Free or Fee

"Should a prayer ministry ever charge money?" "Shouldn't it always be a donation?"

For many years I've freely given as much Christian life as possible, through prayer, time, money, service, articles, audio, video, gifts, service, encouragement, presence, etc.  Though well-motivated, God showed me I was actually partially reinforcing something dysfunctional, because in my family history, we often have a very hard time receiving. 

And that makes it much harder to receive from God. After I repented for this, I started to receive more supernaturally experiences. 

Q: Should a Prayer Ministry Charge Money?

• When Zia and I started to do the uncorkgenius ministry for a fee—charging money for the first time in my life—I have found this question of “shouldn't prayer be free?” to be unusually common.  So here are various lessons learned. Understanding how this works results in a higher level of healing, because it mirrors what Jesus does.  

The Easy Technical Answer

• It's good to have a natural revulsion against love being bartered. Because it never should be. It's a kind of prostutution in the spirit realm.
• However, prayer is not love. It's not at the central core, because one can pray without love. Love is the central life. And everything else is a gift to enhance that, and prayer is simply communication. In fact, the word "prayer" comes from the same word as "please." For instance, one can pray to a false god.
• So prayer, just like every other gift, should be accenting life with the God of Love.

Giving and Receiving in God's Life

• Exchange of gifts is the standard practice within Christianity:  Bibles, books, music, counseling, teaching, schools, service, conferences, and prayer ministry —for both salaried and donations.
• And prayer ministers are often acting as advocate, lawyers for favor brokers for people who have a hard time communicating with God. But this service never replaces the role of God, which is ultimately private between the person and God.
• For instance, do you pay marriage counselor? What about a marriage counselor between a client and God?
• Here's another way to look at it: a prayer minister is like a spiritual midwife. And those are paid services, even though the baby's value is incalculable and never to be bought. In this analogy, the baby represents the client's heart, who just gets to receive.
• The key principle is that in within the Trinity, there is both giving and receiving. So there is something good about asking the question, but what I've noticed is there is more often a wound motivating the question. 
• Courageously going into the wound will actually release more of God's gifts in a person's life.

Why is Giving and Receiving Important?

• Christ taught much about sowing and reaping—doing both—because it echoes the supernatural dynamics of the Kingdom economy.
• Frequently our inheritance from God comes via other people—to help bond us together.
• Giving and receive brings more life. Like in your body, there is always a flow of are in/out; blood in/out, exercise/rest, etc.

How We Treat Others is How We Treat Christ

• Because there is always giving and receiving, notice we can turn the question around and realize that our refusual to give to a prayer minister is a refusal to honor in the prayer minister!   
• Therefore the when there is a relationship with a prayer coach, the question is not whether to give, but how/when/where to give?"

When to Give? Led by the Spirit or a Law?

• When to give or receive is always led by the Spirit, and never a rule. The rule can be a support to being led by the Spirit, otherwise it replaces God. For example, sometimes Jesus says “take nothing of value as you go” and sometimes God says “the worker deserves the wages.”  One extreme is being too hoarding (e.g., Parable of Talents); another is being too wasteful (“do not cast pearls before pigs”).  Both are forms of us controlling too much. Therefore rules alone will not help us much.
• And even if there was a universal rule, it would be this one: 1 Cor 9: “Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?  In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." That's hardly saying don't give to the prayer minister. 
• When we ask this question, it's likely we don't fully realize that Christ is inside us. The Ruler is over the rules.

So Why is This a Common Question?

• Because often we don't really experience deep down Christ's presence is inside us. He and you get to decide when to give.
• When this is misunderstood , the scriptures get self-interpreted without God and often twisted.
• For example, “freely give freely receive” becomes a rule. But note this could apply to giving money first to the prayer minister! That is, "freely you have received from God, so give to the prayer ministers."
• Another example: "it is more blessed to give than to receive." Again, this can be reverse prioritized as: "it’s more blessed for you to give to the prayer minister then for you to receive from them."
• Another reason is that the Bible doesn't give a universal principal for giving in other areas. Should we give to the homeless? It depends. What about to prayer ministers? It depends.

But Isn't God's Love Free?

• We get to commune with God free of charge. Jesus paid for that with his life. However, if you want somebody else to take their time, labor, energy, emotion resources, thought power, expertise, experience, and background—and dedicate any resources on your behalf, then that’s between God, you, and the other person. It's not automatically free. Otherwise we might be taking advantage of the prayer minister.
• In fact, to insist a ministry to offer free service is actually to attempt a form of attempting to control the Spirit—at worst this is witchcraft—to try to be their conscience. All law-based systems have this problem.

Our Case:  uncorkgenius.com

• For the uncorkgenuis ministry, God told Zia and I to charge the number of $80 (roughly half of many ministries; and far less than counselors/doctors who don't break curses).
• We are grateful for everyone who supports us. And are likewise generous much free stuff (blogs, YouTube, personal time, prayer outside of sessions, etc.)
• Also, the uncorkgenuis ministry is not just healing prayer, but coaching prayer—not just giving fish, but teaching to fish.
• This ministry deals with a wide variety of front-edge topics such as inner healing, physical healing, soul kids, witchcraft, ghosts, generational prayer, principalities, and others. That's a power pack; plus several unique approaches.

