REVIVAL MEETING · WEDNESDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2026 · APOSTLE PAPY MPIANA · PROVERBS 23:6–8
Prefer YouTube? Watch this meeting on YouTube.
On the second evening of the revival meeting, Apostle Papy Mpiana built on Tuesday’s message, No Redemption Without Giving, and named the thing that stops it: stinginess. The world calls stinginess a habit. The Bible treats it as a spiritual condition, rooted in fear and in doubt about God’s provision, and the cure is not trying harder but a deeper understanding of what God has given us in Christ. The meeting ended with prayer to renounce stinginess. Watch or listen to the recording, then use these notes to read the passages and pray.
Scriptures in this meeting
| Passage | Main point |
|---|---|
| Proverbs 23:6–8 | The begrudging host: “his heart is not with you” |
| 2 Chronicles 7:14 | Deliverance starts with humbling ourselves |
| Proverbs 22:6 | Children learn the way they are taught |
| Matthew 6:24 | You cannot serve both God and money |
| Matthew 6:34 | Tomorrow belongs to the Lord |
| John 12:3–6 | Mary’s perfume and Judas’s objection |
| Proverbs 28:22 | The stingy are unaware that poverty awaits them |
| Proverbs 11:24 | One gives freely, yet gains even more |
| John 6:9–13 | The boy’s five loaves and two fish |
| Genesis 22:1–18 | Abraham does not withhold his only son |
| Joshua 1:8 | Meditate on the word, then do it |
| Mark 12:41–44 | The widow gives everything |
Outline of the message
- Stinginess is a spiritual condition (Proverbs 23:6–8)
- Where stinginess comes from: fear, past hardship, logic, upbringing and self-centredness
- What lies underneath: doubt in provision and the idolatry of money (Matthew 6:24)
- The paradox: holding on leads to poverty (Proverbs 28:22; Proverbs 11:24)
- Broken fellowship: the calculating heart
- The cure: deep-seated generosity (Genesis 22; Joshua 1:8)
- Prayer: renouncing stinginess
1. Stinginess Is a Spiritual Condition
The dictionary defines stinginess as an unwillingness to spend or give: dragging your feet when it is time to give money and resources. Christian teaching goes further. Stinginess is not just a financial habit but a spiritual condition, rooted in a crisis of faith and a scarcity mindset. Many avoid the subject because nobody likes to be touched there, but it is real, and it is in the Bible.
“Do not eat the food of a begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.”
Deliverance begins with admitting it. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves…” (2 Chronicles 7:14). If you do not believe there is a problem, no one can help you.
Lesson: Stinginess hides behind good reasons. You cannot be delivered from it until you accept, “This is me,” and bring it to God.
2. Where Stinginess Comes From
Five roots of stinginess
- Fear and lack of trust. Everyone says “I trust God” until they are cornered. When God blesses you with something, He did not give it to you to sell tomorrow to solve the next problem; He can bless you again.
- Fear of not having enough. A deep-seated fear about the future, often rooted in past hardship or insufficiency, makes people hold on to everything.
- Logic as a defence. We use reasonable arguments to hide stinginess, and become a signpost: telling others where to go without going there ourselves.
- Upbringing and learned behaviour. Attitudes to money are shaped at home. Children learn what they see, and carry it into adulthood (Proverbs 22:6). Life is more than “pay rent, go to work”: take your family out, and let your children see generosity.
- Self-centredness. A heart that struggles to connect with the needs of others lacks compassion. Compassion gives something that costs you, not the thing you were going to throw away.
Lesson: There must be subtraction before there is addition. If a gift does not cost you anything, you have not yet given.
3. What Lies Underneath
Doubt in provision. Stinginess believes God will not provide for tomorrow’s needs. Israel saw miracles and still asked, “Can God really spread a table in the wilderness?” (Psalm 78:19–20). Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow… Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).
The idolatry of money. “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Stinginess becomes a control mechanism, sugar-coated with logic. When Mary poured out her perfume, Judas objected that it could have been sold for the poor, “not because he cared about the poor” but because he kept the money bag (John 12:3–6).
