Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Expose (08/22/13)
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TITLE: Precious Money | Previous Challenge Entry
By Pamela Reed
08/28/13 -
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I have heard many say “I won’t go to that church, they just want my money.” A fear of lack is what lies behind these statements. There is only one item in the entire Bible where God asks us to test him, and that is with money; no other issue that we may face in life is listed anywhere to test Him; but money is.
In Malachi 2:10-11 it states “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house. And try Me now in this.” Says the Lord of hosts, ”If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts:”
God wishes that His children give the tithe to their local church, which is 10% of our income. This is a great start, but please add offering to proven organizations which change lives. If God can get it through you, He will get it to you. We have His promise on that in Malachi.
Discussing their desperate finances, I boldly asked a Christian couple “Do you pay tithes?” The answer was “Well, yes, when we can.” I was told that it averaged about 7% of their income. A tithe is 10% and should never be “when we can” as it needs to be first. If it is placed first, God is first, and it will always be there.
There are over 800 verses in the Bible about the stewardship of money. Jesus talked about money more than any other subject. Why? We put our treasure where our heart is, and He wants our heart. I am writing this because we have walked the walk. We took God at His word and tested Him. We not only survived the crisis’ in our lives, but actually thrived through them to the point that we want to point others in the way of success.
Although I was a Christian first, my husband accepted Christ in 2004. We then began tithing on both of our paychecks and added offerings whenever the opportunity would arise. In 2005, due to the economy, I lost my income. I comforted myself with the fact that my husband made good money so we would be alright. Three months later, the company that he worked for closed the plant he worked at. We were desperate and sure that we were going to lose everything that we owned including the beautiful house that we lived in. Wait a minute, I said “that we owned.” First, we needed to change our thinking pattern. Doesn’t everything belong to God? We set that straight in our minds. This is all God’s stuff, and that makes Him responsible for it. The second thing we did was to take every item that had a loan against it and sold it. We give Him the glory for our ability to be flexible in this change and filled with joy during the process. We went from desperation and despair to happiness and joy by placing all in His hands. It was no longer our problem.
One time and one time only, my husband said “We can’t afford to pay tithes.” I responded “We can’t afford NOT to pay tithes. We need Him on our side, now more than ever.” He didn’t question my response, nor did we ever skip paying tithes. We never missed a payment, we never went without a meal, all was covered. He moved mountains on various occasions and “rebuked the devourer for our sakes.”
Many years have passed and we now have businesses. We have continued to pay tithes and have raised offerings 1% per year to honor Him with our lives. We have never been more secure. God trying to take our money from us? Not hardly, it’s all His anyway. He desires to find those who are trustworthy with his financial gifts to use as a channel to point others toward Him.
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