Are you ready to take the challenge? We invite you to participate in our 90-Day Tithe Challenge – an opportunity to deepen your connection with God, explore the power of tithing, and experience His blessings in your life. This challenge is inspired by the words in Malachi 3:10, where God encourages us to “test Him” in tithing.
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.
Malachi 3:10 NIV
We believe that as you take this challenge, you’ll witness God’s faithfulness in remarkable ways.
If you have any issues please email Ronnie here at rvanvarden@cityhope.cc
The 90-Day Tithe Challenge is a commitment to giving back to God ten percent or a portion of your income for a period of 90 days. During this time, we challenge you to trust in His promise and faithfully tithe. This challenge is designed for those who haven’t yet embraced tithing, or those looking to renew their commitment to it. We believe that when you obey God’s Word through tithing, He will respond in abundance.
To help you on this faith-filled journey, we provide you with valuable resources:
At the end of the 90 days, if you can honestly say that you haven’t seen God move in any way in your life, we will give you your money back. We’re confident that you will experience the blessings of tithing, and we stand by that faith.
The 90-Day Tithe Challenge is your opportunity to put God’s promise to the test and experience His blessings in your life. It’s a journey of faith, growth, and transformation. We encourage you to embrace this challenge with an open heart and watch how God works in your life. Join us in the 90-Day Tithe Challenge and embark on a remarkable journey of faith, obedience, and blessings.
The word “tithe” is an old verb-form of “tenth.” Essentially, tithing is tenthing. Tithing is giving the first ten percent of your income to your local church. Tithing is a principle taught throughout the entire Bible and has been in practice in the church since the beginning.
Beginning to tithe is a leap of faith. With bills to pay and unforeseen expenses looming, it’s natural to feel anxious as you pray, “God, please let there be enough at the end of the month.”
Tithing is fundamentally about trusting God and being “conformed to the image of His son” (Romans 8:29). For a Christian, tithing is obeying, tithing is spiritual growth to become more like Jesus, and tithing is beginning the journey of catching God’s heartbeat of generosity. God generously gives. He calls us, His kids, to be like Him.
Tithing is an expression of faith and an act of worship by putting God first in your life. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Money is a top competitor for our hearts. Tithing is a step of obedience for a Christian that shows that Jesus is more important to us than material things.
God says in Malachi 3:10, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this…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.”
Living only on 90% of our income can feel overwhelming or maybe even downright impossible. And it’s true: no matter what the income amount is, any family’s budget will feel it when the first 10% is given. But no matter how much we earn—whether a lot or a little—God promises to bless us when we give our tithes. Tithing helps us cultivate a heart that trusts God and His promises.
We as Christians understand that God is our provider. Everything we have is from Him. When we give our first ten percent back to God, we are taking God at his Word that He will bless the remaining ninety percent.
Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
This agricultural language of the “first fruits of all your crops” is a powerful picture of the priority of our worship to God. God is first. When deciding whether to tithe on the gross or the net, we should reflect on whether God truly comes first in our lives. Prioritizing God means placing Him at the top of our list, so our tithe should come from the gross amount before anything else is taken into account.
Let’s consider 2 Corinthians 9:11: “You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.” We are enriched by incomes that we earn, but we are sometimes enriched in other ways by gifts, bonuses, and inheritances.
These other ways we’re enriched are still God’s provision to us: God blessing us in different ways. Putting God first means giving the tithe to Him, no matter how He has chosen to enrich us.
If you’re prioritizing obeying God by tithing but still finding yourself in debt, the issue likely isn’t with the act of tithing itself. The most effective next step is to create a budget that gets your expenses roped in to match your income. God doesn’t desire for you to borrow from your future to honor your obedience to Him today.
We can help. We offer the Financial Peace University class that has helped so many build a budget, learn to live within their means and live generously. We also offer financial coaching to help families build personal budgets that help them work towards living debt-free and generously. To find out more about Financial Peace University or personal financial coaching, please email us at hello@cityhope.cc
Many of us have particular ministries we get excited about. But the opportunity to designate our giving for specific purposes should come in the form of gifts and offerings above and beyond the tithe. The first ten percent is baseline obedience for a believer. It isn’t ours to hold onto and it isn’t ours to control how it is utilized in our local church.
It’s important to remember that when it comes to the tithe, it is about the transformation of our hearts. The tithe is an expression of our trust in God, believing that He understands our needs better than we do and can achieve far more with our offerings than we can envision. By trying to maintain control over our tithing, we aren’t fully placing our faith in His wisdom or His ability to fulfill His promises.
Giving flows from our response to what Jesus has done for us: saving us from our sins to an abundant life in Him. When we let Jesus lead our decisions about giving, our generosity toward the church will naturally follow.
