The Miracle of Tithing
Are you in Financial Trouble at the Moment?
It may well be your failure to tithe. So many are unaware of this secret of prosperity that I would like to describe the practice of tithing in detail as it was explained to me years ago. I have followed this great law of abundance all my adult life and have reaped untold benefits from it.
The Meaning of the Tithe
The word tithe literally means one-tenth. It is an Old English word that was used in the King James translation of the Bible in the year 1611. It is incorrect to assume that a tithe of money is all that the law requires. There needs to be a tithe of time and energy, possessions and ability as well as actual supply.
"When we stop to think about it, we realize that the tithe is really not ours to give; it already belongs to God...."
You may ask, "Should a tithe be in the form of money or service?" The answer is both. This means that you could give 10 percent of your worldly goods to the church of your choice and 10 percent of your daily allotment of energy in service. This gift of self should be dedicated to the kingdom of God on earth through prayer, invocation, meditation and service to God through actually helping one's fellowman.
When we stop to think about it, we realize that the
tithe is really not ours to give; it 
already belongs to God. However,
in return for the 10 percent of his wealth that man gives to him, God
multiplies it by ten and returns 100 percent—whether in actual supply or
in tangible or intangible blessings. The 10 percent that man gives
to God in the form of service is treasure
laid up in heaven. It is an energy deposit in his causal body that
enables him to draw upon a greater momentum of light
than is his daily portion. And a tithe of energy will result in the same multiplication—it will increase man's allotment 100 percent.
I have spoken to many sincere people who, when they have had tithing explained to them, have said, "This sounds wonderful and I really want to begin. But right now, it is impossible. As soon as I get my bills paid, then I'll start to tithe." This is not the idea at all! The greater your present difficulty is, the greater is your need for the increase that comes from God when you begin to tithe to him.
Start now! If you wait until you think you have enough money to tithe, you probably will never begin. Obeying this spiritual law requires a leap of faith in your bargain with God. There is no such thing as "part tithing." A tithe is one-tenth, and not to tithe one-tenth is not to tithe—only to make contributions from time to time.
Pay Your Tithe First
The fixing of the amount of the tithe is a very simple matter—one-tenth of your net income after taxes. Some people are even able to tithe on their entire gross account, but while that may be preferable, it is usually not possible in these days of high taxation. In the days of the Old Testament, it was a simple matter to give a tenth part of the flocks, grain, olives, etc., which a man owned to the work of the Lord.
However, be assured that a tithe is not 10 percent of whatever you are able to save out of your salary check each month. Pay your tithe first, before you pay your other bills, and you will find that, miraculously, there is enough left to pay the remaining expenses. We belong totally to God and we must show him that we acknowledge this ownership by returning to him one-tenth of our complete selves as well as just our finances.
"Your tithe should be given in an attitude of thankfulness, not fear or worry that there will not be enough left for your other obligations...."
You are showing your faith in God that he will fulfill his part of the bargain and provide for your responsibilities.If this is not possible, and you have truly made an effort to tithe, then you may be living beyond your means and need to adjust your budget and style of living temporarily. But if the reverse is the case and you decide to pay your bills first and then tithe, there usually is no money left at the end of the month to honor your covenant with God.
You are not really tithing if you wait until the end of the month to see whether you have anything left over that you can give to God after paying your bills. Your tithe should be given in an attitude of thankfulness—not fear or worry that there will not be enough left for your other obligations.
The prophet Malachi stated,
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in minehouse, 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.
Prove God as he has asked us to and then give thanks for his blessings. "Freely ye have received, freely give" is the law of the abundant life.
The answer to how often the tithe should be paid is quite simple:
The tithe should be set aside as soon as you receive your income—weekly,
monthly, quarterly, yearly, or whenever is your timeline. No definite rule
can be set because you may receive dividends at different times in addition
to your normal paycheck.
Recognize God's Ownership and Man's Stewardship
The basis of tithing is the recognition of God's ownership and man's stewardship. The main reward of this recognition is increased spirituality. Improvement in our financial affairs is really secondary to the great closeness we feel to God as we are willing to enter into a working partnership with him. Tithing is a practical way of showing that we are obeying Jesus' teaching when he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
In
the act of tithing we set in motion a cause/effect sequence—giving creates
a vacuum which the universe rushes in to fill with abundance. For nature abhors
a vacuum. This is an important law to keep in mind, for as we empty ourselves,
we find that we are filled anew—again and again.
Tithing frees us from worry in times of economic crisis because when we tithe we have entered into partnership with God and the ascended masters to bring God's kingdom into manifestation on earth. In tithing we exchange our fear that we shall come to want for faith in God's supply and care. When there is a downturn in the stock market or when your commission check is less than usual, that is the time to increase your prayers and affirmations of prosperity.
"Archangel Michael makes a wonderful bargain with us. He says, "You give me your doubts, your fears, your questionings, and I will give you my faith."