4. The Paradox: Holding On Leads to Poverty
“The stingy are eager to get rich and are unaware that poverty awaits them.”
It does not make sense to human logic. “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24). Holding on dries up inner joy and peace: it is spiritual shrinking. The Sea of Galilee receives and releases into the Jordan, which makes the land fruitful; the Dead Sea only receives, and nothing lives in it.
The boy with five loaves and two fish had no proof that they would multiply. The logic said, “This is all we have.” He gave first, and there was more than enough, with nothing wasted (John 6:9–13).
5. Broken Fellowship: The Calculating Heart
Stinginess breeds an inwardly calculating heart, like the host who says “eat and drink” while counting the cost (Proverbs 23:7). Churches stall when everything becomes calculation. The early church broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:46).
6. The Cure: Deep-Seated Generosity
The way out
- Reflect God. Emulate the Creator who gave His best, His only Son, holding nothing back (John 3:16). God lost first, to gain many children.
- Shift the focus from “What will this cost me?” to “What can I give you?”
- Practise release until it becomes a culture. Like prayer, giving is an exercise.
- Trust divine multiplication more than human mathematics.
The climax of the message was Mount Moriah. Abraham took Isaac, his only son, and God provided a ram. Then God said, “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12). God already knew; He said it for Abraham, so that Abraham would know what his obedience had proved. The legacy remained: “through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). Faith that is never shown in deeds cannot prove anything (James 2:18).
The solution is not found in trying harder to be generous. Redoubling our efforts without understanding leaves us frustrated: you give for two weeks, complain in the third and leave in the fourth. God told Joshua to meditate on the word day and night, “so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8). Study the word and you learn that God gave His all; then you learn His pattern and act in it. The widow gave two small coins with no logic in it, and Jesus said she had given more than all the others (Mark 12:41–44).
Lesson: Find the cause first. Why are you here? Why did God give you what you have? When you understand the cause, you do not get tired of giving.
7. Prayer: Renouncing Stinginess
The meeting closed with a time of prayer. These points can guide your own prayer:
Prayer points
- Renounce it: “Lord, I renounce every spirit of stinginess: the mindset that always calculates and gives logical explanations.”
- Uproot it wherever it came from, including the ways we were brought up, and reject poverty as your portion.
- Choose to emulate Jesus, who left His throne and gave Himself as a living sacrifice, and Abraham, who did not withhold Isaac.
- Declare: “From today I will live a generous life, full of compassion, because I am blessed.”
The Grand Lesson
“Stinginess is not just a habit. It is a spiritual condition.”
The cure is not trying harder to be generous, but a deeper understanding of what God in Christ has done for us.
- Stinginess is rooted in fear and in doubt that God will provide.
- There cannot be addition until you learn to lose first: God gave His only Son.
- One person gives freely, yet gains even more (Proverbs 11:24).
Note
- This message builds on Tuesday’s: no redemption without giving, and no addition without subtraction.
- Giving is more than money. The cause of the Lord is understanding why you are in this world.
Conclusion
“The more deeply we understand the generosity of Jesus, the more confident we become in looking only to Him for our security.”
- Only the gospel can restructure our motivation and reorient our hearts to live for something bigger than ourselves.
- Think of legacy: how will your community and your children remember you? What you give to the work of God goes on long after you.
- Let that truth guide your heart and your hands as you pour yourself out for the cause of Christ, for the glory of God and the good of others.
- Read Proverbs 23:6–8. Why does the Bible treat stinginess as a matter of the heart rather than of money?
- Which of the five roots of stinginess do you recognise in your own life?
- Where have you used logic to explain why you could not give?
- What does Genesis 22:12 teach about how obedience proves our love for God?
- What cause has God given you, and how could your giving serve it this month?
Prayer focus: Lord, You held nothing back for me. I renounce fear, calculation and stinginess. Uproot them wherever they came from, and teach me to give from a heart that trusts Your provision. Let my life be generous, full of compassion and lived for Your cause. Amen.