Tithing Testimony

Welcome back to Generations of Grace Podcast! Have you fully surrendered your life to the Lord? Maybe you have confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior to go back to living your life and hope to go to Heaven one day. There is so much more to surrender if your are living your life this way. Have you thought about surrendering even your finances to God? He wants you to be able to trust in Him with every part of your life. Take a listen to Chole on this episode as she shares how being obedient to the Lord through tithing has changed her and her family for the best. 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 1:19

Hey guys, welcome back to Generations of Grace Podcast. I know the past few episodes we've been talking a lot about how to take thoughts captive, what's going on in your mind, what are you supposed to be doing for the Lord, and how to walk in the calling that He's called you into, and all that. Lots of scripture, lots of reading, lots of application, how to apply taking thoughts captive, and how to walk out the promises that God has provided for you and the blessings that He's given you. And all that boils back down to surrendering your life. You lay your life down for him because he laid his life down for you. And all of the blessings will come to follow after that. Today I just kind of want to switch gears a little bit. And those are very important things to talk about. But I wanted to talk about something that doesn't get talked about a whole lot in most churches today. Or if it is talked about, it's either twisted or it's used to their advantage. There's not very many churches that will speak on the truth of this just selflessly and all for the Lord. And I started learning about this a few years ago, and it really started to open my eyes. Even when I didn't fully understand it, I knew that I could take it to the Lord and He could show it to me and teach it to me. And praise the Lord, I had great pastors that were also learning and understanding at the time what it was and how to fully submit to God in every area of their life, not just with their mind, not just with some actions, but completely with their whole lives, including money. And so that's what we're gonna talk about today is about tithing. And is tithing something that we should still do today? I believe so. And how I believe so is well, it's within the word all throughout scripture, throughout the Old Testament, and some people say, well, that's Old Testament, that was before Jesus, but also there's proof in the New Testament as well, and about laying your life down and completely living for him. And if you're not willing to trust in the Lord with your money, are you truly laying your life down to live for him? Because that's an area of our lives that we don't always think about to lay down for him. Today I just want to share my testimony on that and what me and my husband have walked through with learning how to trust in the Lord with everything, including our money, even when it made zero sense whatsoever. So I'm not gonna sit here and ramble and pull out scripture to try to make it fit some story or just read a whole bunch and all that. I just want to share the testimony on what the Lord has given me and my family. So I want to say it was like three years ago or something. We were in a different season in our lives to where it was me, my husband, our son, and our daughter, and we were changing seasons to where I was in nursing school and everything, and that wasn't working out. We had just had our daughter and decided that he was going to continue to work and we were going to trust in the Lord, and I was gonna be a stay-at-home wife, and I was going to completely like dive into the church, see if they needed help with anything and serving, and it ended up we were able to be blessed in mightier ways than we could have imagined with trusting in the Lord and that. It didn't make sense for us to stop another income, for him to go into a different job with less income, and for our finances to continue the way that they were, it just wasn't making any sense. And within this time, it got really rough where we were having to pick and choose what bills we were wanting to pay and what we were wanting to keep and get rid of and all that. And within this time, the Lord had commanded us to tithe. We hadn't been tithing during our relationship at all. And we knew that he was calling us to do this, and we said, Listen, we can't even pay our water bill. How are we supposed to start tithing now when we were in a better financial position before? Like this doesn't make any sense to us, Lord. However, we knew it's what he had told us, so we decided to be obedient in that and just trust in him with that situation, and within that and choosing to tithe on top of not being able to pay bills. It makes zero logical sense how it worked out, but it did, and he provided. And we were through all this with some help from different people and family and from trusting in the Lord and just walking and having and gaining wisdom and knowledge with our finances and trusting in him with everything. We actually came to a point to where we were somewhat comfortable with money, and we're still comfortable with money. We're not rich by no means, but we are rich in the Lord, and we know that he always provides no matter what. Even if it does not make sense on paper, it's gonna make sense because with him all things are possible, and he always provides the way. I go to Proverbs 3, 6 through 13 when I talk about gaining wisdom and knowledge and trusting him with everything and giving him the first of our possessions, because without him, none of it is possible. We wouldn't even be able to breathe without him. We wouldn't be able to have all the things that we have without him. You wouldn't be able to do anything without him, even the words that you have be able to speak from your mouth he's given you. And so I'm just going to read that real quick, Proverbs three, six through thirteen. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, just as a father, the son in whom he delights. