Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.
20 But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal;
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21 AMP
Your heart follows your treasure – wherever your treasure goes, that is where your heart will go and that is where you will go. If you are born again, washed in the blood of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit – your first priority is your relationship with the Lord. You love him and whatever is important to Him is important to you. From the moment you invite Jesus into your heart, the first thing you give God is your heart, the second is your money. The fact is that if God has your heart, He will automatically have your money.
In years past, there has been an attitude in the Church that those in full-time ministry are expected to be “perfect” and selfless and to sacrifice everything, while those who are not are allowed to do whatever they want to! However, this is not a scriptural point of view.
God expects the same commitment from every Christian! None of us is better or worse than our neighbor, but each of us is unique and each of us has his/her special place in the Body of Christ. We all have the privilege of being a part of the plan and purpose of God. There will be no unused members in the body of Christ and no one needs to ever feel left out!
If you know for sure that you are not called to contribute to the kingdom of God by means of full-time ministry, know this: you are called to contribute in some way – with your money – that which is precious to you! You may or may not be called to stand on a stage to preach, you may or may not be called to travel around the world to minister to the lost, but you are still able to be a part of preaching and ministering by giving your money to support those who go and who do! If we are truly born again we all have the same calling, heart, mission and goal: to build the kingdom of God!
There is absolutely no reason why any member of the body of Christ should not have treasure deposited in heaven. Every one of us has an opportunity to deposit treasure in heaven – through the winning of souls and by sowing our finances into the kingdom of God. You do not earn a living to put it in a bag with holes (Haggai 1:6), but you earn a living so that you can be a blessing to the kingdom of God with your resources. And in turn, God wants to have the privilege of blessing you and taking care of you, exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can ask or think! (Ephesians 3:20)
Now, if you are called to preach and minister, there is a time of preparation before you step out yourself. This preparation includes supporting the work of ministry with your time and your money. Be involved in ministry of helps and give your best into every offering!
Give into ministries that are doing what you are called to do. The more money you give into a ministry, the more you give your heart into it and the closer you come to being released into that kind of ministry yourself. Give into ministries that are doing things that you are not called to do – so that you can still be a part of building the kingdom of
God in areas that are different from what you will ever be involved in.
You never know what God will ask you to do next. We sowed a lot of money, for years, into ministries who do mass soul-winning outreaches, because we were not doing this at that time, and then one day, the Lord called on us to do one. Because we had already sowed into other ministries, we could stand on God’s Word to reap a harvest on what we had sown, to pay for our crusade. We sowed into it and then God called us to do it ourselves and He paid for it!
Your gifts to God, and His work, open the door for blessing in your life. They also open the door for favor – supernatural opportunities will come your way. If you are not called to ministry – keep on giving your best – so you can have treasure in heaven. If you are called to ministry – keep on giving your best – so you can have treasure in heaven and also before long your heart will follow your money. You will find all the right doors opening and you will be in full-time ministry, in the center of God’s will!
