Creflo Dollar - The Honor of Giving
When we experience God's unmerited favor working in our lives, his grace accomplishing things we could never do on our own, we should all be moved to become generous givers. All believers should give because this is a privilege and a responsibility for those who have received the gift of eternal life and when you apply these principles your giving will have a powerful impact on not just your life, but also the lives of those you love. On today's special presentation of "Your World," Creflo Dollar will walk you through step by step how the subjects of money, honor, and worship are vitally related and how this one misunderstood connection could be holding you back from God's best.
I just believe that there is an issue of honor that comes with giving. Now, this is the number one most important thing that I can think of after years of teaching this area that I wanna share with you right here on "Your World".
Hello everybody. I'm Creflo Dollar from World Changers Church in College Park, Georgia. I wanna share some things with you today. It's something that's so amazing and so spiritual, that the Bible says that if you've received something spiritual then it's okay to share of your carnal gifts. It's like a reflex. If you go to the doctor and he taps that knee, you just get a reflex, and so, likewise, I pray that as you receive the Word of God and understanding and your faith grows that a reflex will occur. That you'll begin to respond with giving. "I'm gonna give financially as a result of receiving spiritually. I'm gonna give financially as a result of receiving spiritually," and I believe that's what he meant. When you receive spiritual things, it's all right to give of your carnal or financial things. I just believe it's really, really cool to be able to sow financially as a result of what you've received.
I wanna begin in the book of Saint John chapter 1 and in Saint John chapter 1 I wanna start off with a simple verse, and he says in verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". Now, what does that have anything to do with the giving and investment? Well, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, so God's Word and God are the same, and so I want you to remember that as we go to Proverbs chapter 3. And I'll start here, Proverbs chapter 3, because literally you're gonna find out how you should be handling your money. Very interesting Scripture here. In verse 5 he says, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding".
I gotta tell you giving is a trust issue. Will I trust God enough to give as I'm instructed and to know that he will honor his Word? He says, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. He shall direct thy path. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones". Now, here is what I wanna spend my time on today: "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruit of all thine increase: so shall your barns be filled with plenty. Thy presses shall burst out with new wine".
I wanna show you how to cause your barns to be filled with plenty and begin to overflow. Verse 9 says, "Honor the Lord with your substance". Boy, that's amazing. Honor the Lord with your money. You see, when he's talking about honoring the Lord with your substance, he's not talking about honoring God with your spiritual stuff. That word translated there is "capital from righteous gain". Honor the Lord with your capital. Honor the Lord with your money. Now, what's so amazing to me is you have a Scripture saying take your money and honor the Lord with it, and there is a promise as a result of you honoring the Lord with your substance. He said, "Honor the Lord with your substance, and with the firstfruit of all of your increase: so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst out with new wine".
You know, firstfruit is an issue of honor. It's like I wanna honor God or honor the things of God first, so that's what I believe what he meant here, but what he's saying is honor the Lord with your money. So shall your barns be filled with plenty. We need to figure out what he's saying, because if my barns can be filled with plenty as a result of honoring God with money, then I need to know how to honor God with money and what does it mean to honor God with money. Well, let's look at the word "honor". The word "honor," in its simplest definition, it means "to carry weight," "to weigh in heavy". It's an issue of something becoming and being valuable to the point where it always ends up first place. To honor the Lord with your money, it means it carries weight. God's Word becomes more important than anybody else's word. Why? 'Cause you honor God's Word more than you honor the word of, you know, somebody you meet in the street or somebody that you know. You honor God's Word.
You know, where my children are concerned, you know, it says, "Honor your mother and father". I believe that my children, if they honor my words greater than they honor the words of a friend or honor the words of a coworker, I mean, that's an amazing thing. That shows value. And so, we said that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, so the Word of God and God are the same. Honor, honor the Lord with your substance. How do I do that? Well, what does his Word say to do? Well, I just showed you spiritual things come. You give of your capital. Honor the Lord means that you will allow God's Word to carry more weight in your life than anything else. In fact, to honor God means that his Word carries more weight than the words of anybody. It carries more weight than your circumstances or situations. It carries more weight than the trouble that you're in. It carries more weight than what the doctors saw on an x-ray.
