Summary & Key points
Reading God's Word: It's crucial to meditate on and memorize scripture. Consistent engagement with the Bible helps keep God’s word in our hearts.
Prayer: Establishing a quiet time for prayer is essential. It's a habit that requires effort to develop but is vital for spiritual growth.
Tithing: Giving back to God is an act of faith and gratitude. It teaches us to put God first, breaks the hold of materialism, strengthens our faith, and brings blessings. Key reasons to tithe include:
- God commands it.
- Jesus commends it.
- It demonstrates that God has first place in our lives.
- It reminds us that everything we have is from God.
- It expresses our gratitude.
- Refusing to tithe is seen as stealing from God.
- It gives God a chance to prove His existence and desire to bless us.
- It proves our love for God.
Fellowship: Being part of a church family and connect groups is important for mutual encouragement, accountability, spiritual growth, and serving each other. Fellowship helps us belong, worship, serve, and share the gospel effectively. Starting and Maintaining Good Habits: Desire: Cultivate a strong desire to grow spiritually. Decision: Make a conscious decision to develop these habits. Declaration: Publicly commit to these habits. Determination: Practice these habits consistently. Do it: Take action immediately without delay. Double it up: Find a spiritual partner for accountability. Depend on God: Rely on God's strength and grace to maintain these habits. In summary, to grow spiritually, we need to commit to reading the Bible, praying, tithing, and engaging in fellowship. Starting and maintaining these habits requires a strong desire, deliberate decisions, and reliance on God’s strength.
Want to grow, and that’s what we are doing in this maturity class. Who can tell me the first habit we’re trying to inculcate in our lives? The word of God. Reading God’s word is so important, isn’t it? To keep it in our hearts, to meditate on it. So, you know, we’ve been sending out devotions encouraging people to memorize God’s word. Let’s do that. You know, if you’re a church member, you’re on the one-year chat. So please encourage one another as we do that. Anybody can tell me what the second habit is? Our quiet time, prayer, isn’t it? As we pray, we inculcate that habit in our lives. It does not come easily. These habits, as the name goes, are habits you need to develop and grow. These habits don’t expect that once you believe in Jesus, these things will come naturally. Jesus has given us enough faculties, enough things in our mind, and enough hard work and endurance to actually put these things in our lives. It is stuff which we actually have to work at. Sometimes we think, oh, I’m going to follow Jesus now. Automatically, I will pray. Automatically, I will read the Bible. It doesn’t work that way. We are still fallen human beings.
Today, we will deal with the fourth habit after our short break. We’ll go until about 11:10, 11:15, and then we have a short break, and then we’ll continue because all this is part of our maturity class, right? We really want to see everyone grow. As you can see, those of you who are wearing the T-shirt, what’s the first two lines? What does it say? “Don’t settle for less.” Sometimes, when we don’t have these habits in our lives, we are actually settling for less. God has given us all His avenues of blessings and of grace, but we say, “No, I don’t want these habits. Therefore, I just want to live my own life, have my faith as convenient as it is to me. I don’t want to have these habits.” You’re actually settling for less. The next few lines are “Move the needle,” isn’t it? One of the big things in our church is to have a culture of a growth mindset, which is the fact that we need to move the needle a little bit, a little bit. We don’t expect huge jumps, but at least start moving the needle. If you haven’t read your Bible before, start with 15 minutes a day. That’s not a lot. Sometimes, we just sit there scrolling, and in the blink of an eye, it’s already half an hour, one hour. That’s our encouragement today.
But today, we want to talk about habit number three, which is tithing and giving back to God. This can be a sensitive issue for some or a nonissue for others, but whatever it is, sometimes we immediately put up that block and say, “Oh, my money is mine. Don’t talk to me about my money. I want to do what time. Okay, I can give a little bit to the Lord. Okay, my energy. Yes, I can do that. But when it comes to money, wow, this is what I earned, isn’t it? It’s my hard work. It’s what I’ve put in. Why should I give back to the Lord?” Today, I think it’s something we must not skirt around, but we must deal directly with why tithing is so important. All these are not my ideas. It is from the word of the Lord. The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 14:23, “The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.” Sometimes, we think, “Hey, how do I put God first? Is it quiet time? Yeah, that’s important. Is it me praying? Yeah, that’s also important.” But it says very clearly here in the Living Bible, it says, “The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your life.” So, there is a purpose to it. Of course, the money comes, and it’s managed by a committee in our church, NCC, and we disperse it. Somebody needs to pay for the electricity, the rental of the building, etc., etc. So, it goes to that, but at the end of the day, at the beginning of it, it’s actually meant to teach us to put God first.
