God’s return on investments.
June 27, 2011Recently, our Pastor has been teaching about tithing. Usually, that topic comes up when a church is in financial need and most, if not all, the congregants groan inwardly and fidget. Well, in our church, praise God, that is not the issue and our Pastor is an excellent teacher of the Word of God.
Once he completed teaching on tithing, he went on to teach about offerings. He showed us that an offering is not part of the tithe, but a separate gift given from the heart. The tithe is God’s. He leaves us the 90% to do with what we please. The tithe protects the 90% from the devourer. The offering, however, comes out of our 90% and is the seed that God can use to bless us.
I don’t know if this short synopsis is clear, but we began giving offerings along with our tithe two weeks ago. We had been just “making it” financially, week to week, all our needs have always been met, but we haven’t had increase. What we now understand, is that we haven’t been planting the seed that the Lord provides in the 90%.
We have our own business, a mobile oil change company. Last week, a competitor dropped out of the business and we have been picking up his customers…a dramatic increase! I’m excited to see where this will go and I am excited to see how much more we can give.
So…I challenge you to come along! This is really cool. God is Awesome!
juliesramblings 
Awesome.
Yes the teachings have been awesome, tremendous. I know that I have been giving offerings from my 90% consistently for a year. Not much, but rounding up to the nearest dollar or five, what I felt was on my heart at the time, plus my husband began giving to missions each month … also an offering.
The blessings have been flowing consistently for a year! Amazing, and we were doing it before we had all the facts.
Just today! Yes, today … our electrician showed up, when we thought we were going to have to call someone else, and came to do one of the smaller jobs we needed done! Well, I also have purebred pups that will be ready for homes in about a month! He was captivated, they were his favorite breed, he and his family had recently lost there family pet; and his partner was captivated too! Instead of paying him, he said to hold off and he and my husband would estimate the remaining jobs and probably the payment would be a puppy!
Also, I believe his partner will be taking one too!
After the last teaching on the offerings, I came home with it on my heart to sacrifice something we didn’t need to be able to further our giving … increasing our seed and therefore our harvest. We are discussing this, my husband and I.
I have high hopes for this new step of faith. God is, indeed Awesome.