The Blessing of Giving
Giving is a biblical principal that when lived by, produces a rich harvest in our lives. Giving is not limited to simply our finances; it’s a lifestyle. When we live with the spirit of giving, when we give the Lord our tithes and our offerings, when we give to those in need, when we give of our time, our love, our resources, we are sowing seeds that God will make sure blossoms into a rich harvest! Not just of financial blessings, but rich in all aspects of life. He’ll make sure the right doors open, the right people come into your life, and the right breaks are received.
And we don’t give to simply receive. The important thing is that we live with the spirit of giving. God is more concerned with the condition of your heart as you give, rather than the quantity. It is through our giving where the greatest blessings and provision can be seen.
Do you need a miracle in your life? A Breakthrough? A financial need? Try giving. God says, “Test me in this,” “See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessings there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10).
Tithing:
There are three reasons why we should tithe:
1. Tithing Reflects our Heart.
What is the most important thing to you? Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” We can see the reality of that in the world today and the exaltation of the financially successful, and more personally you can see that by looking at your own checkbook.
Malachi 3:10
“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.”
2. Tithing is Biblical.
Long before tithing was a practice of the Israelite people, Cain and Abel, the second generation of the human race, brought an offering to the Lord. The Lord blessed Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s. Abel brought the “firstborn of his flock,” while Cain brought “some of the fruits of the soil” as an offering. God wants to be first. The following scriptures show how tithing is biblical.
Genesis 14:18-20
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
Genesis 28:22
And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you.
Leviticus 27:30
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 26:1-2
And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide.
3. Tithing is a Benefit.
God’s kingdom is built on multiplication, not division. God uses the tithe as an investment where everyone involved gets a return on the investment. Obviously, the church and the kingdom are blessed, and yet God’s nature is to also bless the giver. This principle is highlighted in the passage below.
2 Chronicles 31:4-10
Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the Lord. As soon as the commandment was circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of grain and wine, oil and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.
And the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and sheep; also the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God they laid in heaps. In the third month they began laying them in heaps, and they finished in the seventh month.
And when Hezekiah and the leaders came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and His people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest, from the house of Zadok, answered him and said, “Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left, for the Lord has blessed His people; and what is left is this great abundance.