Part of actually putting God first in our lives is this whole process of getting more and more mature. When we start off, we’re eating baby food, right? That’s what the Bible tells us. We’re doing baby stuff. But as we grow older, we start giving, and that’s a sign of our maturity. The Bible says this: “Since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Everyone, I want you to just circle that word “grace of giving.” Now, these are God’s words, they are not mine. If you examine the Bible, you will find that the Bible uses the word “belief” 272 times. The Bible uses the word “pray” 371 times, but the Bible uses the word “give” 2,162 times. You look at the proportion there, there must be something important about that, isn’t it? That’s why you see Christians all over the world, at least they strive to be great givers. Even in our country, when the colonial people came in the 1800s and some, a lot of them were believers, they were Christians. And one of the things they did was to start hospitals and to start schools because this is the idea of us giving back. And as they gave to the Lord, they gave to the community as well. It wasn’t all just about reaping and getting our riches. It was also about giving. And this whole idea comes from the Bible, that it is important for us to give.
What does God want us to give? I’m going to share with you quickly seven benefits of tithing. There are seven amazing benefits to your life when you learn to be a giver. So here is where you can fill things up. Number one, giving makes me more like God. Wow, ever thought about that? Let me just highlight some Bible verses for this. God is a giver, and if you’re going to be like Him, you’ve got to learn to be generous. That’s how it is. It goes against what the world tells us: keep your riches for yourself. But the Lord tells us, “No, whatever you have, bless others, give it.” So, giving makes me more like God because God has proven to us His name and nature, isn’t it? That God is a giver. Where do we see that? John 3:16 is very clear: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.” We can all come here and say, “Hey, talk is cheap.” You’ve heard that statement, talk is cheap. Everybody can say things, isn’t it? It’s very easy to flout grandiose statements, “Oh, I’m a giver, I love this,” etc., etc. But God backed up what He said. He tells us He loves us. We know that. It could be just grandiose. It could mean nothing, but it means something, and it means a lot when He backs up what He says with action, isn’t it? In the Lord’s ideology, there is no “talk is cheap.” The Lord actually backed up His love for us by the action of Him giving His one and only Son. John chapter 3:16, “For God so loved the world,” we know that. So, there’s a proving, there’s a relationship there. So, circle the word “love” there as you’re taking notes and circle the word “gave,” and I want you to put an arrow from “love” to “give” because that’s very important to know that God wasn’t just empty talk when He said that. He backed it up with the ultimate sacrifice of giving His Son, and that’s what sets us for giving. Giving is a part of Christian life. Whether we are to give finances, whether we are to give our time, whether we are to give our energies, that’s part of it.
I know sometimes culture is such that when we come to church, the first thing we say is, “What can we get?” And that has never been God’s plan. God’s plan is when we come in, the first thing in our mind is, “What can we give? How can we bless others? How can we give to others so that others’ lives are better and we be more like God?” God did that, we do the same.
Now, number two, giving draws me closer to God. Giving draws me closer to God. For where your treasure is, Matthew chapter 6:21 says this, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This is a time for us to do a reflection, isn’t it? Where is your heart? What is in your heart? Who is in your heart? Is it the adoration of your friends? Sometimes, we look at the kind of effort and energy we put into pleasing our friends, pleasing those who we want to impress. They give us a call, immediately we are there. They drop us a message, we must reply within the next 10 seconds, no matter what you’re doing. It’s very clear. If that’s your focus, your actions will show it, and that’s where your heart is, to please your friends. Some of us, our heart is in materialistic wealth or gaining money because when the time comes for a business meeting where we can get a big deal, we are there early, spot on, already one day before. Where is our heart today? Because the Bible says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If you want Jesus to be number one, we must learn to give up certain things in our heart and put Him there, put Him as number one. And very often, that involves taking our money, taking our tithe, giving it to the Lord and saying, “Lord, we give this to you.” Now, just to work it out in our lives that you be number one, not money, not our friends, not our time, but you.