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. And that's just such a great reminder that the Lord will provide for you. He does take care of you. You honor the Lord with your possessions and know that he will take care of you. He will make sure that every need of yours is satisfied through every situation. Take that extra leap of faith and just jump out and just learn to trust in him, even when it makes zero sense. Know that he's going to take care of you. And know that it's as happy as the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. And this was such a great situation for me and my family to gain understanding financially. And we have grown more and more within the Lord. And our lives have been happier, even if we had our own plans, like I was gonna be that nurse, and my husband had a job before, and to where he was making a lot more money. However, this is a good situation now, so much better than we could have ever imagined just because we were trusting in the Lord financially. And now my husband's in his dream job to where we're just able to connect better as a family now that the Lord had seen something that we didn't see in that moment. And I'm just so thankful for it because and that's with every situation too, but today specifically we're talking about tithing that when it's scary and you're not exactly sure what to do, just trust in him. Know that he is the provider, know that he is the protector, know that all good things come from him. I know that it is very important to be part of a local church. Whether that's in someone's house or whether that's somewhere down the road, whether it's I've you know, people drive an hour to church. It's w the Bible talks about where two or more are gathered. Some people say, Oh, well, I just watch online or I just, you know, go to it whenever I need to, whenever I need to make myself feel better, but that's not what the church was supposed to look like. If you look at the way that Jesus and his disciples walked, he was showing the example on what it was like to have a church, on what it was like to build one another up and then go out into the world. Um some people say, Well, it's just me and Holy Spirit, you know. I just hear from him, why do I need to go to anyone else? Why do I need to plug into anyone else when it's just me and him, you know? And it's great to have your secret place. Actually, your secret place is a necessity for you to have that strong relationship with the Lord. However, that can't be the only thing. If you're stuck in your closet all the time, then who are you witnessing to? Yes, that secret place needs to increase. However, don't make that the only place. Because like I mentioned a moment ago, how are you gonna go out and witness to anyone? How are you gonna share your testimony with anyone? That secret place is to build up that relationship between you and the Lord, and then he wants you to go out and use that for others. I didn't want to sit here on this episode and talk about how tithing can be manipulated and why we shouldn't tithe and But I say why not? Like what do you have to lose? If you were in my situation too, where you were having to pick and choose what bills you had to pay and what was gonna be lost and everything. What do you have to lose? Other than just seeing if the Lord is faithful, if he is the provider, if you're willing to trust him with your money. And now what other people do with your money that's on them. You're being obedient to the Lord. I just think it is mind-blowing thing what he has done for me and my family. We we learn to trust in him, including their money. Because I know I've mentioned on here whenever we've lost our home in the storm, and then we were able to get a new one. When it was time for us to get that new one, it made zero sense on paper how we were going to afford the new payment on this home. And this was a cheap home too, it wasn't no three hundred thousand dollar home. Like it it wasn't even a hundred thousand dollar home. I don't even think it was a seventy thousand dollar home. It was a cheap home that we were able to be blessed with. But the payments were still out of range from what we could afford at the time, and I was I will be honest, I was the one who was like, this isn't gonna work, this isn't making any sense. And my husband kept reassuring me, it's gonna be okay. Like he provides. It's okay. Learn to trust him, learn to trust me with this. It's gonna be okay, just wait. And by the time we were closed on the house, the payments actually got had dropped by two or three hundred dollars from the original thing that was on the paper that I said wasn't gonna make any sense. And so not just with us being able to have more wisdom and knowledge with our finances and how to walk in a better lifestyle with him with our finances, but he also provided ways that make zero logical sense in front of us for it to be able to be provided for us for us to have a home again. There's so many things, and he just continues to do better things with it. And we'll probably do another episode at some point to where we really dive into scripture on the importance of the local church and more about tithes, but really on this episode today I just wanted to share the testimony on what he has done and mine and my family's lives about trusting in him completely with our money. Because it's a life-changing thing that not a lot of people talk about. And so I just wanted to share that today. So Lord, I thank you for this blessed day, and I thank you that you give us ears to hear and eyes to see what what you've given us and what you have for us, Lord, and that we learn to trust in you completely with every area of our life. That includes money, that includes our mind, that includes our family, that includes just completely trusting in you and your word, and what your word says is true, and that you give us wisdom and knowledge, that you provide everything that there is for us, you satisfy the desires of our heart. So I thank you, Lord, that we walk away from this knowing that there's so much more out there for us from you, that we when we begin to align our lives with you, it is so much better than we could have ever imagined, Lord. So I thank you for your sweet love and I thank you for your grace. Just bless them, Lord, in Jesus' name.