Josh Hatcher's Blog

i know... i have a vested interest in the topic.... so for some of you.. it might seem like I'm only writing this "because all that church cares about is money."

So to set the record straight.. yes.. the church is my source of income.

BUT.. long before it was... God showed me something.


Before Zoe and I got married, when we were poor college students, I heard a preacher talk about tithing. I knew that God liked a cheerful giver, and i knew that the Old Testament talked about tithing...

but I didn't realize the power in it.

So, after a little theological debate over whether we should follow "the old testament" or not, Zoe convinced me that we should tithe off of our income. (Since the new testament encourages people to give up everything... I figured the top ten percent was a good deal!)

The old testament scripture in Malachi says that if you bring in your tithes and offerings, God will open the floodgates of heaven... and pour out blessings on me..

Since that first day that we started tithing, money has been tight on occassion... i've lost a job or two... and had struggles..

but we've always had our needs met in one way or another... often miraculous ways..


but the past few months... God has been speaking to me about real generosity.. and giving more than that minimum....


And I've decided to test it out.. I'd brought my tithes to the church... but not my offerings...

so around Christmastime... I started looking for needs..

And money was tight.. very tight.. but I started looking for someone whose needs were tighter.. and after some serious convincing from my wife.. because I wasn't willing to give it up... we gave money anonymously to help someone out.

I am not telling you this to toot my own horn. I'm sharing it because I want to prove to you the power of God.

Over the next couple days, people started giving us christmas cards with money in them...

We recieved 20 times what we gave as a gift.

And then, our income increased, so that we can actually pay the bills! (which we were struggling with at the time)

We also took that opportunity to give more.

That passage in Malachi says that God will "rebuke the devourer"... we all know who that "devourer" is... the force in this world that breaks things down... that makes tires go flat, and clothes wear out, and food go bad..

Well... we took the car in to get it inspected last week.

Darrell's called me later that day to tell me that it passed inspection.

That might not sound lke a big deal... but Zoe and I have NEVER had a car pass inspection without us needing to put in at least 100 dollars worth of work.

The tires on the back have been on it for two years, and are still allright for driving.

God is preserving our possessions.. so that we don't have to spend more.


Anyway.. I write all this so that you can see that when you follow God's plan for money, He keeps His promise to bless you.

God has been so faithful! Love you... Zoe