The true gospel of the kingdom is a presentation of the King through His people. We read in II Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."
It is by beholding the Lord, and seeing His glory that we are transformed. However, we must do this with an "unveiled face." What does this mean? We can behold the glory of the Lord, but if there are veils or things in our lives that can distort what we are seeing, it will distort what we are changed into, so we will present a distorted image of Christ.
One of the primary veils that separate and distort our visions of Him in our time is the love of money. As Paul wrote in I Timothy 6:10, "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (KJV). I quoted from the King James Version here because some of the modern translations have tried to dilute this text by saying such things as the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. But the original text literally said it is the "root of all evil." How can that be?
Money can be one of the ultimate idols of the human heart. An idol wasn't just something that the people worshiped in place of God, but it was what they put their trust in instead of Him. Likewise, money is the primary thing that even Christians tend to put their trust in, instead of God. That is why learning to handle money rightly is fundamental to walking in the kingdom, as we read in Luke 16:11-13:
"If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon,
who will entrust the true riches to you?
"And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's,
who will give you that which is your own?
"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one,
and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon."
Money is our least valuable resource in the kingdom. It is a resource, and it does have some value, but it is the least of what we need to effectively represent the kingdom. Much more than money, or anything money can buy, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
We do need to learn to manage money properly, and until we do, we cannot be trusted with the true riches of the kingdom, which are such things as the gifts of the Spirit. What amount of money could possibly be worth one word from God, or a single healing or miracle? One of the primary ways that we rightly handle the financial resources we are entrusted with, is to always give the first fruits to the Lord. It is being faithful in this that opens the windows of heaven for us as we readin Malachi 3:10:
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
so that there may be food in My house,
and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts,
"if I will not open for you the windows of heaven,
and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows."
This is the only place in the Scripture the Lord actually invites us to test Him. I have never met a Christian who has done this who does not have the testimony that the Lord is always faithful. I do not think that I have ever met a Christian who was under constant financial stress who was faithful in tithing. Giving our tithes as first fruits to the Lord does not guarantee we will never have financial challenges, but it does guarantee we will be brought through them.
I have met many Christians who believe tithing was the Law and they,therefore, no longer have to do it. This is not the case, and is a misunderstanding of the New Covenant priesthood, which is the Melchizedek priesthood. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek before the Law. As we have studied Jacob's ladder, his commitment to the Lord came immediately after he saw this ladder that reached into heaven. We read this in Genesis 28:16-22, but here I will just quote the last three verses where he makes a sacred vow to the Lord:
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me
and will keep me on this journey that I take,
and will give me food to eat and garments to wear,
and I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God.
"And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house;
and of all that Thou dost give me I will surely give a tenth to Thee."
Both Abraham and Jacob understood the importance of the tithe long before the Law was given. Abraham gave in response to the victory that God gave him, and Jacob committed to it in response to the heavenly vision.
Again, our goal is to bring the blessings of heaven to earth, so the world is touched with the reality of heaven. One of the great witnesses of those who have their Source in heaven is how free they are from the love of money. Those who are free of this can have a lot, or have a little, but it does not have them. When we walk in this freedom, we will also begin to experience the power of heaven and its unlimited resources.