From Dream to Destiny: The Ten Tests You Must Go Through to Fulfill God's Purpose for Your Life (20 page)

And God is very interested in our hearts. The Bible says: “For the L
ORD
does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the L
ORD
looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). God is looking at our
hearts
to see if they truly belong to Him. And Jesus said the way we handle our money is a primary indicator of where our hearts really belong.

So it is very important to settle this question: What has first place in your heart? Is it God? Or is it money? Does money control you—or do you control money?

Let God Be First

The most important principle I can tell you about money can be summed up in four simple words:
Let God be first!

You let God be first in your life by
honoring
Him above all else. The Bible tells us, “Honor the L
ORD
with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase” (Prov. 3:9). Do you honor God with the firstfruits of your finances?

Finances are just one way that we can show honor to God and let Him know He is first in our lives. Joseph honored God and let Him be first in everything that he had. Joseph even honored God in the naming of his children. In the midst of the seven years of plenty, Joseph had two sons. Genesis 41 tells the story.

And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (vv. 50-52).

The name Manasseh means “to forget,” and the name Ephraim means “to be fruitful.” But the first thing that Joseph had to say about the names of his children was “for God”! “For
God
has made me forget….
For God
has caused me to be fruitful” (emphasis added). Joseph recognized that it was God who had made him forget his troubles and it was God who had made him fruitful. So Joseph gave God the honor for it. Joseph had stepped into a place of incredible power and wealth—but in that place of privilege and comfort, he did not forget God. As the ruler of all Egypt, Joseph was still thanking God and honoring Him. His two sons were the firstfruits of his body—and Joseph chose to
honor God
with those first-fruits! He used their names as a means to give honor to God for all that God had done for him. It was an outward reflection of the gratitude in his heart.

This is really what tithing is about—giving God the
honor
and the thanks for everything that we have. You may have heard about tithing many times over the years. Or you may be hearing about it for the first time. Nevertheless, tithing is really very simple. It is about
putting God first.

God has always been interested in knowing what is
first
place in our hearts. That is why God has always been interested in the
firstfruits
and the
firstborn.
He wants to see what is
first
in our hearts.

Why did God accept Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s? Because Abel’s offering was the
firstborn!
But Cain’s offering was
not
the firstfruits—so his offering was not blessed (see Gen. 4:3-5).

When the Israelites first entered the Promised Land, God commanded them to give all the silver and the gold from Jericho to Him (see Josh. 6:19). Why? Because Jericho was the
first
city they conquered—so
Jericho was the
firstfruits
of the Promised Land! Notice that God didn’t tell them to first take 10 cities and then give one of those cities to Him when it was all over. No, God commanded them to give everything from that
first
city to Him—and after they did that, He said that they could have the goods from all the other cities.

This is how the principle of the firstfruits works in our lives: Giving the
first
to God causes the rest to be blessed. God told the Israelites that if they would just
honor Him
with that first city, then He would help them conquer all the other cities. Further, He would allow them to keep everything from all the other cities. But when Achan kept part of the silver from Jericho for himself, the Israelites found that God was no longer helping them. Instead of having God’s help, they were on their own—and the battle did not go well for them! Until they made that “dishonoring” situation right with God, they were not able to go on and capture any more cities (see Josh. 7).

The tithe is blessed and consecrated to God before you take it—but if you take it, it is cursed!

The tithe is always the
first
part, not the last. God said that when the Israelites’ sheep had a lamb, they were to give the
first
lamb to Him. God did not say to let the sheep have 10 lambs, and then give 1 of the 10 to Him. God said to give Him the
first
one. Why?
Because it takes faith to give the first one!
It takes faith to give the
first
10 percent, not the last 10 percent! Tithing is 10 percent, and it does mean a tenth part—but tithing is about giving the
first
tenth to God!

Giving the last 10 percent instead of the first 10 percent is saying, “Once I am sure that I am taken care of, I will take care of You, God. If I have enough room in my life for You, I will honor and obey You.” That is not really very honoring to God, is it? But when we give God the
first
10 percent, we are taking a step of faith and trust. We are saying, “God, I want to take care of You first. You are first place in every area of my life, God.”

You can
claim
God is first place in your life—but let me see your check register! By observing where your money goes, I can tell you who is
really
first place in your life. It could be the mortgage company; it could be the electric company. I’ll tell you who is first place in a lot of
people’s lives. Can you guess? It’s Visa!

But let me tell you who ought to be first—God!

When God is first in our lives, He blesses the rest. This is a principle we see throughout the Bible. So put God first! The first check I write every month is the tithe check. Not the second check or the third check or the eighth check—the
first
check. Because I want to give God the
first
part of all my increase, not the last part!

In May 2003, Barna Research Group released the results of a study about tithing. The study showed that the proportion of households in the United States that tithe their income to the church has dropped from 8 percent in 2001 to just 3 percent in 2002. So according to this respected research organization, only 3 percent of households in the United States tithe.
¹
Yet we are the most prosperous nation on Earth!

