Lesson 29

A freewill offering is a gift of our finance or possession to God other than the tithe.
Such an offering is what you give beyond the tithe.
A believer is not bound to give any offering to God.
You can choose to give or not to give.
It is voluntary and not compulsory or obligatory.

On the other hand, the tithe is 10 percent of our income that belongs to God.
We do not "sow" our tithes.
Instead, we "pay" our tithes; we pay back to God what is due to Him.
Withholding our tithes is robbing God (Malachi 3:9).
You must pay your tithes if you want to walk in the blessings of God.
Tithing is compulsory or obligatory on all believers.
Otherwise, you are under a curse of poverty, destruction and death (Malachi 3:11-12).

With the paying of our tithes, we establish our relationship with God whereby we make Him the Lord of our finance, and therefore Lord of our life.
We are telling God that he is our provider, and that 10 percent of what we have belongs to Him.

With our freewill offerings, we are sowing into God's kingdom in order to get a harvest of financial and spiritual riches (2 Corinthians 9:8; Luke 16:11).
Your freewill offerings are your spiritual seed for God's riches.
Your financial offerings upon up ALL THE GRACE of God into your life, including wisdom and revelation, health and healing, etc, besides wealth and prosperity.
As a result, you will be able to reap an abundant harvest of financial and spiritual blessings out of what you have sown (Philippians 4:15, 19).

Not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only. And my God will meet ALL YOUR NEEDS according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.                               (Philippians 4:15,19)

And God is able to make ALL GRACE abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.                                                                                    (2 Corinthians 9:8)

In order to give money that will please God and bear fruit in God's kingdom, we must give according to God's prescribed way.
If we give as we like, we will be guilty of wasting the riches God entrusted to us.
Worse still, we will not get a financial or spiritual harvest in return.

To give and receive effectively, we must act on the following biblical principles;

God wants you to love Him with your whole being.
He wants you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).
He wants your life, because you belong to Him (1 Corinthians 3:19-20).
He wants your life to be offered to Him as a living sacrifice, just as they offered the burnt offering to God in the Old Covenant (Romans 12:1; Leviticus 1:1-17).

It is only after you have done this that you should bring your freewill offering to God.
God knows that if you follow this sequence of offerings, you will give joyfully.
If you have not consecrated your life to God, you will not have a living and loving relationship with God.

If you do not offer your life to God, but bring your freewill offering out of a guilty conscience or out of a fear of poverty, you are then treating God as a lucky charm or a vending machine.
To you, God is just a jack-pot machine for your to put something in so that you can get something out.

Besides, in my devotion to the Temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the Temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy Temple.
Now, who is willing to CONSECRATE HIMSELF today to the LORD?"                                                                  (1 Chronicles 29:3,5)

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us fro the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, BUT THEY GAVE THEMSELVES FIRST TO THE LORD AND THEN TO US in keeping with God's will.                                                            (2 Corinthians 8:1,3-5)

All of us were stingy and selfish before we came to know the Lord Jesus.
It was the grace of God that saved us (Ephesians 2:5).
It is the grace of God that will help us to live a victorious life.
It is the grace of God that will help us to give.

All of us need to ask God to give us the desire, love, willingness and joy to give.
And God will hear us, and give us the grace to give.
And we must give Him all the glory when we are able to give freely.

As we obey the Holy Spirit and give as He gives us the grace to give, we will grow in the grace of giving (2 Corinthians 8:6-7).
Over a period of them, we ill give more willingly and joyfully and generously.

So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this ACT OF GRACE on your part. But just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in GRACE OF GIVING.                                                                                 (2 Corinthians 8:6-7)

Jesus also commands us to give secretly so that we may receive our reward from God (Matthew 5:1-4).
If we tell others about our giving, we will lose our reward.
God sees all our giving, and He will reward us when we have given in secret.

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.   (Matthew 5:2-4)

All of us have a duty and responsibility to see that our giving is done in secret.
We must not openly boast about our giving, whether in the synagogue (church) or in the streets (in the newspapers, etc).
The temptation is great if the amount is large.
If we do so, we are being hypocrites, i.e., we are giving to show off and not to please God.
If we do this, we will receive the praise of men, but will receive no blessings from God.

