The issue of experiencing Christ’s dynamic salvation and of being inwardly supplied by the divine life in a rich way is that we give not only ten percent to the Lord but our full one hundred percent, giving ourselves to Him for His purpose. Amen!
All we are and have is not our own; we belong to Jesus, and the Lord provides for our needs in a rich way.
In the church life, we need to practice the principle of equality, not by outwardly distributing the riches to all the saints but by inwardly contacting the Lord and having no excess but giving to the Lord and for supporting those who serve full-time.
In the Old Testament, we see how God arranged for the Levites and priests to be taken care of by the entire people of Israel, and in the New Testament, we see the principle of giving to support those who serve the Lord with their full-time.
We all are serving ones – we all are full-timers, for according to Rom. 12:1 we need to offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice as our reasonable service to God.
It is reasonable for us all to serve the Lord, for He Himself came to serve us, and He is serving us today. Our Christian life is a life of service; we enjoy the Lord’s serving us and we serve others because the One who lives in us has a life of service.
Thank the Lord for coming into us not to rule over us outwardly but to supply us inwardly and serve us, minister to us, and shepherd us in a tender and all-inclusive way.
We all are called by the Lord to serve Him, and even if we work on a job, we still serve the Lord.
We serve God and not mammon; our service to God is our worship to Him, and our worshipping God is our drinking God, enjoying God, being filled with God, and being saturated with God.
As we serve God by enjoying God, we serve Him in the gospel of His Son (Rom. 1:9) and in spirit; whether we work on a job or serve Him with our full-time, we all are full-timers, those who serve God full-time.
May we learn to be open to the Lord regarding our present situation and His calling, and may we allow Him to shine in us and over us to enable us to follow Him.
He may call us to serve Him with our full time by dropping our job; in this case, we rely on the Lord, and our trust is in Him, for He is the One who provides in and through His Body.
He may call us to serve Him by remaining in our job and making money to give Him more and support those serving full-time; in this way, we have fellowship unto the gospel for the furtherance of the Lord’s move on the earth.
Hallelujah, we all can participate in the Lord’s move by praying for His move, by giving, and by going; furthermore, we can participate by working on a job and giving, and we can answer God’s call to go full-time in His service for the gospel and the spreading of the truth.
The Spontaneous Issue of enjoying Christ’s Dynamic Salvation is Giving our one hundred percent to the Lord
![And the heart and soul of the multitude of those who had believed was one; and not even one said that any of his possessions was his own, but all things were common to them. And with great power the apostles gave testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. For neither was anyone among them in need; for as many as were owners of lands or of houses sold [them] and brought the proceeds of the things which were sold and placed [them] at the feet of the apostles; and it was distributed to each, as anyone had need. Acts 4:32-35](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/And-the-heart-and-soul-of-the-multitude-of-those-who-had-believed-was-one-and-not-even-one-said-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675 "And the heart and soul of the multitude of those who had believed was one; and not even one said that any of his possessions was his own, but all things were common to them. And with great power the apostles gave testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. For neither was anyone among them in need; for as many as were owners of lands or of houses sold [them] and brought the proceeds of the things which were sold and placed [them] at the feet of the apostles; and it was distributed to each, as anyone had need. Acts 4:32-35")
In the Old Testament, God ordained that His people would give Him a tenth of what He blessed them with; He is the One who provides, and they had to bring their tithes to His house.
This was to supply His house and His serving ones. This was the way ordained by God in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, however, we give not only ten per cent but one hundred per cent.
When the Lord Jesus called people to follow Him, He didn’t ask them to give Him ten per cent of their time; rather, He told them to forsake everything and follow Him.
When the Lord went to Zaccheus’ house, this tax collector experienced the Lord’s dynamic salvation, and as a result, he didn’t give merely ten per cent but much more, even making restitution to those he mistreated.
The spontaneous issue of enjoying the Lord’s dynamic salvation is that we give everything to Him even without anyone telling us to do this; we love the Lord so much, we are motivated by His love and supplied by His life, and we just give our all to Him.
The issue of enjoying God’s dynamic salvation is not that we give ten per cent to Him but rather, that we give ourselves with all we are and have to Him.
Similarly, after the day of Pentecost, the early disciples had everything in common (see Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35).
The result of receiving God’s salvation and His Holy Spirit is that we don’t consider we’re our own anymore; we belong to Jesus, and all we are and have belongs to Him, so we offer all we have to His service.
The early disciples didn’t give merely ten per cent to the apostles; they put everything at the feet of the apostles, that is, at the Lord’s disposal.
In this way, the needs of all the disciples were met, and there was much grace and enjoyment among all the saints.
The tithing of ten percent to the Lord is altogether an Old Testament thing, something of the law of Moses; today we are in the age of grace, and we have the Lord’s grace, His life, and the power of His life.
There is the need for the recovery of the one-hundred-percent giving, the spontaneous result of being dynamically saved in the Lord’s life.
Without us realizing this, we believers in Christ are very much under the influence of the society among us and the principles that govern this world today, and especially related to money, we are not inclined to give one hundred percent to anything except ourselves, our needs and desires.
But when we enjoy the Lord and experience His dynamic salvation, we give our all to Him. We need to be trained and educated in this matter to realize that, the more we give to the Lord, the more He Himself becomes our great reward.
Phil. 4:19 indicates that our generous giving to the Lord for supporting those who serve Him and us will cause God to fill our every need according to His riches.
We give all we have, which is not that much, but the Lord fills our every need according to His riches, in glory, in Christ Jesus; this is truly a good deal.
