The Bible encourages us to give generously, not only because it will ultimately bring good things into our lives, but also because God wants those good things to overflow into other people’s lives.  Ultimately, God wants to use us—His church — to impact the world with the message of His love.  Giving is one of the primary ways we can do that.  When we give, we enable change — people get fed, church buildings get built, the gospel gets preached, and lives get touched forever.

An important aspect of giving is tithes and offerings.  The word, “tithe” literally means tenth or 10%.  A tithe is the first 10% of your income.  An offering is anything you give above and beyond that 10%.  The Bible says the purpose of tithing is to teach us to put God first in our lives (Deuteronomy 14:23).  Tithing is a reminder that God is the supplier of everything we have (1 Chronicles 29:14).  It is also God’s personal invitation to an outpouring of His blessing in your life.

In Malachi 3:10 (NLT), God 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 there will not be room enough to store it.”  Now that’s a powerful promise!  It’s also the only place in Scripture where God tells us to put Him to the test.

He’s basically saying, “Tithe, so I’ll have an excuse to bless your socks off!”

Go ahead!  Accept God’s invitation to put him to the test.  Start tithing faithfully and watch what God does in and through your life.

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Still not convinced?  Check out the stories of real-life GT people who have experienced the provision of God as they’ve been faithful to give…then come back up and click that button.

TITHING TESTIMONIALS AT GLAD TIDINGS CHURCH SAN FRANCISCO

 

Michael & Girlie Morrison

Living in San Francisco isn’t exactly affordable, so when Girlie and I began to really consider tithing it seemed like an impossibility.  We said, “How could we give up 10% of our income!  We’re already having a hard time making ends meet!”  We ended up getting enrolled in Financial Peace University here at GT, and, together, we decided that tithing was just too important to leave out.  When we really started to tithe (not just 10% on the net or what was left after the bills) we found favor in so many areas!  Within a year, we got a 40% increase in pay!  A year later I got another 15% increase!  My boss paid for us to take a 2-week vacation to Italy – paying for ALL our expenses on the trip!  We moved into a bigger house.  We were able to send our daughter, Isabella, to school.  We paid off about $16,000 in debt.  The focus of our marriage and family life has shifted away from money – we can spend more time building our relationship instead of worrying about money.   The more we give – the more freedom we can feel and see in our life and home.  I hope our story will help you see that there really is a positive increase in all areas of our lives when we obey God.  As far as I can tell, no area does that more visibly and tangibly than surrendering control of your finances.  We have our good seasons and bad, but God is always blessing us.  He is faithful and loves to affirm obedience with abundant provision!

 

Steve & Yvette Elliott

Yvette and I have been faithful tithers throughout our lives together.  Over the past couple of years, we’ve experienced some tough financial times – like when an on-the-job back injury temporarily disabled me and cut our income in half!  We chose to tithe in spite of these circumstances, and God has blessed us as a result.  I’m getting more hours on my job and we just got back the largest tax return we’ve ever received!  I know that all those years of giving are starting to come back to us now.  We’re tithing and giving even more this year expecting that next year we’ll see even more blessings than we are now!

 

Harry Der Vartanian

I’m a Building Inspector for the City of San Francisco.  Just about two years ago, our department received notice that several of us, myself included, were going to be laid off.  At that time, I had been attending GT for a while but hadn’t been too regular in attending or giving.  When I got the bad news, something inside of me prompted me to start giving more.  I realize that sounds a little weird – making a decision to give more when your job is in jeopardy – but I felt like God wanted me to.  The next several months were a blur.  I was searching everywhere for a new job, but I hadn’t found anything.  Finally, the big day came – our last day on the job.  My desk was all boxed up and I was getting ready to go home for the last time when we received a letter stating that the lay-offs had been rescinded!  We could keep our jobs!  I know without a shadow of a doubt that God was blessing me because I had chosen to be faithful in giving.  Now, I make sure to give wherever I can, whether it’s monetarily or through volunteering to help with the kids’ musicals at GT.  I feel totally blessed every day!