Saint Germain has told us that anxiety is the greatest deterrent to precipitation. Fill your mind with thoughts of abundance and thanksgiving for past blessings. Walk around the block, look up at the clouds and say, "0 God, you are so magnificent!" Sing a devotional song, take a moment to center in your heart—anything to completely change your forcefield and clear your consciousness of whatever is troubling you.
Friends of Light
Sometimes all that is necessary to successfully pass through a difficult moment of testing is to know that we have friends of light (archangels, angels, ascended masters) who are upholding us and praying for our overcoming.
"Put your trust in God and his inexhaustible supply and you will soon find abundance in your world, not only for your tithe but also for all other legitimate needs."
Archangel
Michael makes a wonderful bargain with us. He says, "You give me your
doubts, your fears, your questionings, and I will give you my faith." We
do not need to go it alone; all of heaven stands ready and willing to help
if we will only call to them to give them the authority to enter our lives
and help us.
Many of us carry a small picture of Archangel Michael in our car (you can find one in any religious supply store) and repeat the following little mantra many times a day.
As
you give these words, silently or aloud, see this glorious, powerful angel
overshadowing you with his blue-flame protection. Visualize him and his legion
of angels surrounding you in everything you do—defeating and turning back any
negative thoughts that may be assailing you.
Lord Michael before, Lord Michael behind,
Lord Michael to the right, Lord Michael to the left,
Lord Michael above, Lord Michael below,
Lord Michael, Lord Michael wherever I go!
I AM his love protecting here!
I AM his love protecting here!
I AM his love protecting here! (3x)
Regular and Systematic Tithing
Indiscriminate giving is not tithing. The tithe must go regularly to directly support God's work and those engaged in it. Contributions to one's family members and community organizations for the needy are worthy causes, but they should be extra donations above and beyond the tithe—not part of the tithe itself. Put your trust in God and his inexhaustible supply and you will soon find abundance in your world, not only for your tithe but also for all other legitimate needs.
The practice of tithing has been a lifelong habit with many. They automatically set aside this 10 percent that belongs to God before they consider their monthly expenses. It becomes much easier if you think of your monthly income as only 90 percent. In this way you will not be tempted to spend God's portion.
A Tie to Spirit
Elizabeth Clare Prophet defined tithing as a tie to Spirit.
She said: "Because we are in the plane of Mater, we have to have a tie
to Spirit. Our tie is our tithe. And our tithe is the energy we take from
Mater, consecrate it to Spirit, to the church of our choice, to the altar
of our choice. That, then, becomes a leaven, a focal point, which multiplies
our substance."
Take God As Your Partner
Many so-called "captains of industry," not only Mr. Le Tourneau, have used this important secret of prosperity to bring success to their business enterprises. Taking God into your business as your partner is a formula that always brings not only abundance but also peace of mind to those who faithfully use it.
Henry Crowell of Quaker Oats, M. W. Baldwin, the railway equipment manufacturer, William Colgate, Napoleon Hill, Clement Stone and Norman Vincent Peale are only a few well-known names who have proven these laws of abundance. In fact, Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World, even advocates the blessings received from tithing 50 percent of one's income. This formula is only waiting for you to use it and prove the laws of success in your own life.
The Source of Our Supply Is God - From Mark Prophet's "Secrets of Prosperity"
"It is in the use of our gifts that God has given to us that we multiply
them, and it does not have to involve money. Money is merely a medium of exchange.
It can involve service. It can involve things you do for others. It can involve
other people out of your family as well as your immediate family. I think one
of the secrets of prosperity that I have noted that breaks the crystallization
in your world that keeps you from getting supply is the feeling of ownership
of people. A lot of people feel that their son or their wife or their mother
or their father or their brother or their sister—in other words, family—is
all-important.
"You don't own the people and they don't own you—all people are free. And this sense of family circle exclusively, ruling out everybody else in the world, is one of the reasons for crystallizing the consciousness and stopping prosperity from coming in. When you start to think of the world as your family, when you start feeling and thinking in terms of loving other people outside the family and doing something for someone outside the family—and not necessarily someone you love but someone who may be even impersonal to you—you begin to think in terms of God.
"We look altogether to God and we have found that this is the secret, another secret of supply: Don't depend on any human being. Depend on God!"
"Therefore, I think one of the greatest secrets of prosperity is the ability to detach oneself from the person and to be impersonal, because all these things are magnets that make you Godlike. And 'I AM come that they might have life and that more abundantly' is the secret of it all. This denotes that it is the source of the Presence that holds the source of your supply. It doesn't come from outer sources.
"We've quit looking to people for our supply. We look altogether to God and we have found that this is the secret, another secret of supply: Don't depend on any human being. Depend on God!
"Of course, whenever I give a talk like this, I'm always concerned that people understand that prosperity is more an activity of the Spirit than it is of the flesh.
"We must school our minds to realize that the one and only source of our supply is God...."
A lot of us like to think that prosperity is something that is of the flesh—that we do something, and we win something. And we use the laws and then we get released into our world a great deal of money.
