"Our Daily Bread" -5

"The Windows of Heaven"... subtitle to what is being said today; actually I have been awake most of the night thinking about "Give", wondering how to make that a title; and then I saw a vision of 'Jacob's Ladder' and had to wonder where this was going. Malachi 3:8-12 is my favorite portion of Scripture when it comes to speaking about tithes, and how important it is to give them. You can try and justify your decision not to 'pay' your tithe all that you want, but I will not agree with what you are saying, because this little Book of Malachi, although small, is the closest to the Coming King, in more ways than one. To understand what I am talking about you should take a look for yourself about all that he represented and was speaking to; his main issue was that God was still on the throne, and He still cares, but He has not changed, and still is Holy. Now, as for these Windows of Heaven, which are not just windows to gaze through, they are the avenues of our prayers and God's answers. Looking back to the Lord's Prayer, the word 'give', as in, "Give us this day", is a petition to our Father which art in heaven, for His provision; however, right before asking this petition, there is a declaration of "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". Think about this for just a moment, and imagine that you had a child who constantly asked you for things, but hardly ever respected your will, let alone sought to keep it; would you give that child all that he asked for? or would you hold back your blessings to try and get them in line with your will? But Rich, that was Old Testament stuff, and we are under a New Covenant. Is that what you think? Tithing was not part of the Law, it's part of our reverence for the God that supplies all of our needs; and if we are asking for His provisions, then we should be giving out of reverence to the Giver of all good things! "Prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts"; that is God's answer to those that do not believe! Do you really believe that He is God? Do you believe that He is able to provide for all of your needs? Tithing is the one thing that God will ask us to test Him in; and this word 'prove' that is found in Malachi 3:10, is the only use for that which is beyond a spiritual sense, which is primarily to search out or examine; here it means to test or to try, where God is saying, test Me and see if it so. Okay; you might have noticed that I used the word 'pay' in reference to giving our tithes, which is actually what our tithes should be looked upon as; in other words, our tithes should be the first bill that gets paid when we sit down to pay our bills; an offering is something that is given which is beyond our tithe, and should not be confused with the tithe, nor the tithe with the offering. Malachi 3:8 clearly says, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings." Not to get over legalistic, but robbing God is a pretty big deal, and I would not want to be thought of as doing that; not by God, nor by myself... "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." (Malachi 3:11)