The Details

Malachi 3:¹⁰ “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (NIV).

Generosity is not something that God wants from you. It is something that God wants for you. God is not trying to get something from you, He is trying to get something to you. For instance, when God says give, God does not want to take your money. God wants to get His money to you. Counter-cultural, right? It goes against the grain of the limited human thinking. But if your mind is enlightened and stretched by God, you will realize that in being generous you gain and not lose. When you give to God, in whatever capacity, let’s say you give your firstfruit. God is not getting from you. He is getting to you. God wants to make your barns overflow with plenty, and your vats run over. God does not want you to be able to contain the inflow, the open heavens.

God’s way of achieving this is asking you to give a firstfruit, so that He can get the overflow to you. Same thing when you tithe, God is not asking you to tithe so He can get from you. He is asking you to tithe so he can get to you. Generosity is about God getting the overflow to you. He just needs a reason to do it. Are you going to give Him a reason to do it?

I typically would pay my firstfruit, but one particular year I did the numbers, and the numbers did not add up. So, I said to God, “Lord, I am sure You understand the situation here. The numbers are not quite adding up. You know I have been a good boy, paying my firstfruit all these years. Since firstfruit is not compulsory, let’s skip this year, oh Lord of Heaven’s armies. And we can pick it up next year after You have blessed me abundantly.” He did not respond. I tried to negotiate, the way we try to negotiate ourselves out of things with God. But He did not say anything. Well, He must have said something because of what happened next.

A lady came to the office, she wanted to give her firstfruit, and wanted me to pray over it. As I was about to pray, she insisted on first telling me the story behind her firstfruit. After she was done, we prayed, and she left. I was convicted. Someone else would make that kind of sacrifice and I would not? No way. So, I paid my firstfruit. Honestly, it would have been enough for me that my sacrifice pleased God. But God has not called us to seek Him in vain. He has not told us to give so that He can get from us. He has told us to give so He can get to us. Long story short, that year, I got a house in the U.S. fully paid for, no mortgage! Complete miracle. God was not trying to take my resources from me, He was trying to give His resources to me.

Prayer: Father, I receive the grace to enlarge my giving and not to hold back, to trust Your heart, and act in complete obedience to Your will, in Jesus Name. Amen!