TURNING THE TABLES ON POVERTY

Diane Bahler

August 16, 2000

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit. Prov. 24:33-34.

I’m going to begin this word with a confession because this is a harsh word and I don’t want anyone to think I am relating this out of a spirit of judgment or condemnation. I’m guilty of most of the things I’m going to be writing about. But I am going to give it to you pretty much as the Lord has given it to me.

In January of 1994 when Toronto was breaking out, the same kind of thing was happening with a little group meeting at my home in Indiana. We didn’t know anything about Toronto at the time. One evening one of the ladies who was meeting there was praying for me and she told people to take their hands off me because there was so much power coming forth. I felt the power but I really doubted the word that she prophesied over me. She said that I was going to “feed nations.” I doubted it because at the time I had the strong feeling that it had to do with the distribution of wealth and provision as well as the Word. I doubted because I am the worst steward of money there is. It seems that way anyway because I have always lived on the edge of financial disaster. It seems like I am always “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. I come from a background of poverty and have just never felt like I have been able to get ahead even though I have a good paying professional job now. I can’t say that I have ever done without much that was important, but mainly because I accumulated a lot of debt, first for college, then as a single parent just for living. So it has been partly poor stewardship and partly the enemy but I have never been a good faithful, ten percent tither. And I have lived under the weight of guilt and condemnation of that for years.

And yet, the amazing thing is God still blesses me. I haven’t been able to understand it. Last year He miraculously wiped away thousands of dollars of school loans. And even though I still am always trying to beat my checks to the bank I can’t say that my daughter or I have had to really live without much. And here is the most amazing thing of all, lately people who don’t even know me and my lack of money sense have been prophesying that God is about to prosper me and pour out provision. I have been absolutely perplexed about that because I know how unfaithful I am with money. Why in the world would God want to give me any?

Ok, here’s the confession. You thought it was that I am bad with money. Nope, that’s not the confession. Part of it maybe, but not the heart of it. The confession is that I have given ground to the spirit of religion in the area of money. NOBODY hates the spirit of religion more than I do. I am an active warrior against it with plenty of battle scars to prove it. Yet I have laid down and let it dance on my head when it comes to the issue of money. And I suspect I am not the only one. That is why I can’t believe it when God says He wants to bless me with prosperity.

I recently gave my 14-year-old daughter a lesson on Freedom of the Spirit, admonishing her that we can not live by the law, the rules, the rituals, but that we have to aspire to walk in the Spirit in ALL things. Freedom comes from living by the living word of God, not by a list of “shoulds and oughts”. Following the law may make us look good outwardly but it is only by living by the Spirit can we really live righteously inwardly, I preached. And yet when words of prosperity came to me recently my first response was unbelief and self-condemnation because I have not lived by the “10 percent rule.” So how can it be that God wants to bless me? I am unworthy! But if I follow that line of thinking then does that mean I was worthy to receive salvation because He gave that to me when I was still a sinner. Oops… caught in the trap! The devil had me feeling so unworthy for so long about money that he kept me from writing this word even though it has been brewing for a long time. How dare I address the issue of giving? Well, today the Spirit set me free from those religious lies and I’m going to address it.

Here is where I get to boast a little – like Paul:

“Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.’ Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? BUT WE DID NOT USE THIS RIGHT. ON THE CONTRARY, WE PUT UP WITH ANYTHING RATHER THAN HINDER THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. . Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. BUT I HAVE NOT USED ANY OF THESE RIGHTS. AND I AM NOT WRITING THIS IN THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL DO SUCH THINGS FOR ME. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast.” (I Cor. 9: 7-15)

For the last 12 years my greatest desire has been to know Jesus and to live in His Presence. During that time He has consumed my life. I have done some very strange things for Him. I have given up things I wanted. I have gone on many spiritual warfare trips at my own expense and often at a sacrifice. In fact I have often paid for others to go with me. I have never received an offering or even thought of asking for one. In fact, I always feel a little uncomfortable and embarrassed when someone wants to pay for anything for me – even a meal.

I am not writing this in the hope that anyone will do “such things for me.” But I am writing it to bring to light that there are many, many apostles and prophets out there that for YEARS have not given 10 percent to do the work of the gospel. They have given 100 percent. They have sacrificed their entire lives.

Jesus made it really clear to the rich young ruler that it takes more than just following the commandments. The ruler no doubt paid his ten percent. Jesus said it wasn’t enough. He had to sell EVERYTHING and then come follow HIM. It isn’t about money. It’s about a life that is consumed for Jesus.

Let me boast some more. I have not been faithful about giving my 10 percent. But, I have been faithful to give whatever amount the Lord has spoken to me at different times to different people. He has RARELY spoken to me to give money during church services and conventions when the preacher has spent 15 minutes expounding on the many blessings that will come to me from my offering and then tells me, “however, give only what the Lord tells you to give.” If that’s the case then why did he spend 15 minutes telling me how blessed I’d be to give $2000? It has been a real struggle to silence that spirit of guilt and condemnation and give nothing when the Spirit says, “give nothing.” But it was a joy to give when the Spirit has said things like give $100 at Christmas time to a black woman with four children living in a hotel who was turned down by every church in town for help because they only gave to their “own people.” At least I knew my money was going to a real need.

