Are You Broke? Living From Check To Check?

"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38 Do you have financial problems? Are you living from check to check? Does God have anything to say about this? Of course he does. The Word of God contains all of God's instructions for life, including the remedy for such things as financial troubles. The Word of God says that if you GIVE, you will receive. Now I know this sounds like the mantra of many television evangelists who are actually con-men out for your donations to make themselves rich. They quote Scriptures like this to get you to give. Those false ministers who make money by misusing Scripture will stand before the Lord someday, and will feel the shame of his rebuke. But just because con-men misuse Scripture, doesn't mean that there's something wrong with the Scripture. If followed with a heart that is right before God, it WILL bring the blessing of God because his Word says it will, therefore it will. If you're hurting, GIVE. But be careful to whom you give. Better to give to a struggling small church in your community than to a tv evangelist who lives in a house worth millions with swimming pools and jet planes. The most important thing you can do is to SEEK GOD about where HE would have you give. I've lived this way for years and could write a book on how the Lord has stunned me with his blessings. There is a verse in the book of Malachi which says something very surprising. In Malachi chapter 3, God says to TRY HIM. This is the ONLY place in the Bible where God tells us to put him to the test. More often the Scriptures tell us NOT to "tempt God," but in this one place God himself tells us to try him and see if he will not respond. "You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. 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.'" Malachi 3:9-10 Bring all the tithes... The word tithe means a tenth. In other words, he is telling us to return to him one tenth of our income. You recoil in horror? Some would ask "Isn't it enough that the government takes so much from us in taxes, now God wants some of it too?" The government can't be trusted to do right by you. But God CAN be trusted. I have had to bring this message to folks who were in a period of hardship, and I want you to know that I am human and it has pained me greatly to have to tell them "the way out is to give God his tithe." I ache for their pain, and I hate to feel like I'm adding more stress upon them. But it is the Word of God and it is SURE. And I've never brought this message to a person yet who didn't later testify to me of how God responded. 100% of the time. It's sure, because it's the Word of God. Others might say, "that's from the Old Testament, we aren't to follow the law if we're New Testament believers." And of course that's true, but notice that this passage doesn't come from the law. It's a passage from Malachi, who was a prophet. Don't turn away from it. God says to try him - so try him. I did, and the blessings have never stopped coming. What is the point in tithing? It reveals your focus. In the act of tithing, you're choosing to honor God as your source, rather than the pride in relyimg on your own talents and abilities to achieve success. If you are hurting, take God up on his challenge. But do it with a right heart; in other words, don't use this as a ploy to get God to get you out of your difficulty, but make a quality decision today to begin to LIVE it. Don't just do it once to see if it works, that's an insult to the Lord. Rather, decide to live by the Word of God. If you choose to LIVE BY the Word of God, you will see things you never dreamed of. God is faithful. GOD IS FAITHFUL!