When you honor God's Word, his Word is top priority, and it weighs in heavy on your life. All right, so we know what honor is all about, but here it says to honor God with your substance, with your money. That means I'm going to give God the right to speak into my life on my giving, and I'm gonna obey him, to honor God, just like my children honor me, and they give me a right to speak into their lives. If they bring some guy home, and I say, "I don't believe that's God's will for you to marry him," they will honor my words. So, likewise, if God comes in, and he says, "Hey, I want you to give this. I want you to sow this," then all of a sudden his Word carries more weight than anything, and so I honor God with my substance by allowing him to speak into my life concerning my giving.
Now, when is the last time you paused and allowed God to speak to you concerning your giving? His words should carry weight, and so if you pause and you say, "God, what would you have me to give"? and he speaks to your heart, will what he spoke to you carry more weight than the bills that are due? What he spoke to you, will it carry more weight than the financial situation you're in? See, because if it doesn't most likely fear comes in and tell you, "Don't honor God's Word. Don't give". But you have a promise here that says if you will honor God with your substance, that's when your barns will be filled with plenty and your presses will burst out with new wine, but the first problem is not many people take the time to acknowledge God where their giving is concerned so that they can get his Word, so that his Word can weigh in heavier than anything else.
I mean, you know, there is a difference between the Word of God and a Word from God. A Word of God will take you into intimate places, but a Word from God will cause you to have a breakthrough in your life and when you get a Word from God breakthrough is there. Barn-filling substance is going to be there. Why? Because you took the time to acknowledge him. Well, didn't he say in a part of Scripture, "Acknowledge me in all thy ways"? "Acknowledge me in all thy ways". How many times do people pause to acknowledge him? And, you know, I have some friends with me today. Just think about it. It's like how often do you pause and say and ask God, "Lord, what would you have me to give financially? What would you have me to do financially"? And take advantage of the relationship you have with him to hear what he has to say.
You may be watching this teaching right now, and I'm asking you to pause. I mean, it's real simple. God doesn't tell you to do anything, and you don't do it, but, man, if he does will you honor him and allow what he speaks into your heart to outweigh anybody else's words, any circumstance, any situation? Boy, I tell you what. That takes the con out of a lotta stuff, doesn't it? Amen, because this is between you and your heavenly Father. It is between you going to God and saying, "Lord, what do you want me to do"? And most breakthrough, most significant breakthrough in a person's life, is because of his relationship with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit begins to lead and guide you, watch this, into all the truth. But what happens when we don't allow him that opportunity? What happens when we don't honor him so that he has the opportunity to speak a groundbreaking, barn-busting opportunity that we kinda let go by because we see it as insignificant?
"Well, God said to do this, but I'm not gonna do it". Well, that's not honor. That dishonors God, because he's speaking words and wanting to see if they will be honored. Oh, man, that thing changed my life. Now I know what he meant in the early part of the Scripture where he says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart". That requires trust. It requires faith. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not unto your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all thy ways," all, all thy ways, "and he will direct your path". Well, giving would be one of those ways, but how many times do people take the time to acknowledge God where their giving is concerned? I think this is significant. I think this is amazing.
I am gonna believe that by the Holy Spirit he's gonna begin to speak to people as they acknowledge him, and he's gonna begin to give them instructions, doing what he instructs you to do. Every big breakthrough that has ever taken place in my life, it was because God said something, and I allowed him to speak it and to be obeyed. Wow! I don't come to you today with a formula. I come to you with a relationship and that relationship is between you and the heavenly Father and if anybody knows where harvest exists, God knows where harvest exists and... amen. And when you can recognize that it's not just money that I'm bucket plunking, that it's the intangible things that causes breakthrough to come.
