I posted before about being a full tithe payer. There was no way anyone could tell me that I shouldn't be paying my tithing. I had experienced first hand the wonderous bounties of the Lord when it didn't seem that I would be able to afford certain items. I was so thankful and in awe how it happened. It seemed like such a mystery. But I knew it was all in the Lord's hands.
The past few months I have been really struggling with paying my tithing. I haven't paid. I just decided that the Lord would have to understand. It is funny how when you pray expecting an answer, secretly you might not really want the answer. Yesterday I prayed deep and hard questioning whether tithing was the answer to many of my struggles and what He wanted me to be doing. It is funny how answers come, mostly from unexpected sources.
This morning as I turned on the tv, there was a Joyce Meyer Ministries infomercial on. I secretly like her preaching. Why? She is so straightforward and tells you how it is. I just love it. Her talk was on Wisdom this morning. I was really feeling it. I wish I couldn't feel that confident to talk in large crowds like she does. Joyce has this "oomph" about her and is contageous. It gets your blood pumping in the morning and excited about what she talks about.
Sure enough what subject was brought up in the middle of a this discussion on Wisdom? TITHING. She stated how the Lord has commanded we pay tithing and how now days people simply don't pay. They use excuses about us not having to honor that anymore because it was in the Old Testament. "You silly thing you. You're just trying to get out of giving!!" She said, "I don't believe in tithing either. I believe in going beyond that!!... We should be prepared to give unto EVERY good work... Bring all the tithe in the storehouse and see if I will not open the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing so great that you cannot contain it."
If that isn't an answer, what else is? hahaha I know I need to really buckle down and make sure I am paying my tithing more faithfully. I know that through the obedience of paying tithing, we will be blessed. I won't lie and say it is easy to willingly and happily pay. However, I know that all things are possible through Him.
NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE pays the Biblical tithe today.
ReplyDeleteLeviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18: The First Tithe - a tenth of crops and animals and commanded to take the tithe to the Levites.
Deuteronomy 14:22-27: The Second Tithe aka The Festival Tithe - a tenth of crops, plus add to that the firstborn animals, and take for the yearly feast.
Deuteronomy 14:28-29: The Third Tithe aka The Three-Year Tithe aka The Poor Tithe - a tenth of crops, kept at home, and invite the Levites, widows, orphans, stranger to eat.
Now, tell me. Which of the above three tithes commanded by God does anyone follow today?
The ONLY people in the Old Testament that were commanded to tithe were those who INHERITED THE PROMISED LAND WITH EVERYTHING ON IT. They got the land, house, animals, crops, etc. ALL FREE AND CLEAR. No mortgage payment or rent to pay. And THEY were commanded to tithe on the crops and animals and take it to the Levites who INHERITED the tithe INSTEAD OF the promised land with everything on it. No one else tithed. Wage earners did not tithe. Jesus didn’t tithe. Paul didn’t tithe. Peter didn’t tithe.
There are so many false preachers out there today taking advantage of those who don't study the Bible carefully.