Published almost twenty years ago, “Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To” by Anthony DeStefano changed how I pray and how I experience God’s answers to my prayer. I’ll be spending the next few weeks talking about what I got from his book, and how applying the principles in this book to my own life changed me.
The Floodgates of Heaven
God will never be outdone in generosity. In fact this is the only area in which God invites us to test God. God challenges us, through the prophet Malachi, to give of our material wealth and “Test Me in this…see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it.”
Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you!
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.
Malachi 3:8-10 NRSVUE
If you are generous, you will be blessed by God. Maybe not always in terms of cold, hard cash, but you will always know God’s generosity to you.
God, Outdo Me in Generosity
DeStefano begins his chapter about praying to be outdone by God in generosity by explaining that it is God’s nature to bless whenever God can. God is generous, and God is delighted when you and I want to be generous. In fact, it is God’s intention to make us like the Lord in generosity, so God will always answer the prayer “God, please outdo me in generosity.”
There continues to be much debate among Christians around material blessings. On the one side are those who view money and wealth as something very bad, even evil. This view holds that God does not like rich people at all, and that money is something the Bible condemns (this view is often associated with the thousands-year-old monastic movement).
On the other hand, there are those who say that money is a wonderful thing, that God loves rich people and wants everyone to be rich (sometimes called the Prosperity Gospel)
Who is right? What does the Bible say?
As DeStefano points out, it does not take long to find out that God has strong words for the wealthy.
From Jesus
In the story of the rich young ruler, Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus warned that storing up treasures was a risky project, saying, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
From Paul
In one of his letters to Timothy, Paul talked about the importance of finding contentment. “We brought nothing into the world,” he wrote, “and we can take nothing out of it, either.” Those who find themselves wrapped up in their wealth find themselves trapped by their desires. “The love of money is the root of all evil,” he told Timothy.
The Bible does not condemn money itself. It is not a sin to have money, but having money can be dangerous. DeStefano pointed out the potential money presents for several spiritual pitfalls
- Money can make us feel like we have everything we need to be happy and fulfilled, so we do not really need God.
- Money can make us spiritually complacent, feeling secure in our wealth. That is a false security.
- Money can makes us feel superior to other people because we have it and they do not; that must mean there is something better about us.
For some people being rich is probably the worst thing that could happen to them, spiritually, if they are prone to these areas of temptation.
Wealth At Its Best
God the Father entrusted the body of God the Son into the hands of a very wealthy man: Joseph of Arimathea. Along with another wealthy and influential man, Nicodemus, they were so rich they had sway with both the Sanhedrin and with Herod. They were the only ones who could have gotten the authorities to give up Jesus’ body. Joseph and Nicodemus had enough money to bury Jesus with dignity, and put Him in a new tomb, in fulfillment of Scripture.
Lydia was a wealthy businesswoman who hosted the church in Philippi in her home, and generously supported Paul and his travel teams.
King David‘s willingness to give out of his personal wealth provided the down payment on building the first temple.
The key to understanding the relationship between God and being rich, as the author points out, is that money will be a blessing only if you and I view it as a gift from God to be shared.
God owns all the cattle on a thousand hills. If anyone is wealthy, it is the Sovereign Almighty God of the Cosmos, to Whom all things in existence belong! What does it mean, then for us to be like the Lord, to see our wealth as a resource to make the world a better place, and to have a spontaneously pure and giving heart, to share without hesitation? It is in this direction that the Bible takes in discussing wealth.
Good Stewards
The scriptures speak of being good stewards, being responsible as well as generous. You and I cannot spend what is not ours, for example. We know we must set aside some of our resources to cover our own obligations. But we can be responsible and generous, just as God is. We can choose to take pleasure in sharing the rest of what we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and with those whom God shows us are in need.
God’s Word on Generosity
Much of what the prophet Malachi had to say to the people was in confrontation of their corruption. They already were testing God’s love, patience, and mercy.
God considered it robbery that the people would withhold their tithes and offerings. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” so what they were withholding, really, was their hearts from God. God challenged the people to test God and see if the Lord would be faithful if only they would trust the Lord, be faithful to God, and give their hearts by giving their treasure.
We give God our hearts by entrusting our treasure to God
All the tithes the people brought to the temple became food, clothing, and shelter for the destitute. For example, the prophet Anna, widowed early in her life and with no other recourse, lived at the temple and relied entirely on the people’s generosity for her care.
Of the many Bible passages that talk about God’s appreciation of our generosity, these four stand out:
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord
and will be repaid in full.“… give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Jesus teaching on forgiveness).
“… whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward” (Jesus teaching on generosity).
Happy are those who consider the poor;
the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble.
The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
they are called happy in the land.
You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
Proverbs 19:17; Luke 6:38; Matthew 10:42; Psalm 41:1-3 NRSVUE
Where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. What are you thinking about right now, something that means a lot to you and would really test God in the way God is inviting you to test?— not just money, but something that represents your whole heart, resources that the Lord is asking you to be generous with?
“God, please outdo me in generosity.”
[cover image: Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash]
