Do you tithe? I do now but my tithing used to be rather sporadic at best.

When I first became a Christian, in 1972, I started to tithe for a while but soon something came up in my life needing my more than God (or the Church). Then later I would become repentant and start tithing again.

This cycle continued on and on until I saw a TV show from Paula White which prompted me to send for some of her teachings on tithing. I was blown away by her and the others teachings. I soon learned how tithing is fulfillment of part of God’s covenant promise with me.

Malachi writes: 

Mal 3:7  From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of Hosts. But you say. In what way shall we return?

Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, In what have we robbed You? In the tithe and the offering!

Mal 3:9  You are cursed with a curse; for you are robbing Me, the nation, all of it.

Mal 3:10  Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room.

Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke your devourer, and he shall not decay the fruit of your ground against you; nor shall your vine miscarry against you in the field, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed; for you shall be a delightful land, says Jehovah of Hosts.

“Will a man rob God?” Yes I have; in so many ways. I gave tithes to You at times, my Lord; but at other times I withheld what was Yours so I could buy more things for myself.

Surely You won’t hold that against me? Will You? “You are cursed with a curse; for you are robbing Me”. Cursed? Me? Yes I was. My life was spent in a futile cycle of never reaching the goals I had for my life. Even though I kept back the money from God I never had what it took to make the goals become a reality. My faith in God was also weak.

Sometimes when I tithed it was not with a right heart but one of owing a due to God. Sometimes I would not give all that I should or could. I heard a teaching from a previous church that said we are to take care of our parents and that could be considered tithing.

Mal 1:6  A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My fear? says Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. And you say, In what way have we despised Your name?

Mal 1:7  You offer defiled bread upon My altar; and you say, In what way have we defiled You? In your saying, The table of Jehovah, it is a thing to be despised.

Mal 1:8  And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Bring it now to your governor. Will he accept you, or lift up your face, says Jehovah of Hosts?

Mal 1:9  And now entreat the face of God, that He favor us. This has been by your hands, will He lift up your faces, says Jehovah of Hosts?

Giving God anything but our best is an abomination to Him. We tend to cheapen up and give what we think is OK. Or in a way that still benefits us.

I knew of a person who would take you out for dinner and count that as a tithe to God. I even fell into this trap when I sent money to Africa to help some orphans. This was indeed an offering but not a tithe to God.

“Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house”. That makes it very specific; the money is to be taken to Gods house. Then He will “open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you”. Quite a blessing!

But did you catch the last part of that statement? “until there is not enough room”.

I now whole heartedly tithe of everything that I earn. I no longer view tithing as a duty to God by as a covenant blessing between me and God. I fulfill my part of the covenant and He fulfils His part.

The peace and fulfillment, in knowing that I am in rightful standing with God, fills me with peace. I enjoy giving to my Father, which is my pleasure.

I am highly favored and blessed by God.

Jim Gregg

April 28, 2009

Jas 1:2 My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way,
Jas 1:3 for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.
Jas 1:4 Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Jas 1:5 But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.
Jas 1:6 But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown about by the wind.
Jas 1:7 If you are like that, unable to make up your mind and undecided in all you do, you must not think that you will receive anything from the Lord.

Feel fortunate when trials come your way? Boy not what the world wants one to feel or think. But surely trials do come my way; A lot. I use to think that I was the only one having trials. The other people at LBC seemed to be overly happy and content with life. They never spoke about things going wrong in the lives or the hardships they were experiencing. Just how great God was and how great life was.

I was very surprised after starting to go to WOL to see how many people were hurting. In fact I believe they all have some sort of critical problem going on at any one moment.

So this is what James was talking about; But to feel fortunate? Yes he did say fortunate. Why? Look at verse 3. When your faith succeeds in facing such trials the result is the ability to endure. WOW!

I was enduring before all right; just barely maintaining happiness or the will to continue on. James is saying that we can gain strength by all of these trials and become strong enough to shrug them off as we go on living.

Listen, there is more. Make sure your endurance carries you all the way without failing so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Did you read that? Hang in there and you will be perfect lacking nothing. Now that is a promise I can hang my hat on.

Endure troubles which are a part of life any way. Become perfect and complete. Lack nothing.; quite a roadmap of success as far as I am concerned.

So how do you make it through the troubles? Troubles mostly want to way you down and make you give up. That is exactly what Satan wants us to do. Give up before we have endured long enough. I think he knows just when we have just about endured long enough then he turns up the heat just to get us to quite. He wants us to give up just moments before reaching the enduring plateau and receiving the perfection God has in store for us.

Then James talks about lacking Wisdom. All we need to do is ask God for it and it is ours; given to us generously and graciously. That sounds like more than enough. A whole lump of it just dumped on my head. Can I receive such an outpouring? Freely given to me? Never withheld? Just ask and it is mine? This is not a promises jut to me but to any one who will pray and ask. If this is so why are there so many dumb people in the world? Especially Christians? They seem to be a weird lot at times. Acting like immature little adopted kids. Yes we are all adopted. But we have been adopted into the King of Kings household. We are princes and princesses not paupers. Street people have more wisdom than some Christians.

Now he says when you pray you must believe and not doubt at all. Now that hurts. That is a sore spot in my Christian Armor. I have worried, doubted and fusses over things all my life. It seems a part of my DNA. But James said not to doubt or I will be like a wave in the sea blown about.

I remember one time thinking that about myself. Have you never had a choice to make between this car and that one and could never make up your mind. Oh I like this one, but I sort of like that one. This is even worse when it comes to more heavier spiritual matters.

But the doubting part hits close to home for me. Ask and believe is the mantra of many passages in the Bible. Jessie Duplantis mentions this all the time. It is Gods part to provide, it is just Jessie’s part to believe that God will do it. This is my part also. Just to ask then to believe.

Otherwise I am a double minded man and am not to expect to receive anything from the Lord. This is sort of a grim thing to handle. It sounds like a great big problem or trial. Wait a minute; a big Trial? That takes us right back to the beginning of these verses.

So we are right back at having Faith to believe. How can it be hard to have faith in the creator of the entire Universe? He just spoke and poof there it was. Carl Sagan’s billion and billions of stars and light years and planets came into being in one moment by the word of God. A massiveness that words can not express nor the human mind comprehend. Yet God Almighty made it all appear by just speaking the words. That is some power. So how can I not believe in the power? How can I not feel that power in my life? How can I not accept that power in every situation? I can not.

God is mighty. God is great. God is massive. God is good. God is my Lord.

Teach me Lord how to have perseverance in times of trouble and trials. Teach me how to have faith in your benevolent loving care for me. Teach me how to believe so that I can receive all that You have prepared for me since before the beginning of time. I do not want to get to heaven and see a large warehouse full of things prepared and waiting for me that I did not ask for and receive while still on the little planet called Earth.