Confronting the Spirit of Lack – Part 2

One can develop the habit of tithing, however, to the point that it is like paying any other bill. It becomes such a rule of life and a subtraction from the checkbook balance that it is no longer felt. Essential to the life of giving is that all giving must require a step of faith. When tithing becomes a necessary habit:

1. faith can become deficient
2. the satisfaction that comes from giving can be lost
3. the larger benefits of giving can be compromised

Only the spiritually brave in heart can, as an ongoing practice of life, go beyond this point. Those who want to be, to do, and to have all that God has for them must learn the practice of greater giving. Only then can they break the spirit of lack that would otherwise form controlling bondages in the people of God.

Because of the imprint of greed and covetousness that is so deeply etched in our lives and because faith is so often at short supply, most of us find it hard to go beyond a certain place in giving. We need to reemphasize at this point a certain very important fact, GOD DOESN’T NEED WHAT WE HAVE. He is the owner of the earth and all that is upon it. The Psalmist clarified that by saying: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1). We sometimes look at giving as a necessary evil, in some way thinking that divine resources are in such short supply we have to lend God a hand if things are to go on. As the old radio program often intoned, “Taint so, McGee!” We do not give because God needs us to. We give because we need us to!

Let’s look at some basic principles of giving that our Father has built into his Kingdom affairs through our giving. We give because:

1. God tells us to
2. we see the obvious needs of others and Kingdom affairs
3. we need to learn the discipline required
4. we need to learn the essentials of faith entailed
5. because of the abundance liberated in our behalf when we do

Those who want to become successful givers must learn and live by the laws of seedtime and harvest that are built into both the natural and supernatural systems. The scripture provides for such a system: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). “A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted” (Ecclesiastes 3:2).

The law of seedtime and harvest is illustrated in the teachings of Jesus about the Kingdom of God: “And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:26-29).

The laws of seedtime and harvest are as follows:

YOU REAP WHAT YOU PLANT. It is quite obvious that one does not plant beans and reap onions or carrots. What we plant determines what we harvest. This principle, for example, is taught by Paul in Galatians: “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). For some reason many people don’t seem to grasp this idea. We will enlarge on this in a later message but in simple terms it states: if one wants to harvest financial security, he must plant financial resources to get it.

YOU REAP LATER THAN YOU PLANT. For one to continuously reap the benefits of a giving lifestyle, it must be just that, a lifestyle. While it is possible that one can give away a significant amount of money to a needy person or event and receive it back plus immediately getting more, he should not depend on that being so. The law of seedtime and harvest always promises that the time of harvest will follow the time of planting, i.e., at a later time. As given in the scripture in Mark 4, a person plants and regardless of how carefully he watches it, he can’t make it germinate, sprout, and grow faster. He has to wait for the harvest. It follows then that if one wants to reap continuously, he must plant continuously. Then and only then will he be able to reap continuously.

YOU REAP MORE THAN YOU SOW. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). This is the principle that keeps the farmers in business and the world with food. The principle of harvest always depends on the multiplication of that which was planted. When we obediently plant our financial resources, we have scriptural assurance that it will be multiplied back again to us, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).

It is not easy to break free from the materialistic bent that, to some extent, grips each of us. We have it so drilled into us that we have to labor hard in order to have the sufficiency needed for the issues of life. So it seems so incongruous that we can give our way into materialistic success. A word of warning, however, about the principles of seedtime and harvest. This is not a free ride. A person should not attempt to use these principles to gain that for which he is not willing to labor. The seed that is planted out of greed or ill intent will inevitably come back in the form of tares (weeds). As we will see later, attitude, and intent in giving is of great significance. One should make sure his heart is pure before God in the planting he does. Jeff