A reminder for
today
Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it. (Malachi 3:10
KJV)
Bring all the tithes (the tenth) into the storehouse, so
that there may be food in My house, and
test 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 [so great] a blessing until there is
no more room to receive it.
How are you, my friend? I thought I will add this passage as
it is in the amplified Bible, because it is important that you see what God
means when He says prove me now herewith. God challenges us to prove that He
means what He says. He is waiting to do business with us, whenever we’re ready.
He promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing until we can’t
contain it all. The only delay is on our part. As soon as we trust Him by
taking the jump, He will show us that there are many more blessings to enjoy
than we had ever imagined. God says, “I dare you to obey Me by giving
properly.” The question is, are you willing to take God up on His dare?
Generosity is our main theme this month in my Church and it
is the word mostly used in the new testament. The word "Give" appears
921 times in the Bible, almost as many times as "Faith" (270),
"Hope" (165), and "Love" (541) added together. Giving is an
expression of faith, hope, and love.
Normally, God does not invite His people to test Him. In
fact, Scripture contains some strong rebukes in situations where God’s people
have put Him to the test. In Malachi 3:15, God rebukes the “doers of
wickedness” who put Him to the test. In Psalm 95:8-11, which refers to the
generation that died in the wilderness, God warns His people not to imitate
them. He says, “your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My
work. For forty years I loathed that generation….” It sounds like risky
business to put God to the test!
But here, God throws down the challenge. He dares us to test
Him to see whether or not His promise is true. When God dares us to test Him,
we would be sinning to refuse (see Isa. 7:10-16).
Up-front giving is risky because it requires faith. God’s
dare exposes our lack of faith. Malachi was preaching to comfortable, cultural
believers, but they weren’t living on the cutting edge of trusting God. Not
only that, but they were grumbling against God because their circumstances
weren’t as pleasant as they had hoped. The many promises about a glorious
future for Israel had not come true. Israel was still under foreign domination.
The crops weren’t all that great. So, they were grumbling. Whenever we grumble
about our circumstances, we’re really grumbling against the God who ordains and
controls our circumstances. They were blaming God for not blessing them, but
God puts the blame where it belongs: “You haven’t trusted Me by giving as you
should. Test Me by bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse, and see if I
don’t bless you until you can’t hold any more.”
So, if you’re holding back on giving until the Lord blesses
you, you’ve got it backwards. Give generously, by faith, off the top, and God
will bless you. We are called to walk by faith. Giving what you can comfortably
afford after you’ve bought everything you think you need isn’t giving by faith.
Therefore, here is God’s challenge: Trust Him and give in
faith and you will be blessed abundantly.
Lord, we accept your challenge and we will trust you
completely by giving first as we wait upon your blessings. In Jesus name.
Have an awesome day, dear friend of Jesus.
Cheers
