Pastor, don’t guarantee rewards for people’s givings!, By Ayo Akerele

To preserve your integrity, don’t promise people what you can’t guarantee, like telling people that, “the Lord says that everyone who gives to this project will receive a miraculous financial provision by tomorrow morning”. Everyone does not always get a miracle at the same time, and some may not even get a miracle at all. Let God decide how He will bless His people. Let people give out of love. Financial provision is not the only blessing that God gives in return for faithful givings. He may choose to release an idea to the giver. He may preserve you from a looming danger. He may even reveal Himself to you in an unusual way. He has the prerogative to choose the kind of blessing He wants to give to His people. Pastors, let’s stop promising people what we can’t guarantee. God rarely gives the same reward to everyone at the same time. It’s impossible. It will save us the agony of losing integrity and raising a transactional generation of Christians — people who are looking for a God that can transact business with them.

I have given God so much over the years. He has blessed me, but not always in financial terms. There was a time in my life that I gave God all the funds in my account in response to a personal instruction from God. Guess what God did? A visa application I had been denied of, two years prior to that time was suddenly reapproved. That was many years ago. The UK embassy sent me a mail that they had changed their decision. I could not believe it. And that was what opened the door to what we are doing today. God can bless His people the way He chooses to bless them. Don’t ruin your integrity by promising everyone who gives, a 24hr turnaround. Show me an example of a case where all the 5,000 members of a church who gave to a project received the same reward at the same time? Let’s stop preempting God. If He truly wants to bless His children, He will. He can release a prophetic word to people at an individual level. If that individual obeys God and act in faith, God will do exactly what He has said. But it has never happened, in Bible times or in contemporary times that God will give exactly the same reward to all the 50,000 members of a church. I don’t tell people that when everyone gives, God will give everyone 1,000% in return.

A famous minister of the gospel came to my city many years back. He’s noted for this menace, asking people to sow and expect a guaranteed financial harvest in 24 hours. Then, he will tell stories upon stories of people who did the same and got massive financial harvests. I foolishly responded and gave some large sum of money. Till date, many years after, there was never a 10 years miraculous provision, much less a 24 hours miracle. And I can give you stories upon stories of many genuine believers and ministers who were promised this guaranteed miracle, but who later regretted being part of such impulsive givings. I am an unrepentant giver. My life is already given over to Christ, anyway. So, this has nothing to do with the principles of giving. You can’t follow God genuinely without being a sacrificial giver.

“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

But I’m speaking to ministers who make vague promises that God didn’t send them to make. Time and again, we are losing trust from the people. Many of them won’t confront us because of the fear of God in their hearts, but right in their homes and in the corners of their hearts, they are grieving and regretting. I’ve spoken to so many people who are in this situation. Let’s teach people the truth and raise funds with transparency and integrity. Don’t make vague and unrealistic prophetic declarations, “by this time tomorrow, there will be no poor person in this church again if only you can empty your account”. And then the people dare to believe you only to come back to their poverty, 24 hours later. Then, God becomes a liar, a tyrant and a taker. That’s not my God.

If He has said it, it must come to pass. If God has sent you, don’t add to it. Say it the way he’s said it. Let people give in love. Let God bless them the way He chooses. If you’ve been given a prophetic word, line it up with the word. A true prophetic word about giving can’t violate scriptural standards about giving. God still loves a cheerful giver. He still blesses them. He has the prerogative to choose the type of blessing for His people. Don’t tell people what God is not saying. We know that a lot Pastors use occultic powers to raise funds. They are many on our pulpits. That’s the reality of the last days. They are notorious for guaranteeing harvests to givings. Thats a topic for another day. If you are a true servant of God, don’t join them. Preserve your integrity and the integrity of the gospel.

Ayo Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist, and minister of the word, writes from Canada and can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.