Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. Proverbs 3:9-10
One way in which we can honor the Lord is by giving back to Him a portion of what He gives to us.
The Lord does not need supplies. He owns everything in the entire world. But why do we have to give?
Giving back to the Lord is saying, "Lord, thank you. Look, here's what you have enabled me to produce. Here's what you blessed me with."
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Psalm 4:21
It's not about the Lord gaining through our gifts, He already has everything, it's He who gives to us; it's about us honoring Him. If we honor Him, He will honor us.
How do we do it then?
This is why it is important to have a local church.
The ministry belongs to God. When we give to the ministry, we are basically giving to God.
This is where the concept of tithing comes in.
Malachi 3:10-12 says, Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, tht there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
When the Lord says that there may be food in my house, what He's saying is that, that there may be something for His ministry to run on. The church is headed by a pastor, and under a pastor are workers. They operate in a church that needs electricity and other things. Every church needs finances, and this is what tithing is for.
Of all the promises in the Bible, this is the only one where the Lord actually invites us to test Him. In another passage, Jesus quotes to the devil, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." But in this verse, God himself says, "Test me in this."
This tells me that God absolutely means that He will pour out so many blessings that there won't be room enough to store it, if we'd comply to the condition that He has set.
The tithe is the ten percent of our income or what we receive, be it school allowance or an actual payslip. Biblically, every ten percent of what we receive belongs to the Lord and not to us.
"Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you." Malachi 3:8-9
Don't worry about giving to God. You cannot outgive God. He will always prove to you that He can give you more than you can give Him. If we comply to His condition, the promise is extravagant:
And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
Let's talk about the devourer.
Have you ever been in a position where you work so hard and earn but it never seems to be enough? A position where you earn but you still lack? You have savings but something comes up, an emergency of some sort, where you have to use up what you've been saving? It means that there is a devourer. It is spiritual. But the Lord promises to rebuke the devourer Himself.
Tithing is a key to prosperity. Another is through our offerings and giving.
Measurement in the kingdom of God is done by this principle: the measure you use will be measured unto you. If you're stingy, God will be stingy with you; but if you give freely, God will give back freely to you. The more you give, the more you receive, and this is a spiritual law that can't be broken. It is the principle of sowing and reaping. But don't give with the intention of gaining more. When you give, don't do it out of greed or with a business mindset. Do it because you want to for God loves a cheerful giver.
Giving does not necessarily have to be in the church itself. You can give to the poor or to those in need, too. Tithes belong to the Lord, giving, on the other hand, belongs to the people. Share your blessings and you will be blessed yourself, but,
Give in proportion to what you have. 2 Corinthians 8:11
Give generously but don't give what you don't have. Be wise in your spending and in your giving and make sure that there's a balance. When you give, don't give everything you have expecting a blessing from the Lord because it would be putting Him to the test. If you want to test Him, give your tithes, because it's the only one where He allows Himself to be tested.
God doesn't want his people to be poor. He wants to prosper us. But in order for that to happen, we must meet His conditions through tithing and through our giving.
He is faithful. His promises never fail.
