devotional

Tithing. Most Christians aren’t very excited about it. But they should be—and they would be if they understood how to do it properly.

Scriptural tithing stirs up faith. It activates the power of God in our lives when we do it in gratitude and joy, expecting our needs to be met abundantly.

In Deuteronomy 26:8-9, God told the Israelites exactly what to say when they brought their tithes. He instructed them to acknowledge the fact that He had brought them out of the bondage of Egypt and to say:

“The Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.”

What does that have to do with you and me? God has done the same thing for us! He’s brought us out of a life of bondage and poverty into a life that flows with the abundance of God.

So when you bring your tithe to the Lord, follow the example set by the Israelites. Make it a time of rejoicing. Make it a time of realizing anew the wonderful things Jesus Christ has done for you.

Thank Him for delivering you from a land of darkness and scarcity and bringing you into His promised land of plenty. Thank Him that it is a land of mercy, a land of joy, a land of peace and a land of prosperity.

Tithe in faith, expecting the rich blessings of that land to be multiplied to you. You may soon find it to be one of the most exciting things you can do.

When I was a new Christian, it was almost impossible for me to live at peace with anyone! Almost every time I opened my mouth, I said something ugly. I was constantly hurting the people I was close to. In fact, I spoke more harshly to them than to anyone else.

I criticized Gloria’s driving so much that she nearly refused to drive while I was with her. I criticized my children so much that they began to avoid me. I didn’t want to be so insensitive, but I couldn’t help it. I had a well-developed habit of speaking harshly and didn’t know how to change it.

Then I found Ephesians 5:4. It said, “[Let there be] no coarse, stupid, or flippant talk; these things are out of place; you should rather be thanking God” (New English Bible). When I read that, I realized I needed to replace the words I was used to saying with words of thanksgiving. That would solve my problem. After all, I couldn’t speak harshly and thank God at the same time. I couldn’t criticize those around me if I had a thankful attitude about them.

I immediately decided to put this principle to work in my life. Rushing into my son’s room one day ready to lambaste him about something he had done, I recognized my old behavior pattern. I just stopped and said to myself, “The Word says this kind of behavior is out of place, so I am going to stop and thank God.” I wasn’t nearly as angry after I spent a few minutes praising and thanking the Lord.

If you’ve developed the habit of speaking harshly, start changing that habit today. When someone crosses you on the job, at school, or wherever, and you’re tempted to tear into them with cruel words, stop! Then take a few moments to give thanks and praise to God. Once you begin thinking about how good God is, more often than not, those harsh, angry words will just slip away unspoken.

Instead of using your tongue to tear people down, train it to lift God’s praises up. Then living at peace with others will come easily to you!

The world’s order of things is unsure and indefinite. Desperate words of uncertainty are crying out daily from radio, television and newspapers. Everything around us seems to be in turmoil.

But, praise God, if you’re a believer you have something you can depend on: the unchanging Word of God!

God has no double standard. He doesn’t say one thing today and something else tomorrow. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

If you will make the Word the final authority in your life, it will give you stability when everything else around you gives way. If you’ll let what God says settle the issues of life, you’ll be confident when others are confused, peaceful when others are under pressure. You’ll be overcoming when others are being overcome!

What does it mean to make God’s Word the final authority? It means believing what He says instead of believing what people say. It means believing what He says instead of what Satan says. It means believing what He says instead of what the circumstances say.

Determine in your heart to do that today. Make up your mind to live by faith, not by sight. Fearlessly commit yourself to the authority of God’s Word and there won’t be anything in this unstable world that can steal your security from you.

Considering how much the devil hates people and how dead set he is on destroying them, it’s no wonder we see so much tragedy and disaster in the world. In fact, it’s amazing that we don’t see more!

I asked the Lord about that one time and He told me it takes the realm of darkness a long time to set up major disasters. Take the aviation industry, for example. It’s highly regulated and works hard at policing itself because safety is its product. You take a highly regulated system like that and the devil has to work terribly hard to cause disasters.

He can’t just come roaring in and rip things up any time he wants to. If he could, he’d knock every plane out of the sky tonight. But he can’t do it.

Why? Because he’s bound. The Bible says he’s bound to things that are common to man. He has to line up certain things in this natural, human realm before he can lay a finger on you. He has to use people to get his work done.

But, bless God, we’re not bound to what’s common to man. We’re free to use what’s common to God! We fight our warfare with uncommon weapons. What does that mean? It means you ought to have the devil wrapped up and sewed up. You ought to put him in a sack with a ribbon on top.

The devil can’t cause disaster in your life unless he has been given place. He can’t come in and start destroying and stealing from you unless he can get you into a place of sin, doubt, ignorance or disobedience. So if he’s been giving you trouble, ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you’ve let those things in. Then repent and get rid of them.

Once you’ve done that, pull out the weapons God has given you and fire away with both barrels. Pull out the Word. Pull out prayer. Pull out faith and use it to tie the devil in knots. Use the uncommon power of God to keep him bound and he won’t be able to put anything over on you.

Have you been praying that God will let you know whether a certain action you want to take is agreeable to His will or not? Let this peace of Christ be your guide. Let it help you settle the issue. If you start to take that action and you realize you don’t have peace about it, don’t do it.

Remember, though, that this inner leading of the Holy Spirit, this subtle sense of uneasiness or peace He gives you, is something you have to watch and listen for carefully. He generally won’t just come up and knock you out of bed one morning and tell you what you need to do. The primary way He speaks to you is by what the Bible calls an inward witness.

So, you have to listen. You can’t just stay busy about the things of the world all the time. You have to give Him time and attention.

Also, watch out for strife. If you’re irritated and upset about things in your life, it will be very hard to receive that quiet guidance from the Holy Spirit. So take heed to the instructions at the end of this scripture and “be thankful… appreciative, giving praise to God always.” Maintain a thankful, grateful heart. You’ll find it much easier to hear the “umpire of peace” when He makes a call.