Elijah-Widow Example (given to Zia)

• While praying about this, Jesus instructed Zia to remind financially-concerned clients about the widow saying to Elijah "you are asking for the last piece before I die," and Elijah said "give me give me your last piece of bread." Then the Lord gave them miraculous food in a bucket every day.
• Elijah was dependent on God through the widow; just as widow dependent on God through Elijah; until the Lord released them. Further, another woman said to Elijah "give me a son"; and she gave Elijah a house.  So it’s not just about worldly goods. Elijah got a relationship exchange.  (Then the son died; and Elijah raised him from the dead.) 

Consumer Exchange vs. Relational Connection

• In actuality , the prayer client is not paying for a service.  Rather, minister and client are both sowing into God’s work, serving the Lord; and training others to do the same. 
• When a client does ministry that they've learned, they may hear the Lord telling them to charge for their gifts. 
• Giving is a way to say to God "I value what they are doing" or "I value what You are doing through them."
• Also note: this practice holds true for all the dimensions of the seven Spirit temperaments (Redemptive Gifts), not just the Giver portion, but being compensated for supernatural Leadership, Service, Teaching, etc.

More Practical Benefits

• One-way transactions often encourage the client to be the boss of the session. E.g., the "customer" is always right". But a client is not buying a McChicken. Normally the Lord will instruct the minister to pray for the root issue first. So a client who says "just fix this" may get healed and then the weed will just grow back. Then that'll do them more harm. So it’s not a transactional, objectified relationship for either party; but a gift exchange under the Fathering of God for both parties.
• Money is a boundary from keep others from using the ministers; to prevent someone from only needing a shoulder to cry on, instead of healing of the cause.
• Zia received a word from Jesus that charging a fee places a healthy boundary because sometimes a client is tempted to overrun with prayer requests and needs.
• *** This is really important: professionals (secular and Christian) say that good therapy should definitely cost money because often a person will not always do their homework.  Statistically, the client is much more likely to take the professional seriously and make changes when it has a cost. 
• If homework is not done, then a client might falsely conclude the Spirit is not working! And it's a circular loop.  (In other words, not paying can do more harm. The person has not "jumped in fully to the process.")

What the Client Doesn't See

• In our case, Zia and I have already paid high personal prices for the insights and abilities to pass along; so that the client doesn't have to.
• Sometimes a client may not realize the heroic level of effort, energy, mental resources, and spiritual attack that it takes to do healing and deliverance. It can be exhausting!
• And the Body should heal parts hurting most; we can do more of, when we are supported, to help both those who truly can't pay, and seriously harder cases.
• There are other budgets a person has besides financial: time, physical labor, emotional, intellectual, volitional, social, etc.

Receiving the Reward from Good Ministries

• If we give to bad ministries we encourage bad; if we give to good ministries we encourage good. It's that simple.
• Jesus said: “to get a prophet’s reward, honor the prophet.”
• The resources allow a ministry to expand to others; and do more free sessions to others of more need.
• By giving to a prayer ministry we acknowledge and honor the Holy Spirit working in them as having legitimate value. That's really big, and results in more answered prayers.
• It's actually to cooperate with the enemy to destroy the first act of God's generation to declare the new.
• It turns out when we give to a ministry, we are sowing seed along with them and thus reaping some of their benefits (like a financial stock). 

What Might Be Behind the Question

• Sometimes healing of a client is blocked precisely due to some little kid part of them that believes the lie that "God is not generous." There's some form of conscious or unconsious stinginess.
• But if we harbor this, then the curse of this lie comes back upon For example, if God is telling a person to do five sessions for healing, and then only one is done, breakthrough might not happen.
• One practical way to remove a financial curse, is by giving in faith, as the Spirit leads. That’s not uncommon, in the Bible or in our lives. It's to do the opposite. It's like when Jesus said "don't curse your enemies, rather bless them!"
• When Zia and I pray with people about financial blocks, the Spirit often reveals the wound source. At that point we are able to partner with God to release it. The pain around the subject of money goes away and circumstances usually changes. (This can involve a number of things such as, forgiving your parents for unconsciously teaching you God is a miser, or forgiving cheaters, or forigiving of the church for taking but not giving, etc).

Giving and Receiving Results in Healing

If the thoughts on this page have been helpful, please note they were free. ;)

Thus we clearly see giving and receiving should be Spirit-led. It is:  biblical, how Jesus lives, what the Spirit is saying today, what the Spirit is telling us personally, common sense, psychologically sound, more effective, emotionally fruitful, physically practical.

(Actually, not being led by the Spirit is from the enemy.  Guess who doesn't want the prayer ministry to thrive?) 

Christ says "on earth as it is in Heaven" so that a person has all the resources needed for their story.

Kingdom Economy

To the extent that you will surrender control of your life to Me will you find a deeper sense of contentment in My promise to care for you and supply every need. "I have come that you may have life more abundantly." This involves your submission to let go into Me. You are not leading; you are being led.

As your will and mine come together, you will see more of the promised life I have called you to. This is My will for you: abundance. Put no faith in your dying flesh, your finite thought patterns, your limited vision. How can I plead with you more to let you know how deeply My desire for you is a fruitful life? Are there automatic thought patterns that lock Me out? Let me update your perspective with trust-filled joy. Let go whatever does not line up with Me.

I have your victory—it awaits those bold enough to stand for it and see the power of My will.