tithes and in the compensation
that pastors and other clergy
receive for their services.
Can you explain to readers
why it was important for you
to address these issues? Do
you feel that monetary issues
deter individuals from being
religious leaders? If there was
more money to be made in that
arena, can you imagine that
there would be any negative
ramifications?
Fasten your seat belt and put on
your crash helmet. Everything
your readers think they know
about money, and money as it
relates to ministry, is about to
explode….
In these versus they will learn
these three things. First, that not
tithing is stealing from the Lord.
Secondly, that by tithing, the will
“open the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing that
you will not have room enough to
receive it.” You will also see that
the Lord invites you to challenge
Him on this! Read it! He says,
“Prove me now…” In some
translations it reads, “Put me to
the test…” And thirdly, by tithing,
the Lord says He will “rebuke the
devourer” which is Satan, the
destroyer, out of your life.
“And Abram was ‘very’ rich in
cattle, in silver, and in gold.”
Abram, wasn’t just rich. He
was “very” rich. And God never,
not one time, told Abram to
give away all his money. Why?
Because God knew Abram’s
heart belonged to God. And
that’s where you need to focus
your attention. The Bible says
we are to “love the Lord with all
our heart, of all our soul, all of
our mind and all of our strength.”
How did God know Abram love
Him like this? Because later,
when God asked him (now
named Abraham) to lay his only
son, Isaac, on the altar and
drive a dagger through his belly,
Abraham did just that. He laid
his son on the altar and raised
a dagger. The Lord allowed it
to be stopped, but obviously
Abraham’s heart for the Lord
was never in question. This was
the same heart-check that Jesus
gave the rich young ruler when
the ruler asked how he might
get into heaven. Jesus told him,
“Sell all your possessions and
give the money to the poor.”
Unlike like Abraham who was
willing to raise a dagger to his
son, the rich young ruler wasn’t
willing to “raise a dagger” to
his possessions. Instead, he
frowned and walked away from
Jesus, as the young ruler trusted
more in his money than he did
in Jesus. This parable has been
used by the church as a teaching
against wealth, when in reality, it
was a heart check. Again, God
never asked Abraham to give up
his wealth because Abraham’s
heart was sold out to the Lord.
I know most people don’t think
they can afford to tithe, but try it
for year and track what your life
I have never seen anything more looks like. You’ll discover that
miss-taught in all of my life as I you can’t afford not to tithe. And
have with the subject of money. for those who have been led to
I mean, geez, if people wanted believe that tithing is exclusively
to know “the truth” about money, and Old Testament practice, I
all they had to do was open the invite you to read Matthew 23:23,
Bible and read it for themselves. Luke 11:42, and Luke 18:12, all
of which are tithing references
To answer the first part of your by Jesus, Himself. And also read
question, yes, people should be the entire chapter of Hebrews 7.
tithing, and they should have
been raised up being taught The next thing people need to
this by the church so it is an be awakened to is the fact that
automatic part of their thinking. several of the men God has
Unfortunately, most pastors are chosen to highlight in the Bible
afraid of the subject so they were the wealthiest men in the
avoid it and in doing so, produce world! And not once did God
congregations of people who attack them for their money. In
show up in church on Sunday fact it is just the opposite. It was
but who never truly experience God who was blessing them with
the full power of all that God it. “But thou shalt remember the
and prayer have to offer. Why? Lord thy God: for it is he that
Because not tithing to the Lord, giveth thee the power to get
is “stealing” from the Lord, and wealth, that he may establish
stealing from the Lord (which is his covenant…” The grandest
also breaking a commandment) example of this is with Abram,
doesn’t exactly motivate the later named Abraham, who was
Lord in the area of your prayers. the man God chose to be our Abraham is not the only example
Every one of your readers needs earthly father. Abram wasn’t just of wealth’s acceptability in
to open their Bibles to the book “rich.” Read Genesis 13:2 and the Bible. Keep reading the
of Malachi and read 3:8-11. you discover something more… paragraphs beyond Genesis