Janet K. Museveni. COURTESY PHOTO.
The First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni has said if Christians want to fulfil God’s purpose for their life, they must live by His principles.
She explained in a release on 22 August, 2021 that believers in Christ need to embrace the biblical principle of tithing, adding that this will enable them reap rewards in every area of their life.
According to Bible scholars, tithing is the practice of setting apart one-tenth of one’s earnings as an offering to God. As humans, Mrs Museveni urged that one might be afraid of giving up a portion of one’s income for tithe. She said God knows this and He says, “Prove me!”
Read Her Full Statement Below
Hello my young friends! Yes, it is a brand new week!
May the Good Lord shine His face upon all of you and give you peace.
This week, I thought I would discuss with you the subject of giving as a prospect in breaking the back of poverty.
Did you know that God teaches us that it is more blessed to give than to receive? First of all, God did include the teaching about giving in the Old Testament of the Bible.
In Malachi 3:10, it says:
“Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Try me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven an pour out for you such blessings, that there will be not room enough to receive it”
I have had the concern about Africa and the poverty that affects the entire continent including those of African origin who live on other continents and indeed in my book, My Life’s journey, I talk about how much I have prayed and cried to God and asked Him many times whether Africans are His people or not?
However, in my study of the Bible, I have understood that, God has laid out for us the guidelines of how to live and when you follow those guidelines that is when God calls you, “those who are called by My name” and whatever you do He will bless.
Therefore, if you want to fulfil God’s purpose for your life, you must live by His principles. One of those principles is to tithe. Tithe means giving back to God a fraction of what you earn. If you work hard, strive to be disciplined, you earn the benefits. If you remember to give just 10% of what you earn or get to God in thanksgiving, then God will bless the 90%, which you keep and you will be truly surprised at how well you can manage to achieve your objectives when you tithe.
As God says in that portion of scripture, we have just read from Malachi, He says, “try me now in this, see if I will not open for you the windows of Heaven and pour out such blessings that they will not be room enough to receive it”
That tithe then goes to your local church where you worship. The church of God will thrive and prosper, because if all the people who make up your local church, tithe, then the church will not be poor. The church then will take care of all the church leadership and also the orphans in the Parish near the Church. Consequently, the suffering of poverty and hunger will be taken care of and God will get all the honour and glory.
However, if everyone thinks that they do not have enough for themselves, and therefore, they have nothing to give back to God in thanksgiving then God does not bless anything and even the little one earns dries up so everybody goes back to square one of poverty of the individual, the church, the whole Parish and Nation.
Giving to God also includes offering in Church, many people when they go to Church and it is time for offertory, sometimes they walk out or they search in their bags to get the very least money to give to God, as if God is a beggar, instead of realizing that this is an opportunity to offer God something, because God gives you everything you have and could give you a lot more, you refuse to show Him any gratitude and He also lives you alone. So in essence, you close the only door for your blessing.
Therefore, I have come to believe that our parenting of our children is lacking, if we fail to teach our children that a relationship with God is what brings blessing for a person, a family and a nation. In addition, the relationship with God develops you as you learn more and more principles of God’s teaching.
Therefore, for now, try Him by starting to tithe from the little you have and you will be surprised to see how what you have can grow and you find all your needs are covered and instead of asking others for help, you try now to be the one to give to others or at least share what you have. You will see the blessings of God multiply as you grow steadily in giving those who have less than you have and also to your place of worship.
There is a story in the Bible of a widow of Zerepath which will be our discussion next week. May the Lord give you a beautiful week!
Janet K. Museveni
First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports
