Pimping ain't easy.....

Is the Church my Pimp?

When I wake up on Payday my first initial thought is not to give my money to the church, but what bills do I have to pay. I mean why should I give my hard earned money to the church? So the Pastor and can live better than me and show off his or her nice clothes and fancy cars? Are there other bills of the church that they are not telling us about, to where they keep preaching on tithes and offering In order to make us feel guilty about it? Or maybe, just maybe my Pastor may drop the bomb on us that he needs a private jet or plane to get back and forth for his mission trips that only he and couple other people are allowed to go in. I just don’t want to give my cold hearted cash when I don’t understand the concept in the first place…..

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus – Philippians 4:19

It took me a while to BELIEVE the scripture quoted above because I didn’t feel as if God was blessing me for what I was sewing aka what I was giving from my funds. When I was a kid I remember sitting in church and when it was time for tithes and offering there were some adults that started rejoicing and then there were some adults that had this ill look and feeling come over them. I would wonder why there was such a split reaction amongst the humans I was around. As I grew older the same reaction was still came from my fellow colleagues.

Tithes and offering has had a bad rap sheet when it comes to the media. There have been federal investigations done with pastors such as Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, and Eddie Long to just name a few. These types of stories hinder the minds of the world to think that all churches are operating in a suspect manor. This is understandable because if you are not aware of or study what tithing and offering is. You will continue to go off of word of mouth and articles, magazines, etc. Instead of diving head first into the bible and what it teaches about growing your wealth you will think that people are out to get your money.

You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation – Malachi 3:9

I want you all to understand that I didn’t take tithing serious until this year. There were times in the past where I would put chump change in here and there, but didn’t make a conscious effort of it. I didn’t feel as if I should because for one I didn’t feel connected, I felt used. I felt used for my money only because I wasn’t being used within the church. Nobody was encouraging for me to volunteer let alone making me aware of what I could do to work within the church. The only time I felt I was being talked to was when it was time to put my tithes and offering in a basket or offering plate. Those people weren’t the people at fault for my actions though so there’s no need to play the blame game.

When I started attending the church I go to now I made a vow to myself,   I was going to make a conscious effort to have my Tithes and Offering on the regular. I wanted to see what would take place if I surrendered and put my trust in God with my finances. What I didn’t realize, was how damaged my heart, mind, and spirit was from years and years of being hurt from the church. My personal experience of tithing wasn’t because I was confused or didn’t have my money. My rebellion of not tithing was stemming from not being used in multiple churches. When I say not being used, I mean that I was over looked by several people for reasons only God knows.

Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will. – Nelson Mandela

God knew I wouldn’t have been able to handle what he had for my life at that time. He knew that I would need to go through some things and situations in order to know that Tithing and offering is not about me in the first place, but it  is VERY IMPORTANT. When a pimp controls prostitutes he or she is in control of not only their clients, but also what funds they make from such activity. If they do not receive part of their finances there could be serious consequences for the prostitutes. The serious consequences that took place with my finances were almost detrimental to my life and my sense of well-being because I almost lost everything the years before.

I was searching for a way to stay afloat with my bills and money while all along I needed to honor GOD instead of PEOPLE with part of my income. Now I’m not saying that the church is my pimp or anyone else’s, but there was a time where I thought that was the case. I believed serious consequences were going to happen and I was going to get a lightning bolt struck down upon me. There was so much guilt that it turned into me giving more than what I had myself to where I ended up broke. I had put my trust in people instead of hearing what God had to say to me and me only.

Within meditation this year God had spoken to me about being successful. The first tip that he gave me was to give my tithes and offering every time I got paid. I suddenly felt chills when I heard that. Tithes and offering is a form of honoring God. When I started to honor God with my money, things started to happen rapidly. My gifts and talents started to pour out like oil. There was a new freshness and awakening that took place. Whoever is reading this will need to know that if you want to have a positive form of success you have to honor God with EVERYTHING. I’m not perfect, but what I do know is that I have seen the miracles that can take place with you do this consistently.

Take time today to meditate on what you want your life to be and how you would like it to change. Write down what you hear or get a sense of, also write down where you would like to be in life eventually without giving it a time frame. Then when you get to that place you can look back and see that God has been there for you every step of the way. Even with your finances…….