Notice when somebody gets an amazing business, it was spoken on the inside of 'em. Somebody invented something that was awesome, they heard something or had a dream, and here we are as Christian people. We have the opportunity to honor God with our money, to give him a right to speak into our lives and to be obeyed where our money is concerned, and as we obey that and that money is directed as his Word directed us to give it, then this next Scripture will come: "So shall your barns be filled with plenty". I said your barns shall be filled with plenty. Your barns shall be filled with plenty, and your presses... watch this. Here is the breakthrough that everybody talks about every New Year's. And he says it will be filled with plenty, and your presses, there'll be a breakout.
How many are ready for a breakout? Praise God. How many of you are ready for a breakout? Well, it's not gonna come through these weird, strange formulas. It's gonna come as a result of your relationship with the Holy Spirit and allowing him to speak into your life concerning your giving, like you allow him to speak into your life concerning your marriage, like you allow him to speak into your life concerning your business, while you allow him to speak into your life concerning everything else. I am saying allow him to speak into your life where your giving is concerned. That's how you honor God. It's the most powerful, most precious thing that I could have in my understanding. That my life is a life where I want God's Word on honoring him.
Now, do I have to have God to speak to me every time I give? No, 'cause what happens is I make up my mind that I'm a giver, and I make my living through my giving, but at the same time I will not allow God to speak a Word to me about my giving and not do it. It's like a missed opportunity, because if he's taking the time to tell you what to give and how to give and who to give, I wanna make sure I get what's on the other side of that obedience. He's telling me to do something. I don't wanna sit there and say, "Well, I don't know if that was God or not. I don't think I'm gonna do that". Well, what's on the other side? You know, when Jesus told his disciples, "Let us go to the other side," they ran into a hurricane. They ran into a storm, but Jesus said, "Didn't I say we're going to the other side"? And supernaturally they ended up on the other side.
I'm telling you I believe that God wants you to go to the other side, but some of you need some supernatural assistance in order to get to the other side. And when you honor God, you turn on the supernatural, and I believe that supernatural things happen to fill your barn with plenty and presses burst out with new wine. Why? I just simply did what he told me to do. If you would do a survey of the millionaires and billionaires in the world, you would find in common that some revelation started it. "Well, how did you do that"? "I don't know". Here is how they would say it. "Something told me. Something told me to make that investment. Something told me to get that land. Something told me to do that". And that's how I live my life, except I don't say, "Something told me". I know exactly who's doing the speaking, amen? It's what the Holy Spirit said.
Now, where giving is concerned, while honoring God is important and while honoring God with your money is important, there are not too many Scriptures that so specifically say not just honor God, but to honor God with your money. That's mind blowing to me. Somebody says, "Well, I'll tell you what. I got problems with you saying that". Well, you got problems with Proverbs chapter 3, 9, and 10, 'cause that's what he said, amen? Now, let's look at how he wants us to give. I remember when the Lord spoke to me one year about giving a million dollars to a particular ministry and when I heard it I knew it was God. I knew it was God to a point where I sat there, and I started humming so I couldn't hear him say nothing no more. He said, "Give a million dollars".
I said, "Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm," and I was humming Christian songs, and I almost messed something up. And then, you know, it was time for me to go up. God said, "I want you to go up, and I want you to tell 'em that, what I told you to do," and I wasn't gonna move. So, there was a guy sitting next to me, and he said, "The Lord trying to tell you to do something"? And I looked to him like, "How are you in my Kool-Aid, and you don't even know the flavor"? And he said, "Come on, I'll go up there with you," and we went up, and I was a little nervous, I mean, 'cause what are you talking about? God says, "Give a million dollars". I'm like, "Whoo. That's a lotta money, but if I honor God".
