Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
I give you, My Covenant people, a way to accelerate restoration and to keep it in place so that the enemy, the devourer, cannot steal from you. If you do not check him, the devil will devour all your goods, dreams, health, joy, and your very life. And he does it primarily by stealing My Word from you, so you have no weapons to put him in his place, which is under your feet. He always tries to first disarm you and then lead you into sin. This is what he did with Eve, he stole My Word from her by making her doubt its truth and substituted his lie, which then brought her death and destroyed all that was good in her life.
And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:1-8.
Adam and Eve failed the test that I give every one of you to see if I can safely entrust My Kingdom to you. They chose death over life.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days (your forever). Deuteronomy 30:19-20.
They could not be trusted with all the wonderful things I wanted them to have. The windows of Heaven were open to them, but they let the devourer have it all. The good news is that Jesus restores, He undoes what the devil did to you.
Does this, however, remind you of another command I give to you for your benefit? It is about the acceleration to restoration and the increase thereof. It is called the tithe. If you could look at the fall of man from another angle, you could say Eve and Adam ate the tithe. They took the fruit of the one tree they were to offer to Me. They robbed Me and in came the devourer with the curse. They ate the tithe, and he gobbled up all the rest. When you first pay the tithe, the rest is blessed.
You shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your gates. The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. Deuteronomy 14:28-29.
Listen to the words of My Spirit to Malachi and you will understand:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test 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 a blessing until it overflows. 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. Malachi 3:8-12.
This is an extraordinary promise. I generally tell you to take up the authority I have given you in Christ with His Name, His Blood, and My Word, and you resist, rebuke and cast out the devil and his unclean spirits. But here I tell you that when you tithe and give offerings, I will not only open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out a blessing you cannot contain but that I Myself will rebuke the devourer for you so that he cannot take your finances, territory, and sources of income. I restore and I protect so you cannot lose it again. You can enforce your tither’s rights with Me and against the devourer every time he tries to take what is yours.
There are people today who say that tithing is no longer required, that it was part of the Mosaic law, but that is not so. Tithing started at the foundation of the world. It was a way for Me to increase and protect you.
Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s; it is holy to the LORD. If, therefore, a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he shall add to it one-fifth of it. For every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD. He is not to be concerned whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; or if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy. It shall not be redeemed.’” Leviticus 27:30-33.
As I just showed you, of all the fruit in the Garden of Eden, I had one tree that the fruit thereof was Mine, that way they could eat all the rest. Just like every first born of the Israelites belonged to Me since I had saved them from the destroyer by the blood of the Passover Lamb, but then I took the Levites as My own tribe to serve in My house, intercede for the people, judge disputes among them, and teach My Word to the people and thus no one had to consecrate their firstborn to My service but kept them as their own. And you know what I set aside for the Levites from My people? Yes, the tithe was theirs.
“To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.” Numbers 18:21.
But that was not the end of it. The Levites also need the protection and increase of tithing:
“Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.” Numbers 18:26.
Cain and Abel offered tithes and offerings and it was My favor upon Abel for bringing the unblemished lamb as his tithe and offering that brought about Cain’s jealous anger that resulted in the murder of Abel by Cain.
Noah owned everything when he came out of the ark but he offered tithes and offerings to Me immediately and then came restoration and protection.
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.” Genesis 8:20-21.
Abraham tithed to Melchizedek without Melchizedek requesting it, so you know it was his usual practice with Me. And it was after that I promised him his heart’s desire, a son, and descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, and it was then I also promised him the land to which I had called him and he was sojourning upon to his descendants. It was then I made covenant with him.
Jacob, his grandson, also tithed and promised Me that was the way he would show Me I was his God whom he trusted to prosper him.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” Genesis 28:20-22.
And I prospered Jacob. He went with only staff in hand and he returned as two companies, with many sons, many servants, large flocks, and abundance of wealth.
I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Genesis 32:10.
Many people, members of the body of Christ today, do not tithe and they wonder why they have financial lack. They say they do not have enough to tithe, and that tithing impoverishes them even further. They see no gain in tithing, no benefit to it. So they disobey and keep the tithe to eat it, but that is why they do not have enough to tithe. You steal the ten percent of the income and the rest is under the curse instead of in the hedge of the blessing.
“Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? Malachi 3:13-14.
When you honor Me in tithes and offerings (tithing is the ten percent of your income and increase, and offerings are above that and given as freewill offerings in thanksgiving and can be targeted for special desires of your heart), showing your trust in Me, then I honor you and show My trust in you. I can entrust you with wealth, and the greater your wealth, the greater your tithes and offerings become. Giving double brings the double.
I liken tithing and offerings to sowing seed for a harvest.
Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.
Do you see the rejoicing? I love a cheerful giver. Why? I can reward them a hundredfold. To be a cheerful giver means you understand the law of giving and receiving.
Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:9-10.
The tithing system, as I gave it for the nation of Israel, was its own built in spiritual and physical welfare system. The ten percent of all the produce of land, field, flock, and herd from the allotments of all the eleven tribes went to the Levites and from them it was distributed to support the daily mandatory sacrifices and offerings in the temple, the livelihood of the priests and Levites and their families, building projects for the temple and maintenance, the making of incense and the anointing oils as well as oil for the golden lampstand to burn at all times, ingredients for the show bread, vestments and furnishings, scrolls, teaching materials and trips to the various areas to gather the people for training in the Word, courts of justice, support for widows, orphans, and aliens. If people did not tithe, these systems did not function as they should and things went into disrepair. And the people perished for lack of knowledge. But in rejecting tithing, they rejected knowledge.
Think about that.
You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; your ears are open, but none hears. The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake to make the law great and glorious. But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, “Restore!” Isaiah 42:20-22.
I love you. If you have not been tithing and giving offerings it is time to begin. And you will enter times of refreshing. Will no one say “restore”?