Our giving to the Lord is not in vain, for the Lord – who owns everything and has all the riches, will bountifully give to us.
We may live in an affluent country where the saints may not be in need and many of them may even have quite a lot of riches; even in such a situation, we need to learn to keep only what we need for our daily necessities and give the rest to the Lord and for supporting those who serve Him.
If we take care of God’s need, He will give us a great blessing in filling every need of ours according to His riches.
May there be a recovery among us of the one-hundred-percent giving to the Lord, spending all we are and have on Him as a result of our experience of His dynamic salvation!
Lord Jesus, visit us according to Your word and make Your home in all our heart. We open to You, Lord, and we welcome You in our heart, in our home, and in our being. Grant us to experience and enjoy Your dynamic salvation so that we may give our all to You. Save us to the uttermost, dear Lord! Amen, Lord, recover the one-hundred-percent giving among us. Save us from being religious and giving You only ten percent as in the Old Testament; may we give our all to You. May we spend and be utterly spent with all we are and have on Your behalf, and may we give to support those in need and those who serve You full time. Lord, we trust in You to richly supply all our needs, and we just give ourselves to You with all we are and have!
Learning not only to Enjoy the Lord’s Supply but also Give and Participate in the Fellowship unto the Gospel
We thank and praise the Lord for His rich supply, and we are so grateful to Him for His care for all our needs.
We may experience lack in certain aspects, and we may not get everything that we think we need, but the Lord is faithful to care for all our needs.
We need to learn, however, not only to enjoy the Lord’s supply and His care for us but also give; if we only enjoy the physical gains we receive under God’s sovereignty but not give, this may offend the Lord.
If we only receive and enjoy but do not give ourselves with all we are and have to the Lord, the Lord may take back His blessing.
We need to be faithful to the Lord to give not just ten percent but our full one hundred percent; all we are and have is from Him, and when we give ourselves to Him with all we are and have, He will richly supply and bless us.
In the book of Acts, we see several verses that show us the practice of the early believers of selling all they have and giving it to the apostles for the needs of the church and of the work.
They had all things in common; this was not a sign of love merely but a sign of the believers experiencing Christ’s dynamic salvation, which saved them from greediness and selfishness.
Such a thing was practiced for only a short time at the initiation of God’s New Testament economy, and it didn’t continue for the long run as a practice of legality in the church life during Paul’s ministry.
It is not something of legality or requirement in the church life that we should give all we have and are to the Lord for the church; it is a sign of experiencing Christ’s dynamic salvation, and it is something spontaneous.
What we have is ours, being given to us by the Lord, and we can do with it what we have; we should not be hypocrites by pretending to give more than we actually give while holding things back (Acts 5:2-4), neither should we be those who only enjoy the Lord’s supply and not give to Him.
May we realize that we all are full-timers, serving the Lord with all we are and have, whether we drop our job or keep our job.
If we give our ounces of gold to the Lord, He will return pounds of gold to us; the more we give to Him for the church and for supporting of those who serve full-time, the more He will bless.
May we learn this principle and apply it in our personal life with the Lord; may we bring this to the Lord and pray concerning this.
On one hand, we need to serve the Lord with all we are and have, and on the other hand, we need to give at least five percent of what we earn every month for the support of those serving full time.
If twenty saints give five percent of their income monthly, they can support one full-time serving saint; in this way, we give to the Lord, those who serve Him are cared for, and He has a way to bless us.
Our giving should be in secret, for we seek the Father who is in secret; the matter of giving is not something of legality, something of a rule in the church life, but something between us and the Lord.
May we truly experience Christ’s dynamic salvation in our personal touch with Him, and may we be faithful to Him month after month to not hold back but give.
If we learn to not only enjoy the Lord’s supply in the physical gains but also give, He will richly bless us, the needs of the church will be met, and those who serve Him full-time will be taken care of.
Thank You, Lord, for Your rich care and supply; thank You for meeting all our needs both spiritually and psychologically and physically. We trust in You, for You are our rich provider, the source of all that we need. We worship You for Your sovereignty in all things; You know what we need, and You richly provide. Amen, Lord, we want to not only enjoy the physical gains we receive under Your sovereignty but also give. Recover the practice of giving for the needs of the church and for supporting those serving full-time not as a matter of legality but as a spontaneous issue of the experience of Christ’s dynamic salvation! Amen, Lord, may we continue to experience and enjoy Your dynamic salvation day by day in the church life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, The Life-pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, ch. 9 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 4, entitled, Material Offerings for the Lord’s Move.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Take my life, and let it be / Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; / Take my moments and my days, / Let them flow in ceaseless praise, / Let them flow in ceaseless praise. / Take my hands, and let them move / At the impulse of Thy love; / Take my feet and let them be / Swift and beautiful for Thee, / Swift and beautiful for Thee. (Hymns #445)
– Weary soul, give up the struggle, / Cease at length thyself to own; / Give yourself away to Jesus, / And belong to Him alone. / Once He gave His all to win thee, / Now He asks as much of thee; / All He has He fully gives thee; / Let thy love His portion be. / I am not my own, / I am not my own. / I belong to Jesus, / And I am not my own. (Hymns #452)
– I serve a risen Savior / He’s in the world today. / I know that He is living, / Whatever men may say. / I see His hand of mercy; / I hear His voice of cheer; / And just the time I need Him / He’s always near. (Hymns #503)
About aGodMan
Amen. Thank You Lord for the dynamic salvation. Save us from ourselves, from the love of mammon and the love of the things of this world. Thank You Lord for richly supplying us, filling us.