Don't let adverse circumstances, outside pressure, or negative criticism pressure you into giving up on your giving. Remember, the Bible teaches that if you withhold your seed, it will tend to poverty.

That is exactly what Satan is trying to do to the Body of Christ today: to get Christians to withhold their seed. He is trying to use public ministry scandals to disturb, distress, and discourage believers so they will withhold their giving to the Lord's work.

The devil will always dwell on the lies, the deceit, and the wrong. He does that in order to cast doubt and to bring disruption and discouragement. He wants the Body of Christ to retreat from their position of godly prosperity and power, to draw back into the preaching and practice of the doctrine of poverty.

Satan's real goal and purpose is to render the Church of Jesus Christ weak and ineffective, unable to do anything because it doesn't have anything to do it with. He wants to keep it poor so it can never reach the nations of the world with the Gospel.

The last thing Satan wants is for the Church to prosper because he knows that if it does, it will publish the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the entire world. And that would spell the end for him and his kingdom of darkness.

Source: How God Supplies Your Every Need by Jerry Savelle
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Ministries International