“For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2013

The title of this blog is taken from Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

May God Bless you all in this coming year! May he bless you with good health and prosperity, but I ask him to more importantly bless you with a burning desire to come closer to Him. May the fire of the Holy Spirit ignite in you and truly give you a new life this year!

You see, we always wish each other good health and prosperity for the new year which is good, but so much more important is for us to have a new year filled with a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Your relationship with Christ will define you and the year you have! If you put all your trust and faith in Jesus, He will be with you, He will build you up, He will bless you all throughout the year!

We often ask for things we need and then get mad or disappointed when we don’t get them. But the Lord knows what is best for us, we need to trust in Him. He grants in His time and His way. Many times when we haven’t gotten what we wanted, it was for our own benefit. Many times He denied our request because He knew that what we wanted either wasn’t good for us, was unnecessary or could actually hurt us or someone we love. We may never know or understand why it didn’t go the way we wanted, but we can rest assured that God had a plan, God knew what was best. Friends, trust in Him, He will never let you down.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 26:11

Now I have a challenge for you, this morning’s Turning Point from Dr. David Jeremiah was about tithing was titled “Because it’s His” and begins with this verse:

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD. – Leviticus 27:30

Let me start this with my journey regarding tithing – You see, all my life when I gave to the church, I would always struggle thru the budget and then see what was left and my Sunday offering was what I felt I could based on what was left. With this method the budget was always a struggle and my offering back to the Lord was always the little that was left.

After my study and reading, I’ve learned that this is backwards, truly backwards! You see everything I have is given to me from God! Every dollar, our house, our cars, our possessions are given to us from God! So why am I so stingy giving back to Him what truly is His to begin with?

Back on a personal note, about 4 years ago, I made the decision to truly tithe, truly give 10% back to the Lord as He asks. This was not easy, this is a total mind set change. I was going to give to God first, He was going to get the first 10% of anything I made. Now my weekly giving was going from the little bit that was left each week to the first large cut out of my earnings! How am I going to make the budget work now? Am I going to struggle more? This could really “really cramp my style”. I was truly fearful and apprehensive on how this was going to work.

Well I can tell you now after 4 years, I’m still tithing. I haven’t gone bankrupt. I haven’t even felt like I was struggling with finances. The Lord blessed me for my faith. I “tested” Him, I “called him out” on this tithing thing. I was a doubter, I said “Lord, you tell us to trust you on this, you tell us that you will reward us, well here goes, I’m all in, now show me”. Sounds like something you’d expect from Thomas doesn’t it?

“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.” — Malachi 3:10

The Lord is telling us, to bring Him our tithes and He will pour out blessings that we can not contain! What a promise!

Guess what? It’s true! Once I started tithing, the Lord has provided, the Lord has opened opportunities and relieve the stresses of finance. He’s enabled me to have enough to help others in need, He has enabled me to offer more to missional work. The Lord once again continues His promise and continues to amaze me!

My challenge to you all, it to try tithing. Try giving back to the Lord your first fruits, give back to Him first. After all, it’s his to begin with! Challenge Him on this one, and more importantly have faith and trust in Him, you’ll be surprised with the result!

I’ll leave you with this quote from today’s turning point:

“God demands the tithe, deserves the offerings, defends the savings and directs the expenses.”
Stephen Olford

Until next time, God Bless you!