If he told me to give a dime or a million, will I honor his Word? Because he's got something on the other side of that, and so I did it, and I gave it, and then afterwards one of my spiritual sons came up to me, and he said, "Dad, I'm so proud of what you did". And I just said, "Just shut up. It wasn't you," and God got all on me. He said, "Let me tell you, you are about to mess up what I got for you. Straighten your attitude up and straighten your attitude up now". You know, sometimes I believe your attitude and your motive is greater than your gift. How you do it becomes important.
See, somebody says, "Well, I did it, so just leave me alone". Well, now your attitude and your motivation behind what you did sometimes is even more important than the gift, and so I repented, asked God to forgive me. And, of course, when I got to the other side there were breakthroughs happening in our ministry that I had never seen before, and God reminded me, "Now you see why I asked you to do this". God will never ask you to do something, and you don't have the means to carry it out, so you don't have to be afraid that God's gonna ask you to give a million dollars if you ain't got it. You understand? You don't have it. "Well, I'm afraid God might ask me to do the same thing". Do you have it? "No, not now". Well, then fine. If he told you to do it then he's responsible for equipping you with what's necessary to carry out his Word.
Now, I wanna show you this Scripture. I think this will answer how, the how that's behind the giving. 2 Corinthians. He said, "But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully". I like to say it like this. Give a little, get a little. Give much, get much. He said, "Every man according as he's purposed in his heart, so let him give; but don't do it grudgingly. Don't do it out of necessity: for God loveth," what kind of giver? "A cheerful giver," whose heart is in his giving. He don't want somebody giving, and they don't want to.
You know you got $2.50 in your pocket and, "Well, I guess I'll get it". No, put it back in your pocket. Go buy you a McDonald's Big Mac and then you just tell me how happy you are now. No, he wants us to give cheerfully. He doesn't want us to give out of necessity. "Oh, I better give, 'cause if I don't I'll go to hell. Oh, I better give, or God not gonna bless me". No, he wants you to give out of a cheerful heart. He wants you to give because you love him. He wants you to give because you appreciate him. He wants you to give because you're thankful. He wants you to give because you honor him and when you give with right motives, when you give from a cheerful heart and your heart is in your giving, man, that's what God receives. God receives it wholeheartedly. God is blessed to receive it.
Well, somebody asked me one time, "Well, but what about tithing? You know, you're cursed with a curse if you don't tithe". Well, now wait a minute. We're delivered from the curse of the law, amen? Lemme tell you, too, this way, and I'm gonna close here. My daddy used to tell me, he said, "Son, if I see you walking across the street without looking both ways, I'm gonna whup you," so I would look both ways because I was under the threat of punishment. But, you know, my father is dead now, so I don't have to live under the threat of that punishment anymore, but how many of you know it is still beneficial and it is still to my advantage to look both ways when I cross the street?
So, likewise, where even your tithing is concerned, that I don't get the curse for not tithing, but it is still to my benefit to tithe, praise God? Why? It's a part of my honor to the Father. It's a part of me honoring him. You want a master key to how to prosper? You want a master key to how to step into the wisdom of God and to breakthrough revelation where business is concerned in any other area? Here it is: will you honor God with your substance? Will you honor God with your money? Because when you make a decision to do that, get ready for the things in the barns to change. So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses will burst out with new wine. Now, listen. I wanna pray for you right now, those of you who are watching. Just pray with me right now.
Father, in the name of Jesus I thank you for barn-breaking harvest. I thank you for people who will allow your Word to carry more weight than the words or situations of anybody else or anything else. And I pray in Jesus's name that as they involve their lives and the reflex of, "God said it, I'll do it," that, Lord, you will show them that the master key to living a successful life is living it with you and giving you the opportunity to speak into our lives and to be obeyed, to speak where our giving is concerned and to be obeyed. So, Lord, I thank you for that anointing and in Jesus's name I thank you that every ear is hearing, you are speaking, and all is well. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Amen.
God bless you. We love you, we appreciate you, and all is well. Don't we appreciate everybody and got those who are with us and a part of this broadcast? Amen. Praise the Lord.