Having taken the first three steps toward financial freedom – Accounting, Budgeting, and Saving, you are now ready for STEP 4 – TITHING.
Malachi 3:10 “’Bring all the tithe into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do,’ says the LORD ALMIGHTY, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!’”
Proverbs 3:9, 10: “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything your land produces. Then He will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with the finest wine.” (Note: God is not telling us that giving to Him is an investment strategy or a motive to satisfy greed - Solomon is simply stating a fact that he discovered was true.)
Tithing (giving the first 10% of our money to God) puts God in His rightful place – it makes a statement that He is first! Everything comes from Him and is His. Since everything (all of our money) belongs to Him, every financial decision is a spiritual decision. Though He does not need our money, He knows how important it is to us, so He wants us to use it to: 1) thank Him, 2) to show Him that He is first, 3) to express our faith, and 4) to express our gratitude.
There is no way that we can out-give God.
He laid out the challenge: “Try it!” Though tithing sounds totally illogical when we are in financial bondage, it works! It is the next step on the road to financial freedom.
Principle: Whatever you want God to bless in your life, put Him first in that area!
Affirming that these steps work ~ Bob