I have heard the Lord say to give what seemed like pitifully small sums to people with great needs. I gave even though it was almost embarrassing to not be able to give more. I gave because God told me to and I gave what He told me to give. I never thought it was enough even though it was usually more than I could afford, but then He reminded me today about the 5,000. When Jesus told the disciples YOU give the people something to eat they protested that they only had five loaves and two little fishes. Not even enough for them. But Jesus took it and multiplied it for more than 5,000 people. He can take what little we have when HE tells us to give it and make it really big.

Let me boast some more. This time about people I know who have BECOME tithes. There’s a woman I know who is a prophetess. She prophesies to lost people on the street. She gives to the poor Spanish mission in her neighborhood. She goes to dark places to bring the gospel. She is a queen in the Kingdom of Heaven and yet she struggles every month to pay her rent. She drives by faith because it is the only thing holding her vehicle together.

There is a pastoral couple I know who resigned from the religious structure because they wanted to pursue God with their whole heart. They have blessed when they have been cursed, forgiven and given. They have endured great physical pain and have no health insurance. He works two jobs. They no longer own their own home. Yet in the overpriced rental they live in near a college campus they preach the gospel to the nations. Chinese and Indian students meet there and hear the gospel of freedom. The students don’t understand why, in America, these people live in comparative poverty to everyone else they see here. It’s pretty hard for me to understand too.

I know a man who for 17 years or more has committed his life to the pursuit of the Presence of God. God is showing up powerfully in the meetings he has called and has spoken to him of his area becoming a great sending out place of apostolic/prophetic teams. Yet most of his ministry expenses come out of his own pocket. He barely eeks out a living as a farmer and also always seems to be living on the edge of financial disaster. Yet I’ve never known anyone who is more obedient to the Word of the Lord and there is no one I would rather have standing with me on the spiritual battlefield.

Still I have to boast more! I know a Native American couple. I have lost count of how many Fetal Alcohol Syndrome children they have adopted. They drive on fumes to minister to remote Indian reservations in Canada where there is one spigot of running water for the whole village. They take food and clothing and most importantly the gospel to people who are STARVING for the word of God. They’ve faced demons and death threats. They’re poor in material things but I don’t know anyone richer in the Spirit.

There is a woman I know who runs a humble little Christian school in Minnesota. I think there were about three classrooms. No library. No computers or media center. The walls need paint. For years they have withstood the storms and lack of financial support so that they could give their small community an alternative to the public schools. And the most amazing thing – they take the problem children. They don’t court the doctor’s and lawyer’s kids so that they can have financial support. They take the kids that the public schools can’t handle. They are ministering to the Lord’s most precious possessions – the children – and doing it with practically nothing.

What is the purpose of all this boasting? The purpose is to open our eyes to see that the spirit of religion has lulled us into such a death sleep that the spirit of poverty has virtually overtaken us. The King’s children, who are really doing the King’s work, are living like paupers while most of the Church’s money goes into DEAD stones, not LIVING ones, that are being used to build dead mausoleums filled with dead religion which is focused on lulling the sheep into a dead sleep.

Jesus told this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores p things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12: 16-21)

Most of us who consider ourselves free in the Spirit do not listen to the spirit of religion when we are making other decisions so why do we listen to it when we are deciding what to give and who to give it to?

Do we give it because we fee guilty if we don’t? Do we give it because of the blessings we hope it will bring? If all those “miracle handkerchiefs” we can get for a “small” donation to a certain TV ministry are really producing miracles then why aren’t we in full fledged revival with signs and wonders? Or do we give our money to the “denomination” so we can build bigger “barns” where we house fat lazy sheep kept in check by a shepherd who is invested in keeping them fat and lazy so he doesn’t lose his salary? Or are we so sick of the whole thing that we give nothing? Or can we only give to ministries that have tax exempt status so we can deduct it from our income taxes? Does the money we do give produce any REAL fruit?

Just an aside, but one of the best things that could ever happen to the church would be for the government to take away our tax-exempt status. It might force us to give up our big building projects. We might have to start meeting in houses and parks and tents on the STREET where the UNSAVED are.

I’m a radical. I have this revolutionary idea that the CHURCH is supposed to be responsible for education, health care and welfare. But we started falling asleep, lulled by the spirit of religion. Our money started going to big buildings and projects and professional staff so that we could rest and let somebody ELSE do the work of the gospel, and little by little we handed over our responsibility and our anointing and our spiritual provision until poverty overcame us like a thief. We sit in our big buildings, we go to our big conferences, we have tapes and books and videos aplenty, we are rich and in need of nothing and yet we’re poor naked and blind. There are churches on practically every corner and the devil laughs in our faces because our kids are murdering each other in the schools, the poor get locked into the system of poverty, and health care is unaffordable to many.

We see few healing miracles because very few believe they need them. After all, we’re rich, we have the best health care in the world. We don’t need a thing! Except those poor little ministries who are working with AIDS patients on the street might see things a little differently. There are a lot of humble, faithful little ministries out there that are overflowing in spiritual wealth but they need about everything else materially. That’s not their fault, it’s the Church’s blindness. We need a little salve for our eyes.