The third one is this: giving is the antidote to materialism. Everybody knows what the meaning of antidote is, right? God forbid if you were ever bitten by a snake, and a poisonous snake at that, the first thing you do is you tie a T, right, to make sure that the poison doesn’t go around your body. The second thing you do is quickly go to a hospital, and they will ask you what snake it is. Last time, I learned first aid: bring the snake along if it’s dead. Yeah, this snake. But don’t get bitten in the process again. Then you’ve got two headaches. But that’s true. You kind of like have to roughly identify why because when they bring it to the hospital, they will say roughly what kind of snake is this, and we will provide the antidote to the venom in your body. The antidote will actually neutralize that venom and heal you. Again, giving is the antidote to materialism. Materialism nowadays is like a poison. It comes so subtly that we think it’s okay. What’s wrong with me wanting a better job? What’s wrong with me wanting to collect things for myself, to have a better vehicle or whatever else? But when that takes center place, then it becomes a poison. We say, “Get, get, get more, more, more,” and that becomes our focus. Everything else becomes secondary. So we need that antidote, and the antidote is found in giving. Whether it’s our time, but today we’re talking specifically about giving our money. When we give our money, it breaks that, and we see how God will continue to grow us and bless us. So it’s the antidote to materialism. Number four, giving strengthens my faith. You know, all of us, we have brains, obviously, right? Somebody was telling me the other day, “Math is not my thing. I can’t do math.” And research has found that actually, for those who say, “Oh, I can’t do math. It’s not my thing,” they fall into this thing called a fixed mindset. Now, a fixed mindset is somebody who believes that “I am born with what I have. I’m stuck with what I have. I cannot get better.” The opposite to a fixed mindset is that of a growth mindset. So what they’re encouraging people in class nowadays to do is don’t use the word “I cannot.” Say, “I’m not yet there. I can get better slowly. I can put hard work in, practice more questions, and I get better.” And you know what they did? They actually scanned the brain of students while they’re doing math. For some reason, I don’t know how you can do that, but they can see that the more you practice, the more the neural networks join and the smarter they become, the more apt at the mathematical situations they are. And it’s the same thing. God knows all this before MRI, some more, that when we give, we practice, and we strengthen our faith. Faith is something too, like a muscle. You know, our brain is a muscle. When we practice math, it gets stronger, and faith is the same thing. The more we exercise our faith, the stronger it gets. For us to exercise something, we need to go to the gym, isn’t it? We need to actually put our muscles through the paces. It’s the same thing with our faith. If we never test it, if we never stretch it, if we never put ourselves in positions where it’s going to be stretched, we will never grow it, and God wants us to grow. Faith is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. It says like this in Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Honor the Lord by giving him the first part.” Circle “first part” of all your income, and he will fill your barns. In Luke, it says, “Give, and it will be given to you, for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” So as we give, what blessings does it have for us? Well, we become more like God. We increase our faith because you think, “Okay, I only have this left. I’m going to trust you, Lord, for this,” and let’s see how he works out his plans in our lives.
Number five, giving is an investment in eternity. You know, our lives here are temporary. 80 years, 100 years, if you’re lucky. Some of us, not so. But at the end of the day, when you believe in Jesus, life doesn’t just end here. There’s a future for you in heaven. There’s a future for you where we live forever. Life on Earth is a preparation for that future. You know, they always say you are born naked, you go to the grave also naked. But here in the Bible, it tells us something very different. It says this, that we can actually invest in our eternal future. In 1 Timothy, it says this: “Tell them to give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this, they will be storing up real treasure for themselves.” Who is this storing up for? You. That’s what you’re doing. As they give, by doing this, they will be storing up real. You are actually adding to an investment fund in heaven. It is the only safe investment for eternity. Not market dependent, not trader dependent, but this one is confirmed.
