Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.Exodus 25:2 KJV
GIVE WILLINGLY.
One of the most misunderstood and abused themes in the bible is the subject of giving. The abuse of this very important kingdom practice has made many to criticize pastors and churches as money loving and greedy.
"Prosperity Gospel" has done alot of damage in this regard by veering off the path of scriptures. If giving is scriptural, there has to be biblical guidelines on how to give. We can only get bible result if we do things the bible way.
What type of offering or giving does God accept? The offering God accept is a willing offering not one that is given grudgingly. From the opening text, it is clear that God's demand was not overriding their will. God specifically told Moses that whatever the children of Israel wanted to give as offering should be given willingly.
In 1 Chronicles 29:6, when David raised offering for the building of the temple shortly before his death, the principle of willingness was not thrown to the sidelines as people gave: "Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work GAVE WILLINGLY".
The leaders were the first to give willingly and then the people of Israel. They rejoiced as they did: "Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered WILLINGLY, because with perfect heart they offered WILLINGLY to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy" (1 Chronicles 29:9 KJV).
Apostle Paul emphasized the same thing about offerings in 2 Cor 8:12 saying, "For if there be first a WILLING MIND, IT IS ACCEPTED according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not".
I have been in meetings where people gave because they were forced to do so by the preacher. The preacher began to call names and he forcefully extracted a commitment from them. We didn't learn of Christ this way. When preachers don't trust God enough to meet their needs, they resort to gimmicks.
Your giving must come from your heart for God to accept it. Not all giving is acceptable to God because gifts/offerings given outside scriptural principles of giving is a mere exercise in futility that will yield nothing.
Consider today's principle whenever you want to give.