Releasing Tithes To The Storehouse

By Pastor Boniface Amani Gichina (Read More Powerful Biblical Articles in this other blog: http://yourlivingbread.blogspot.com/)

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10-11).

These are the promises of God to His children who obey Him on tithes and offerings. But those promises are not made to those who bring God’s tithes and offerings to just anywhere. The promises belong to those who obey the perfect will of God. Not just to bring His tithes, but to bring them to the place He has chosen.

The blessings that follow obedience to God concerning tithes and offerings are predicated on obedience to follow what God says on where, when and how to bring them.

God challenged His people to bring all their tithes, "to the storehouse". This was not just any storehouse; it was the storehouse He had commanded to be built to house the tithes and offerings that belonged to Him. It was the storehouse from which the families of His servants were fed. It was the storehouse controlled by the High Priest of Israel, not by the people who brought the tithes.

In both the Old and the New Covenants, once the children of God bring their tithes and offerings to God, they have no more responsibility concerning that money. As long as they exercise any control over that money, they have not released it at all.

There are many people, especially the very wealthy, who refuse to give any money to any religious organization over which they have no control or influence as to how that money is spent. In other words, they never really release the money to God at all. The money is never really out of their hands.

When you bring your tithes and offerings to a religious organization of which you exercise control or influence, you have not really released them. It is still under your control, to some extent; and if it is still under your control, then you still have it!

When you have brought God’s tithes and offerings to Him, you have done your part. What happens to His tithes and offerings beyond that point is not your responsibility. God will “deal very well” with the priests if they mishandle and abuse the tithes and offerings brought to them.

Never Pay Your Tithe to Priests of other gods

God’s heart was broken with grief many times when His children offered His tithes and offerings to priests of other gods. He was not grieved with them because he needed anything, but because they were sowing seeds for their own destruction by financing the enemies of their souls. Here is just a part of God’s heart-rending cry through Ezekiel (16:17-19):

“Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.”

God’s children were tempted and persuaded to hire the priests of Baal and priests of a hundred other gods, to teach them about spiritual things. Meanwhile God’s servants, instead of being encouraged in the work of the Lord by the tithes and offerings of God’s people, watched the servants of other gods prosper with goods that should have been theirs. It is like born again Christians taking their tithes and offerings to witches and wizards for enchantment and divinations.

Once in a while, a wise and godly man would ascend to the throne and would protect God’s children by enforcing God’s judgments. When that happened, when the people were directed to bring God’s tithes and offerings to the proper place, God’s priests were encouraged in their work, the truth of the Law was zealously taught, and blessings from heaven were restored to the Israelites.

Young Hezekiah’s first order of business when he became king was to restore the knowledge of God’s Law to the nation. He gathered God’s priests and other servants together and spoke kindly to them, exhorting them to do the work for which they were anointed by God (2Chronicles 28:1-11): "The Lord has chosen you", he said, "to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that ye should minister unto Him, and burn incense". 

After that was done, he commanded the people to come worship their God. And the people responded by bringing so many sacrifices to the temple that there weren’t enough priests to offer them all. Their helpers, the Levites, had to fill in for them (2Chronicles 29:32-36). Then Hezekiah issued an order that God’s people should no longer take God’s tithes and offerings to the priests of other gods but should bring them to God’s servants to encourage them instead.

Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD. (2Chronicles 31:4)

The people responded by bringing so much to the temple of God that special chambers had to be prepared just to store all the wealth that was brought. The following Scriptures from chapter 31 of 2Chronicles records this account.

And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. (2 Chronicles 31:5)

And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store. Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them (2Chronicles 31:10 -11)

Thus began a happy and blessed time in Israel because there was a man on the throne who led the people of God rightly.

But when Manasseh, became king, all was changed again. God pleaded with His people through prophet Isaiah asking them why they kept taking His tithes and offerings to other gods.

“Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” (Isaiah 55:2 -3)

Brethrens don’t pay your tithes and offerings to witches and wizards. Don’t take your tithes and offerings to palm readers and astrologers. It will not bring satisfaction to you. It will instead provoke God.

Now that you know that it is God’s will to render to Him His tithes and His offerings, your next obligation is to find out where God wants you to bring them. If you bring them to a place or to a person who is not ordained of God, you are throwing God’s money away, or worse yet, you are financing the enemies of God and His righteousness. It is your responsibility, and yours alone, to determine where to carry God’s tithes and offerings, and it is an obligation that wise men take seriously.