Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“Honor Yahweh from your substance, and from the firstfruits of all that will come to you, and your barns shall be full of plenty, and your vats shall burst with new wine”

Proverbs 3:9-10

If we will operate the tithe as the mechanism for humble submission that it was meant to be, there is no end to the benefits that we will get. This is not giving out of pity. This is not giving out of obligation. This is not giving because someone convinced you to. This is a personal decision to give, and give joyfully, because you CAN and because you LOVE ADONAI. That’s it. No other requirements. This is how it was set up right from the very beginning of the beginning and there has been no wavering on Adonai’s part (Hebrews 13:8). It is one of THE main vehicles that is meant for us to use to receive the BLESSING from Him. The tithe is one of the prime ways for us to gain and abide in abundant life (John 10:10).

Adam and Eve had the opportunity to tithe. In the Garden. It was designed that way. They were told of the MULTITUDE of trees that were theirs to eat of and the SINGLE tree that they were not to eat of. That was Adonai’s tree. It was HIS portion. It was the TITHE of humanity to Adonai. They were meant to care for it, help it produce – the same as every other tree – but to give it back to Adonai and not to eat from it themselves at all. Period. His motivation wouldn’t have been to keep anything from them because we know He holds back nothing from us (Psalm 84:11). What He DOES do is make sure we are mature enough to handle it. What He DOES do is give it in His time on His schedule. Maybe they were meant to give it so that He could bless it before giving it back? We don’t know and it doesn’t really matter. What you CAN see CLEARLY is that it was HIS and they should have protected it and honoured Him with it.

Honouring Adonai with what is His in the correct way brings to us the BLESSING. That is because we are seeking to serve Him, love Him, obey Him, and submit to Him by honouring Him. That’s what honouring someone IS. It is treating someone with great respect – especially in public. It is doing what you said you would do (holding to a promise) no matter what is going on. It is giving someone honest and sincere praise. There is an allegiance associated with it. When it comes to Adonai, it is a form of worship. Worshipping Him with our thoughts, our hearts, our emotions, our relationships, our finances, our chores, our employment, our possessions, our children, our hobbies, our everything. It is making Him a part of ALL of our lives, no doors closed to Him, and LISTENING to HIS point of view then OBEYING Him – coming into alignment with HIS mindset. Honouring someone means all of that isn’t optional. That is how we honour Him. When we do? Things change.

When we adopt His mindset (Romans 12:2), everything changes. It is inevitable because we are taking HIS character – that He freely offered us (2 Corinthians 5:21) – and making it our own. That changes you. “And we all, with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory into glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). His Fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) from His character starts to be our fruit from our character because every time we go to pick a fruit and make an emotion with it, we go to HIS tree which becomes our tree because we are Him and He is us (Ephesians 2:6). We’re that way with Jesus in the exact same way that Jesus is with the Father (John 10:30; John 14:11). This is what begins to happen when we honour Him. It’s a process, it isn’t finished until we’re physically before the Throne, but it DOES start RIGHT HERE on Earth (Ephesians 4:16; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 4:17).

When we are giving Him that kind of place in our lives. When we are living to please Him with our trust in Him and our belief in His Word and character. When we are striving to bring Him glory for the sake of bringing Him glory. This is when we are living transformational lives. This is when we are fully being corrected by Ruach HaKodesh and letting Jesus use every circumstance to make us into who the Father says we can be because He called us to be it. When we honour Him, there is NO REASON for Him to withhold ANYTHING because we aren’t going to hang onto it. We aren’t going to love the things, the wealth, or the position. We’re going to continue to love Him and seek to please Him and to bring Him glory. We will have prosperity, but prosperity will not have us. We will be godly, not greedy. Taking and giving, not taking and consuming (James 4:3). Those who honour Adonai can be TRUSTED with prosperity.

If you want it, and do not have it, take some time to check your intent. Look deeply in your heart. Work on honouring Adonai. The amount of STUFF in your life might not increase, but your JOY will and your PROSPERITY will because the LACK will disappear (3 John 2).

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Galatians 5:6

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.” It can be really easy to see the commandments as instructions from a dictator that you’d better follow or else. It is just as easy to throw everything out as old fashioned and not for a modern society – or to buy the lie that humanity wrote the bible and everything in it came from us. It is also easy to decide that the bible is a series of transactions between us and Adonai. We do so that we get. None of that is true. You cannot approach Adonai that way and expect to receive ANYTHING (Hebrews 11:6; James 1:7-8). Everything about the Kingdom and the BLESSING works from and through LOVE – because THAT is who Adonai really is (1 John 4:8). The Word is a manual for how to LOVE. What behaviours are love, what love grows in you, and the motivations of true love. He laid it all out. He left nothing to chance. He repeated it again and again. He gave examples over and over. And then Jesus became flesh and lived a life based on love, so that we could see what real love was, what it could accomplish, and how you could truly align your mind with Adonai and live in cooperation with Him one hundred percent. And then Jesus made a Way for us to inhabit HIM so that we could do it because He already did it! Love is how it all works and Adonai made sure that we have a way to choose love so that we get it ALL too. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8