If you pick up that penny,

I will give you more than you can handle

A man was going to meet with an acquaintance who had many needs and was someone by whom the man felt drained and burdened. He chose a place where they could have lunch and where it would be uncomfortable to linger, so the meeting could hopefully be hurried along. The man got out of his car slowly, in no hurry to get this meeting started, and was walking towards the restaurant when he saw a penny sitting on the ground in front of him. It was rusty, with deep scratches into its face, barely even recognizable as a usable piece of currency. This was a man of faith, and so he was accustomed to hearing God speak. Even so, at the moment that he took notice of the penny, he was surprised to hear God had thoughts about this misshapen coin. He heard God say, “If you pick up this penny, I will give you more pennies than you can handle.” The man knew it was God speaking to him, because conviction hit him deep inside. He stopped and let the realization penetrate his mind and heart. Tears welled up in his eyes as he realized how God saw the acquaintance he was meeting. He felt the compassion of God start to rise up within him for this person he was going to meet who had been tossed aside many times before, like this penny who had been run over and forgotten in the parking lot. Even a child who had wanted to pick up the coin had been rushed along by their mom who didn’t want the inconvenience of cleaning off the coin from who-knows-what. The man picked up the penny from its discarded place on the pavement and turned it over in his fingers, feeling the jagged edges of metal and catching slivers of light where the dirt and grime had not completely obscured. He slipped the coin into his pocket and walked in to meet the human penny God cared about so deeply. As he met with this acquaintance, nothing changed outwardly in their interaction that day, but the man knew that he was forever changed by what God had spoken. He felt the hardness he had in his heart towards the person in front of him start to melt. 

Pennies are a tangible reminder to our community that every person is deeply loved and cherished by God, no matter their value as a form of currency. We believe that we are called to pick up every penny that God sends our way and share the love of God with them, reminding them they are infinitely valuable to God.

In 2026, we inaugurated a penny press machine into Victory Alliance Tabernacle so that any person who steps into our church can take a pressed penny home as a reminder of their true heavenly identity as a Child of God living as a Messenger of Reconciliation. Just as the pennies are put into the press and transformed by the pressure and branding of the design, so God invites us into saying yes to His shaping and molding of our heart by His Spirit. He will take us no matter what shape or condition we are in, but then he asks for a full surrender to His purposes. 

As of 2025, no new pennies are being produced by the United States Treasury. Some say that pennies have been further devalued by this stop in production, but we believe that pennies have actually just become collector’s items–worth picking up, remembering, and transforming by the power of the Holy Spirit.