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Tithing Chases Away the Devourer
By
I recently sent this thought to family and within minutes, my dad asked me to post it on facebook and my sister-in-law Kathy asked me to post it on my blog. I have been amazed at how many people have shared that they are resharing. I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts.
On day as I dropped Grant off for detassling corn, I was listening to a sermon when the pastor said something I had never heard or caught before. He said that tithing rebukes the devourer from our lives. I thought… What? Really? I had to go and check it out. Look at Malachi 3:11. It is so clear, yet I never caught this before and my husband is a lay-Christian counselor for Crown Ministries. WOW! This verse should make any believer want to tithe. I know that solid believers tithe simply because they love the LORD. But, what about those moments of struggle when we forget the blessings of giving back to God when we think I don’t have it to tithe. I just lost my job or my bills are mounting. Might knowing that the devourer will be prevented from devouring you prevent you from faltering in your tithes and offerings?
See, the devourer will be prevented from destroying our fruit. Our fruit is where our seed comes from for the next harvest. Without the seed, we can’t plant, reap or sow. It helps to know that little foxes would eat the vines for the liquid inside them and that little foxes were symbols of the enemy. If the vine is chewed through then the fruit will not grow. They will die and fall to the ground before full maturity. So, tithing becomes a tool for chasing away the little foxes from eating our nourishment spiritually. In a way, tithing is the fence that keeps the little foxes out of our spiritual garden harvest. What might your spiritual garden look like? Have you let in the little foxes?
Can’t wait to hear how God chases away the little foxes across Kansas and Nebraska as the devourer is stopped in our land because tithes and offerings have increased! I want the blessing for our land. Don’t you?
Malachi 3:11-12 (NASB) “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts.“
Tithing:
- Rebukes the devourer from my life.
- Prepares the way for the fruit to grow.
- Sends delightful blessing to the land. (The land can symbolize physical land or spiritual land).
Simply,
Tara
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tara Rye is the President and Founder of Cultivating Hearts Ministry. She serves her church—Westside Church and her community through weekly Bible teaching at the Open Door Mission and on the radio at KCRO 660 AM. She and Greg celebrate 17 years of marriage with two delightful teens who keep them on their toes. Her greatest comfort is to have a cup of chai tea with her two dogs lying next to her as she reads her Bible early in the morning before the family wakes up. Tara has a Masters of Religious Education from Southwestern Theological Seminary and is available for speaking engagements. Feel free to contact her at www.tararye.com.
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I do not think that pastor is correct as the bible teaches no such thing. that pastor simply took Malachi 3 completely out of context. The command to tithe was given to the children of Israel as part of the law. They were to bring the tenth part of crops and livestock alone to the place God had commanded them to bring it to and they were to eat it before God. The priests, orphans, widows and strangers were supposed to be invited to this feast.
However, during the time of prophet Malachi, the children of Israel had begun to disobey God’s laws. They offered up diseased animals as offerings, divorced their Jewish wives in favour of younger gentile ones and stopped giving their tithes and offerings amongst other things. God had warned them earlier in the book of Deuteronomy 28 that should they break any one of the laws He’d given them, they will face calamities.
38 “You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. 39 You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. 40 You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. 41 You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity. 42 Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.
God only reminded them of the above verse in the book of Malachi.
The command to tithe went away with the law and is no longer binding on the New Testament church.
God bless
Tony, Thank you for your response. I know that there are those that believe the tithe is no longer necessary. Based upon your answer, I assume that you are one that believes this. Thank you for the dialogue. I always love the opportunity to grow and learn.
