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Many writers have pointed out that Jesus spoke more about money than He did about heaven. Paul was not too far behind, with two full chapters on giving plus significant statements in seven other epistles. With so much nonsense and deception being displayed by some Christian ministries (don’t encourage them by giving to them!) and Christian giving at its lowest for many years, it is way past time for believers to get back to the Word on this crucial truth. Even Mark Twain wrote that he was so digusted with the long appeal for money at church that he put his money back into his wallet and took some bills out of the plate!

The two chapters mentioned are II Corinthians 8 and 9, which start off with the testimony of the churches in Macedonia who “in the midst of an ordeal of severe tribulation, their abundance of joy and their depth of poverty

[together] have overflowed in wealth of lavish generosity on their part” (II Corinthians 8:2 Amplified). In his book “With The Word”, Warren Wiersbe outlines these two chapters on “principles of Christian giving” this way:

It begins with surrender to the Lord (8:1-7),
it is motivated by grace (8:8-9),
it requires faith (8:10-15),
it also requires faithfulness (8:16-24),
it is a testimony to others (9:1-5)
and it must be done gladly (9:6-15).

It would be good to read these two chapters and note these subdivisions.

I have quoted many verses from these chapters in my book “Four Keys to Prosperity” and I’ll just give a few here. These principles or keys are for believers only, in fact, for believing believers only. See verse 5, “Themselves they gave first to the Lord [Robertson’s Word Pictures] and unto us by the will of God.” This is not for “Sunday-go-to-meeting-Christians”, nominal Christians as we call them today, but for people totally embracing the Lordship of Christ over their lives. This is the starting point to prosperity — not your need but your response to God’s grace given freely to you. Giving “proves the sincerity of your love” (verse 8b).

“Give whatever you can according to what you have” (verse 11, NLT). This is an important principle or key. God never asks you to give what you don’t have! That is, He never asks for a pledge or a promise. as 9:7 commands us not to give reluctantly or under compulsion. But you say, I don’t have anything to give. Of course you do, you always having something to give! Remember the widow’s mite in the Gospels (Mark 12:41-44), when she gave two coins, all that she had, and the Lord commended her as being a greater giver and more blessed than all the rich people visiting the temple. The principle is repeated in verse 12, “according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (ESV). And in verse 15 Paul quotes Exodus 16:18, “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough.” Paul’s God-given prosperity plan works for poor and rich alike.

Invest in your future and get your own copy of Four Keys to Prosperity, its an important and beautifully printed small book. And by the way, this is NOT an appeal for finances but an appeal for faith to be excercised. I’d rather you gave to some other ministry than see this article as a fundraiser.