And number six, God blesses me in return. Let me quickly go through two verses with you. A generous man will himself be blessed. Proverbs 22:9. Proverbs 11:25: “A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” So many promises of God telling us, “Hey, you be generous. Come on. Break that yoke of selfishness. Break that yoke of materialism in your heart. Come on. Let’s just see how he can bless you.” Number seven, giving makes me happy. Now let me just clarify something here. Just because you give, it doesn’t mean you will be some multimillionaire. You know, we don’t believe in that prosperity gospel. It doesn’t mean your life won’t be difficult. It doesn’t mean you won’t have challenges. But we give in faith because we trust that God will provide all that we need, just nice. Amen? Amen. And the last one is giving makes me happy. Acts 20:35: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.” Sometimes we ask, “How do we be happy, isn’t it?” The world will tell you, “You collect more, collect more, more experiences.” You know, I’ve got friends whose life is just about experiences. “I’ve eaten this food, traveled to this country.” Wow, not happy. And the irony is this: the Bible tells us happiness is not found in getting, but in giving. Amen? There’s more happiness in giving than in receiving. So what does the Bible teach about tithing?
When I first became a believer and somebody told me we need to tithe, my parents told me that. “What is tithe? We don’t really use that in our English language much.” But tithing is basically a word that means 10%. That’s all it means. A tithe means, and it’s in your notes, a tenth part, tenth. So it’s a tenth. It’s not twentieth, it’s not thirtieth. It’s a tenth. And the Bible says that the first 10% of all that we make belongs to God. And because it belongs to God, it must go back to Him. So let’s do a little bit of math here, okay? If you are students and you get 10 ringgit a week, how much goes to your tithe? One ringgit. Great. If you earn 100 ringgit a week, how much goes to the Lord? Ten ringgit. Awesome. You guys are great. Okay, let’s go a bit higher. If you earn, let’s say, 1,000 ringgit a month, how much goes to your tithe? 100 ringgit. Okay, how about 10,000 ringgit a month? 1,000 ringgit. That’s a lot of money for some people. Yes, okay. So we’ve got it right. A tithe is 10%. It’s the first 10% of my income. Now an offering, because we read about God’s word saying that we should bring our tithes and offerings to the Lord, so your offering is anything that you give in addition to your tithe, right? In addition. So if you got 10 ringgit a week and you gave one ringgit in your tithe, maybe you might give another ringgit in an offering to bless somebody else. So that’s above your tithe. Now remember, it’s not an offering until you’ve given your tithe, right? So that means if I haven’t tithed and I give money, then that’s not an offering. Give a tithe is what you give first because God says the first 10% comes back to me.
Now I want to talk a bit about why we should tithe, and this is what we have from God’s word. We have eight solid reasons from God’s word why we should tithe. Now some of us may say, “You know, if you really knew my financial situation, I can’t afford to tithe.” Well, I want to tell you today that you can’t afford not to tithe. You can’t afford not to tithe because like this: how many of us want God to bless us? Put up your hand. Put up your left hand, that’s it. Okay, hold it up right there. If you want God to bless you, then raise your other hand. You need to both hands up. Now you want God to bless you, then your other hand must go up. I must put God first in my life. Okay, so one has to go with the other. It doesn’t work any other way. You see, if you want God to bless your marriage, you’ve got to put God first in your marriage. If you want God to bless you in your education, you’ve got to put Him first in your education. You don’t spend all your time studying and not spending time with Him. You put Him first in your time, in how you study. If you want God to bless you in your parenting, you’ve got to put Him first and His principles in your parenting. And so similarly, when it comes to our finances, if we want God to bless us in our finances, we’ve got to put Him first. We don’t say, “I want it to work this way, but then I don’t want it to work the other way in this particular area.” That’s not being consistent.
