We need to tithe.
So many testimonies abound on how God reveals His glory when His people tithe, and yet even I wasn't convinced of the need to tithe when greed got into me time and again.
I had learned that back in UPLB, when I would tithe faithfully, money flowed like a river, and it affected not only me, but my parents too. At that time when I was tithing to the letter, and not coincidentally, it was one of those times when their savings was at its peak.
It was all blown like chaff to the wind, however, when I had my psychotic episode that year.
Because of external influences and my personal materialism, I had trouble learning to trust God with my tithes again. Ten percent seemed to be much too steep for comfort.
Until these past three months, God had been more relentless with emphasizing that I give my tithes.
Last week, I got unexpected blessing when, after I finally paid the back tithes since my biggest folly, the hundred-page e-book fiasco, one of my bosses (not the main boss) finally forked over the months-old back pay that I was owed by the company I write for. Of course I rejoiced.
But I missed the mark again when I held back Php 200. I wanted the book so badly. I learned from it, but I should have given my tithe.
And so a week of hunger and lack ensued again.
So this week, when I got my last salary from my main boss, I tithed everything I owed Porky last week to stop the curse on his finances, and I tithed my Php 200 plus the week's salary.
You know what I got in return?
Not even twelve hours after I tithed, my mom announced she got in the same essay writing site I work for.
Then just yesterday, Porky belatedly announced that he and his bro got another wedding gig in Bora. Then, glory of glories, my main boss decided to waive the penalty that was actually part of the deal we made. That penalty is Php 500 a day. And I'm supposedly Php 1500 delayed now. :p
Then today, I got my salary for my November posts for a blog that I worked for! Totally unexpected!
Here is the Haggai verse that chilled me enough to tithe:
Haggai 1:4-11 (New International Version)
4-11 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"
Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."
Porky was actually the one who found that, on the Bible that I had painstakingly installed on his cellphone. Here is the original text that scared me enough to tithe:
‘You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house!
We were both convicted because he prioritized my hunger/lack of money over tithing, and I was prioritizing my stuff (which I bought to save money, except for the book!) instead of God. So I tithed.
I can't remember when I found this Isaiah passage, but I think it was on the same day I got rid of my tithe:
Isaiah 57:17-18
17 I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him.
A part of me is driven by fear. But I am just allowing God to change my heart as regards to money, tithing and spending.
All I know now is that:
1) I need to tithe no matter what. So because Victory does not have a PayPal account yet, I am sticking to tithing to ministries that have PayPal accounts, because I just have to release my tithe before anything else I do with my money.
2) God is adamant and vehement about financial discipline. And it starts with tithing. Now if only there is a way to keep me from going crazy with the money the moment it's in my hands.
I wrote this to encourage those who are not convinced of the need to tithe. Malachi 3:10-12, the first verse on tithing that convicted me and stuck with me since, sums it up perfectly:
Malachi 3:10-12 (New International Version)
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
Not convinced? Wait till God sends "pests on your grain". :p
*Please pray for me that I will grasp the need to and how to go about paying taxes next. Thanks!*
Kudos to:
http://www.biblegateway.com (For all the NIV quotes and other translations save for the GNB/TEV and the NET Bible quotes. :D For the Good News Bible/Today's English Version, go to http://bible.crosswalk.com :D)
http://www.bible.org (Home of the New English Translation, NET Bible)
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