When I first came across the term, Gab it 'n' grab it, I admit I was highly amused. It expressed only too well my opinion of certain sections of Christianity ~ you know, the sharp suits with their hands always out stating that if you sowed into their ministry your return would be a hundredfold as they fleeced the sheep. Um, thank you for asking, but no.
With that mindset a subject on prosperity wasn't getting me dancing up & down with excitement. Now don't get me wrong. I believe, always have, that God desires to bless His people ~ but I didn't want to be greedy, you know. After all, there is so much need in the world & I already live in a 1st world country so I am blessed beyond measure before I begin. As so often happens when a teaching gets skewered & turns people off I actually missed the point.
Prosperity was taught by a visiting preacher, Joe Doran. From the moment I clapped eyes on him I had an epiphany. I sensed this man was really full of the Holy Spirit ~ & so I was prepared to pay attention. What's more he had just, on the Holy Spirit's say so, up~rooted his entire family to serve around the world for a whole year. He had left behind his business, a nice house, his position in his church ~ & his income! Okaaaaay......
God amuses me. I think Dino was going a bit nuts but I don't think there were too many ways I was going to get this teaching & for me Joe was perfect because he drifted ~ sometimes a long way ~ but he was following the Spirit's leading & he spoke more about following the Spirit's leading than he did about money. This I understood. He spoke about following the Spirit's prompting with our giving. Again this made perfect sense, at least to me. Finally he pointed out we should want to be blessed because the more we are blessed the more we have to give & this is God's provision for all His people. Light~bulb moment.
Within that framework the tithe starts to make sense. What's more, again, following the Spirit's lead, if we allow the desires of our hearts to be the desires God plants then He will also provide. So....I am doing some rethinking. Reading the scriptures. Listening for the Holy Spirit. Because it is not about selfishness. It is about advancing the kingdom of God.
8 comments:
Amen Ganeida!
Here's a thought.
We are the middle men - not pastors, not churches, not anyone else.
We are the middle men between God's money and where He wants to put it.
Each person must hear directly from God where to put the money.
re: Tithing.
Please tell me that you know that it is an OT thing and that is wasn't all about the money. Please....
What is being passed off as tithing in churches today is theft.
Just thought I'd share. :o)
Give a tenth of what is given to you by God, back to God, for His work and you will always have enough for your needs. Proved it. Blessings Pearl.
Deb: Um, as an orthodox practicing Jew Jesus was a tither. I believe that's N.T, not old. And no, it's not about the money; it's about the heart. It is always about heart attitudes when discussing the things of God because we are supposed to Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life
Tithing aside, generous, cheerful giving is a mark of spiritual maturity. I'm not there.
I loved hearing about your lightbulb moment. :) God has always wanted us to be a blessing to others - its part of the abrahamic covenant and consequently our covenant with God. But we have to start where we are by being generous with what we have even if it's little:)
We tithe, but it's not 10%. Partly because we are pastors and give some much more time and effort to the church--that we aren't really sure where our tithe starts and ends. We never have much money. When things get tight I usually have a big clean out and sell stuff on Trademe. This week (and I am not a big--God told me so, or I heard God speak person) I heard God say--give it all away. I will take care of you. I prayed some more, checked with DH, and another person--we all agreed that if that is where the Spirit was leading me to do it. So, I did--with a cheerful heart. You know what--our church garage sale had the biggest sale ever $4400. This money is used to help support missions in our community and abroad. The whole experience left me feeling as if I want to spend more time listening for the prompting of God's Spirit and praying for the willingness to follow through with a joyful heart! Giving without joy and faith is pretty meaningless.
Agreed. Giving joyfully from the heart is the blest way. Luke 6:38 says it fo me. With love, Pearl. x
Since I began realizing how important tithing is (about 20 years ago) I have always felt that one of the main callings of the people working and making money in 1st world countries is to provide financial aid and support for the work of missionaries!
Ganeida, you know I am going to writing a book on this one!!!!
When we committed to giving 20% for six months...I should say when my husband felt led to commit that and I thought he was out of touch with the reality of how tight our budget was, but after prayer realized this was coming from my Lord and He told me the next year would be easier. Anyway, on the sixth month my husband was blessed with a very good job offer out of no where on a old resume that a recruiter found somehow. After he started the new job, which fit his abilities perfectly and paid more, I prayed about tithing. It is not a percentage but a trust and obey issue for us now. From that time we felt called to give 15%, which was the same amount of funds as the 20% before, and things are easier as the Lord promised. It looks like we going to be paying off our credit card/car payment in October and will start saving to pay for seriously needed repairs to our house. It all looks on paper as if it could happen faster and easier if we were saving back that "extra 5%" but then we would not be trusting and obeying our Lord and lose out on the blessings of Him providing in ways, perhaps, we do not even see!
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