In Matthew 6:25, and I want you to write this verse down because it’s not in your notes. In Matthew 6:25, we read, “Do not worry about your food, drink, and clothes.” The passage that we read in Matthew, Matthew 6:25, and you can go back and read it, but let me read it to you. Jesus says, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” And He goes on to say, “God knows all that you need. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Write down there verse 33. If there’s a verse you need to memorize when it comes to tithing, it’s this verse: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” So let me give you these eight reasons from God’s word why we must tithe. One, because God commands it. God commands it. It’s not an option. And over and over in Scripture, God tells us that the first 10% of all that we make is God’s money. And if you think about it, if something that you are having in your possession belongs to someone else, you’ve got no right to keep it, right? If you know that you left your, let’s say, your handbag in the office, and all your precious things in there, your documents, your phone and all that, and you left it there, your colleague who finds it has no right to keep it, right? You say, “Oh, finders keepers.” No such thing. You’re like, “Hey, that belongs to me.” And we practice this thing without realizing in every part of our lives. And so when we come to the issue of our money, well, God commands it because it belongs to Him. Actually, all that we earn belongs to Him. All that we have, our very breath, belongs to Him. And so we need to tithe because we’re giving this money as a representation back to God for these three reasons: one, that we’re grateful that God gave us the ability to earn. And sometimes we take it for granted, right? We’re healthy, we can earn. But when we fall sick and we can’t earn, and then maybe we start to think, “Well, really, my ability to earn comes from God. My health, to be able to work and move, comes from God.” So we give out of gratitude for what He has enabled us to do. He allowed us to make the money. We give out of faith for the future because we’re saying, “If I give that 1,000 tithe to God, yeah, I could invest that 1,000, right? But I’m going to give it back to God as a demonstration of my faith that in the future, if I have a need, He’s going to provide for me just as He did in the past.” And we also give out of a sign for the present that He’s number one right now, that I’m not going to hold on to this money because I know it belongs to God. It’s not mine. So we’re saying, “God, you’re number one. I believe that you commanded it, so I’m going to give it back to you.”
Leviticus 27:30, and that’s in your notes, says, “10% of everything you harvest is holy.” That means holy means set apart and belongs to me. So if we’re thinking, “I can’t afford to tithe,” really, we should be thinking, “I have to tithe. I must tithe because it belongs to God. God commands it.”
Now, the second thing, why must we tithe? It’s because Jesus commands it. Jesus commends it. So some people actually say, “You know, tithing is Old Testament. Don’t talk to me about Old Testament.” Okay, well, tithing is taught throughout Scripture, and we see Jesus himself saying in Matthew 23:23, Jesus says, “Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn’t leave the more important things undone. You should tithe.” Underline that. Okay, that’s the word of Jesus. That’s not Old Testament. Thirdly, tithing demonstrates that God has first place in my life, first place. So it’s the physical expression that God is number one because money is something we can hold. It’s tangible. Money buys the clothes that we wear, the food that we consume, the experiences, the holidays, the lifestyle that we have. And so it’s a very physical, tangible expression when we give it back to God, where God, we’re saying, “You are really number one.” And let’s go back to that verse that we saw in Deuteronomy 14:23. We read at the first part of this session that the purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your life. So the purpose of tithing is to teach you always. And so I want to encourage all of us, especially those of us who have been believers for a long time, and maybe we have grown in our career, and we have increased whatever we have accumulated through our career and the blessings that God has given us, to continue to learn that as we increase in our blessings from God, we increase in our tithe. Yes, right? 10%, right? It’s not 10 ringgit. It’s 10%. It’s a proportion. Put God first. I want you to circle that. Put God first in your life.
