Essence Of Giving

November 8. Jeremiah ch 42–44; Hebrews 4

ESSENCE OF GIVING

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“There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet for distribution to anyone as he had need.” Acts 4:34–35 BSB

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HAPPY DAY TO YOU:

Giving in the New Testament Church brought out the essence of God's instructions about giving in the Old Testament. Giving in the Old Testament was never meant to enrich the priests or Levites, but to ensure that there was food in the house of God for the Levites, who had no inheritance among the people of God, as well as for the widows, the poor and the strangers.

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One Sunday, about twenty years ago, I took my tithe envelope to church. As the call was made for us to dance forward and drop our envelopes into the offering bucket, I heard a clear voice in my mind telling me to stop and give the envelope to a woman. I went close to her and said, ‘God asked me to give you this.’ She was happy and thanked God. As I was about to close the door of my car, she ran to me and said, ‘Sister, you really heard God. That is the exact amount I have been praying to God for to pay my rent so I would not be evicted.’ She prayed, and I was very happy that the tithe had helped someone.

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The Holy Spirit taught me that day that He does not dwell in brick houses but in the hearts of men.

“‘This temple took forty-six years to build,’ the Jews replied, ‘and You are going to raise it up in three days?’ But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.” John 2:20–21 BSB

Jesus called His body the temple of God. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, we are also called temples of the Holy Spirit.

The way to treat your tithe is to separate your tithe or offering and present it to God, then ask Him where He wants you to put it. Look at what God says about tithes, even in the Old Testament temple:

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.” Malachi 3:10 BSB

It is for food to be in the house of God, not to amass wealth for any priest, as we see today. Even in our text today, the people gave so that every member of their congregation would lack nothing.

Present your tithe to God in prayers at home and ask Him where He wants you to put it. It is a channel through which supply can flow among His children. God is not happy with a few people holding on to the food that should be available to the children of God in the church.

Think about this and let the Holy Spirit minister to you more.

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Dear Father and God, thank You for making a way for everyone to have their basic needs met in Your church. Help us, as Your priests, to learn to take care of one another's basic needs, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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