SCRIPTURE:

“Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:7 AMP)

DEVOTIONAL:

Let’s look at Malachi, chapter three, to which many people refer when teaching on tithing. Tithing in this chapter is unique because it takes you both ways; it takes you back to the Old Testament, and also points you to the New Testament. Let’s look at verses 6–9 in the Amplified Bible:

 “For I am the Lord, I do not change [but remain faithful to My covenant with you]; that is why you, O sons of Jacob, have not come to an end. “Yet from the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings [you have withheld]. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, this whole nation! Malachi 3:6–9 AMP

Here God is speaking about the tithe through the prophet Malachi. The people of God had forsaken the commandment to give the tithe from their increase according to Leviticus. Here in Malachi, God was allowing them to cancel all back tithes and start anew, to return to Him with their best. He also explains that the tithe opens the way for the children of Israel to return to God.

PRAYER:

Dear God, Thank you for your great mercy to me for the times I’ve ignored or disobeyed your instructions in my life. I repent, and I purpose to be faithful and obey you in the future and will reap the rewards of obedience. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

This devotional is excerpted from Bill Winston’s book, Power of the Tithe. To order this motivating mini-book, click here. 

Listen to this devotion here.