A Tenth

‘The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives’ Deut.14:23 [TLB].

Yesterday, we established the fact that when Jesus came and fulfilled the Law, the part of the Law that He made irrelevant was largely the ceremonial law – the law of access to God. Jesus came to fulfill that law; He set aside the old so that He can bring about the new. That is the covenant that was replaced. The covenant with Abraham is still intact. In fact the covenant of Abraham is a subset of the covenant of Jesus. ‘So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith’ Gal.3:9. Jesus came so that we can be partakers of the covenant of Abraham [Gal.3:6-9]. So the covenant of Abraham cannot be irrelevant. I believe that the entrance of this truth will bring much light to your life, in Jesus Name. It is noteworthy that even before the moral law, Abraham paid tithe. He was the first person to pay tithe to Melchizedek [Gen.14:20; Heb.7:9-10].

Tithing teaches you and I to put God first [Deut.14:23 TLB]. Tithing also increases your faith because ‘…Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’ Mal.3:10. God does not allow us to test Him in any other area. In fact, Jesus said to satan ‘You must not test the Lord your God’ [Luke 4:12]. We are not allowed to test God in any other area but when it comes to tithing God says ‘test Me’. Amazing! God says I know you are going to struggle with tithing. I know that you are going to have a lot of philosophies about tithing. But you know what? I want you to ‘test Me in this’ [paraphrasing]. So go ahead, pay your tithe , that is if you have not been paying your tithe, and see if God will not show up for you. God says test Me in this and see if I will not open the windows of heaven. He will rebuke the devourer for your sake because there are actually devourers out there. Nighty percent with God’s blessings will take you farther than a hundred percent with the devourer. The key thing here is God says He will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. It is His job to rebuke the devourer. If you are still on the boarder line then perhaps you need to take the tithe challenge. For the next three months, you pay your tithe using a cheque and behind it write ‘tithe challenge’. If at the end of three months God has not been faithful, your money will be refunded in full [if you are not in God’s Favourite House and you want to take the tithe challenge please speak with your Pastor first before you proceed]. Is that a good deal?

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace, wisdom, and understanding to consistently honour You by tithing, in Jesus Name.