7 Types of Giving for the Believer (Part 1)

February 29, 2024 Cathy

Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. [Proverbs 11:24-25]

What an honor to be able to give to the Lord, to those who are workers for the Lord, and to those in need. I just love this main verse for today. Look at what this says, and these are not my words, this is from God himself.

PLEASE NOTE: this post is only an outline, with more details and depth on the podcast.

Give freely and become more wealthy. God wants us to give with a willing and happy heart and he also already has given us the ability to be wealthy. The reason the Lord gives us the ability to work and the privilege to become wealthy is so that we can give. Yes, we need to take care of our responsibilities, but from our overflow, we should have the desire to give abundantly.

And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth,
that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
[Deuteronomy 8:18 NKJV]

Giving to others is a great reason to become as wealthy as possible, because the more we have, the more we can give! If we want to hoard all that has been given to us and be stingy. I personally don’t like the outcome of losing everything option. The generous will prosper – this again is how God’s economy works. The more we give, the more is given to us. It’s a blessing to be in a position to give as it is a blessing to those who we give to. (refreshing).

Maybe on another podcast, we can talk about the ground we sow into, the motives of giving, and how to expect blessings when we give. (thinking out loud)

You must each decide in your heart how much to give.
And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure.
For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.
[2 Corinthians 9:7]

Here are two statements from Jonathan Shuttlesworth that are in his book Financial Overflow: 10 Bible Principles to Unlock Heaven’s Unending Supply. This is also where the content for the 7 types of giving was taken from, and from his teachings online, and in person.

What many fail to recognize is the last thing the devil wants for believers to be rich. People who have wealth have the ability to sway policy and law-making. They determine who owns the land. As long as the devil can keep his crowd rich, they will continue to have vast influence. Preachers don’t want to talk about giving and Christians storm out when they do. If the only way the church can have money is by getting loans, the devil and his crowd will continue to get rich of us, since borrowing from the wicked is our only option. (Jonathan)

Jesus didn’t come to simply meet your needs. He came to make you rich. Part of what Christ did in redemption was to make you wealthy. God has the desire for us to walk in wealth. Around 2,000 scriptures deal with wealth, stewardship, and God’s blessing on our finances. God desires that for us. There are principles, however, that we need to engage in to enjoy it – and giving is one of those principles (Johnathan).

You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that by his poverty he could make you rich. [2 Corinthians 8:9]

May I offer a different view of giving? Instead of it being a difficult duty or an obligation, I look at giving as a privilege and an opportunity to bless others.

But also remember what is amazing, in God’s economy we are to expect blessings in return when we give with the right heart and motive. As you will see with each one of these types of giving there are blessings attached to the act of giving.

With all that said let’s dive into the 7 ways we have the opportunity and privilege to give! These are in order of importance and priority.

TITHE

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! [Malachi 3:10]

First, let’s remember that 100% of the money that just came into our bank account is God’s. We are to be good stewards of the money that has been given to us.

WHAT IS THE TITHE? The tithe is 10% of the gross income that we receive. Nothing more, nothing less, this is not negotiable. God gives us 100% and all He asks is that we give back to Him 10% of what is already His.

Go back to Deuteronomy 8:18 if you forgot who gave us the ability to work and receive money.
If we don’t even give this 10% back to God, we are stealing from Him.
As a believer, this is a sin and we have put a dam on our blessings before we even get started with other types of giving.
This amount has never changed since the beginning of time, because it’s not about the money, it’s about our obedience.

The tithe should be given to the ministry, church, or teacher where you are being fed. We talked on the podcast about setting giving goals and the importance of sowing our seed into good soil. If you sow into a church that does not teach about money or sowing and reaping, then you are sowing into dry and dead soil. Note to self: You can’t expect a harvest from dry infertile soil.

BLESSINGS FROM GIVING THE TITHE

Windows of heaven will open for YOU!
So many blessings that you won’t have enough room for them!
Try it – test the Lord. This is the only place where God encourages us to test Him. 😊

THE BOTTOM LINE WITH GIVING THE TITHE (as Jonathan said): You need to decide if you would rather have 90% of your income blessed or 100% of it cursed. People say they can’t afford to tithe but the reality is we can’t afford not to tithe.

OFFERING

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. [Luke 6:38]

What happens to most people is they put all their giving under the tithe category. They say we tithe over 30%, well actually no that isn’t correct. You can ONLY tithe 10%, which is the fixed amount determined by God.

WHAT IS THE OFFERING? This is any amount you give to honor God, that is above the tithe. This amount is determined by YOU. Where you give the offering is determined by YOU.

