A visitor to this web site wrote about the tithe:

"I'm a tithe payer but I do not experience God's blessing - that is, I don't experience I live in His blessings because of my tithe. I have been speaking over the tithes of my church for 3 years. Yours Robert"

He then asked:

"Do you know of a book that really breaks down the tithe into parts?"

The following is my reply to this message, a message that presents such a sincere desire to know how the blessing of the tithe can be experienced.

I myself, in a similar way to yourself, tithed for many years without really experiencing the full blessing of it. This was so even though I knew from the Word and in my heart that it was the right thing to do and that it had blessing in it.

I'll tell you what was happening. I had grasped the importance of giving my tithe but I hadn't grasped the importance of presenting my tithe together with exuberant thanksgivings and a faith-filled petition for blessing. I had read that I was to prove the Lord with my tithe but I hadn't caught hold of the significance of what God, by this, was instructing me to do.

Finally I heard a teaching on what it meant to do the tithing rather than just give the tithe. This exhortation took as its basic text Deuteronomy 26. (See the text of this Bible chapter below.)

In hearing this tithing message I realised the Lord was setting before us what we were to do as we presented our tithe. I saw how it showed us what the position of our heart was to be, what our mouths were to filled with and that we were with our tithe to petition the Lord for His blessing in the material realm of our lives.

I immediately started to make giving my tithe a significant event in my family life. Instead of just thrusting our tithe in the envelope and throwing it in the basket we held it up before the Lord and praised Him for His provision in our lives, proclaimed our covenant relationship to Him and petitioned Him for financial increase and protection.

The moment we started to do this wonderful and clear changes began to take place in the material realm of our lives. Losses we previously experienced through breakage, mishaps and our own foolishness began to stop. I began to know a wisdom about finances I hadn't had before. Small investments we were led to make made significant gains.

Also worries and fears I'd previously experienced over money began to disappear. I found myself trusting the Lord over my financial affairs as I never had previously. This led me to a more confident handling of money which enabled me to act on opportunities for financial increase or financial savings that I wouldn't have acted on before.

So I would urge you to study Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and implement this way of presenting your tithe. Do it in a New Covenant context, that is for example, you might like to praise God for delivering you from the power of darkness (Col.1:13) instead of praising Him for bringing you out of Egypt.

Also study Malachi 3:10-12. Petition the Lord using these promises. Give God the opportunity of proving Himself true to His promises about you and your tithe!

Below is that passage from Deuteronomy 26.

When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket.

Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.

Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and make us suffer, putting us to hard labor.Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Loed heard our voice andsaw our misery, toil and opression.

So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty had and an miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O Lord, have given me." Place the basket before him. And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 - NIV

After receiving this answer Robert sent the following response:

"Just wanted to write back and say thanks for taking the time to share that with me. It really blessed." - Robert C.

A visitor emailed this response and personal testimony on 23rd February 1999.

"I just wanted to write and commend you on your teaching about tithes. I have tithed for about two years now. And, like you, at first I tithed because I knew it was the thing to do but didn't see any real increases from doing so. Then I learned about confessing the word over my tithes as well as my offerings. WOW! I dare say it was less than six months afterwards that I got a new job with a 50% pay increase! And it hasn't stopped!" Yours Scotty H.