God has blessed this nation because we have sent missionaries all around the world to spread His gospel message. I believe America has been living in years of prosperity and years of the blessings of God. But I also believe that years of famine are right around the corner if we do not start honoring Him with the firstfruits of those blessings.

We have been blessed because of God. And if we turn our backs on Him, we are going to be in trouble! So let’s make a commitment to make God first!

How can you do your part? Any time that you get some unexpected money, you have a great opportunity to let God be first. When you get a bonus or some unexpected money, do you tithe on it? Do you honor God first? Tithing is simply a way of expressing your gratitude to God. Tithing is a way of acknowledging that He is the One who got you that raise or that bonus in the first place.

Imagine the message it sends when someone prays, “God, please, God, please! We need extra money!” Then, when God answers that prayer by sending the extra money, they don’t even tithe on it!

Isn’t it amazing how quickly we forget that it was God who met that need and sent us the money? When we tithe, we are letting God know that we are grateful for that money and that we realize it came from Him. But if we immediately forget God and don’t honor Him with the tithe on that money, we are not letting God be first.

Please understand me. This is not law—this is
love!
This is expressing love and gratitude and honor to the God who has given us everything!

God is so gracious and so compassionate. When we are in a tight spot, God will say, “OK, I want to bless you. I want to help you. Even though you have some things out of line in your life, I know that you need this money right now. You are My child and I love you. So I’m going to help you. I’m going to put it on your boss’s heart to give you a raise, even though no one else in the company is getting a raise right now.” God loves you so much that in some cases He will move upon the heart of an unbeliever, just to get you a raise. So be sure to thank Him for it! Be sure to honor Him for all that He does for you.

Let God be first—this is the first principle of the Prosperity Test. There are other financial principles that are important as well, and we need to understand those principles. Joseph understood the importance of these other principles. These principles were essential to his success in his destiny as ruler of the world’s food supply during the years of famine.

Of course, Joseph understood the most important principle—He allowed God to be first in every area of his life. But Joseph also understood the importance of something else that we would all do well to comprehend
—learning to wait.

Good Things Come

For those seven years of abundance, Joseph made the Egyptians store up, store up and store up. After a while, I’m sure some of the people probably said, “We’ve got enough grain stored up by now! Why can’t we just use some of this grain, instead of storing it up?” And Joseph most likely replied, “No, you don’t understand. If you don’t store it up now, you’re not going to have it later, when you need it.”

Joseph understood the importance of waiting. The Egyptians could have used all that extra grain right away, or they could have sold it and made themselves rich overnight. But they would have starved later on, during the famine.

Did you know that the Bible says it is not a good thing to try to get rich quickly? Proverbs 28:20 says, “A faithful man will abound with
blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.” So according to the Bible, the get-rich-quick schemes of today are bad for you; and if you get involved in them, you’ll be punished! In other words, if you try to get rich quick, you can expect to encounter problems!

Please understand this simple fact: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! The Bible warns us over and over again to stay away from get-rich-quick schemes—so just decide right now not to get involved in them.

It is amazing to me how many people get involved in those gimmicks. It is even more amazing to me that Christian people get involved in them! Some Christian people actually want me to get involved in these enterprises—and the reason they want me to get involved is because they see the gift of God on my life. They think they can somehow make themselves rich by using that gift—a gift that God has given to me so that I can help other people and bring them to Him.

I have made a firm decision that I am not going to get involved in anyone’s multilevel business. The people in my church know better than to come to me with any get-rich-quick schemes. Many of these ventures appear legitimate; but if you look closely, you will see that they never actually work. They may work for the people who are right at the top. But the reason they work is because of gullible people—and those people are usually right at the bottom! I am saddened to note that nearly every multilevel enterprise goes after the church as a business target. They do that because the tightly knit community that exists within the church makes it a tempting prospecting field.

The church is an organization made up of people, so it is easy to make friends and say, “This is a Christian business that I am involved in.” When I hear that statement, I always have a question in my mind: “When did that
business
repent and get saved?” There is no such thing as a Christian business! There are
Christians
and there are
businesses—
and there are Christians who are in business. But a business can’t go to heaven or hell! (On second thought, I suppose some of you might think you had a business that
did
go to hell! But enough about that!) Only a
person
can go to heaven or hell. Only a
person
can be a Christian.

Watch out for shortcuts to wealth, because it seems that church folks are a favorite target. Your best safeguard—and this should be no surprise—is God’s Word.

In fact, when it comes to wealth, the Bible teaches us
to wait
. The Bible teaches us to
be faithful
and to
be good stewards.
The reason people try to get rich quickly is that they are not willing to live as they ought to financially. They do not want to wait or be patient. They want to have what they want and have it now! They should be learning to save money and to live below their means, but they don’t like that idea, so they turn to some shortcut.

We must learn to wait! We need to learn to be patient when it comes to purchases. We should walk away from a possible purchase and think it over for a while. We should look at our budget and ask God if this is His will at the moment. We live in a society of instant gratification—and it is all too easy to fall into the pattern of buying whatever we want at the moment, without being patient or seeking God’s counsel about it.