Financial Testimonies Stories of God's Favor, Grace and Provision

Passing Money Tests

Mark 4:24 (DBY) And he said to them, take heed what ye hear; with what measure ye mete, it shall be meted to you; and there shall be more added to you.

2 Cor 9:6-11 (NIV) Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

My old pastor, Dr. Mike Freeman, used to talk about passing money tests. A money test is when the Holy Spirit tells you to give something away, and you either do it or shrink back. The scripture is clear that the blessings you receive are connected to the way you bless others. There is a blessing in generosity. Why? God set it up as His way to bless you.

When we give, we enter into God’s economy, which transcends the earthly economy, the present taxation laws, our salary, interest rates, etc. I have seen God do it over and over for at least the past 15 years. When He prompts me through the Holy Spirit to give larger amounts, it’s because He is trying to take me to another level of living.

He wants to bless my finances, but He can’t if I won’t release any of my finances to give Him anything to work with. Each of us would expect a mutual fund or IRA to grow if we put money in it. However, we don’t feel the same way when we give to the church or when God tells us to give something to the man or woman of God. Why? Because we really don’t believe the Word.

When it comes down to our money, we really don’t believe that God’s system is better than what we can do with our money. We don’t believe what the Scripture says about the supernatural multiplication of money sown into the Kingdom.

 The Bible uses words like “pressed down shaken together and running over,” or “30, 60, hundred-fold” or “the windows of heaven pouring out so much blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it” to describe what happens to our money when we sow it into the Kingdom of God by faith. But we don’t really believe it. If we did, we would be sowing differently.

We think God will bless our finances without giving. But we wouldn’t believe that a bank or an IRA fund would bless our account if we didn’t put any money in it. I’m encouraging you to start being sensitive to money tests. It’s the Holy Spirit working to trying to bring Bible promised increase to your finances. He will start small. But if you pass the small tests, He will make the amounts bigger. And as you pass the tests, you will see the blessing.

Who gets to see an “A” on a test that they didn’t take? The widow whom Elijah told to make him a cake first would never have seen the miracle multiplication of her oil in jars if she hadn’t passed the test.

I just had a test yesterday. I went to a games party here in LA. I ended up winning a spades tournament with the host and won some money. I felt like the Holy Spirit wanted me to give most of it away. Remember 2 Cor 9:10 says He gives seed to the sower. It was unexpected income for me.

Did I need it? Yes. I have been traveling all week in NY and LA for auditions. But I remember Joyce Meyer saying if the amount of money you have is not big enough to meet your needs, maybe it’s a seed. The $80 I won was not big enough to cover my needs (airplane tickets, Air B&B costs, etc.). I’m believing God for multiplied thousands of dollars in increase each month. I recognized that this money, all of it, was a seed.

Though it was too small to meet my needs, it was a seed that could be multiplied by God, and bring me a harvest/increase. So at my old church, I felt the Holy Spirit say give the $50. I had already given $30 away.

I had already seen God do great things with the money I had sown at this church, and with these pastors years ago. I used to keep an excel spreadsheet to track what I sowed into the pastors’ lives and what unexpected increase came back. As my faith grew and as the blessings showed up, I didn’t need to track it anymore.

I sowed the $50 yesterday so I can’t share with you what the return/manifestation of the seed sown will be, but I know by faith and experience that it will be greater than if I had ignored the Holy Spirit and kept it to buy food, gas, pay bills. Test passed.

I hope this helps someone. I don’t share to brag. I share to encourage. God has NEVER failed to reward me when I pass these tests. NEVER. He hasn’t asked me to give it all away, like with the rich young ruler, but at my level and at your level He will ask you to give money and things away to test you and to expose things in your heart. He does it for your own good and ultimately to bless you. Pass the test!