JOHN 4:23-24

“And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always, under all circumstances, and whatever the need, have enough to be self-sufficient, possessing enough to need no aid or support, and abundantly provide for every good work and charitable donation.” 2 CORINTHIANS 9:8 (Freely translated from the American Amplified Version).

The relationship a Christian has with money reveals their understanding of God’s grace. The fundamental principle in divine economy is: give and receive, while the fundamental principle in the world’s system is: buy and sell. Giving and receiving are a unilateral manifestation of grace. When you give, you expect nothing in return. Buying and selling involve an exchange.

Thus, when I take what man has designed for buying or selling, that is, money, and freely give it without expecting anything in return, I bring money into grace. By doing so, I profane the sacred properties attributed to money and declare to both the spiritual and natural world that Mammon is not my source.

However, when a Christian gives an offering expecting a return, to meet their needs, they have not understood God’s grace. I (Craig) have heard countless teachings saying that if you are experiencing financial deficits, the way to see your needs met is to sow and reap financially. This is false, false, utterly false! This viewpoint nullifies God’s grace and places you back in the world’s exchange-based system, thereby subjecting your heart to the governance of the spirit of Mammon, while you believe you are serving God. Moreover, in Matthew 6, Jesus gave a teaching precisely against this idea of sowing and reaping to meet one’s needs.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (…)

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” MATTHEW 6:24-29

Here, we see Jesus presenting grace to His disciples and countering the lie that God meets our human needs through sowing that generates a harvest. Jesus clearly states that God provides for the fundamental needs of sparrows and lilies without them sowing, reaping, working, or spinning. In other words: their provision does not depend on their works. God cares for the birds and flowers simply because He appreciates them. Jesus goes on to emphasize that we, as people, are worth much more than birds or flowers. Thus, Jesus teaches that God provides for the fundamental needs of our lives simply because He is our heavenly Father and He loves us. This is what I (Craig) have come to call “The Faith of the Sparrow.”

The faith of the sparrow is the primary foundation upon which all other financial operations in God’s Kingdom must rest. If we do not have this foundation of the faith of the sparrow, this fundamental trust that God will provide for our needs because He loves us, the biblical principles of finance that follow are easily distorted by the spirit of Mammon and used to sow confusion.

You might be asking, “Are you saying that sowing with the hope of reaping in return is wrong?” No, not at all! Sowing and reaping is a good biblical principle, but it should not be used to satisfy our needs. Unfortunately, the frequent way this principle is taught nullifies grace and makes the satisfaction of our needs depend on our works and not on God’s love.

Therefore, the faith of the sparrow is the cornerstone of the Christian financial structure. It is an absolute trust and assurance, the act of resting my entire personality on the assurance that God loves me and will provide for my needs. Thus, in the context of the faith of the sparrow, what I receive today must be understood as a gift from God, not as something that is owed to me. If I work forty hours a week for an employer, the faith of the sparrow says that I work for God and not for a man. The money I receive from my employer is not what he owes me, but rather the provision made available to me, by grace, as a gift from my Father who loves me. This makes God the source of my supply, and my employer merely the delegate or channel through which my provision is delivered.

Thus, viewed from this perspective, if I learn that the company I work for is considering layoffs and that I might lose my job, my heart is not seized with panic out of fear of lack, because my employer is not my source. My supply is therefore assured. God can simply use a different channel to provide for my needs. Most people think that the necessary provision must come in the form of money. This is not true. God can provide a house, a car, food, a plane, anything you need to fulfill your calling, all without money. Once again, Mammon seeks to promote the message that the power of life lies in money. God provided food for Elijah (1 Kings 17), food, clothing, and shelter for Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9), food for five thousand people through Jesus, all without money…

This text is an excerpt from the book “Wealth, Riches & Money” written by Craig Hill, Earl Pitts.

We invite you to read the following article “THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE OVER FINANCES.”