Reverend Michael Mwangi
Senior Pastor, Fedha Church, Kenya Assemblies of God
1 Chronicles 29
11Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.13Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.14"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.15We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.16O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
This passage reveals why David gave so abundantly to God for building the temple. He gave out of revelation.
Despite God refusing him the privilege to build the temple, he provided for all the materials for the building of the temple and gave his valuables for this course 1 Chronicles 29:2-3.
David understood some very important truths and gave with a revelation. This is the kind of giving that demonstrates us honoring God with our wealth as He requires of us.
Proverbs 3
9. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10. then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
To honour means to give precedence priority or the first place. Because He is the source and giver of our wealth, he should have the first priority in our wealth.
Unfortunately, God gives us finances but when spending our needs come first and He comes last or has to wait next time or He has no place at all.
Sometimes we give to him just as a by the way. We must give in a way that honours God so that it becomes a worship that is acceptable.
This requires revelation... like David had. We notice David understood the following
1. God is the source and owner of everything
1 Chronicles 29: 11
for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom.
Be it power, majesty and dominion, all belong to him.
Psalm 24:1.
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;12Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
God own everything and needs nothing.
Haggai 2:8.
The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
2. You own nothing
You own nothing and you will take nothing. All that we have, we only hold in brief for God. we are temporary stewards that's why we will leave with nothing just as we came with nothing. We will carry nothing and the only thing we can carry to heaven with us is people. love people and invest in someone not in some things.
Ecclesiastes 5:15.
Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart.They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.
Job 1:21.
and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
If what you have is yours, then you would go with it.
3. Giving is crediting your account for your abundance
We can not carry our wealth we can only transfer it by crediting it to the kingdom account by giving it to the Kingdom Agenda. whenever we give to God it is credited and recorded to our eternal account and we also get blessed with more.
Philippians 4:17.
Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.19. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus
4. Everything you have is a blessing from God
1 Chronicles 29:14
Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
1 Corinthians 4:7.
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
All the resources, our lives, gifts, abilities and graces in our lives are just a gift from God. We ought to honour Him with them
James 1:17.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
The only thing that is our own is our sin.
5. Even what you have we have worked for is by His grace.
1 Chronicles 29:16
O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
If you have managed to build or gather, or succeed in anything, it is not a product of your hard work. Your efforts minus God is nothing. You can do nothing without God. Your efforts, wisdom and hard work are not a guarantee for success
Psalm 127:1.
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
Even that grace, effort, ability or strength is not yours but you have been given by God.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
Your job, career, business, networks and the discipline of saving are just gifts from God. Honour Him with your wealth, be a giver.
Elisabeth Elliot in her book Passion and Purity says this:
“If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the soul. It is easy to make a mistake here, ‘If God gave it to me,’ we say, ‘it’s mine. I can do what I want with it.’ No. The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, . . . ours to let go of.”
If you have this Revelation, you can give generously to God and those in need because you are sure God is capable of seeing you through your needs in another way.
Philippians 4:19.
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
There is nothing that we have that we obtained on our own. It’s all God’s. may He give us this revelation and Help us to have open hands for Him to give and take as He pleases.
Some of us have received this revelation. We have taken step and given God our pledges, let's be reminded we need to do so timely.
God required Israelites to honor and redeem their pledges before him. They were not overlook any pledge or consider it irrelevant but redeem every pledge in a timely manner. God stated he would consider any Israelites' failed promise as an offense, and he would enforce them into redeeming it.
Deuteronomy 23:21.
If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.
Let's not redeem at our discretion but show commitment.
Some have refused to honour God with their wealth... ni jasho yao na wengine walipledge but wakipata pesa yao, you sorts all other things incase ibaki ndio unapea Mungu mabaki. ama unaredeem ile ya by the way uonekane uko (some say it is their own sweat, other pledged but when they get money they sort other needs and give God the remainder if any).
I remind you everything you have ni Mungu amekupatia na anajua amekupea kiasi gani. You can never give to God he is simply testing your heart. anangalia aone kama akikupea utampee na ukipata kam utakuwa mwaminifu to redeem first ajue umemuweka wapi moyoni (It is God who has given you and He knows what amount He has given you. You can never give to God he is simply testing your heart. He is looking to see if he gives you will you give back to Him, will you be faithful and redeem your pledge to Him the first thing. He wants to know where you have placed Him in your heart).
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