Malachi 3:10

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it ~ Malachi 3:10

 

Bring the whole tithe, the Lord says. What is a tithe? A tithe is 10% or a tenth of your income. It represents a minimum, not a maximum of your giving. The New Testament does not talk much about 10%. We are though, called to tithe and be generous, especially since Jesus was so generous to us. In Malachi, God validates the tithe. We cannot “out-give” God! We are invited to put Him to the test in this! In Matthew 23:23 Jesus corrects the Pharisees for how they were tithing and then redirects them toward generosity along with the tithe. This goes along with Paul’s conclusion in the verses of 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 to not give “reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Again here, it is emphasized God will bless you abundantly when you give in such a manner. Now, I want to ensure you are not thinking of this as “prosperity teaching” – give so you can get. Prosperity teaches “God owes it back to you if you are generous.” Wrong attitude. You give 10% because of all the Lord has done for you, you give 10% because you know God calls you to obedience and has asked it of you. You give 10% because you are committed and faithful as a follower of God and Jesus Christ. Our churches suffer because we do not follow this rule of God’s. How He will bless you is at His discretion, but know that He will. Will you have a yacht and a fancy house because you tithe? I don’t think so, but you will be blessed in ways you cannot imagine. Your first tithe should go to your local church, and donations above that are gifts. The church is the body God has set in place to accomplish His mission for the community. If you deprive your church, you deprive God of what He has given to you, for ALL you have has come from God. Throw open the windows and floodgates of heaven, Lord, I give you back what is yours!!

Pastor Julia

image: Annie Spratt


Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments

Popular posts from this blog

Romans 8:26

Image
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans ~ Romans 8:26 Many days, many times, I have the words for prayer. It comes forth and flows fairly naturally as I converse with my Lord God. I hope in the God I worship to hear me, and to receive my words, as I pray in the name of Jesus and believe in Him, my intercessor. He is my Living Saviour, my High Priest, standing at the right hand of God the Father. But there are times when my pain has been so deep that my words will not come. There are times when my agony is so piercing that what words I may speak would not be enough. And so, in my deep, black moments, I come before my God and let my darkest emotions erupt in sounds that only He can understand. The Holy Spirit within me cries out in my stead, and He becomes my second intercessor. It is not that He is not there with me in all my prayers, but there are times wh...
Read more

Proverbs 18:2

Image
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in sharing their own opinions ~ Proverbs 18:2 If we are going to understand something, we must fully digest it so that when we speak, we speak with wisdom. When we have only half truths in our mind, our words become empty and senseless. We then puff out air rather than understanding when we speak. A wise person will want to improve their mind through learning in various ways from the world around them. A person who delights in spiritual understanding will find peace and enjoyment in reading the Word of God on a daily basis, and in participating with God’s people in a learning and praising environment – the church! We come together in corporate worship with the understanding that not one of us knows all things, but we bend our mind and heart to learn what God has to show and say to us. A foolish person makes a show of what they “know” to please their friends or to save face in front of them. More often a wise person will hold t...
Read more

Isaiah 43:19

Image
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ~ Isaiah 43:19 When we meet a challenge, we are often found discouraged, lost, even hopeless. Nothing is working, everything seems to be against us. We do not know how to move forward, so we remain curled up in a ball. Then, a glimmer of light shines through! Hope is regained and movement is stirred within. Don’t we become excited when we begin to feel it? God moves like that. We cannot see our way around it, but He can and does. And He makes a way for us out of the calamity of our fears. It is the feeling of springtime after a long winter, or the smell of fresh cut grass. Life stirs within and we move and we see what God saw all the time – the answer to our dilemma. Our desert place becomes an oasis, and we can do what we are called to do. Something totally unexpected happens, something unheard of, but it begins in our life, and we feel the...
Read more