Malachi3
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
This is a biblical principle of relating to God. It is not legalism. They walked away from God voluntarily. God respects our free will. He wasn’t going to force Himself on them. They would have to come back to God on their own. This is what Jam4:8 is saying. You draw near to God and He will draw near to you. He promised to never leave you nor forsake you. It is us who leave Him and forsake Him. Therefore it is us who have to come back into relationship with Him on our own free will.
These people had walked away from God. How would they return? How do we come back to God when we have walked away from Him? Before we answer how they would return, let us look at how they walked away;
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
God says that these people were robbing Him by not bringing in tithes and offerings. It is commonly thought that God was speaking to the nation of Israel who had not been tithing and giving offerings anymore. However further study actually reveals that God is not really referring to the people but to the priests, the sons of Levi.
What happened is the people would bring their tithes and offerings to the priests at the temple but the priests wouldn’t take it into the storehouse and use it as was supposed to be used. Instead the priests would appropriate the people’s tithes and offerings to themselves and embezzle the resources that belonged to God and was supposed to be in the temple storehouse. In doing so, not only were they God robbers, they were also robbing the entire nation by stealing the tithes and offerings.
“Since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my laws and have not followed them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of Armies. "But you ask, how can we return?” Mal3:7
How would they return to God? 10 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. Remember that for generations they had walked away from God. So He sends them a prophet to tell them to return. Their question to the prophet is ‘how can we return? What do we do to return to God?’ God’s answer is very interesting and teaches us a very important lesson. This is what He says to them;
Bring me all the tithes and offerings into the storehouse. Bring me your money. Bring me your stuff if you want to come back to me. This is profound. When they asked God how they could return to Him He told them to give Him their stuff, their money, their treasures etc. why? Why did God ask for their money?
Because of the principle Jesus taught in Matthew6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
There is a deep connection between your treasure and your heart. You spend most of your money on what you value most and you value most what you spend most of your money on.
You can tell a person’s priorities by where they spend the bulk of their finances. Regardless of what they say, follow their finances and you will know what they value the most in their life.
How had they walked away from God in the first place? They had quit bringing in the tithes and offerings. They had quit giving to God. They took the money and treasure elsewhere. And where their treasure went, their hearts followed.
If they wanted to return to God, their treasure would have to return to God first and their hearts would follow. Your heart follows your money or your treasure. So when they asked God how they can return to Him, He told them to bring their treasures to Him. To give tithes and offerings.
There is a supernatural connection between your heart and your money. God wasn’t after their money and stuff. God doesn’t need money in heaven. He wanted their heart and if they gave Him their stuff they would give Him their heart and commitment too. Your heart is in your money. When you give your money to God you are giving your heart to God. When you give you are allowing God into our heart and letting Him influence and direct you into abundant life.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
The tithe is entirely beneficial to us. We gain a lot out of tithing and giving. Remember that the tithe connects us to the generational supernatural blessing of God that He spoke upon Adam in the garden and that He repeated to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham through tithing to Melchizedek connected to this blessing and it immediately began to produce supernatural results in his life. These same benefits are promised to the giver in Malachi3.
The devourer rebuked;
The enemy that has been stealing your stuff and destroying your income potential is stopped in his tracks. Many Christians waste their time rebuking an imaginary spirit of poverty from their life. And yet all they have to do is tithe and give to God in New Covenant faith. The tithe will eliminate the devourer on your behalf without you having to do warfare for ages.
Furthermore it will prevent him from spoiling and stealing from you. Your farm, job, business etc. receives supernatural favor and advancement because of the Abrahamic blessing after the priesthood of Jesus. When we tithe, God’s power to get wealth operates in us in our work, job, business etc. as it did in Abraham who is our example.
When they didn’t tithe and didn’t give to God, He called them God robbers. But what they robbed God of wasn’t money. What they robbed God of was the opportunity to pour out His blessing on them. They robbed Him of the opportunity to supernaturally take care of them. They robbed Him of the opportunity to supernaturally increase and multiply them for His glory that He may establish His covenant and His kingdom.
It is God who said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. He gets more blessed giving to us than receiving from us. This is the blessing we rob Him of when we don’t tithe and give. The opportunity to bless us.
“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Prov10:22
The blessing of God is not riches or stuff. The blessing is an intangible power that when we mix with faith will affect us in tangible ways and things. It will produce the evidence of physical riches and wealth.
Proverbs3
9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase:
First fruits were a form of tithing. That’s why they always went to the Lord. It was usually 10% of your harvest and it was usually the best of your harvest. When it came to animals it was the first born. They were a type and shadow of Jesus who is the first fruit of them that are risen unto God. That is those that believe in Him and belong to God. He is God’s first born from among the dead.
Tithing honors God. When we tithe we are honoring God and expressing worship and praise to Him as our source and sustainer. Tithing keeps our hearts connected to God’s kingdom first.
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
God promises us that honoring Him with our finances will produce abundance and plenty in our lives. We shall have more than enough. He is El Shadai, the God of more than enough. He will never let you out give Him. Money is a test. It is not true riches. When you prove faithful with money then God gives you true riches. When you are faithful to tithe and give then God will make you ruler over much. Why would you not do something which God told you to do for your own good? Because you don’t trust God.
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