Prophetic Ministries Today

Something material for something spiritual is also a spiritual law that carries blessings and curses. In this law, we find that it is not how much you give, but to whom you give it to that is important. You can give a psychic a twenty-dollar bill for a reading and receive a curse. On the other hand, you can give to God's prophets and be blessed. Let us not stop there. We must also understand that this spiritual law is only in effect if the one ministering accepts your monetary gift. Apostle Paul goes into great length explaining to the saints in Corinth about this spiritual law. In the end of his message he robs them of their blessing by not accepting their offering. (Ref. 1 Corinthians 9:12)

"Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?" I Corinthians 9:7

The boundaries for giving that have been set by many Christians today do not line up with scripture. In fact, there is a large number of Christians who believe that if you minister, you should do it without any monetary return. It appears that the church at Corinth, in Apostle Paul's day, had the same problem. This is why he goes into such great length to bring the church back in line with scripture. He is basically saying that if one plants wheat, does he not eat of the wheat, or if he raises sheep does he not eat of its meat, or if he has goats does not drink of their milk?

It costs a lot of money to fight back the spirit of darkness. The price of publishing, materials, postage. travels, and Internet expenses are tremendous. The last thing we need is to waste time and finances trying to convince Christians of this spiritual truth.

"Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the (spiritual) law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope." I Corinthians 9:8-10

You do not have to be a prophet or spiritual to understand this law of exchange. If you have an ox that labors to grind out the seed for your bread, would you keep all of the grain for yourself? No! Any halfway intelligent person would know that if you do not share the seed of the grain with the oxen, he will starve to death. Then you would not have oxen to tread out the grain for you.

Unfortunately, even in the closing of this 20th century, we still have Christians who want to starve those who are grinding out the word and revelation of God. Without the bread of life we will become spiritual beggars falling to the ground dry and hungry for God and His word. It seems to be no problem for the majority of people to live under the monetary rule of exchange when it comes to receiving food, entertainment and other earthly pleasures. They think nothing of giving their hard-earned money for food, pills or even a movie, but then they struggle when giving to the ministers of the gospel. Some say they cannot trust the ministers with their money. Does this mean they can trust the grocer, the doctor, the lawyer and everyone else but God's ministers? What a minister offers cannot always be seen in the same manner as what you brought home in the grocery bag or the pharmacist's bottle. Do not be fooled by what you cannot see, for what is spiritual is eternal and you cannot purchase it; you can only support it.

If you are being blessed by one minister, but give your tithes and offerings somewhere else, you are in a sense committing a spiritual crime. Over the years I have heard of people sneaking off to hear another preacher; however, they left all their tithes and offerings at their traditional church. I prayed about this and ask the Lord for wisdom and this was what had to say. He put it to me this way, "Do you take from the shelf at K-Mart and then go pay Wal-Mart for the product because that is where you have shopped at the longest?" Here again we find this happening all over the body of Christ, as a result some of God's oxen are being muzzled.

"If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ." I Corinthians 9:11,12