ABOUT TITHING

[Guest Carly49]

Hi:

You probably have other posts on this subject, but I have not seen them.

When I was single, I did tithe for a while and I got on OK. Since I've been married common-law and legally, I have not had enough money to look after my house and husband let alone tithe. My bills including taxes are overdue! I am scared and I don't know why. Looks like I'm not trusting God very much uh? I want to get my life right with God again in every way including getting back to church and tithing! I don't want to live in fear anymore and take pills!

I know that I am guilty of "disobedience to God" of the following verses"

Mal

Edited October 30, 2004 by Carly49

[Guest Thomas I believe]

You probably have other posts on this subject, but I have not seen them.

When I was single, I did tithe for a while and I got on OK. Since I've been married common-law and legally, I have not had enough money to look after my house and husband let alone tithe. My bills including taxes are overdue! I am scared and I don't know why. Looks like I'm not trusting God very much uh? I want to get my life right with God again in every way including getting back to church and tithing! I don't want to live in fear anymore and take pills!

I know that I am guilty of "disobedience to God" of the following verses"

Mal 3:7

Edited October 30, 2004 by Thomas I beleive

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Carly,

Remember the adultress that was going to be stoned to death by the Pharisees? Well, it looks like the Holy Spirit has caught you red-handed and is impressing on you to "go and sin no more", just as Jesus instructed.

In part, you have been faithful to acknowledge your many sins and now you want to do what is right. This speaks well of you and all of us here rejoice with you and pray that God makes a way for you to go. The angels rejoice every time one of us repents and begins to follow Jesus.

Tithing is the very least of your problems. You have been brain-washed that this was meant for you. It is NOT! It is written: "The Lord loves a 'cheerful' giver." That means you LOVE to give, you do it cheerfully because you are contributing to the Kingdom of God, and by so doing, you will be "storing up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where rust and moth do not destroy."

BUT, if you CAN'T give with this gleeful delight, then by ALL MEANS DON'T! I can't stress that enough. As another poster has said, pray and draw close to Christ. When it is time, He, Himself, will encourage your heart to "give" and it WILL BE with gleeful delight.

So for right now, get right with God, pray and fast and get into your Bible and let the Holy Spirit lead you through it. I am sure that many here are already saying a prayer for you.

May the Lord give you insights that you have never had before and that He place His arms around you and comfort you in these coming days.

Bless you my friend in Christ,

Dad Ernie

[larryt]

Hi Carly,

I'll third that advise. You pray and seek God's face and His righteousness and see His provision and He will tell you how much to give and when. And you will rejoice to give when you see His provision.

He promises to supply all our need but there is a conditon. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

You sound like you mean business with God, He does take notice and will come to your aid.

LT

[wordsower]

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

If God truly convicts you to tithe, He will provide and He will tell you how much and to whom.

[other one]

Tithing was used in the old testament by the Hebrews as a way of funding the Levities Priests because they did not receive any land which gave them no means of supporting themselves otherwise.

The church that was made in the New Covenant has no provision in a legal sense, and I personally don't think that tithing is still mandatory.

The moneys that were collected by the apostles were for the support of the destitute Christians that could not take care of themselves. (Mostly I think in Israel). This is done today by the Federal Government in our tax withholding when we work to cover welfare expenses.

I am not suggesting that we should not cover the costs of a church building nor pay a pastor, if we expect him to be available at all times to help people and to take care of the Church. But I personally don't believe we are commanded to give 10% of everything to the local church that you attend. Actually there are times when you may give more than 10% and times you can give less. It is what you can give happily and with joy in your heart, not resentment of having your family do without so some pastor can have 1,000 dollar suits.

Giving a couple of bucks to some homeless person is more important to me than dropping it all in the church plate each week.

Give what you can, and be happy for it. Don't let people drag you down if you can't afford the 10%. If God wanted you to give 10% he'd fund it so you can afford it.

Now hoarding it when you can give and help people is another whole story, and not a pretty one at that......

[ted]

I wouldn't worry so much about it. The tithe, as stated a few posts ago, was set up to provide for the Levities to tend to their needs as they carried out their service. We are not under the Law any longer. If you can, do!

If you can't, don't. I don't believe there is a set amount to give but there are many ways you can give in other ways if you feel led.

I think Sam hit it on the head.

t.

[ellie]

Tithing is an absolute in our lives. God has never forsaken us in this area, no matter what the end of the month looked like to us, when we got there the Lord provided. God has a royal way in which He provides for us His children and He builds our faith in this way. In the many years we have been serving Christ, this is one area that He has never let us down in, even when we were young in the faith we gave our tithe and offerings. One month was especially bad, we had no money for groceries. Our children were quite small and dependent on us to provide. We went to the Throne and made our needs known to God alone, we did not tell anyone else. We went to church that very morning, and since we lived in a small town where we knew nearly everyone we never locked our door. When we came home from church there were boxes and boxes of groceries piled up, not only groceries (more than a months worth) but there was laundry detergent and toilet paper (God always provides more abundantly than we ask for) we had such a surplus that we gave some of it away to a neighbor who was struggling. I could go on and on with the times the Lord has done this. Right now we prove God's royal way daily, we operate a world wide ministry with ministry partners around the world. We have never asked for funds, we are not allowed to, God made that clear with us early on. Yet, our ministry budget is well over $1,000 a month (this is just for the ministry all our staff are volunteers there are no paid positions) and we have never once failed to meet our monthly budget. God has provided ever step of the way without us ever asking for funds. Our ministry is called His Will Ministry, it is His will to provide, He asks for a tenth of our income and free will offerings. He will not let You down. And He will rebuke the devourer for your sake. Trust Him. And give with a joyous heart, this makes all the difference.

We have a wonderful Christian brother who once said to us, we are not under the law and we don't have to tithe anymore. So I told him, okay then let us do what the New Testament believers did, they came together and gave everything they had and it was then distrubuted as needed. Either way, we cannot loose. God will provide, we have His promise on that and God's promise is as current coin.

Love in Christ, Mary (ellie)

His Will Ministry

[ted]

What a wonderful testimony!

Thanks for sharing.

t.

[ellie]

You're welcome. I forgot to give the NT scriptures. Here they are.

42And they continued steadfastly in the apostles