Malachi 3:10
‘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’
- DAILY READING James 5; Jeremiah 29-30; Psalm 133
Many of us eat Quaker oats for breakfast, however the story behinds its existence is quite interesting. Henry P. Crowell, who is the founder of Quaker oats, gave his life to Christ, when he was nine years old. This was soon after his father’s death from tuberculosis. But when he was 17 years old, his life was threatened by the same tuberculosis that had killed his father. Returning home from boarding school weak and discouraged,
Crowell asked God what lay in the future. His answer came when he attended a meeting where Dwight L. Moody preached saying.
“The world has yet to see what God can do through a man fully dedicated to Him.” Challenged by Moody’s statement, Cromwell decided to be such a man. He asked God to heal him, so that he would make money and support the Gospel.
Miraculously after this decision, he was eventually healed of the tuberculosis. He then bought a little run-down Quaker Mill at Ravanna, Ohio. And within ten years Quaker Oats had become a household name to millions around the world. And Crowell quickly became one of the most successful businessmen of his time.
As a tither, he moved from tithing 10%, to tithing about 70% of his income. Yet he could never out-give God. He found that the more he gave, the more God gave back to him in return.
In Malachi 3:10 God asked us to bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in His house, and prove Him herewith, if He will not open for us the windows of heaven, and pour us out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to contain it
Indeed giving is the mystery that provokes the release of blessings on our lives. Giving ushers us into a life of blessedness.
The giving covenant is not about the volume, but about the heart. It is not the amount of what you give, but the cost to you that matters. David vowed that he would not give to God that which had cost him nothing.
The giving that costs us something becomes a sacrifice. And that is what moves God. When we lay down our Isaac in sacrifice it provokes a blessing from God. Indeed the altar of sacrifice is the altar of turnaround.
And there is much more to our giving than mere material returns. In 2 Samuel 24 when the angel was destroying, David gave in sacrifice to God, it ended the plague in Israel.
In 2 Kings 4:8-17 the Shunnamite woman received a miracle child as a result of giving to the prophet Elijah.
Our giving is a spiritual transaction for provoking all-round favour. Whatever level you are, God’s covenant of Prosperity stands sure. As long as the earth remains, seed, time and harvest shall not cease.
Your seed is the custodian of your future.You can determine what your future will look like by the seeds you sow today. And though, you may go forth now bearing precious seed, you shall doubtless again return in the future, rejoicing, bearing your sheaves with you. When you live a lifestyle of giving, you are living a lifestyle of blessing! When you live to give, God will ensure that every of your need is met in abundance to His glory.
PRAYER: Lord, please grant me the grace to freely lay down in sacrifice whatever you require of me, so that I can experience a turnaround and miraculous change of story in Jesus Name.
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When you obey God’s instruction you are delivered from destruction. Wordbite 222