Just recently, I’ve been struggling to give my tithe to God – because I will be going negative. I’ve had this bad habit of waiting 3 months until I give God 3 months worth of my tithe. I’m not saying that it’s a sin to do so. All I’m saying is that it’s much better if I give God my tithe the moment I get my income for the month. This is my testimony about tithing and God’s great financial blessings to me.
This entry has been inspired by God’s blessings in my life – His molding of my character, and His recent prosperity test for me. To you oh Lord, I give my greatest thanks and praise. May this entry always glorify you!
And for the month of February, I’ll be going negative if I do give my tithe to God. Bad budgeting.
You see, I’ve been supporting campus missionaries. And there’s this specific campus missionary that I give a sizable amount to. My support for this person is charged via credit card. On November 2011, I cut that specific credit card due to bad service. What happened was, my support for that campus missionary got cut too – 4 months behind as of February 2012. I was only able to transfer the billing to my other credit card on Feb 2012.
That money isn’t mine. I pledged it to God to give to that campus missionary. Because it was 4 months already, it was an even bigger amount. I knew that I’ll be going negative on March’s credit card billing. I asked God if my support to that campus minister could be considered as my ‘tithe’ – apparently God said ‘NO’. Little did I know that God’s ‘No’ is because He wants to bless me more than that.
Let’s roll back a little bit – where I am now
I’m an internet marketer and SEO specialist. Right now I’m the proprietor and managing director of SEO Hacker – an internet marketing company. We offer a wide variety of best-quality services and we prove our worth by applying our internet marketing strategies to our own website. Right now we have 10 wonderful full-time workers (including me!) and a lot of part time writers and are looking for more people!
The company was started by God in my life through helping me test and experiment with this blog, God and You. I was not born rich. My family is not rich. I had no money to start a business. No capital at all – ZERO. And yet, God started the company with me from doing freelance SEO work – to signing contracts with big name clients. God is my provider.
The SEO Hacker Team
The company earns a good amount each month and I get to keep a portion for myself – enough for me to spend for myself, my dates with my wonderful girl, my family, etc… It was a blessed amount. It was also more than enough for me to give and support other people in need. Which, I believe, God has called me to. And to top it all off, I get to save a fair amount at the end of each month.
All these blessings were brought to me by God just like that in the year 2010 when I graduated college. He just provides!
But last year (2011), I had no new contracts to boost up my savings and earnings even if I worked hard for them. Strange. Still, I gave my tithe to God and my support to other people.
But February 2012 was different – I was going to go red.
I didn’t want to go red.
I want to get married this year – and, I can humbly and honestly tell you that I’m VERY far off financially.
Caution: Tithe only if you want to be blessed. Otherwise, spend it on what you want.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” – Malachi 3:10
There is no logic in tithing. How can I get richer than how I could be if I give 10% of what I have every month to the God who created this universe? Does He need my money?
No. Tithing is an aspect of complete faith in action. It is a no-logic act. Only people with real faith in God will be moved to tithe because they love God and want to honor the Great Provider with the results of their work.
How God said that my support cannot be considered as my tithe:
At first, I thought that my compromise with my tithe being my support for the campus missionary is alright. But there were three people who told me that I had to tithe and my campus missionary support cannot be considered as my tithe.
Angelyn Co – She’s the girl of my dreams. And once, while I was driving with her after I’ve made that ‘compromise with God’, she told me that, for her, tithing should be different than my support for other people. Strike one.
Charles Sy – He’s the youngest brother of pastor Dennis Sy. A really good friend and ‘older brother’ to me. He suddenly just chatted me one night – asking me if I’m already getting married. Of course I told him about my financial status – and the first thing he asked me was: “Are you giving your tithe?” I was convicted even if I was giving my campus missionary support. It was a confirmation from God that my tithe is different – and I shrugged it off.
Bill Hybels – Senior Pastor of Willowcreek church. Powerful preacher and an amazing life-example of how he surrendered his finances to God. I was listening to Billy Hybels in his current podcast ‘Financial Series 2012’ – and I was strongly reminded of the real reason behind tithing. In this podcast he said “Is tithing like breathing to you? Is it the first check you write? Only those with a high view of God will answer a resounding ‘yes’.”
Right there and then, I knew that I had to refresh my perspective. I had to have a high view of God when it comes to money and His provisions. I didn’t waste any more time. I gave my tithe to God.
Everything I have right now is because of Him. Every talent, every skill, every teammate, every penny, every hair of my head – is because of His great love for me. Because our God wants us to enjoy life to its full even here on Earth.
What happened to my February?
God is Amazing!
By faith, I gave my tithes and paid what I pledged to the campus missionary. I’m expecting to have a big hit on my savings when March comes. Well, it’s March now. March 16, 2012 to be exact. In that 16 days of March, 3 contracts were signed. So much so that I do not have enough manpower to handle more contracts and I’m rejecting new clients who are looking to hire our services.
To top it all off, my offshore client gave us so much work on February, that this offshore client alone could pay for all my support and tithe to God! AMAZING! I didn’t go red – not even for a month! God is indeed faithful in seeing me through.
That small step of faith – of me giving my tithe even if I was going to take a hit on my savings (and will give up the idea of getting married this year), resulted into a big blessing. I cannot even begin to believe that three contracts have already been signed these 16 days (and 2 more on the way!). All praise and Glory be to God.
There is a Prosperity Test
And God gives it to each and every one of us. This is when God gives us the talents for us to grow or keep or spend for ourselves. I want to encourage you to let your talent grow and to give. There is no better way to spend your money than to use it to further God’s Kingdom here on Earth.
I know that whatever happens from this point on with my finances, God is faithful and He has miraculously helped me in this specific time of my life. May He continue to bless me and use me to bless others.
This is my testimony.
