Mbostrom2's Blog

I was listening to a recording of Pastor Mark Barclay (marktbarclay.com) when he was a speaker at a ministers conference this past January. Towards the end he begins to speak boldly of experiences of calling on the God of the Tithe to rebuke the devourer. When I heard it I was surprised because I had a strong witness in my heart that this was the hour to call on the God of the Tithe.

He shared on how he had called on the God of the Tithe when the doctors said his wife would not survive the assault of cancer in her body. She was determined cancer free 32 days later and the doctor was astounded! He called on the God of the Tithe when his tender age granddaughter was pronounced dead after drowning in the family swimming pool. Immediately after he started to rebuke death and called on the God of the Tithe she began to breathe and is a grown young lady today.

Malachi 3:8 declares, ““For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. (10) Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. (11) “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts”

Lord of Hosts is Jehovah Sabaoth.  Jehovah is ‘Lord or Master‘. Sabaoth in Hebrew means “an army going out to war.” This title in the Bible is referred to as ‘Lord of the angel armies’, or ‘Lord of Hosts’. God is always there to defend us, fight our battles, and win our wars. There is no enemy He cannot defeat – nothing is too hard for Him.

When Ken and I were born again in 1982, we tried to tithe, but our bills were too much that we only gave offerings. In 1992 we came to end of our own selves and one of the promises to God we made was that we would always tithe, no matter what. It was not going to be a promise made in fear of God punishing us. This commitment we made was a matter of honor. A commitment to honor Him not just with our time, our service, but our finances. That was 38 years ago, and we have lacked nothing. The first 2 years of tithing was fighting our flesh and fear of lack. But if all we got that week was $10, we sang and waved our $1 to God on the way to Church on Sunday. We rejoiced.

We have given some pretty big tithe checks in these past 28 years and have never regretted our commitment. We have been audited by the IRS twice in those years and both times it was to prove we gave that much to the Church, mission and ministries who were 501(c)3 Religious organizations. Both times we had proof that our giving far outreached 10%.

I was listening to a minister today that I highly respect. He was asked a question about if he thought God was judging the world right now.  He sat back and realized they were in fear of an angry God in heaven, sitting with a baseball bat, ready to punish. I loved his answer that in the time of Egypt, God said that he was going to judge Egypt’s gods.

Numbers 33:4, For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. (Ex 12:12) In each one of the plagues, God was coming against one of their gods until there was none left.

The minister I was listening to today said, “I believe God is coming against the god of Mammon right now.” I agree.  Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in).” (AMPC) Also read Luke 16:9,11,13.

During these trying times, I am thankful for the GOD OF THE TITHES! I am at peace.