The point of all this is that we have got to stop letting the spirit of RELIGION tell us what to do with our money and start LISTENING to the Spirit of God. I think that was the problem with Ananias and Sapphira. Peter didn’t care about their money. It was theirs to give any way they wanted. They were trying to LOOK holy by giving what the spirit of RELIGION told them. They didn’t care about building the Kingdom of God. It was a LIE to the HOLY SPIRIT. They wanted to build their own reputations. HE knew what was inside them.

Giving by the Spirit of God is a scary proposition but giving by the spirit of religion is going to become a dangerous thing in the coming days. The Holy Spirit might tell us to give a lot less than 10 percent because He wants to do a multiplying miracle. OR He might want us to sell everything we own and give it to the poor in order to save our souls (giving to that little Christian school in Minnesota might be a good place to start!). One of the major points of the Beatitudes was that doing it “by the book” isn’t enough in the New Covenant. God is taking away our religious comfort zones. If God expected us to be “comfortable” then He wouldn’t have needed to send a “comforter” would He? If all we needed to do was live by a set of rules then we wouldn’t need the Spirit of God. The New Covenant demands our life. It’s a good deal because we give Him ours and He gives us His, but then we are expected to live that life by the power of HIS Spirit. We can’t just do what the rule book says and feel like we’re safe. We’ve got to live according to the SPIRIT of God and He may want MORE than the rule book says.

I’m not talking about making an argument for or against tithing or whether our money should go to the local church or some other ministry or whether we should tithe ten percent or only what we have “determined in our heart to give”. I am talking about taking the issue OUT of the realm of argument and into the realm of the SPIRIT. The bottom line with the issue of money is the same as with every other issue in our lives. We have got to be in a living relationship with God and listening and obeying HIS voice. That may mean turning over a few moneychanger tables in the temple AND in our own mindsets.

There have been so many prophetic words out recently about the shaking of the religious system and about a “transference of wealth” from the wicked. Let me tell you, there is a no more wicked system than a religious system that seeks to build it’s own kingdom in God’s name. You can tell them by the fruit they produce – if they produce any at all. The antichrist is already seated in the middle of that temple and that is the system where the church is feeding most of its money while most of the real workers of the harvest are out there with very little practical provision. True, they are becoming rich in spirit and character and love but they shouldn’t have to do battle with discouragement and anxiety and need every day.

It is time to be set free from all the religious “rules” about money. We are not going to receive more prosperity from God if we give more and we are not going to receive less if we don’t give. God has already given to us a good measure, pressed down and running over. It’s JESUS! In HIM, we already have ALL of the riches of heaven. What else do we need? Prosperity is ours just like salvation, deliverance and healing are ours. They were given freely at the cross.

I believe that God wants to go on an abundant, extravagant, shameless spending spree for His children. He is tired of seeing the children of the King living in hovels, dressed in rags, working with primitive tools while the antichrist spirit takes God’s money to build himself a bigger temple. THAT is the reason we are living in poverty and not prosperity. When we stop listening to the voices of religion and poverty tell us what to do with our money and start listening to the Spirit of God, then God is going to open up the windows of heaven with abundantly more than we can ask or imagine. He KNOWS how He wants to spend His money. He WANTS to break the spirit of poverty and release an abundance of provision to those who are treading out the grain. He’s just waiting for us to start listening.

We still need to give! But give with JOY! Give out of the abundance of your heart! Give as the SPIRIT leads you and to whom the Spirit leads you! Don’t give because you feel like you HAVE to. Don’t give because you expect to get anything back. Give because you love Jesus and you want everyone to know Him. Give to people who are actually working toward that end! Give because it’s fun. Give your money, give your time, give your stuff, give your life. Let the Spirit of Giving overtake you. Give foolishly. Don’t lie to the Holy Spirit and give because you think it makes you look holy or important or will get you a better place in heaven or the front row in the church. Don’t give because the preacher makes you feel guilty. God knows what you can give and what you can’t. Give when He provides, give when HE tells you to sacrifice. Give something away that you really love and don’t want to give away. Or don’t give away something you love because you’ve always felt OBLIGATED to give away things you love. Give to yourself sometimes. Just BREAK that voice of RELIGION in your head. Instead of giving old clothes to the poor, buy them some NEW ones. Give like you would give to Jesus if He were at your door. Break that feeling that you have that GIVE is a four-letter word. So is LOVE. Give because you LOVE and ONLY because you love not because you feel obligated or you’re afraid of being judged, or that God won’t bless you if you don’t. God gives to you because He loves YOU so give to Him because you love HIM. Shut off that religious lie that He only gives according to OUR faithfulness. If that were true, He never would have given JESUS.

We can never out-give God, but we can have fun spending our inheritance with Him! He’ll tell us how much and when and where and we’ll have the time of our lives doing it. I don’t know about you but I love spending other people’s money and it is all HIS after all anyway. So why don’t we LISTEN to where HE wants it to go? Amen?