"Money is what people always seem to want. But it's really not true. It's happiness and contentment and peace of mind and understanding and compassion and tolerance and every good quality of life that is worth more than anything else. And yet money cannot buy that. But you can't very well live in the modern world without money.""We must school our minds to realize that the one and only source of our supply is God and that all that comes to us in the way of salary, investments, customers and any other income are the means by which God's inexhaustible supply is funneling to us. Divine ideas are the source of our wealth. And then we must act upon them to bring the wealth of the universe to our use." [end of excerpt]
Flow
The principle of flow is vital to our understanding of tithing. Jesus understood the law when he said, "Give and it shall be given unto you." And at another time he taught, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
We
cannot dam up the flow of our supply, else it will stop. Consider the Dead
Sea in the Holy Land. It has an inlet but no outlet, and the water has become
stagnant. All of life is a process of flow, of giving and receiving, and we
must go with the tide to become prosperous.
Money and goods must not be hoarded because that will also prevent any increase. We are meant to use wisely the supply that God has given us, invest it wisely and return 10 percent to God.
Taxes
Tithes are recognized as income tax deductions by the United States
government, and we never consider spending that portion that has been withheld
from our paychecks. That amount goes directly to the government and the balance
is all that we see in our paycheck.
There are severe penalties written into our code of laws for income-tax evasion. And yet, by refusing to tithe, we are cheating God in the same manner. The only penalty exacted here is that we lose the great blessings and multiplication that would return to us if we gladly gave to God first.
"According to the law of tithing, if a man gives God 10 percent of his wealth, then God will return to him 100 percent."
Saint Germain explained this principle to us. "You know, precious ones, it is perhaps a trite saying, but nonetheless it is true at the present moment, that there is nothing so certain as death and taxes for mortals, cast as they are in the steadily fading image of twentieth-century man. I think, then, of the writings of Luke concerning the birth of Jesus and the decree of Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
"I think of the words of the Master Jesus, 'Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's,' and I know full well that this generation has more diligently rendered their substance unto Caesar than they have even thought of providing materially for the establishment of God's kingdom upon earth. Rendering unto God those things that are God's does not appear to most men to be a karmic necessity." Jesus obeyed the law of the land in his Galilean embodiment.
Do you remember when it became time to pay taxes that a fish came up out of the water, bearing a gold coin in his mouth? Well, perhaps we will not be able to pay our taxes by taking a gold coin out of the mouth of a fish, but God will provide in a manner compatible with our twenty-first century culture.
You Can't Afford Not to Tithe
Elizabeth
Clare Prophet teaches that "you can't afford not to tithe
because then there will be no increase. You can't afford not to tithe because
you will be guilty of disobeying that point of divine law. If you were a
beggar and had but a bowl of rice—one-tenth of that bowl belongs to God.
If you have ten spoonfuls, one spoonful is God's. This is a fundamental
law and should not be broken."
According to the law of tithing, if a man gives God 10 percent of his wealth, then God will return to him 100 percent. Thus, if you have a dime and give God a penny, God will give you back a dime. If you have a dollar and give him a dime, he will give you back a dollar.
"The tithe is an inexorable law that has been tested and proven over time. It will not fail."
Tithing is the fulfillment of a very ancient covenant between God and man. Tithing was God's law long before Moses, but some in the present day choose to believe that this law was intended for the ancient Hebrews only and not for modern men and women.
In the Book of Genesis we read how Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, king of Salem, one-tenth of the spoils of battle. Long before the time of Moses, Melchizedek blessed Abraham:
"Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all."
Abraham did not tithe to an organization; for there was no church at that time. He tithed to the person who was the representative of the most high God, knowing that he would use it for the work of the Lord. And by his obedience, God promised his seed dominion in the Promised Land. And a son was born to Sarah in her later years.
In the Old Testament we have many references to the priests, the Levites, receiving the tithes that were called the "heave offering." A representative portion, a tenth of their produce, the fruits of the field, the harvest, their animals—the increase of their labor—was brought to the temple as the first offering. This was dedicated to God that the remainder might also be blessed as it was shared by the tribe or sold.
Worry
Mark Prophet gives us one final secret of prosperity. He says, "I think
that you, every one of you, should develop faith that God will take care
of your needs, no matter what they are. I think it's a terrible sin for
anybody in this audience or anybody in the world to be worrying about his
future, because the one way of damming up the supply of goods into your
world is to worry. Worry will very definitely cut you off. The minute you
start worrying about it, you tune in with millions of other people who are
worrying. And without knowing it, their thoughts will come into your world
in the subconscious, attracted like a magnet. And the first thing you know
you'll be going down, down, down, down, all because of their thoughts.
"Among the greatest secrets of prosperity, then, is to tune in with right thinking by thinking right yourself. Turn your thoughts to God and the masters and to an inexhaustible sense of supply. Learn to develop the feeling that no matter what I need, it will be supplied to me."
Somewhere, somehow, sometime, if you are to ascend, you must develop the sense of knowing that whatever you have need of, God will supply. The Twenty-Third Psalm is the best antidote I know for lack and the poverty consciousness.