God says, "Give and it shall be given unto you." I am not here to preach the "prosperity gospel" that we hear on television so much of the time, but I am here to talk about God's principle of giving. I have heard one single mother say "I can't afford to tithe." yet she smokes several packs of cigarettes each week and seems to struggle financially. Another said she couldn't afford to give but she and her daughter tan regularly and get pedicures and manicures often. We always seem to have money for what we want. Still another single mother pays her tithes and God blesses her with a new car. None of these people has a job making tons of money, but their priorities are different. I'm not trying to pick on single parents here. I know raising children alone has to be very difficult in many ways not just financially, but God's principles work no matter your situation.
I have witnessed the same types of comparisons in two parent families of similar income. The one which does not give to God saying they can't afford it constantly struggles the other is blessed. Satan has convinced those of you who don't give of a lie. You cannot look at your checkbook and determine the giving! If you set your mind to give God what is His first, everything else is taken care of!
I'm sure people think that my husband and I make a lot of money because our house is big and we are able to travel, but that just isn't true. In fact our income is low enough that if our son wants to go to Harvard he can go for free! However, we understand that all that we have is not really ours, it is God's. If God asked us to give up our home (which He has) and move, then we must do it. If He asks us to give up our jobs that we love and pay well (which He has) then we must do it. The thing is, every time God has asked us to give something up, He has always blessed us many times over.
When we gave up our 2400 square foot home in West Frankfort to move to Lincoln and live in about a 900-1000 square foot parsonage that had mushrooms growing up through the bathroom floor to pastor a church, we did it. I gave up my big beautiful home, but was blessed with a wonderful job. The community was economically depressed, yet I had one of the best paying jobs in the area which paid full family insurance! 3 in my family had to have surgery within about a year and a half's time and all it cost us was a small co-pay for the initial Dr. visit. THAT is being blessed. Not only was my job well paying with great benefits, I loved working there as well! We were able to purchase vacation timeshares while we lived there. My husband was able to keep his promise to his daughter that one day he would take her to Disney World. We have visited Disney, Universal and Sea World parks numerous times since then.
God then asked me to give up my job to come to Galesburg. I had to start the tenure process all over again, I took a paycut (I make over $10,000 less here) and family insurance would be almost $700 per month now. We can't afford that so we carry an individual plan on Darrell and the kids which costs a little less than half but has a deductible of $2500 on each of them ($7500 total if all were sick in the same year)!
In man's eyes I'm sure we looked nuts. Yes, Darrell would be making more, but it wouldn't make up for what we were giving up in my job. There also wasn't a place to live. We had to find a place to buy or rent within a couple of weeks.
We knew we were supposed to come to Galesburg so we trusted God. He provided us with a home that is approximately equal in size to our home in West Frankfort PLUS the one in which we lived in Lincoln! It is worth more than TWICE what our house in West Frankfort was worth, but only cost $30,000 more than that house did! That is GOD BLESSING!
We thought we would never be able to take our kids out of the country, just couldn't afford it, but we will be traveling to the Bahamas next month! The total cost of airfare and hotel for seven nights for all four of us totalling less than $500 (that's including port charges)! Tell me that God doesn't bless when we are faithful! God doesn't have to provide money. It is ALL His! Not just money but everything! We need to get past the idea that if we give $10, God will give us $100. We need to recognize God doesn't do things OUR way but HIS!
We once had a $10,000 debt completely wiped clean! God didn't drop the money in our laps. He simply got rid of the bill!
If you are obedient, God will bless you beyond your dreams! When you don't tithe you are in disobedience! I want to be obedient to the one who created me and all things of the universe! We don't give to see what blessings God will bestow, but it certainly is fun watching what He does when we are obedient!
I have witnessed the same types of comparisons in two parent families of similar income. The one which does not give to God saying they can't afford it constantly struggles the other is blessed. Satan has convinced those of you who don't give of a lie. You cannot look at your checkbook and determine the giving! If you set your mind to give God what is His first, everything else is taken care of!
I'm sure people think that my husband and I make a lot of money because our house is big and we are able to travel, but that just isn't true. In fact our income is low enough that if our son wants to go to Harvard he can go for free! However, we understand that all that we have is not really ours, it is God's. If God asked us to give up our home (which He has) and move, then we must do it. If He asks us to give up our jobs that we love and pay well (which He has) then we must do it. The thing is, every time God has asked us to give something up, He has always blessed us many times over.
When we gave up our 2400 square foot home in West Frankfort to move to Lincoln and live in about a 900-1000 square foot parsonage that had mushrooms growing up through the bathroom floor to pastor a church, we did it. I gave up my big beautiful home, but was blessed with a wonderful job. The community was economically depressed, yet I had one of the best paying jobs in the area which paid full family insurance! 3 in my family had to have surgery within about a year and a half's time and all it cost us was a small co-pay for the initial Dr. visit. THAT is being blessed. Not only was my job well paying with great benefits, I loved working there as well! We were able to purchase vacation timeshares while we lived there. My husband was able to keep his promise to his daughter that one day he would take her to Disney World. We have visited Disney, Universal and Sea World parks numerous times since then.
