“Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.” (2 Chronicles 31:9)
The Word of God is bringing us to a place where we will be right with God in every way. God is our partner, He is working with us and we need to dedicate all our life and our substance to Him whether we have little or whether we have much.
I heard a dear brother telling a story how God came to him and asked him, “Will you give all to Me?” Any time God comes to you with a question like that you should know that He is setting a trap for you; He is going to give you something in the future. Once you make the covenant, you cannot back off any more.
God wants you to CONSCIOUSLY dedicate ALL to Him. If you do it, you will recognize that the money you have is not yours. Because of this, you will give God His own and only then you will take the rest to pay your bills. And as you give God His part, He will bless you.
God has a way in which He blesses a group or a church. He says, “All right, I am going to give this brother a good job here and I am going to give that other brother a good job there. I am going to prosper this one here and I am going to prosper that one over there.” Have you ever thought why God prospered you? Let me tell you: He is setting you up to be a STRENGTH to the people of God. He wants you to prosper His business! He wants you to understand that you are a part of God’s business in America, you are a part of God’s business in Europe, in Africa, wherever you come from. You are a part of God’s business in the whole world! Therefore, whatever He gives you a hand to do, do it. When you start giving to God’s work, the strength that God gives you strengthens God’s work.
We are in a blood covenant relationship with God, but most of us don’t know it. We think God is prospering us that we might live delicately; just have a good life. We look about our own business, have insurance, put the money in the bank, and we do one thing or the other, not knowing that we are robbing God of the power and the grace that He has poured out upon us. And He gets nothing out of us.
If your business is not going well, it is because you have been robbing God. And if you have been robbing God, then when the failure in this country comes, you are going to fail with those that fail. You must begin to consider your ways! You must understand that if a man gives God less than one-tenth of what he earns, then he has fallen even below the law. Those under the law gave a tenth, so if you give less than a tenth, you have fallen below. And if you give only a tenth, you have not given God one thing!
Let’s say you and I have a partnership and I am supporting you. I am giving you strength. I am giving you life. I am keeping you out of the hospital. Many times other people get sick and go to the hospital and spend thousands and thousands of dollars for their hospital bills. But I am keeping you out of that! I am sheltering you. I am covering you. I am giving you peace. I am helping your children. And I say to you, “All I need is a tenth of what the strength I have given you produces. Only one-tenth. That’s all I want.” Then, out of the goodness of your heart, you are going to give me even more from your nine-tenths, right?
There are some people who do not believe in giving and their prosperity is waning! Let me show you a scripture that describes these people. We will be reading from Malachi 3:8-12,
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.”
When I was a young man, I knew a man whose name was LeTourneau. He got so excited over God! One day he invented some machinery and started the Caterpillar business. He said to God, “God, I will give you a tenth of all the blessing I get,” and his business became a very prosperous business. So he said, “Lord, I will give you ninety percent of all my income and I will live on the ten percent.” And so he did. He began to give God nine-tenths and he kept one-tenth to himself. The man became a multimillionaire on the ten percent! He couldn’t get rid of his money! THIS IS A DIVINE PRINCIPLE! The more he gave God, the more he prospered! We all know today what the Caterpillar company is. Up to the time I lost track of him, the man was still giving nine-tenths to God. He never failed; he kept giving nine-tenths.
After you have given God the one-tenth, you have given Him His share, His part in your life, and He will give you prosperity, health, and strength, because you care for God’s people.
God is talking to OBEDIENT people – it is not a law. In the Levitical priesthood it was a law, but under Christ it is no longer a law, because you no longer have to do it to be saved. You do not even have to do it to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. It is, however, something you have to do to be obedient. God is saying that there is a people who will live on obedience, or die on disobedience.
