One time God spoke to my parents to give a $5,000 offering. They always tithed, but this was an offering over and above their tithe. And it was a lot of money! My brothers and sisters were young at this time. I remember Daddy gathered all of us around him and said, “Kids, God spoke to us to give this offering, and we are going to pray over it. I just want you to know that God is going to bless us in return.” He wanted us to see how God works.
Well, a few weeks later, a lady from another state called my dad’s office. She said she was going to fly her own private plane to Houston because she had something to give him. Daddy met her at the airport, and she hand delivered a check to him for $5,000. She told him that God spoke to her to give him that money. She got back on that plane and went home.
Scripture says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)
God wants to bless you and prosper you in your finances and in all areas of your life, but there is a spiritual principle that we must follow in obeying and giving that unleashes God’s supernatural provision!
In Malachi 3:10, God says, “Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. ‘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 there will not be room enough to store it.’ ”
Tithing is the key to financial blessings. Oftentimes, we want to receive the latter part, the overflowing part! And God wants us to! But we have to be faithful and obedient with the first part, giving.
When we are obedient, we are backing up our faith with actions. After all, faith without works is dead, and it’s our faith that pleases God.
When financial slumps come, that is not a time to quit tithing and giving. In fact, we have learned in our family that is a time to put more seed in the ground.
If you don’t give the first 10% of your income to the Lord, the Bible says that you are robbing God and yourself because if you have no seed, you have no harvest. But when you sow your tithe to the Lord, you can expect a harvest in your finances.
If you have stopped tithing for any reason, then I encourage you to repent and obey God. God wants to bless us, but we must be obedient to Him.
God’s Word is filled with scriptures on giving financially. I encourage you to study them for yourself!
Deuteronomy 14:22–23
“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.”
Proverbs 3:9–10
“Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
Malachi 3:10
“Bring the whole tithe to the storehouses, that there may be food in my house. ‘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 there will not be room enough to store it.’ ”
Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
2 Corinthians 8:14
“At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality.”
2 Corinthians 9:6–8
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Hebrews 7:2
“Abraham gave him a tenth of everything…”
