Malachi 3:8-10 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein how 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, 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.
Many Christians are cursed with the curse of poverty because we do not pay our tithes. Surprisingly, we assist this curse of poverty in fighting against us. But God is saying every beast is for Him in Psalm 50:11-14, God says ‘[11] I know all the fowls of the mountain: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. [12] If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. [13] Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? [14] Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High. [15] And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.
This is the basic covenant every Christian has with God. He does not need anything from you. So do not be deceived by the pride the devil will infiltrate in you. It is very sad to see that because of a person’s tithe, he will be cursed with a curse! God does not need it!
In Psalm 37, God is seen as a God who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His children. He just wants you to give to Him willingly so that He will bless you fully. God says after sacrificing, call upon Him and He will bless you.
God does not need anything from you, but as far as this planet, Earth is concerned, God wants you to support the programme of the church. So the Bible says in Malachi 3:10 that bring your tithes so that there will be meat in my house. God does not eat the meat so ‘meat’ here is not the physical meat we are talking about but the spiritual meat.
Let us got to I Corinthians 10:3, I want the Holy Ghost to open your eyes to see some spiritual financial principles that will help you see things the way God wants you to see them, you have been counting that amount you receive as salary for so long you need to graduate from thousands to ten thousands, from ten thousands to millions from millions to billions! It says ‘And did all eat the spiritual meat’. Here we see that the meat in Malachi is spiritual that will enable us grow in spirit. We must appreciate the fact that God’s agency meant to make us grow in the spirit is the church so we must pay our tithes to enable this agency do its work fully.
In John 4:31-34 Jesus said [31] In the mean while his disciples prayed him saying, Master, eat. [32] But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. [33] Therefore said the disciples to one another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? [34] Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work. Here we see a picture of the disciples inquiring from Jesus with their mouth filled with meat. When Jesus said He had meat to eat already the disciples asked carnally, has this man passed somewhere to eat some meat? Why does he not want meat, he is very strange. Ah, a man rejecting meat, how come? But Jesus said my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. So here we see that the meat is God’s Word, so we must do his work. We must distribute the word to all nations according to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19. And how can we do that, to use money to print tracts, Bibles, have money to pay for our radio programmes and run the Kingdom Business.
As a matter of fact, if you are a Christian and you are not paying your tithes, then according to Malachi 3:9, you are cursed with a curse because you are in the church and you are not adding anything up to the church business you are under a double curse. The statement ‘cursed with a curse’ means you are in a situation where you are being shot with a gun that is already cursed and the bullet that is being used to shoot you is also cursed, why? Because you are robbing God! You do not want God’s work to go on.
In Psalm 50:10-15 God says if He was hungry, He would not tell us but He says offer your thanksgiving and pay your vows, and then call upon Him in the days of trouble. So God just wants you to appreciate Him. Just the appreciation! Look at a situation where someone is crossing the road, within a short distance the person will be knocked down by a car. You are alright, you are safe and sound. Someone is in the hospital sick and dying and you cannot say that God you are the source of my life, take this for your business or God take that for your business! That is very bad!
In Genesis 14, you see how Lot was taken as a captive at a point in time and then somewhere along the line someone said to Abraham, “your nephew Lot has been taken away.” The Bible says Abraham organised his own men, 318 of them, trained in his own household and chased the enemies. He was able to defeat 5 nations with 318 men. Divide 318 by 5. How? On the average, calculate the number of people who defeated one nation! It was a supernatural defeat. So when Abraham came back he met the wonderful man, Melchizedek. Immediately he saw him, God opened his eyes to see that he was not an ordinary man, so the Bible says Abraham paid tithes unto Melchizedek, saying I want to appreciate the wonderful victory God has given to me to you, who is a ‘heavenly incarnate’, because the Bible says Melchizedek had no father, no mother and no history.
Some people said tithing is from the Law and Jesus Christ has come to abolish the Law. No! Even before Moses came, the system of tithing was. Abraham was the first person to pay tithes. We should not allow the devil to deceive us. Even if you have doubts, see yourself as giving to appreciate the work of God.
In Proverbs 3:9-10, the Bible says ‘Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruit of all thine increase: so shall thine barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.’ God wants us to honour Him. It is automatic and compulsory for every Christian to prosper so this is how you do it! If God does something for you, we must show appreciation. If we do not do it, then we have been unfaithful. Many of us spend more on funerals, parties and other unnecessary things than we spend on God. Many Christians give the worst of our harvests to God. We usually fold the dirtiest and lowest denomination of our currency and toss it into the offering bowl. That is ungratefulness unto God. This is why many rich people suffer before they die; because most of them are ungrateful to God when they get money. Some die from cancer and other incurable diseases they spend their all on. This leaves their surviving relatives with nothing. It is very rare to hear of a poor person who has been diagnosed of a disease with a long name.
So we must move from that poverty Egypt to the Promised Land, flowing with honey and milk. Let us look at Matthew 6:33 ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added onto you.’ Your salvation is very important so after that, all other things including your prosperity will be added onto you. That is why I always say that your salvation is meaningless unless it is linked with your total financial liberty and abundance. So after several years of Christianity, you must be able to make ends meet. You must seek the Kingdom business of God first and all the riches and other things will be added onto you.
