The Joy of Willing Offering

1 Chronicles 29:

6 And the leaders of the fathers' houses and the leaders of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds with the overseers of the king's work offered willingly;

9 Then the people rejoiced because they offered willingly; for with their whole heart they offered willingly to Jehovah. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we should have strength to offer so willingly in this way? For all things are from You, and from Your hand we have given to You.

17 I know also, O my God, that You try the heart and take pleasure in uprightness. I, in the uprightness of my heart, have offered willingly all these things; and now I have seen with joy Your people, who are present here, offering willingly to You.

For the building of the temple, the people of God offered willing with rejoicing. That was  the best example of offering in the Old Testament. God never demanded anything from us; in fact, all that we have and are, are all from God Himself as David rightly said, "For all things are from You, and from Your hand we have given to You."  What do we have that we do not receive? If one knows vividly who he is and what he is before God and in relation to Him, he would offer Himself and all He has, willingly with joy to Him who bestows all.

Once a sister asked me this question on offering whether it was a must to tithe or not. My answer was simple and clear: 

Firstly, we must realize that all that we have is from God, and apart from Him we have nothing and we are nothing. 

Secondly, as much as we enjoy the Lord's blessing it is righteous and honorable to offer back to the God of blessings out from His very blessing. 

Thirdly, understanding the above two, we must be offering willingly with joy. 

Fourthly, how much we offer to God is directly proportional to the condition of our hearts before God; the healthier our spiritual condition before God is, the more we will offer. The degree to which we can offer up what we have and are to the Lord determines our spiritual health before God. Tithe means nothing, just a mere 10%, when 100% of ours belongs to God.

Fifthly, offering helps us to love the Lord all the more and delivers us from the love of mammon.

Sixthly, by way of offering the Lord has a way to balance the saints and help them build up one another in love.

Seventhly, offering enlarges our heart, broadens our capacity and multiplies God's blessings.

Therefore, we must offer willing from the Lord's blessing with rejoicing and multiply God's blessings. 

Recently, in taking care of the Lord's need, the Lord in turn took care of my needs. I willingly spent and was spent for the Lord's work in Jaipur, Shillong and Guwahati; the Lord knew my needs too and provided a considerable amount through offerings, and I in turn offered back some to those in need and also invested the offering on buying the ministry books and sending them as gifts back to Shillong. O what a joy I enjoyed in willingly offering to the Lord and to the needy saints! This is one of the secrets of enjoying the joy of God! O the joy of willing offering! O that all saints may know this and enjoy the joy of willing offering!