10 Reasons Giving Matters: What God Taught Me About Faith, Money, and Obedience

The Day God Challenged Me to Give

It was just before a big Café outreach weekend, and we were short on funds. Through our Pizza Café outreach, we serve hundreds of fresh, hot meals while opening our doors to people in the inner city who are homeless, hurting, and hungry. It was near the end of winter, and it was cold outside. Many of the people coming through our doors were battling addiction, carrying trauma, sleeping on the streets, or simply trying to survive another day. This was frontline ministry in our city—meeting people right where they were and showing them the love of God in a practical way.

At the time, I was working my regular day job just a couple of blocks away. I sat in a cubicle selling products to customers and prospects across the United States. My heart was at the Café, but my responsibility was at work. I wanted to reach out to people and tell them about the financial need, but I was stuck behind my desk doing the job I was being paid to do.

Then a thought rose up inside me. Today, I recognize it as the voice of the Lord.

“How about you go to the bank, withdraw money from your account, and take care of it yourself?”

I battled with that thought for a few minutes. Then something even more specific came into my heart:

“Go take $1,000 out and put it into the ministry account.”

That thought would not go away.

Finally, I said, “Yes, Lord.”

I clocked out, got in my car, drove about ten blocks to the bank, and transferred $1,000 of my own money into the ministry account.

Now, somebody might read that and say, “It was only $1,000.” But back then, that $1,000 felt like $100,000 to me! And for many of the people we serve in ministry, $1,000 might as well feel like $10 million. This was not money I considered disposable. I had bills. I had responsibilities. I had the same financial pressures everyone else faces. Giving that money was a major step of faith for me.

But I did it.

I drove back to work with peace in my heart because I knew the next couple of Pizza Café outreaches were funded. People would eat. Ministry would happen. The immediate need had been taken care of.

I returned to my cubicle, sat down, logged back into my computer, and opened my email.

Then I saw something that brought tears to my eyes.

While I had been gone, a customer in the Carolinas had emailed me the largest order I had ever personally received at that time. I remember staring at the screen because I had never seen that many zeros on one of my orders. About the only places I was accustomed to seeing numbers that large were behind the national debt or my home mortgage!

Sitting in front of me was a $100,000 order.

I had just stepped out in faith with $1,000, and while I was away from my desk obeying what I believed God had spoken to my heart, a $100,000 order had arrived.

That day taught me something important about giving.

I am not saying that giving $1,000 means God is obligated to send you $100,000. Giving is not a slot machine, and God is not an investment formula. I have given many times since then without a $100,000 order waiting in my inbox. The lesson was much deeper than that. God was beginning to deal with my heart about trust, obedience, stewardship, and recognizing Him as my source.

That experience started me on a journey of learning more about biblical giving. More importantly, I began learning to listen to God concerning my finances.

I have heard the arguments surrounding tithing. Some say tithing belonged exclusively to the Old Testament Law. Others believe the principle of the tithe continues for believers today. That discussion will probably continue until Jesus returns. As for me, I have purposed in my heart to tithe. The Lord has never led me not to give that first ten percent—and, to tell you the truth, He usually challenges me to give considerably more.

Over the years, I have learned that the greater issue is not simply, “How much am I required to give?” A better question is, “Lord, what do You want me to do with what You have placed in my hands?”

That changes everything.

When we understand that God is our source, money begins losing its grip on us. We stop seeing everything we possess as something we must desperately protect and begin seeing ourselves as stewards of what God has entrusted to us.

Much of what I have learned about giving has come directly from the Word of God, with the Holy Spirit taking those truths and making them real in my life. I am still learning. I am still being challenged. And I am still discovering that sometimes God will put His finger on the very thing we are holding tightly and ask, “Do you trust Me with this?”

My answer that day was yes.

It cost me $1,000 to obey what I believed God was telling me to do. But what God began teaching me about faith, obedience, stewardship, and generosity was worth far more than the money.

Over the years, I have come to see many of those lessons reflected in ten simple truths about giving. They are not formulas for getting rich. They are principles that help keep our hearts, our finances, and our priorities surrendered to God.

