Our Sowing with Blessings by Offering Material Riches results in Thanksgiving to God

Our giving is like gathering and sowing, and if we are offering material riches by giving with blessings, we will also receive with blessings, with much thanksgiving to God. Amen!

It is so interesting to see that Paul likens our giving to a sowing; when you sow the seed, you need to sow unsparingly, and then you will get a rich harvest.

But if you sow sparingly, if you sow only some seeds here and some seeds there, the harvest will not be rich.

We need to read the Bible and take the principles in the Word of God as our principles of living; there are no laws that we need to adhere to in our Christian life except the law of life in our spirit, but there are many principles that are set forth in God’s word.

One of these principles is of giving; the Lord Himself said that, when we give, we should not make a big case out of it but give in secret.

The Lord didn’t say, “if you give” but “when you give”; our giving is a principle, and our giving is not merely tithing, for according to the New Testament we need to give our all to the Lord.

There are many healthy and solid principles of living the Christian life and church life set forth in the record in Acts 1-2 at the beginning of the church life, and one of these principles is equality and having all things in common.

When we receive the Lord and are regenerated, we enter into a new kingdom, a new realm, and our real family is the church life; therefore, we should not consider our things as being our own, nor should we hold back from giving.

When we see some saints in need, when we hear of the needs in the church or in the Body, and when we see the needs in the church life, we should not hold back in giving; rather, we need to consecrate ourselves to the Lord and learn to give anything in excess.

Even more, as we see in the principle set forth both in Philippians and in 2 Corinthians, though we may lack and not have anything as surplus, we need to still give.

Again, this is not a law or a regulation; this is a principle, something that needs to be applied in life, according to the Lord’s leading inwardly.

This is a healthy principle, for it brings in a lot of blessings.

Spiritually speaking, we enjoy many blessings when we not only eat, enjoy, and drink of Christ, but even more, when we minister Christ to others and bring them to enjoy Christ; it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

In the physical realm, it is the same; it’s one thing to have things and earn money, but it is so much better and more blessed to give than only to receive!

And it seems that, according to the principles set forth in the Bible, the more we give, the more the Lord will bless, for our giving in oneness with Him is appreciated and rewarded by Him.

Offering Material Riches is like Gathering Manna and Sowing the Seed and is Blessed by God

It is so amazing that Paul likens the offering of material riches to gathering manna (2 Cor. 8) and to sowing the seed (2 Cor. 9).

On one hand, if we give material riches, we are gathering manna, and if we don’t give material riches, God has a miraculous and heavenly way to cause the excess to fly away from us, just as those who gathered more manna than they needed could not use it by the end of the day.

On the other hand, our giving of material riches is like sowing the seed; if we sow sparingly, we will also reap sparingly, and if we sow with blessings, we will also reap with blessings.

Our giving of material riches may seem like we are losing, for we give what we have for others to enjoy and for us not to have them.

However, this is a sowing, and when the harvest comes, we will reap with blessings.

A farmer sows seed in his field mainly for himself and his family, but we sow the seed by offering material riches for others to enjoy and thank the Lord.

Our giving is blessed by God.

When we give our money, we are sowing, and this sowing is not for ourselves but rather, it is for others; if we sow with blessings, we shall reap with blessings from God.

This doesn’t mean that we should give so that we get more from God; our giving has to do with our heart.

God doesn’t want our material riches; He Himself is the source of all we have, He is the riches One in the whole universe, and He doesn’t need our things.

However, He wants to gain our heart, and riches and wealth and money usurp our heart.

If we see that our giving is like gathering manna and like sowing the seed, we will be one with the Lord to let go of the material riches and offer them, and God will have a way to use these for the shepherding and care of those in need.

If we do not give, however, God has a heavenly way of balancing the wealth of His people; He may allow us to accumulate and gather wealth, and then suddenly something happens to cause it to be wasted away.

God controls the life supply among His children by miracles; hence, we should not seek to accumulate riches but rather, seek to give so that we may sow the seed and meet the needs of the saints and the church.

On the other hand, however, our giving is like sowing the seed, where we don’t see anything miraculous – we only see the natural law of growing and bearing fruit.

If we offer our material riches, we sow the seed, and spontaneously this seed will bear fruit and reach a harvest.

The seeds we sow bear fruit not just onefold but thirtyfold, fiftyfold, and even one hundredfold.

This is not something of God’s miracle but the natural law, and God will make sure this happens.

As long as we trust in God as we give and are one with Him as we sow the seed, He causes the seed to grow, and He brings it to harvest.

These two illustrations of gathering and sowing are related to Paul’s profound thoughts in 2 Cor. 8-9; our offering material riches is not something that we have to do as a regulation but something organic, something in oneness with the Lord.

Somehow the unrighteous mammon can be transferred into and transformed into something that is useful to God, and it can become something of a blessing to us. Wow!

If we sow sparingly, then according to the natural law, we will reap sparingly; if we sow with blessings, we will reap with blessings from God to us.

