9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

2 Kings 4:9 (KJV)

About nine years after our church started, we moved to our permanent site. It was a virgin land in a community and since we had no structures on the land we had taken a huge step of faith to purchase a tent from the United States. The tent arrived by sea and the clearing formalities were a nightmare. We insisted on doing it right with no unethical short cuts so it resulted in our tent being held back for six months from January to June, 1999. We had our services under the “open skies” for those six months. It is important to mention that God favoured us, and for those six months it never rained in our city on a Sunday morning. If you know the weather of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, that was nothing short of a miracle. Well, all of this background is to get to this main point.

When we were waiting for our tent to be released, our church gave more than we had ever given in the history of the ministry up till that point. It was crazy to do that, but it was the only way out. It didn’t make sense that while we were waiting for the tent, we were giving out so much money. Praise God, we were giving with discernment. That giving yielded dividends. The tent came out!

In that season, some ministers who apparently felt they had greater needs than those we were giving to came asking for money. Their thinking was this: if we could import a tent then we must have money to spare. However, we were discerning, we never gave those ministers any money.

Others think I’m too humble so they ask me regularly for money because they believe I am too stupid to spend it on myself. My humility will not stop me from receiving what comes from God. My passion is for the things of God; but I’m not stupid, I can discern and because of this I receive dividends from God.

Confession:
I give with discernment. I do not yield to give emotional offerings. I discern and respond to God-given opportunities to give, and I receive rich dividends from God.