When I was very young, my parents taught me about tithing. I learned that if I received a dollar, 10 cents of that dollar was supposed to go to the Lord.
I was taught that God blessed us, and we were supposed to give the tithe back to Him. Tithing was always sacred to me, and I’ve followed that principle all of my life. It was never a question of whether I was going to tithe. The only question I asked was, “How much is my tithe this week?”
These days, some people are holding on tightly to their money. They think, “I better save all I can.” And the first place they cut back is at church. Our giving to the Lord is the one place where we should never tighten our budgets!
Of course, Satan will do everything he can to stop us from tithing. Why? Because he knows the blessings we will receive when we tithe. And he wants to keep us from receiving God’s blessings.
He will say, “If you tithe, you won’t have enough money to pay your bills.” He’ll threaten you by saying, “If you tithe, you won’t be able to eat this week.”
I’ve tithed all my life. I’ve never gone hungry, and I’ve always been able to pay my bills.
I’m thankful my parents taught me to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and to give my tithes and offerings to the Lord. They knew that following these biblical principles would cause me to prosper in life.
Our giving to the Lord is the one place where we should never tighten our budgets!
Write Your Tithe Check First
I will never forget an incident that happened in 1966. Ken and I were newly married. Our budget was extremely tight then. It’s always been my responsibility to pay the bills and make the budget work. In other words, I am the keeper of the books in our household. But as I calculated our expenses that month, I realized there wasn’t enough money to meet our needs.
For the first time in my life, the thought crossed my mind to not tithe and make it up next month. But because the principle of tithing was strongly instilled in me, I said, “No, Satan, you’re not going to cut off the very thing that will open the windows of Heaven for us.”
I told Ken about the situation, and we joined hands and agreed that God would meet our needs. Then I wrote out our tithe check and told the Lord, “We’re standing on Your Word and are expecting You to meet every need.”
At times, I tried to figure out how God would help us pay the bills. I watched for extra money to arrive in the mail, but we didn’t receive any. No money dropped out of Heaven. No one handed us a special offering at church.
At the end of the month, I had paid every bill, we had not missed any meals, and we had $5 left in our bank account. I do not know where the money came from. But I can tell you that God is able to supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
I told the Lord, “The first thing I’m going to do every month is write out our tithe check. Then I’m going to calculate the rest of our budget for the month.” From that day to this, as soon as our pay is deposited in the bank, the first check I write is our tithe. And because we’re honoring God and putting Him first, He always supplies our needs.
Author
Lynette Hagin
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