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Day 23 Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way will we return?’ 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor will the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the LORD of hosts; 12 “and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet. They envy those people who are well off and aren’t scratching out a living but have enough so they can do with their income as they will. God told Israel that the reason they were poor was because they robbed Him in tithes and offerings. He promised His people that if they gave Him the tithes and offerings, He would bless them. Note the blessings He would pour on them. God said they would have enough food because He would pour out a blessing on them. He would rebuke the devourer for their sakes. There wouldn’t be a famine in the land that withered the vine and destroyed the crops. Then every nation would know He blessed them and call them blessed. Many Christians withhold their tithes and offerings because they believe what people say, that they are throwing away their money to the church. Satan doesn’t want you to receive God’s blessing and will do all he can to destroy you. If you don’t have enough income to put food on the table, he hopes you will curse God and blame Him for the poverty you face. However, when you do what God said and test Him in this one thing, your income, and give Him the tithes and offerings as He laid out in the Law of Moses, then He will pour out a blessing on you that you will be unable to contain. You will have enough, and you will give to those in need with the blessing He gives. Do you know your income is the only place God says to test Him? God wants to bless you. He wants you to trust Him with your income. Do you know what a tithe is? It’s ten percent of your gross income. When you receive your paycheck, you can see what was taken from you. The government takes its portion before you get yours. I guarantee they take more than ten percent of your paycheck. In your head, you have already divided up the rest for your bills and food. You don’t see how you could give ten percent of your income to God. God says to test Him. Many years ago, when I first learned about tithes and offerings, I made a covenant with God to give Him the tithe from the gross not net. I was a new Christian and didn’t know about tithes and offerings until the sermon that day. I have never been wealthy. I lived paycheck to paycheck. Often the money ran out before the end of the month, and I wondered how we could survive to the next paycheck. Yet when I set my purpose to give the first portion to God, I saw a change in my finances. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a beginning. Today, I am retired and living on a fixed income. I never had enough to give to a retirement fund, so my Social Security the government took from my check became my income. I never stopped giving God my tithe. Before I pay my bills, I pay my tithe. I don’t give God the leftovers. Doing so guarantees you will not have enough to give your tithe. How are my finances today? I’m doing well. My bills are paid, I have no debt, and I have enough at the end of the month to do what I want with my income. I’m still considered poor and live on government aid, but God takes care of me so that I am not lacking what I need. His blessing on my life is more than I could imagine that day when I made a covenant with God to give ten percent of my income. God promises to take care of you when you give to Him. Does He ask for your tithe because He needs it? No. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn’t need your tithe, but you need His blessing. When you obey Him in this one thing and test Him to see if He will keep His promise, He will bless you abundantly, more than you can imagine. Don’t look at your tithe as going to the church or other religious organizations. Look at it for the blessings God promised. Don’t listen to Satan’s lies about giving. He doesn’t want God to bless you. He wants you to live in poverty and blame God for your lack. Determine to give God the first portion of your income and watch Him bless you. Let’s pray: Father, thank you for the many blessings You promise me. Thank you for setting up a way for Your blessing on my life through tithes and offerings. When Satan comes against me with his lies about giving to You, let me call him a liar as I shut off his voice in my ear and give to You. Let me see Your blessing on my life when I obey and trust You in tithes and offerings. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 5 August 2023 by Valerie Routhieaux The image belongs to me.