Let us look at Luke 12:32 Jesus said ‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s pleasure to give you the Kingdom.’ Now as a born again Christian, you have sought the Kingdom and it has been given to you to build it up! In the spiritual realms, there are just two kingdoms; The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. These two kingdoms are actively competing day and night against each other! So as a Christian, you have the duty of building God’s Kingdom and decreasing Satan’s Kingdom! I John 3:8 says ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.’ Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. How do we destroy the devil’s work, by promoting the work of God! Every Christian has the duty of converting more people from the kingdom of Satan into Christianity, to decrease their population. That is why God says in Colossians 1:20 that he has been translated from the kingdom of darkness into His own Kingdom and has made us into his own citizens.
Ask yourself, how have I been building God’s Kingdom? How many souls have you won for Christ? Many of us have never won a soul, the same people cannot contribute for evangelism to take place they cannot do anything! And they are sitting down there! They don’t even pay their tithes. I went to a church and the General Overseer issued a law that any Pastor who cannot win at least one soul for the church every month will have to resign. The most painful thing is that you will evangelise and win souls, when the new people come to church; some of the old members will discourage them through behaviours like gossiping, rude talk and quarrels. So what is our use to God? Ask yourself. As a matter of fact, many Christians irritate God. We help Satan to build his kingdom. If you do not spend money on Christian activities, you will spend it on satanic activities. Let us look at the number of satanic religious organisations that are making it financially and attracting our members? Look at the right churches of Christ? We continue to get poor.
The Kingdom of God on earth looks empty but God wants to bless anyone who is willing to bless His business. In Malachi 3:10, God says I will open you the windows of heaven and pour my blessings on you so that there will be no room for them. In Verse 11, He says “and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake.” So we see why some of us keep on losing our money to inexplicable situations? You see why our businesses rise and fall, why we get sick whenever we get money? It is the devourer who is behind all these trends in our lives. The devourer is the same as the spirit of the emptier. Therefore if God is allowing the devourer and emptier to destroy your activities, then it means you are working for nothing! There is nothing that we will do that will remove us from that situation. In verse 12, God said we will be blessed above nations. So wherever you go you will be exalted above your colleagues. A brother was once telling me that he travelled oversees but was sending his tithes down monthly. If he tells you his testimony, you will be dumbfounded. If it were some of us bringing home a tithe of £100 or €100 or $100 we would be calculating what we can use the money for at home. But when you refuse to send down the money, before you come to a realisation, you will lose that job that was fetching you the amount that generated those tithes and you will not even be able to earn the amount of the tithes you formerly gave.
It is very important that you begin to examine yourself. Another thing God says is that put me to test with your tithes. In Malachi 3:10, He says bring all your tithes and offering into my storehouse and put me to test. Under normal circumstances, God says we should not put Him to test, that in itself is sin. But we see here that He has given us the chance to put Him to test. This means that it is a very special situation and He wants to prove Himself to us. As we have this wonderful opportunity, why don’t we make use of it? So you can just gather your tithe and pray over it like this: ‘God I want you to open the windows of Heaven, my room is enough to receive your blessings.’ And then the challenge will begin.
This is one area the devil promotes poverty in our lives. The devil makes it very comfortable for us to invest in places where God will not bless us, like drinking and womanising. You see how money is spent on purchasing sex? Many women spend a lot of money on clothes, make-ups and other forms of fashion in order to look attractive and be chased by men of a high class whilst men will spend a lot of time and money going after them. However, in the areas where we can invest for God to bless us like tithes, the devil makes it simply impossible for us to invest there.
There is a misconception that when you give the money, the Pastor will spend it. But as you do it, you are promoting you own Kingdom’s business. So it is time to examine yourself objectively. How much do you spend on God’s kingdom and how much have you spent on Satan’s business since you became a born again Christian. If it is more on Satan’s business than what you spend on God’s kingdom, then it is time to repent. Bow down your head and talk to God. Ask God to have mercy on you. Tell Him to change your mentality towards investment in His Kingdom. The devil can go to any length to invest on a particular thing to destroy one person. Let’s bow down our heads and talk to God. Ask God to forgive you and ask God to have mercy upon you. Begin to talk to God. Whatever you have done with your money that does not please Him, ask Him to forgive you. In Jesus Name we have prayed.
If you are reading this document and you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, then you have not started at all so the mercies and favour that Jesus Christ came to die for abounds for you! Look at what the devil takes away from your income through unnecessary fashion, through alcoholism, drugs and smoking. This is because your have not given your life to Jesus Christ. Look at what you have wasted on that sickness; look at what alcohol has done to your dignity. Wherever you are, examine yourself and take a decision. Time is moving quickly. Bow down your head and dedicate your life to Jesus Christ. Make this confession after me;
Lord Jesus Christ, I have come to you today. I know I am a sinner. Forgive me all my sins. I cannot save myself, no matter how I try. I believe you are the Son of God, you died for my sins. You shed your blood because of me. Satan, you are a liar. As from today, I am no more for you I am the property of God. Spirit of Christ, come into my life, Holy Ghost, come into my life and take control. Amen.
Pray these prayer points violently and back it with a holy life. Remember Jesus Christ prayed one particular prayer point for three hours in the Garden of Gethsemane.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Any power that does not want me to spend money for God, be destroyed by the Fire of God, in the Name of Jesus!
2. You the Spirit of the waster, the devourer, feeding on my money die by Fire, in the Name of Jesus.