We must also not provoke others to sin by asking them how much they have given to this ministry or that ministry.
We may cause that person to boast about his giving (if it is a large offering) and as a result, cause him to lose his reward.
We may also hurt another person by making him feel inferior if he has given little.
Worse yet, you may feel offended if you asked others about their giving and the other parties do not want to entertain your request.

We must therefore not try to find out and compare the giving of offering by different person, including ourselves.
Do not be a spiritual "nosey poker".
Mind your own business.

God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).
God is pleased when you follow His leading to give by giving joyfully.
We will give cheerfully only when we give willingly and understand why we need to give.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a CHEERFUL GIVER. And God is able to make ALL GRACE abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 
                                                                                                       (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

Those who give without joy do not understand the reason why we need to give.
They think that they will be the losers by giving to God.
They think that God is not fair or kind to them.

Such people give out of compulsion, and are reluctant givers.
They give out of a guilty conscience, out of a sense of tradition, out of a sense of being forced by others in authority.
Such giving is wrong and does not please God.

Do not give because others give.
Do not give because man has asked you or persuaded you to give.
Give only as you are led by the Spirit of God to give.
As sons of God, every decision of our heart must be led by the Spirit of God.
He lives in our heart to teach us, lead us and guide us into all truth (Romans 5:5; 8:14; John 16:13-15).

The Spirit of God will stir your heart to give (2 Corinthians 9:7; Exodus 35:21).
If you are impressed in your heart to give, it is the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The devil will not ask you to give to the Lord's work.

Each man should give that he has decided IN HIS HEART to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
                                                                                                         (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Those whose hearts were stirred by God's Spirit returned with their offerings of materials for the Tabernacle, its equipment, and for the holy garments.                                                                                   (Exodus 35:21)

If you use a spoon to sow, you will reap back in spoonfuls.
If you use a bucket to sow, you will reap back in bucketfuls.
If you will only give God your loose change, you will only reap more loose change in return.
The measure you used to sow with will be the measure that will come back to you.

Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed don, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.                                 (Luke 6:38)

If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly.
If you sow generously, you will reap generously (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Therefore do not be stingy with God.

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make ALL GRACE abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.      (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

After you have sown as you were led by the Spirit, begin to claim God's promises for a harvest of financial and spiritual return (Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8).
Do not be deceived by those who say that we must give without expecting to receive anything in return.
This is false humility, and comes from those who have no faith in God's word.

After you have given, begin to declare that God will give you back a financial and spiritual harvest, as He has promised in His word (Mark 11:24).
And God will keep His word; He does not lie.
He loves to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you asked for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.                                               (Mark 11:24)

You must wait patiently for the financial and spiritual harvest.
Every crop that is sown has a right season for its harvest.
Likewise in the realm of the realm of the spirit, our financial and spiritual harvest will always appear only in due season.
We must therefore wait patiently in faith, and never give up or declare words of doubt and fear.

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.               (Hebrews 6:12)

If we give in order to receive so that we may spend it all on our lusts, on luxuries and extravagant living, God will not answer our prayer or reward our giving (James 4:3).
We must give and receive with the right motive.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 
                                                                                                                    (James 4:3)

We must give, as we are led by the Holy Spirit to give, in order to bless others.
We must receive from God in order that we will continue to have an abundance to bless others.
God will only bless us with abundance if we will use His wealth for good works (2 Corinthians 9:8).

And God is able to make ALL GRACE abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in EVERY GOOD WORK.                                                                               (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Your thought

1. What is the difference between a tithes and an offering?

2. Why is giving of offerings so important in our life?

3. What are the right and wrong ways of giving our offerings?

4. How does giving affect other areas of our life? (Hint: 2 Corinthians 9:8 - ALL GRACE; Philippians 4:15-19 - ALL YOUR NEEDS; Luke 16:11 - TRUE RICHES).

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