Our temptation is to look at our own circumstances and decide that they are too difficult and to say that God understands your reasons for not tithing. Please understand that Satan tells everyone this when they’re not in the habit of tithing. By following the wrong master you’re are not allowing God to bless you in the way that He wants to and promises that He will.
In Malachi 3, God tells us that we are robbing Him when we do not give a tithe. This is hard to understand if we don’t see that God owns everything and that which you have, He has freely handed to you. But He has also instructed you to give back to Him a tithe and offerings. He also says that when we do not, we are under a curse. This is not the framework from which we want to build wealth.
The good news is that He goes on to say that He will bless us immensely when we do bring the tithe to Him. He even says that we can “test Him” on this and watch as He “opens the floodgates” to us. He will protect our assets and cause them to grow. Why wouldn’t we want God actively blessing our labor to create wealth like this?
In the early days of my Walk, I did not understand these things. If you plug the numbers into a calculator, the calculator will tell you that it makes much more sense to keep the money invested and to give money to charity later after you’ve turned your small amount into a large amount that really matters. After years of trying this and getting nowhere, I was taught that this is not how God works. His ways are not confined to math and His blessings are not contained in calculators. Since faithfully tithing and offering additional offerings when I’ve felt called, I have seen Him bless me far beyond what I used to look for.
As I’ve counseled others of this over the last few years, I’ve had people take God up on His offer to test Him. They’ve started paying a tithe when they felt there was no way that they could afford to live in this way. And God came through – just like He always does. Sometimes money appeared that they didn’t expect. Sometimes they just seemed to spend less money without trying. Whatever the case – God’s promises are true. You can count on them.
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