God then asked me to give up my job to come to Galesburg. I had to start the tenure process all over again, I took a paycut (I make over $10,000 less here) and family insurance would be almost $700 per month now. We can't afford that so we carry an individual plan on Darrell and the kids which costs a little less than half but has a deductible of $2500 on each of them ($7500 total if all were sick in the same year)!
In man's eyes I'm sure we looked nuts. Yes, Darrell would be making more, but it wouldn't make up for what we were giving up in my job. There also wasn't a place to live. We had to find a place to buy or rent within a couple of weeks.
We knew we were supposed to come to Galesburg so we trusted God. He provided us with a home that is approximately equal in size to our home in West Frankfort PLUS the one in which we lived in Lincoln! It is worth more than TWICE what our house in West Frankfort was worth, but only cost $30,000 more than that house did! That is GOD BLESSING!
We thought we would never be able to take our kids out of the country, just couldn't afford it, but we will be traveling to the Bahamas next month! The total cost of airfare and hotel for seven nights for all four of us totalling less than $500 (that's including port charges)! Tell me that God doesn't bless when we are faithful! God doesn't have to provide money. It is ALL His! Not just money but everything! We need to get past the idea that if we give $10, God will give us $100. We need to recognize God doesn't do things OUR way but HIS!
We once had a $10,000 debt completely wiped clean! God didn't drop the money in our laps. He simply got rid of the bill!
If you are obedient, God will bless you beyond your dreams! When you don't tithe you are in disobedience! I want to be obedient to the one who created me and all things of the universe! We don't give to see what blessings God will bestow, but it certainly is fun watching what He does when we are obedient!
11 comments:
Great post hon. You came back from your self-imposed exile with a bang with this one!
Preach it Sister! God blesses when our heart is right and we give from it. The other day we ended up giving $250 in gifts to the youth group and then our new car took a $1000 down payment. Guess what God did: Two days later, my credit union sent me a letter telling me that they are switching over to new ownership and that they were going to double my total deposits. Guess how much I had deposited???? If you guess $1250 you are correct!!! Isn't it cool how He works!
I've been to West Frankfort. Stayed in Benton for a few months working. If i were to guess, Galesburg has a lot more going on downtown than WestFrankfort. Actually, my Pastor has family there and all around. He Pastored in Harrisburg before moving to Ashland. And our youth pastor was in Mt. Vernon. All roads in the Church of God go through Illinois!
Libby , this is a hard subjuct for me ,ive even read this and went back and forth about posting buti really need help in this, i get from 180 to 242 each week in child support and it barely covers my bills, how do i tith and not neglect paying my bills? i guess im scared because we have so little now ,(please help. i really want to tith but dont really know how to with little money & BIG bills!!!)
Tithing is a choice. If you look at your bills and pay them first you will never have tithe money. If you give God the FIRST tenth and then pay your bills, you always seem to have enough. The truth is most of us squander much more than we realize or want to admit. Just try tithing first. God will meet your needs if you are faithful. Giving now and again or once in awhile is not tithing. I mean make a commitment that you will give God what is His no matter what. It doesn't make sense to the world but God said in His Word that He would use the "foolish to confound the wise". He just wants you to show that you are committing everything to Him. Besides, all of it is God's anyway. He is gracious to allow us to keep 90%!
Thanks, I understand!!!(lol)
Amy, you are not alone in this issue, so don't take this as a put down, ok? But the thing about tithe is really an issue about trust. The question is will you trust God as your provider, or will you trust what you hold in your hand? It really is that simple, but most people will trust what they have control over rather than take the leap of faith and trust God to do what he says He will do.
Pastor, you are right, it is a trust issue ,with me at this moment anyway, i know what is right to do,but fear grips me in certain areas at this moment, not only with tithing but with other areas as well , i dont trust easily,in my heart i know to put my trust in God i just gotta get that in my mind also!!!. Libbys post spoke to me and convicted me so im gonna take that leap of faith and trust my Father in this area. thanks to you both!!
Do you tithe on your gross pay or bring home?????
We tithe on all moneys available to us for use. For example, we pay tithe on 100% of what the church gives Darrell including the housing allotment. Any monetary gifts for birthday, anniversary, whatever from whom ever we also pay tithe on. I do not pay on the retirement the school pays in for me because I will not get that income until I retire and will pay tithe on the money then. Whether you feel you need to tithe on the gross or the net, the point is tithe. Tithing is not giving 10% of what is left after paying bills. I know you have a "home" business :)and you have expenses for that business which aren't part of your income. Just be honest about what your increase is from the business and pay on that. Whatever funds God has allowed you to use, tithe on that.
I know how tough it is to trust in God with the tithe when you have very little to begin with. When we started in ministry, t he church was only able to pay us 100 a week. And because we were not citizens we wer eunable to work outside fof the church.. so 100 a week and our rent was 450 a month. :| yeah... VERY hard as we didn't have enough even with NOT paying tithe. But we did, and the church and the congregation took care of us in other ways the best they could.. and God was faithful in bringing other people into our lives that kept us floating.
I know hte fear... but I also know the victory in getting past that fear!
preach it Libby! good message...
PRAISE THE LORD EVERYONE!
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