 

Allan & Julie Mateo

A few years ago, my wife, Julie, was laid off.  We were distressed to say the least, not knowing if we could make it in San Francisco on a single income, but we knew that God would not fail us.  Shortly thereafter, we discovered that we were having a baby!  We were overjoyed and filled with excitement, so much so that the added responsibility of being a dad and the sole breadwinner didn’t seem too scary at first.  As time went on, I confess that I began to get more and more worried about how we would make it, but we never stopped tithing or giving at GT.  I can’t explain what has happened in our lives as a result.  We’ve experienced the stress of financial pressures AND the peace of God’s provision.  I’ve never been happier in my life.  God has provided for my wife, my son, and me at every turn, even when I doubted, and I know it’s due in part to being faithful to give even when it hurt.

 

Diane Love

Throughout my life, I’ve seen God provide for my family and me so many times!  Raising 4 children as a single mom is not easy, and I haven’t always been able to give back to God financially.  But I have made it a point to give no matter what – whether it was monetarily or of my time and talents.  As a result, I’ve seen God help me through some very tough times, especially when my kids were small and I was trying to care for them and get through college at the same time.  When I needed baby formula, diapers, or just a break from the routine, God was there for me, providing in ways I never saw coming.  Now that my kids are grown, I’ve seen God provide for me in new ways – giving me a new job and a substantial raise from what I was making in the past.  I know that God has been faithful to bless me as a result of my commitment to giving back to Him however and wherever I can.

 

Michael & Laniesha Pedroza

Throughout our marriage, Laniesha and I have made sure that we tithed no matter what our financial circumstances.  Recently, we went through a real test of whether we were going to continue trusting God in this area.  We were totally broke; we lost our apartment and ended up homeless with our newborn son, Myles.  It was hard to imagine a more disastrous circumstance for our family.  But God had a plan!  He provided us with a place to stay while we got back on our feet, and we continued to tithe on the little money that we had coming in.  We started praying that God would provide my wife with a job and childcare for our son and, of course, an apartment.  Miraculously, ALL of these prayers were answered within a week of each other, and not just that, they were exactly what we’d been asking for – right down to the supermarket across the street from our new place!  Since that time, God has continued to help us trust Him in the area of tithing.  Even though we’ve had some hard times (times where we got pretty sick of eating spaghetti!) God has never failed us!  Peace prevails in our lives – our house, our marriage, and our family – because we’ve decided to keep on giving, even when it hurt.

 

Tashema McCoy

Tashema McCoy

I moved to San Francisco in October 2009.  I thought it was going to be perfect.  I’d find a job, get a great apartment, and have an amazing life…  Well, God definitely had some other plans!

Since then, I’ve yet to find a full-time, steady job.  It’s been tough.  As long as I can remember, my parents have been pounding it into my head just how important tithing is!  Now, without a regular income, tithing can be a real challenge.  I have to admit there have been a lot times where it hurt, but I kept on doing it!  God has not let me down. He has provided a number of part-time jobs and I’ve never gone without – I even had enough to give back!

 

Keith Gualderama

I was an optometrist, making good money, but I felt like I was struggling.

The job that I’d worked my whole life for, the one I’d gone into debt for, the one I’d spent 10 years in school for, the one that I’d sacrificed so much for, just felt empty.  Somehow, I felt like this career that I’d worked so hard for wasn’t what God wanted for me.  As I began to pray about it, “teaching” kept coming up.  I decided to take a leap of faith and a 2/3 cut in my regular salary to pursue what I felt like God was calling me to do – teach.  It was the best decision of my life!  God gave me a career that brings me joy and fills me with purpose. I still have debt and sometimes I get REALLY stressed out about how I’m going to pay all my bills, but God has provided for all my needs. I’m committed to giving back to Him, and He hasn’t failed me yet!