#1 Giving Provides for God’s House

When I give, I am participating in what God is doing through His house. Ministry requires resources. Churches preach the Gospel, disciple believers, help families, reach communities, support missions, feed the hungry, and minister to people in need. My giving helps put practical provision behind spiritual purpose.

Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house.” God could provide any way He chooses, yet He allows His people to participate in what He is doing.

That $1,000 I gave was not just money leaving my account. It became hot meals. It helped open the doors of the Café. It helped create an opportunity for someone who was hurting to experience the love of Jesus.

Giving is not merely paying expenses; it is putting resources behind Kingdom purpose.

#2 Giving Tells God I Trust Him

Giving is one of the most practical ways I can demonstrate that I trust God. It is easy to say, “God is my provider,” but giving puts that declaration into action.

Proverbs 3:9–10 teaches us to honor the Lord with our possessions and with the firstfruits of our increase. Faith does not wait until everything feels financially comfortable before obeying God. Faith puts Him first and trusts Him with what remains.

When I drove to that bank, I still had financial responsibilities. Nothing had magically disappeared. But that was exactly where faith entered the picture. I had to decide whether my confidence rested entirely in the money I possessed or in the God who provided it.

Giving turns “I trust God” from something I say into something I do.

#3 Giving Creates Margin for God to Fill

Giving intentionally releases something from my hands and creates room for me to experience God's provision in ways I might otherwise never recognize. When I hold tightly to everything I have, I can begin believing that my security depends entirely upon what I possess.

Luke 6:38 teaches the principle of giving and receiving, while 2 Corinthians 9 reminds us that God is able to make grace abound toward us. Giving is not a scheme for manipulating God into making us wealthy. Rather, it positions our hearts to depend upon Him.

Sometimes faith means releasing what is already in our hand before we can see what God will do next.

Faith creates room for God to demonstrate that He is faithful.

#4 Giving Reminds Me That I Am Not My Source

My paycheck may come through an employer, business, customer, or contract, but ultimately God is my source.

Deuteronomy 8:18 reminds us that it is God who gives us power to obtain wealth. He gives us strength, ability, wisdom, opportunity, relationships, ideas, and open doors.

That $100,000 order came through a customer in the Carolinas. The customer was the channel, but God was teaching me to recognize the Source.

Without that perspective, it becomes easy to say, “I earned this. I produced this. I made this happen.” Certainly, we should work hard and be responsible, but even our ability to work is something God has entrusted to us.

My job may be a channel of provision, but God remains my Source.

#5 Giving Connects My Money to a Kingdom Purpose

Money can accomplish temporary things, but when surrendered to God, it can become connected to eternal purposes.

Giving can help preach the Gospel, disciple a new believer, feed someone who is hungry, support missions, provide ministry resources, or help someone rebuild a broken life. Suddenly, something as ordinary as money becomes connected to something much greater than ourselves.

Jesus taught in Matthew 6:20 to lay up treasures in heaven. We cannot take our earthly possessions with us, but we can invest what God has entrusted to us into things that have eternal significance.

A meal may be eaten in twenty minutes, but what if that meal creates an opportunity for someone to hear about Jesus?

Kingdom giving connects temporary resources to eternal purposes.

#6 Giving Gives My Job Eternal Significance

Sometimes work can feel like nothing more than getting up, putting in the hours, receiving a paycheck, paying bills, and repeating the process.

But giving changed how I began seeing my labor.

Ephesians 4:28 teaches us to work with our hands so that we may have something to give to those in need. That means my job can become connected to God's mission.

I was sitting in that cubicle selling products, but the income from that job was also helping feed people just a few blocks away. Suddenly, my work was connected to ministry.

The same can be true for anyone. You may work in construction, healthcare, sales, education, transportation, business, or an office. When what God gives you becomes surrendered to His purposes, your labor can reach farther than your workplace.

When my income serves God's purposes, my workplace becomes connected to Kingdom work.

#7 Giving Transforms My Money Into Seed

Scripture frequently uses the language of seed when describing giving.