I fall in the other category. I believe that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not condemn it. He told the disciples that they were commanded to teach all that he commanded them. Jesus used OT scripture to teach what the Father accomplished. In God’s design in the OT there was a blessing with the tithe. It demonstrated obedience to God’s commands and they would then know the blessing of obedience. I in no way say this is financial gain. Spiritual blessing is way different than man’s concept of success. This Malachi passage reminds me of James 4 where it talks of the promise that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us and how if we resist satan he will flee from us. This demonstrates the power of God’s presence. Everything we own is God’s. None of it is ours. We are merely stewards of God’s blessings. How we choose to honor Him and draw near to Him will be a personal decision, but we know for certain that when we do seek to draw near to God, He will draw near to us. My focus in writing this devo centered on the heart of drawing near and knowing the blessing of the enemy fleeing. As for tithing, I personally know the blessing of God’s presence in my life as I seek to honor Him in what I give. When I first began tithing I was nearly 10,000 in debt. I lived on a small teacher salary and well I also lived a lot of poor choices. But, God began a good work in me. I wanted to honor GOD and bless Him with my choices so I began to tithe. Without even realizing what was happening my debt reduced to nothing over a short period of time. Maybe six months and I only made 18,000 a year. It wasn’t a miracle by miracle standards, but it did not make sense on my teacher salary. God blessed me with my choices to honor Him. Eventually, He honored me with the privilege of becoming someone that was able to give to others. I lived in the fruit of taking care of what God gave me. Because I chose to honor God with my choices I was able to keep the little foxes away. I see this more as a heart issue than anything else. May our Father bless you and keep you and shine HIS face upon you and give you peace. In Him, Tara
Hi Tara,
Thanks for your gracious statement. If I go by what you say about Jesus not condemning the law but fulfilling it, then we will have a whole plethora of Old Testament practises to continue in the New Testament besides tithing. We can claim that circumcision amongst other Old Testament practises becomes valid in the New Testament because Jesus did not come to condemn the law.
The entire law spoke of Jesus and he fulfilled every aspect of it. The law required that a lamb without blemish be sacrificed for the atonement of sins; Jesus became that lamb. His death spelt an end to all the Old Testament offerings, through His resurrection He fulfilled the aspect of the firstfruits and so on.
Tithing in the Old Testament was never a condition for blessing rather keeping all 613 Old Testament laws was the condition of receiving these blessings. And a curse followed if just one of these laws was broken. For the New Testament believer, God never instituted the tithe as a means of obtaining blessings of any sort as this will mean the blood of Christ was not needed.
Besides, it is practically impossible to tithe today as God only commanded that crops and livestock from within the land of Israel should be tithed. No verse of scripture ever commands a tithe of money and this was not because money was absent; it was very much present. Abraham paid for the field Sarah was buried in with money, Joseph was sold for money, his brothers came to Egypt with money to buy food, the tithes of agricultural produce could be bought back with money and also converted to money which could be spent on anything the tither liked and monies was collected from all males over a certain age for the upkeep of the temple.
It is definitely incorrect that tithing attracts some sort of blessing, no verse of scripture supports this.
God bless.
Forgive me for taking so long. Life and ministry prevail.
I have prayed much before responding as well. I have a few questions for you. What do you believe we are to do with tithes and offerings based upon the NT? Are you trying to convince believers to not give to GOD? Is it wrong for one to give tithes? Would God reject a pure heart in giving a tithe? I am asking questions because I want to understand. In humble love in Him. Tara
Hi tara,
Thanks once again for accommodating me and I will try to clarify my position.
I am not in any way trying to dissuade people from giving but I am only trying to point us to the way scripture encourages us to give. 2 verses of scripture form the foundation for giving in the New Testament –
12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 2 Corinthians 8
7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 2 Corinthians 9
These verses show the early church did not tithe; instead everyone gave as they were able with no minimum giving standard imposed. Thus this forms the blueprint for the New Testament church; anything we give is acceptable as far as it has been given willingly and cheerfully.
Ironically, the way the tithe is being preached in much of today’s church bears no semblance to what is obtained in the bible. The bible clearly defines the tithe as the tenth part of agricultural produce and livestock alone. The bible never commanded us to tithe money and this was not because money was absent during this time, on the contrary.
Abraham paid for the land he buried Sarah in with money. Joseph’s brothers sold him for money and they came to Egypt with money to buy food during the famine. Also, God commanded all males over the age of 20 to pay money as ransom for their lives and this money was used to maintain the temple. The tithe of agricultural produce could also be converted into money and every single cent of it spent by the tither on wine or strong drink or on anything they liked. The law is definitely replete with references to money.
The long and short of it all is anything we give from 1% to 100% is accepted by God as long as it has been given willingly and cheerfully.
God bless.