However, the offering has to be worthy of your honor for God.
God is not trying to take money from you, He is trying to get money to YOU.
We are to give with the expectation of receiving.
Basically, if it doesn’t move you, it’s not going to move God.
Not all offerings are accepted by God.
Let’s review the harsh rebuke in Malachi 1:7-10. (scripture is at the end of this post)

BLESSINGS FROM GIVING AN OFFERING

YOU WILL RECEIVE.
Your gift will return to you in full pressed down.
Your gift will return to you – shaken together to make room for more.
Your gift will return to you running over.
Your gift will return to you and will be poured into your lap.
The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.

THE BOTTOM LINE WITH GIVING AN OFFERING

Before God can get money to YOU, YOU have to GIVE. (God’s economy)
Expect to receive many blessings.
It’s up to us if we open the door to more blessings!
Make sure the offering is an honor to God.

FIRSTFRUITS

Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. [Proverbs 3:9-10 NKJV]

This is an interesting one that I had not heard of until I was at my church in Florida. Jonathan was there for a week of teaching, and he talked about it then. My bad for not being in the Word more and knowing this, but also a shame this type of teaching isn’t more prominent in our modern-day churches.

This is an amazing way to be able to give and trust me you won’t hear this in most churches. Again, you should be where this type of teaching is taught and if you are, your business or finances should always be increasing.

WHAT ARE THE FIRSTFRUITS? Giving to the Lord doesn’t subtract from us; rather, it increases us. This is speaking of God giving us supernatural increase. But what if we don’t have any barns for the Lord to fill or presses for the wine to overflow? We have to prepare for God’s blessing by faith. Many people have missed God’s provision because they weren’t prepared. They only had a little cup for the Lord to fill when He wanted to fill their barns!!!

The first fruit is giving from your first increase!
This is given ONE time based on the increase.
The first fruit is given to the pastor or teacher directly.
This money doesn’t go to their ministry or church but to them personally.

An example: say you make $3,000/month at your job and you receive a $400.00 raise. The first month you receive that additional $400 you take that and give it to your pastor.

BLESSINGS FROM GIVING FIRSTFRUITS

Your barns will be filled with plenty!!! There will be more increase!
Your vats will overflow with new wine!! Even more blessings 😊

THE BOTTOM LINE WITH GIVING FIRSTFRUITS

When you give your first fruit, God will see to it that it won’t be your last increase!
I love this, what a great way to bless and honor a great man of God.

I was so moved by hearing this that I put this into action right away. I had just started my food trailer on the beach in Florida and I was the first person to have done this because the Lord gave me favor in the process of getting this set up.

I was under great teaching and felt so honored to have the ability to give the pastor $600.00 cash which was my first day’s earnings. (my first fruits!!!) It was amazing to have the privilege to bless a man of God who is pouring his heart out on Sundays and many more days during the week on his podcast teaching biblical truths.

ALMSGIVING

Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor! The Lord rescues them when they are in trouble. The Lord protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity in the land and rescues them from their enemies. The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health. [Psalm 41:1-3]

WHAT IS ALMSGIVING? Almsgiving is a special type of giving I think, because it’s giving to people who are in destitute situations. Meaning people who at the time could not do anything for us.

It’s not giving a few bucks to someone on the street and now you sit back and expect 100-fold.
This is consistent and increasing giving.
This requires a focused effort to take your resources and give to people in need.
Do this discreetly to protect the dignity of the person or people that you are helping.

BLESSINGS FROM ALMSGIVING

The Lord will rescue YOU when YOU are in trouble.
The Lord will protect YOU and keep YOU alive.
The Lord will give YOU prosperity in the land.
The Lord will rescue YOU from YOUR enemies.
The Lord will nurse YOU when YOU are sick.
The Lord will restore YOUR health.

THE BOTTOM LINE WITH ALMSGIVING

The Lord obviously will take care of us when we give to people in need.
This is not your tithe – this is given after your tithe and your offering.
Again, I think it’s a very special way to give to people.

Because this was a lot of information I’m going to stop here and pick up with the final three at another time. These first four are the most important that we can add to our giving plan and start expecting great things to happen.

WRAP UP

Tithe: giving 10% of our gross income.

Offering: giving above our tithe with an amount to honor God.

First Fruits: giving our increase to the person who is feeding us as a blessing to them.

Almsgiving: giving to the poor from our overflow.

I hope gives you some insight into God’s economy, sowing and reaping, and expected blessings. It’s our choice if we give or not. But like always I look at who is where I want to be and find out what they are doing and then I do what they do.

Giving is a privilege and an honor, and in God’s economy, we cannot lose because it always comes back to us thirty, sixty, and even hundredfold! Yes and Amen!! 😊

Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. [Matthew 13:7-9]

JESUS WAS ANGRY AT WHAT THEY GAVE

You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices? You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is! says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all? asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and I will not accept your offerings. [Malachi 1:7-10]