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10% of Your Income… 100% of Your Heart

 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try 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 such blessing that there will not  be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the wine fail to bear fruit for you in the field” says the Lord of hosts.” And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land” says the Lord of hosts.”— Malachi 3:10-12

Are you ready to take the limits off your income?  How do we get on that road to increase? Through tithing. In the plan of God, tithing and wealth are so closely connected that in the Hebrew Language, they both come from the same root word.

Tithing is the covenant transaction that opens the door for God to be directly involved in our increase. It is a two-way exchange in which we honor God by giving Him 10 percent of our income and He, in return, provides us with a “surplus of prosperity” (Deuteronomy 28:11, The Amplified Bible). You can see how that transaction works in Malachi 3:10-12. But you may say, “I know Christians who have been tithing for years and they’re not wealthy!” Actually, you don’t. You just know people who have put 10 percent of their income into the offering bucket. They went through the motions, but they weren’t really tithing.

You see, tithing isn’t just a matter of the pocketbook. It is a matter of the heart. That’s the way it is with everything as far as God is concerned. He  always looks on the heart. So when we tithe as a religious routine, not in faith, just because we’re supposed to and not as a genuine expression of our love for God, we miss out on the blessings of it.

That’s what happened to the people in Malachi’s day. They were bringing sacrifices to the Lord. They were going through the motions of tithing. But they were not being blessed. In fact, they were living under a financial curse because the attitude of their heart was not right. In Malachi 1, we can read what the Lord had to say to them: “A son honors his father and a servant his master. If  then I am The Father where is My honor? And if  I am a Master where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name? You offer defiled food on My altar. But you say, ‘In what way we have defiled You?...When you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he be accept you favorably? Says the Lord of hosts.” (verses 6-8)

What was missing from the tithes and offerings of these people? Honor! They weren’t giving God their best. Because they didn’t love and reverence God in their hearts, they were offering Him their leftovers. They were fulfilling religious requirements by keeping a formula with no worship.

As tithers, we should learn a lesson from them. When we find ourselves suffering financial lack and failing to enjoy the supernatural increase God has promised, we should check our attitude—fast! We should make sure we’re giving God our best (not leftovers) and honoring Him with all our heart.

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