Hey Dummy

This morning we are back in Malachi, and might be there another day or two, just depending on what God tells me. Turn to ch. 3 of Malachi the text is vs. 7-15. However I am going to start in vs 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed thee? In thithes and offerings. (vs9) Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. (vs10) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Let's go back to the beginning of vs 10, and I want you to write this in the margin of your Bible, vs 10 "(Dummy) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...". The choice is rob God, or have the windows of heaven opened to you. Sin, or riches beyond comprehension. The choice is yours, what will your choice be.
A few weeks ago I opened my wallet to get my tithe to put in the plate, I had a $20, and a $10, that $30 had to last us until Friday. So I pulled the $20 out and prayed and said "God, I need this back, because that is the only way I am going to support my family this week.", then dropped it in the plate. On the way home, I stopped to get some gas, pulled up to the only open pump, opened my door, and there lay a $20 dollar bill. I said Thank you LORD. Then Tuesday, while going to the doctor's office, I ran into a friend, while we were talking, all of a sudden he reached in his back pocket, grabbed his wallet, and said "I almost forget again, here is that $20 I borrowed a few months ago".
This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, or to someone I know. When you give your tithe, and especially when you go above what is required, and give an offering, God will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. He says, give it to me, so I can double, even triple it, and then give it all back to you.
As many times as I have been blessed, and as many times as I have seen others blessed, you would think I would have great faith when it comes to the tithe. However, I have to admit that when it comes to money, even with all that I have seen and experienced, my faith is not that strong, actually it is almost non-existent. I have no problem having faith about the tithe when I have enough money for the week, but when I am already short, I have real problems handing over that money.
With almost anything else I can have faith that moves mountains. However, even though when it comes time to hand over the thithe, I can tell myself and everyone else just how faithful God is, and how He will bless us, I just don't have enough faith to actually obey.
We are commanded by God to give a tenth of our gross income back to Him, through the church. In other words, don't look at your paycheck, look at your paystub, it is the amount before taxes or any other deductions. That is the law of God. If you remember several weeks ago I told you about a time that we did not have money for your light bill, and I had faith that He was going to provide the money. My faith never actually wavered. That last day, I had doubts come into my head, but I never doubted, and there is a difference in the two. There have been many other times, I was able to depend on Him to take care of us financially. I had faith in Him. But, when it comes to the tithe, I have not been able to have the victory.
I have never admitted this to anyone before, and I hope that by doing so, it will no longer be a secret sin, it will be out in the open, and I will be able to find that faith I need. I have given myself all the excuses, and He has shown me where all those excuses are worthless. I believe that our current financial situation is due to the fact that we have robbed God of His tithe. I believe that if I start giving my tithes, then He will bless us so that we are not running out of money before payday, and wondering how we are going to feed our family, or buy new clothes for the baby, or pay our light bill. I believe that I have been under His chastisement for a while, and I am just now getting the desire to have enough faith in Him to obey His command. As you can see, I do not plan on shying away from the subjects that condemn me, or bring out my sins, after all that is what we are supposed to do in our devotions. I thank God, that He has given me this opportunity to repent, and follow what He has commanded.