Melissa commented on 'Where Does the Tithe Go?'

I have recently struggled with this issue. I got saved about 6 years ago and one of the first things I learned was the "command" of tithing & the benefits that go with it. (I put command in parentheses because nothing God asks us for is commanded but requested-with benefits of obedience-& it is our choice to submit or not.) Anyway, I almost blindly accepted that the tithe is to only go to your local church where YOU are fed. I say blindly because almost every ministry that I trusted was in total agreement in this aspect. Here's the first issue I have with that...the focus of where you give your tithe begins with YOU. It's where YOUR fed. How about using it to feed someone else. You don't have to run a church to do the feeding yourself...or this has been the direction the Lord has been taking me recently as I've matured. I am just beginning to research it but I have complete faith in the Lord's ability to guide me. The first time this thought occurred to me I stopped & said, "Woah, where did that come from?" because I've never even considered anything like that before. However, over the last several months to a year it keeps coming back & keeps coming back & keeps coming back & my peace with it grows every time it comes back. In the past, when that has happened & peace has grown with it, it has always been the Lord bringing it. I know it's not the Lord when I let it sit & unease comes when the thought comes back. That has not been the case here...complete peace. I'm simply trying to find the proof to back it. For now, I have "bring the tithe so there may be meat in My house". We as a group are the whole body...we live in this world so to me, that makes this His house. Jesus was constantly reaching out to the "world" meeting the needs of Jews & Gentiles alike. No one was excluded & He didn't look for a building to minister to or exclusively in. He is our example. He reached out to those God spoke into His heart & brought across His path. The Bible says if you see a man who is hungry & say "Go, be fed" but don't offer food then you've done nothing. Be led by God. Develop a relationship with Him first & let Him tell you what to do with His money. Tithing as an obligation is nothing but law & no man can be justified by the law. Giving out of love & with joy is God's kind of giving whether it is with the tithe or above it. When you can give to someone or something & you walk away glowing and with a song in your heart then you know beyond the shadow of a doubt you've given God's way. Just as with anything else, you're giving is between you & God & no one else. Seek Him. Let Him bring the joy & peace in your giving that He can bring to everything else you turn over to Him & then trust Him with it.