's ministers, not after the arrival of any ministers, not after the motivating speeches of any minister.

(ii) Spiritual Force: This is another anti-biblical means of forcing people to give against their freewill. The minister may say God told him that everybody must give all the money they have with them, he can also personalize it to an individual by saying "God says you must give everything you have to God." People use God's name to indirectly force you to give while God Himself does not force people to give to His works.

Offering or giving is acceptable when it is freewill and that is biblical. Psalm 54:6, "I will freely sacrifice to You" If you care for your offering or giving to be acceptable and rewardable by God, it must be free from psychological or spiritual force, it must be freewill offering. "And whereas you are to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem." Ezra 7:15

(3) PERSONAL: Giving must be personal!
"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart" 2 Corinthians 9:7
.....this will continue tomorrow. We continue this teaching tomorrow on giving to God’s work and ministers of God, and those who are qualified to receive and who are qualified to give offering. You can follow the teaching on our Facebook page, profile or groups.

If you will like to surrender your life to Jesus, rededicate your life to Jesus, please click the link
http://www.facebook.com/notes/revelation-of-truth-evangelical-ministries-rtem/how-can-i-be-saved/270674586372252

That is a good and biblical teaching, but l just throw a little light: calling categories or levels of Amount in money raising in the gathering is not all wrong if it is not wrongly applied, but it is completely wrong in offerings in the church.