Second Corinthians 9:6 says, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

Money sitting only in my possession can serve me, but money released according to God's direction can become seed for something beyond me.

A seed looks small when it leaves the farmer's hand. Yet inside that seed is the potential for something much greater.

Biblical giving should never be reduced to a formula for getting rich. The harvest God produces may include provision, righteousness, thanksgiving, changed lives, people reached with the Gospel, and greater opportunities to be generous.

What leaves my hand in faith can become seed in the hands of God.

#8 Giving Breaks Greed and Self-Reliance in My Heart

Money has a powerful way of competing for the human heart.

Jesus warned in Matthew 6:24 that we cannot serve both God and mammon. Giving confronts greed because greed says, “Keep it. Protect it. You might need it. Take care of yourself first.”

Faith says, “God is my provider.”

Every time I give with the right heart, I remind myself that money is my servant, not my master. I can possess money without allowing money to possess me.

Sometimes the greatest miracle connected to giving is not what happens in our bank account. It is what happens inside our heart.

God begins breaking fear, greed, selfishness, and self-reliance.

Giving doesn't only move money out of my hand; it can move greed and self-reliance out of my heart.

#9 Giving Lets Everything Else Know That GOD IS FIRST

Putting God first financially is part of a much larger declaration about who occupies first place in my life.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

God does not desire to simply be added somewhere among all my other priorities. He deserves first place.

That principle reaches far beyond money. God should be first in my relationships, first in my decisions, first in my schedule, first in my ambitions, and first in my finances.

When I honor Him first rather than giving Him whatever happens to remain, I establish an important spiritual priority.

Giving becomes a declaration to everything competing for my heart: GOD IS FIRST.

If God is truly first in my heart, eventually that priority should become visible in how I live.

#10 Putting God First Is Not Generosity—It Is Obedience

This may be the most important lesson of all.

Sometimes we congratulate ourselves for giving something to God as though we have done Him a favor. But biblical stewardship completely changes that perspective.

Psalm 24:1 declares, “The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness.”

Everything already belongs to Him.

My health belongs to Him. My strength belongs to Him. My abilities came from Him. My opportunities came through Him. Even the breath in my lungs is a gift from God.

So when I honor God financially, I am not simply being generous. I am learning obedience and stewardship.

First Samuel 15:22 reminds us that “to obey is better than sacrifice.”

That means the greatest question is not, “How much can I afford to give?” It is, “Lord, what are You asking me to do?”

I am not the owner giving God some of what belongs to me. I am a steward honoring God with what already belongs to Him.

The Greater Lesson Wasn't the $100,000

Looking back on that day, it would be easy to make the $100,000 order the centerpiece of the story.

But it wasn't.

The greatest thing that happened that day was not what appeared in my inbox. It was what God was beginning to establish in my heart.

He was teaching me to trust Him.

He was teaching me that He was my source.

He was teaching me that money could serve His purposes instead of controlling mine.

He was teaching me that obedience sometimes requires releasing something before I know what will happen next.

Most importantly, He was teaching me to listen.

I have learned since then that God does not always respond to giving with an immediate financial return. Sometimes the harvest looks completely different than what we expected. Sometimes we may never see on this side of eternity what our giving accomplished.

Maybe the seed helped someone hear the Gospel.

Maybe it put food in someone's stomach when they had nowhere else to turn.

Maybe it helped a person struggling with addiction encounter people who would pray with them.

Maybe it kept a ministry door open.

Maybe it helped send the Gospel somewhere we could never personally go.

That is why giving must be bigger than getting.

We don't give because we are trying to make God our source of profit. We give because we have already recognized God as our Source of everything.

That day I left my cubicle with $1,000 less in my personal account. I came back to a $100,000 order sitting in my email.

But the lesson God planted in me was worth more than either number.

Everything belongs to Him.

Everything comes from Him.

And everything we place back into His hands can be used for His glory.

So perhaps the question is not simply, “Do I tithe?”

Perhaps the deeper question is:

“Lord, do I trust You enough to put everything I have into Your hands?”