These blessings are many times more than what we have sown – this is the natural law, and God honours the law He has ordained.

It is good to understand, realize, and agree with the principle of offering material riches in the Bible, seeing that it is like gathering manna and sowing the seed, and it is good to pray over this to the Lord, telling Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to sow with blessings to others so that we may also reap with blessings from God. Save us from sowing sparingly; save us from being stingy in our offering material riches. Amen, Lord, may we see that our offering of material riches is like gathering manna and like sowing the seed, and may we be one with You in our offering. May our life be a blessing to others, and may our giving the mammon of unrighteousness become a blessing to the saints. Thank You for Your rich care for us; thank You for Your rich provision both spiritually and materially. May we all sow with blessings through our giving of material riches in oneness with God so that we may also reap with blessings from God!

Sowing with Blessings by Offering our Material Riches results in Thanksgiving to God

These days in the world we see that many of the rich people donate much of their wealth to charities or good causes, and their giving is praised by others; however, their giving doesn’t result in thanksgiving to God but in praising man.

We believers in Christ live in a different realm; we may not have much but we realize that our offering of material riches is a sowing with blessing, and the result is thanksgiving to God.

We should sow more and in turn reap more; the more one sows, the richer will the harvest be – this is a natural law.

The goal of our giving of material riches is not to make ourselves rich; rather, it is the abounding of thanksgiving to God (2 Cor. 9:11).

Our generous giving is, on the one hand, a blessing to the receivers; on the other hand, it is righteousness in the eyes of both God and man.

It is God who bountifully supplies seed to the sower and bread for food; our material riches come from God and not from us or those around us, and He is the One who bountifully supplies us.

Since it is God who supplies us, we should sow with blessings by offering our material riches, and God will supply and multiply our seed, and He will cause the fruits of our righteousness to increase (2 Cor. 9:10).

God’s care for us and His bountiful supply is both in the way of miracles (as shown by manna) and in the way of natural law (as shown by sowing and reaping).

God is the source in both: He is the One who sends the manna, and He is the One who supplies the seed for sowing and the bread for food.

On our side, there’s nothing that we should be anxious about; we should not look at our apparent lack but rather, we should contact God and offer our material riches to give what we have to meet the needs of others.

When we do this, when we are sowing with blessings by offering our material riches, God will enrich us in everything unto all liberality (simplicity, singleness), and the result is thanksgiving to God (v. 11).

Our giving can be a factor of thanksgiving to God; our giving in oneness with the Lord to meet the needs of the saints not only becomes a blessing to them and a blessing to us but also is a factor of thanksgiving to God. Hallelujah!

Our giving will abound in much thanksgiving to God.

As we offer our material riches in secret to meet the needs of the saints and the needs in the church, the saints and the church are blessed, we receive a rich harvest in the Lord’s time with blessings, and God obtains thanksgiving from His saints.

If we all in the church life would be willing to give, much thanksgiving will be offered to God.

If all the saints in the Lord’s recovery are willing to give, there will be no lack in material supply; rather, there will be abounding in thanksgiving to the Lord through many saints.

May we all practice this; may we all practice our giving, a giving that is carried out by gathering and sowing.

We look to the Lord as our rich source and generous Giver, we are one with Him, and we simply give; our giving is a blessing to others and will become a blessing to us, and the Lord gains many thanks from His saints. Amen!

To state again, this blog post and this series of blog posts is not a series of articles encouraging the saints to give to the church; it is not a fund-raising effort, neither is it a call to give to this church or that need or this ministry.

It has to do with our heart and our being recovered to the healthy principles set forth in the Word of God.

If we offer material riches in the way of gathering manna and sowing the seed, and if we sow with blessings, we will reap with blessings, and there will be much thanksgiving to God.

Hallelujah for our rich, bountiful, and generous God who bountifully supplies us with all that we need. Lord, our eyes are set on You and our whole being is fixed on You, for You are our rich source, the provider, the One who cares for all that we need. We want to be one with You to sow with blessings by our offering of material riches so that we may reap with blessings and God would receive the thanks. Amen, Lord, may we all be recovered in the matter of our giving so that we may enter in the ministry of this service to fill up the lack of the saints and abound through many thanksgivings to God! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 48-49 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 5, entitled, Principles of Material Offerings (3).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I am the Lord’s! Yet teach me all it meaneth, / All it involves of love and loyalty, / Of holy service, absolute surrender, / And unreserved obedience unto Thee. (Hymns #433)
  – There is always something over, / When we, from the Father’s hand, / Take our portion with thanksgiving, / Praising for the things He planned. / Satisfaction, full and deepening, / All our need He doth supply, / When the heart has tasted Jesus / Its desires to satisfy. (Hymns #595)
  – Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling, / Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand; / Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling, / None of these shall move me from Beulah Land. / I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky, / I’m drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry; / O yes, I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply, / For I am dwelling in Beulah Land. (Hymns #324)