Now, just now we talked about, let’s say, if we earn 10,000, well, our tithe would be 1,000. Imagine if you’re a business owner and God’s blessed you in your business, and you start earning 20,000. How much is your 10%? 2,000. 2,000 in a month. Let’s say you, in two months, three months. In three months, your tithe would be 6,000, right? What can you do with 6,000? Anybody? You could go on a holiday. You could buy a Coach handbag. You could buy an iPhone. You could. And so I’ve had friends who said, “You know, God’s blessed me in my business, and this part I found really challenging because when I earned more, 10% became a lot more.” And so as we grow in our faith, as we grow in our experiences, we still need to continue to learn to put God first in my life. Write this verse down, Luke 12:15. Luke 12:15. And let me read it to you. It says, Jesus said to them, “Watch out. Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” You know, we need to be careful because as we grow in our possessions, in our money, we all need to be on our guard. And there’s all kinds of greed. You may be thinking, “Oh, you know, I’m not a greedy person. I’m not greedy for power.” But actually, sometimes we can all be tempted because of what we see as people, influences on social media. They wear this, they do this, they experience that. I say, “I want that too. I want that too.” And if we’re not careful, if we don’t watch our hearts, that can begin to drag us into greed. So when we say, “Put God first,” we want to say, as we put our money in the offering, in the, give our tithe, as we tithe faithfully, 10% to the Lord, we’re saying, “God, you’re first. Not this holiday, not this phone, not this lifestyle. I want to put you first tangibly because I want you to be number one. I want you to be number one.”
Number four, tithing reminds me that everything I have was given to me by God. In Deuteronomy 8:18, it says, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Remember the Lord your God. It’s so easy for us to forget the Lord our God. And that’s why when the Israelites were going through Mount Sinai and all that, and God led them through the wilderness, in the book of Deuteronomy, we find that verse over and over again: “Remember and do not forget. Remember and do not forget.” And we are in that same position. We’re like, “Okay, remember and don’t forget.” Tithing reminds us that everything I have was given to me by God. Number five, tithing expresses my love to the Lord. In Deuteronomy 16:17, it says, “Each one should give as he is able, in proportion to the blessings that God has given him.” Giving is really a demonstration of our love. And we have mentioned John 3:16 earlier. But God so loved the world that He gave, and He gave it for us. Now when we give back, we’re saying, “God, I love you. You loved me so much. You gave your best. You gave your son.” How about us? We give the best. And so as we give our tithe, we’re saying, “God, I’m giving my best.” We’re not giving after everything is done, all our expenses are paid, everything is bought, and then I have this extra that I’m going to give. No, we’re going to give our first to the Lord. We’re going to say, “God, you’re number one. I love you so much. I’m going to give to you first.” We’re going to give our first.
Number six, tithing is a way to build my faith and trust in God. We have seen this already in Proverbs 3:5, but let’s read it again. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” So tithing is a way to build my faith. Write down Proverbs 3:9-10. “Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of your income, and He will fill your barns to overflowing.” So we’re saying, “God, I’m trusting you with my future.” When we give, when we tithe, we’re saying, “God, you know, I’m trusting you to bless the rest. I’m trusting you to take care of all that I need. I’m going to give this first part to you because I trust you.” And number seven, tithing teaches me that God can be trusted. We saw this earlier in Malachi 3:10, and we want to end this part with this verse. It says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” And I love this verse because it really tells us that God wants us to test Him in this. This is the only verse in the Bible where God says, “Test me in this.” So maybe you’re thinking, “Oh, you know, I’m not really sure if I can trust God with this. Try Him out. Try Him out with a little bit, and see how He will bless you. Try Him out with your tithe.” And you know, you can come back to God and say, “God, you said in your word, test you in this. I’m going to try you in this. I’m going to give this, and I’m going to trust you to bless me. I’m going to trust you to provide for me.” And as you do that, you’re going to see how God will open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Amen? Amen. So as we conclude this part on tithing, let me just encourage all of us, wherever you are in your journey with the Lord, whether you are a new believer, or you’ve been walking with the Lord for many, many years, remember that tithing is really a demonstration of our love, our faith, and our trust in the Lord. And as we do that, we’re going to see how God is going to bless us, how God is going to provide for us, and how God is going to grow our faith as we continue to trust Him in this area. Amen? Amen. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us these principles, these habits to inculcate in our lives, to grow our faith, to grow our trust in you, to grow our love for you. And Father, we pray that as we continue to trust you in this area of tithing, that you will bless us, that you will provide for us, that you will continue to show us your faithfulness in every area of our lives. We thank you, Lord, for all that you have given us. We acknowledge that all that we have comes from you. And we pray that you will continue to grow us in our faith, in our love for you, and in our trust in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen.