The Miracle of Tithing - 4
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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
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake...
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.
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