I was a graduate assistant making $6 an hour for 20 hours per week. I had believed God to pay off my $2500 government student loan in 30 days by writing a prayer of petition based upon debt-freedom and asking Scriptures, and listening to testimonies of other people’s debt freedom (See my blog, “Government Loan Canceled!”). Now, I had to believe God would pay my bills if I paid my tithe of $250 (10 percent of $2500). I only had $116. My rent was $220, I had a long distance phone bill, and utilities. I did not have a car or much furniture. I decided to make payments towards my $250 tithe. I wrote a check for $50, put it in my desk drawer, and wrote another $50 check to take with me to church leaving only $16 in my checking account.
I had helped a foreign student get an early Father’s Day present of a green plant for her sponsor. I remember thinking, “I like plants, but I don’t have any.” I was sitting on the deck literally at University housing, because my roommates and I had no deck furniture, and I had my Bible open on my lap. I thought, “I need a sunhat.” I caught a ride with my roommate to church. Before church to started, a lady came up to me and said, “I’m coming here to [graduate] school by faith!” Out of hospitality, I invited her to sit with us. For me, tithing is something private between you and God. She declared, “I’m giving a $50 tithe,” and put it in the offering bucket that was being passed. The bucket then came to me. I was struggling with fear of lack. “What if I can’t pay my bills this month if I give my $50 towards my tithe?” I could hear my dad’s voice say, “Be responsible,” but, in my heart, I knew my dad would want me to honor God.
I had studied Malachi 3:10, where it states that we can test God and see if He will bless us if we tithe, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat [provision] in mine house, and prove [test] me now herewith, says 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.” I told God, “I’m going to tell people if it works, and I’m going to tell people if it doesn’t,” and released the check into the bucket, and watched it go by.
A lady called that very day and said she was given my number by a ministry. She introduced herself and said she was being evicted for the seventh time from her apartment. She asked, “Do you need any furniture?” A pickup truckload of blessings parked on my sidewalk. It contained a loveseat sofa with a matching overstuffed chair, ten green plants, and a beautiful sunhat! Not to mention dresses my size that I did not have “room enough” for in the closet my roommate and I shared!
I went to my mailbox the next day and there was a $400 check from my grandmother, who had never given me that much money until then! I saw the new girl at the University’s library. She ran up and said, “My grandmother, who never gave me any money before, sent $40!” I told her what had happened to me after I tithed. I said, “It is just as big a miracle as mine is if your grandmother had never given you anything before.” We both experienced that tithing works!
If you would like someone to agree with you in prayer in helping you tithe, please email me at [email protected].