“‘Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 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.’”

Now those are pretty strong words. Not too hard to understand,  either. However, some will try to wiggle out of them anyway. They’ll say that they don’t believe that tithing is of the New Testament life. Some will say, “I don’t have enough to tithe and feed my family.” And the excuses from folks like these will go on for years. Obviously, they’ve missed the point all together.

First of all, tithing has been with us since Abram tithed to the Priest of Salem. (Genesis 14) Jesus rarely spoke of tithing, because He did not have to. The apostles did not have to speak of tithing because it was a biblical truth that remained with them. Historically speaking, the Church was taught about tithing from its very beginning.

Jesus did not do away with the Law. He fulfilled the Law. Jesus revealed Himself “in all the scriptures,” and thus, Jesus can be found in every scripture of the Old and New Testaments. Therefore, we can look to all of the scripture for the revelation of Jesus Christ!

Now Jesus is the very best of God’s kingdom – the very best of God’s gifts. In short, that means that He is the very best of everything that God is. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. The only reason that we have the offering as a part of our lives today, is because of Jesus and because we proclaim Him in our abundance and our sustenance.

The tithe should then be the very best of our substance. It is a type of Jesus. I simply would not ever be found without a place to bring my tithe and proclaim Jesus as Lord of my sustenance!

Don’t get hypothetical in this. When God enters the scene, hypothetics are thrown out the window. His presence overrides all situations and changes all physical law.

That which is the tenth means that it is before taxes, (or not considering taxes separate) before your payments and before your living. You are now Christ’s. He will supply your needs. He must be placed into your sustenance and living. He is the tithe. You get to pay your taxes and your living expenses after you have brought your tithe to the storehouse of heaven. Abundant life is found this way.

The tithe is not a “temple tax.” We cannot look from our need and “pay our tithe” and expect to prosper. We live on that portion of our income that is after the tithe at all times. We receive our harvest, give glory to God, and proclaim Jesus with our tithe! After that we live in the blessings of His kingdom and its glory! You do not want to reverse this process. The result will be that you will live under the curse of poverty. (That, by the way is not the curse of God but the curse of a curse.) The curse of poverty is upon everyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ. That is why we place Jesus first in all of our sustenance! Jesus is the tithe. The rest will then be abundant life. Jesus is proclaimed in the tithe. The rest of our abundance will grow by the power of the kingdom of God.

Now that we have proclaimed Jesus in our life, our offerings, our tithe, all that we have has the life of God in it. Place any portion of that which we have into something and the result will be that the life of God will cause more life!

And then the Word of the Lord says: “‘And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ Says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:11 NKJV)

This life of God can see the work of the “Devourer” a mile off. He will do the rebuking for you because the life of God is in all that you have and do. He will rebuke the devourer because of what Jesus Christ has done to deliver you.

Now that does not mean that you will not ever get the opportunity to do any rebuking. It just means that you need to let that Christ that is in you do the rebuking. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy, so prophesy! If the devourer shows its ugly head, just rebuke it!

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

(James 4:7 NKJV)

Take every part of this phrase and meditate upon it until it gets into your soul and the lightings of God begin to flash there!

Submit to God. Resist the devil. He is the devourer, by the way. He will flee. He will flee from you!

We’ll talk of the offerings part of these scriptures at another time.

Grace and peace be unto you!

The Book: Financial Reformation by Wayne C. Anderson (Click to Purchase)