I’m seeing 2008 and the coming days and years as a time of great harvest and abundance, where the wealth of the wicked is going to be transferred to the righteous to be properly stewarded for the extension of the Kingdom of God. I believe that we are in the beginning stage of stepping into a new level of God’s promises and abundance in our lives and in the Church. God wants to bring you, your children and your grandchildren into the Promised Land. They are not going to live in lack. They are not going to live in just enough. They are going to live in and enjoy the promises of God. Yet, for Israel and for us there is a doorway into the Promised Land. It is called Jericho.
“Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.” Joshua 6:1
Sometimes when God speaks, we look around at our circumstances and think, “What?!” Standing before the massive, fortified walls of Jericho, God told Joshua, “I have given you the Promised Land, but you enter by Jericho. I have given Jericho into your hands. Now conquer Jericho and you will get in.” Forty years before Joshua had stood in this same place as one of the spies sent into the land. But despite the promise of God’s victory over the Canaanites, Israel shrank back in fear at the bad report of the other ten spies. Fear gripped the hearts of the people, and they did not enter into the blessings that God had prepared for them. Fear held an entire generation back from entering into God’s intended promises for His children!
Forty years later, Joshua stood at the gateway again. We see that the first thing God did to prepare this new generation was to circumcise all the men. They were about to transition from the wilderness where God provided just enough for all their needs, to a land of abundance. Part of our walk into the blessings and abundance of God will require a cutting of the flesh. Many times the way to God’s supernatural abundance requires us to let go of our own strength to step into God’s provision. God wants to bring us into a place of total trust and dependence on Him alone. Then, when He brings us into abundance, we are good stewards of it because we recognize that it is His alone. We are able to use His provision for His purposes. If not, we often begin to use His provision selfishly or out of a place of fear, hurting ourselves and others in the process.
After dealing with their flesh, God’s strategy for victory next dealt with the very fear that had held back the previous generation:
You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” Joshua 6: 3-5
God was basically saying to the Israelites, “I’m going to set you free from all the fears that your fathers and mothers had. For six days I want you to march around this stronghold. Face your fears. The city is yours! The ark of My Presence is with you, and My Word is with you. My Presence, My Name and My Word are higher than all of your fears. I want you to step out of your fear and into the reality of My power and provision. I am delivering you from the lack of Egypt, and the “just enough” of the wilderness into My abundance for you.” God’s intention for all of us is abundance – abundance not just in our finances, but in our family relationships, in our friendships, in our productivity and in winning souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But for Israel then, and for us today, we have to go in and possess it. Jericho is the gateway to these promises. Before you can enter into the fullness of the blessings God has promised, we have to take Jericho.
But here is the other strategy, and this is something I don’t want you to miss. It is found in Joshua 6:19, “But all the silver, gold, vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord.” The first-fruits of their increase upon entering the land are consecrated to God. Jericho represents the tithe – the first-fruits of all your financial increase. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the Lord with your possession, and with the first-fruits of your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” God instructed Joshua and the Israelites, “Honor me with the first-fruits. Don’t touch any of it for yourself. It all belongs to Me, but I am giving it to you. Thus honor Me with your first increase so that I can bless you. Then you will be victorious.” Tithe, therefore, is the doorway into your land of abundance.
God wants to bring us into the land of plenty in this new year. Not only are we expecting financial provision, but we are looking for revival in our land! We are hungry for His Presence to dwell with us, bringing refreshing and restoration to us, to our families, to our churches and our nation. We have been living in the wilderness of drought and even lack. We are asking for the heavens to open and His Rain to fall down on us. One of the greatest verses on revival and the open heavens is found in Malachi 3:10, “’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’” This is the full counsel of God. This is part of our strategy for victory and breakthrough in 2008. A lot of believers pray for revival, sing about revival and lament for the lack of revival. But the Lord would say, “Deal with Jericho, and I can open the heavens for you.” Tithing opens the heavens. If you want revival, then be faithful in your tithe. God tells us very plainly. It’s very practical; it’s very easy. You don’t have to be super-spiritual, feel led of the Spirit or called to tithe.
Tithing is a basic part of living the Christian life of faith and the key to living under the open heavens of God’s provision. If you want to hum a few revival songs you may, but writing a check is the main thing to stepping into the open heaven. God wants to see you with your first-fruits.
It is biblical, from Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek to the teachings of Jesus, the tithe is commanded of the Lord. Matthew 23:23 says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” Again Hebrews 7:8 instructs us “Here mortal men receive tithes, but there He receives them, of whom it is witnessed that He lives.” The One who receives our tithes is the Lord Jesus Himself. Tithing is Christian and is based in obedience. It is part of the basic checklist of our Christian faith: Have you been baptized in water? Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Do you read your Bible? Do you pray? Do you attend church regularly? Are you witnessing? Are you tithing? When you tithe, you are saying to God, “You are first.” But you are not just mouthing the words, you are saying it with action as you give of your finances.
Many Christians fail to tithe faithfully because of fear of lack. They aren’t sure whether God will really take care of them when they give of their income. But the tithe is the test. God says, “For you to come into the bigger blessing, you have to face your fears.” Are you facing your fears each week? Come out of the land of just enough into the land of abundance! The tithe is the doorway to this abundant blessing.
So what is tithing? Tithing is the first tenth of your total income. When you look at the pattern of the Old Testament, we find that Israel gave about 25% of their income in tithes and offerings every year. Ten percent is just the start, we can go beyond that in our tithes and in offerings to the Lord. Do we tithe on the gross or net income? God says, “Of all your increase.” So that would be our gross income. Often when people ask me this question I like to ask, “Do you want a blessing on your gross or your net?” Essentially, we tithe on everything that comes to us personally. However, if you are running a business, then it is different. Pay the bills and overhead of the business, then tithe of the increase.
Where should you pay your tithe? Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring your tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house.” This is a picture of the local church. In the New Testament, we see that money was given to the local churches. Logic alone would suggest that people contribute to their local body where they are fed spiritually, where their children are taught, where they are covered by their pastors and leaders, and where worship and prayer are going up. This is God’s plan to reach the nations. The Church is the only organization that Jesus Himself established. Programs which reach beyond the local body can be supported through funds channeled through the local church. Now if you want to go beyond tithe and into offering, the primary pattern is still to give to the local church. In 1 Cor. 16:1 we see that Paul instructed the churches to take collections on Sunday so that when he came, he could take their support to the elders in Jerusalem. We find in Acts 11:29-30 that the believers laid their offerings at the apostle’s feet. Thus the finances were available for the leaders to distribute for the work of the gospel as needed.
We have got to face our fears and take Jericho because God wants to open the heavens. Whether you’ve messed up in the past, or know you haven’t tithed faithfully, let us repent and begin this year afresh. Make a fresh commitment to tithing. It is an act of obedience, and it is an act of love. Ten percent is just the beginning, and a way for us to say, “Lord, all of this belongs to you, but the portion that You tell me to give You, the tithe and the offering, I give to You.” Initially you may have to face your fears every time you write a check, but God has promised His blessing. Let Him set you free to give your tithe with joy and faith. God wants to give you Jericho and bring you into the Promise Land!
