Admittedly, I am not the best person to be giving advice about giving and finances; so I’m not going there. There does seem to be a supernatural impact in giving though whether by our time or with money.
I remember years ago when my husband and I were starting out. We were poor. We prided ourselves in not getting over our heads into debt, but did find ourselves charging our rent a couple times to make due. He was working 40 hours a week and I about 30. We were just beginning to understand what leaning on God for our needs was all about. I was in a situation at my job that I knew in my heart I needed to quit. When the opportunity was right, I did just that leaving my husband and I between $400 and $600 short a month.
Around this time, we had just started to step out in faith financially, working our way to tithing. After leaving my job, I had a peace that I knew could only come from the Lord, in the midst of a potentially stressful situation. My husband and I decided to take the next step in faith; though we did not know how we would even buy food, we began to tithe (a tenth of our income).
Whether it was amazing coincidence or divine, we knew it was God who provided for us. I had little side jobs offered out of the blue, we had rebates and refunds coming to us left and right, and were able to stretch the money we had. There were only a few people who knew about our financial situation at the time. We never missed one single payment nor did we have to use our credit card for rent. We never even sought a loan from anyone.
When we have financially overwhelming times in the year—especially around the holiday time, it always helps me to remember how God honored our faithfulness during that time years ago. It wasn’t about the money. God doesn’t need our money; He wants us to have faith in Him as our provider.
“’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’” (Malachi 3:10)
“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)
Scripture reference is quoted from the NKJV.