MoneyWalk 447: You shall not steal

This program will help you undo financial bondage.

We normally think of stealing as taking a possession of material things or ideas belonging to another human without their willing consent. Of course this is the type that we’re most familiar, but interestingly it is not the type of stealing that happens most often.

Stealing from God is the most common type of theft perpetrated by man. To be sure, stealing things from other people is definitely unrighteous. How much more unrighteous is it to steal from God? The scriptures say that God asked the question, “Can a man rob God?” He then answered the question by telling the people that they robbed Him of tithes and offering and told them to prove the truth of His Word by faithfully and regularly giving the tithe so that the religious leaders would be able to use it to serve in a manner that would glorify God, draw people to Him, and care for them as necessary.

God could pose this question and give the correct answer because He is the Creator of everything and thus owns everything. Man only manages possession on earth. He does not own them and will find that when he dies none of the possession he had use of will go with him. It’s all left for someone else to manage after he/she is gone. I’ve never seen a U-Haul make its way to heaven or to hell for that matter.

Thus, we should recognize that God has provided for our need to be met and has given each individual possessions / income to manage and that each person should honor Him by managing these possessions / income in the manner He directed. Unfortunately, we usually manage them in the manner we desire because we hold too tightly to them, don’t really believe that God is the owner of them, and/or believe that he has any standard for how we manage them. Simply studying scripture leads to the realization that each of these mentalities is unrighteous. Your management should be by God’s direction as confirmed in the bible.

Now surely I don’t want to steal any possessions that God has given to another person to manage or that he has allowed to come into their hands. More importantly, I will not steal from Father God: the one person that cares for me more than any human being including my wife, mother, or father. By faith, I will honor Him as He instructed regardless of ridicule by other people for doing so, their failure to do so, and the fact that it looks like I might lack some need or desire if I faithfully tithe and give offerings.

I would follow His instruction regardless of whether I would ever received any earthly benefit from it, yet I know by His Word that eternal blessing awaits those who while on earth manage His possessions in such a way that they are greatly used to lead other people to a relationship with Him thru Jesus Christ and to help them mature to become more like Christ.

Fact is, when you give in this manner prosperity is your earthly and eternal heritage because the following benefits follow those who do not steal from God by withholding the tithe and offerings:

1. God rebukes the devourer of your finances and your soul (spiritually demonic beings with plans to render you useless).
2. He opens the windows of heaven over you to pour out tremendous blessing upon your to help you glorify Him and serve other people.
3. He will not let your fruit rot on the vine. You will be successful and bear much fruit (many good God-led works).
4. People will see that you reside under God’s blessing and will communicate that to others. It will be a platform that you can use to point many people back to Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word in every arena of life.

Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Exodus 20:15, Malachi 3:8, Luke 18:22, Acts 5:3, Revelation 4:11
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