Happy Are You

Proverbs 3:^9-10 “Glorify God with all your wealth, honouring him with your firstfruits, with every increase that comes to you. Then every dimension of your life will overflow with blessings from an uncontainable source of inner joy!” (TPT)

We will kick off today’s devotional with our discourse from yesterday. Let’s look at the gentlemen from yesterday’s illustration. The gentleman with the nineteen thousand income that was able to save ninety-seven thousand over twelve months is a story about priorities. While the gentleman who had a hundred and fifty million pass through his account and had only five hundred Naira left is also a story about priorities. You have to get your priorities right; God must be a priority. If you want to go far with God, you have to prioritize God and His principles. How does God become a priority in your finances for example? Your finances are a reference point to other areas of your life because how your finances go, is a pointer to how the other parts of your life will go. For instance, in your spiritual life, the Bible says where your treasure is, there your heart is, it is directly linked to your wallet. You make God a priority by tithing. Read Heb. 7:1-6.

The first ten percent of your income is God’s priority. Some people claim that if they give ten percent, they cannot live on ninety percent. It is a lie. The people who tithe are actually able to control their finances better. And the people who, after tithing begin to save are even better positioned. The gentleman that had one hundred and fifty million probably felt the money was not enough for him to save. Or he was procrastinating, the ‘I will save next month’ gang. The truth is that the principles are eternal, and tithing is a principle of priority just like the first fruit principle – eternal. Both the principle of tithing and the principle of first fruits existed before the law, as far back as Genesis. In fact, the tithe is a form of first-fruit. The tithe is your first ten percent, not any ten percent and it is you saying to God, this belongs to You. In God’s Favourite House, we have certain people who have decided to go beyond ten percent in their tithe.

The first-fruit is a principle of priority. While I cannot say first-fruit is compulsory, however, I can say for a fact that it is consistent with the scriptures – check. I have been giving my first-fruit for as long as I can remember. The key thing is, this is a walk of faith. Tithing is a principle of priority, and it is by personal revelation. A man came to my office years ago and was telling me about his properties with goods worth billions of Naira. Basically, he wanted me to know he had a lot of money, but he does not tithe. I stared in silence and when he was leaving my office, he said ‘Pastor, when I told you I do not tithe, you did not argue with me.’ I said, ‘Why should I argue with you?’ He said when he tells other Pastors the same thing after giving them an idea of his net worth, they try to convince him to tithe. I said, ‘I cannot make you tithe. God taught me how to tithe. God will teach you how to tithe.’ God taught him how to tithe and it was not a fun journey. I am sharing with you from my heart; if you understand and do these things, happy are you.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace to consistently glorify You with all my wealth, honouring You with my first-fruits, and with every increase that comes to me, in Jesus Name. Amen!