Apostle Don Meares
“‘And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 ‘And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,’
Says the Lord of hosts.”
We have been discussing God’s promises to tithers in the past weeks. So far, we have discussed three of the five promises in Malachi 3. As we discuss the fourth promise, we have to realize that this goes deeper than the other promises. The devourer will not destroy the fruit of your ground. It’s one thing for something to be broken. It’s another thing for something to be destroyed. Devouring and destroying represent loss. The Bible says that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). This is why we can say that perhaps Satan is the devourer. There is a devourer who only wants to eat your stuff up as much as he likes, but he also wants to destroy everything until there’s nothing left for you. Do you realize that your ground — the condition of your heart and spirit — personally determines your fruitfulness?
The Fourth Promise: God Will Rebuke the Devourer
In this fourth promise God makes to the tither, He says that He will stand between you and the devourer and rebuke him and cast him out. But when the devourer attempts to destroy you, he is trying to target your personal fruitfulness, which is very important in the natural and spiritual realm.
There is nothing worse in life than when you find yourself unable to be productive, cannot be fruitful, cannot be creative, and cannot function properly. The devourer wants to devour your stuff if he can, but what he wants to do is to make an impact on you personally where he can destroy your ability naturally and spiritually to be productive. He wants to deal with areas in your life like energy, health, work, creativity, resourcefulness, and even relationships with people. God wants us to have fruit, more fruit, and much fruit (John 15:8). God has created us to have dominion, multiply, and be fruitful. This is God’s will for our life — to be productive and creative.
The devourer is trying to stop the will of God in our life. He does it by trying to destroy your health. If you’re sick, you won’t be able to work. You won’t be able to rest. You won’t be able to enjoy the people and the blessings God has given you. When the devourer tries to destroy the fruitfulness of your labor, you won’t be able to focus. You will feel tired of giving your best at work. The enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy you. Catch this: when he devours your stuff, he’s dealing with things that you own. But when he destroys your personal ability to be fruitful, it is a personal attack on you. This is why God has made a promise to you as a tither, but you have to ask Him with faith so He can throw out and stop the enemy from bringing sickness, tiredness, lack of focus, and loss of rest in your life. If you are a tither, you can claim this promise.
The Spiritual Aspect of the Promise
In Matthew 13:1-23, Jesus talked about the soil and ground. He reveals to the disciples the meaning behind this parable by saying that the soil is your heart. Your heart can have different types of conditions. The condition of your heart can dictate your fruitfulness. Jesus makes it clear that if your heart is hardened a seed can be thrown on it but nothing will happen no matter how much seed you sow on it. It cannot penetrate that ground because it is hard. The seed lays on top of it. Satan has a right to come and take that seed from you and steal it. When does the ground or your heart become hardened? This happens when you are not a praiser. Many people need to understand the importance of praise, worship, and how you receive the Word. Many people miss praise because they don’t know it is the key to how they will receive the seed. If you have a hardened heart, you can change this with praise. This will break up the fallow ground. There is no other solution but praise. If you don’t praise God, then your heart can get hard. It’s that simple. If you want a heart that receives the seed, is productive, and will bring forth fruit, you’ve got to learn not to miss praise and worship. It’s vital.
Praise and worship during the Lord’s day are vital. When you receive a rhema, God will test His Word. Whatever rhema God gives you and sows on your heart, it will be tested. So if you have offense, hurt, bitterness, and hate, the Word will never take root because persecution and trial might kill the seed. These things, along with unforgiveness, are the stones in the ground of your heart. God won’t be able to do anything for you if you won’t forgive. The only solution to a hardened heart is praise. The solution to offense is forgiveness. Let us not be misled that we are allowed to hold an offense against anybody. If we don’t forgive them of their sins, God can’t forgive us of our sins. To be in right relationship with God, we must forgive just as He has forgiven us. In the parable, the stony ground is covered in harsh bitterness and hate.
The worst ground is the one with weeds, thorns, and thistles because it is deceitful. God’s Word cannot do any good for you because the weeds, thorns, and thistles have choked and destroyed it. A person’s heart becomes like this when they allow their minds to constantly think about finances, problems, situations, and issues instead of deciding to trust God. If you seek His Kingdom first and have a proper relationship with Him, He will add all the things you need. He will give you the desires of your heart. But because you won’t trust Him, you are constantly not allowing the Word to produce fruitfulness in you as a believer because you’re so focused on the cares of this life. It’s an issue of trust. When you decide to trust God even in times of trouble, you are showing Him that you can be trusted with the blessings He is about to give you.
Don’t allow what’s happening around you to let you have attitudes that will make you unproductive and unhappy. It’s essential just to be happy. It’s important to laugh. When you laugh, it brings healing effects to your body. God is not against you being happy. As you tithe, ask God to protect you from the spirit of strife, anxiety, bitterness, and hate. He will protect you from the devourer planning to destroy the fruit of your ground. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you when you move into these areas of hardness and when the cares of this life begin to separate you from Him.
He will not just protect your belongings. He will also protect your heart. He will give you peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). He will keep you in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). But as He protects your heart, He will also correct you because who God loves, He chastens (Hebrews 12:6). When things that are not of God try to get into your heart, He will do some things to remove those hindrances. If you’ve been asking Him to bless and prosper you, God will answer those prayers. Though, He doesn’t always answer them the way you want them answered.
It is your responsibility to maintain your heart as a good ground. Don’t allow yourself to be hardened. You have to be a praiser. You are a priesthood unto God, and it is part of your identity to praise Him to keep the ground fertile and sensitive. You can’t allow the cares of this world to get you down. Give them to God because His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Cast your cares on Him, and you will see He will take care of you. When you tithe, you need to declare that you will challenge God to do just as He said. When you tithe, you affirm your covenant with God, trusting that He would open the windows of Heaven, pour out closures, and bring abundance into your life. When you give your tithe, God will show you how to move to the next level of your life. He will show you His plan and destiny for your life. Not only that, but He will also show you how to obtain wealth on this earth. He will also assure you that you will pass a blessing to your children and leave a worthwhile inheritance. You might not touch the blessing that your children and their children will have, but it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to you.
The Last Promise
God is the God of seasons. Just as there are different seasons in your life, you know that every season will be different. The key to this promise is to discern the season you are in as soon as you can because seasons change. God is a seasonal God, and there is always a different fruit in every season. Psalm 1 says that “your leaf will not wither,” which means that whether you go through good times or bad, there should always be a fruitfulness of what God wants you to have in that season. You should always have some fruitfulness in every season. We must remember that there are different seasons from God for us, and in each season, we must know what God wants us to have. Unfortunately, because of our lack of knowledge, we sometimes work against the season God has for our life. It may be a season in your life when God really wants to prosper you.
For example, you might be in a season where God really wants to pour out abundance on you, give you favor, and bless you tremendously. But you got fired from your job. You might not really like that job, but you’re scared, so you start praying for God to give your job back. God is trying to say, “Do you know I can’t get you to a place of abundance and prosperity until I get you off that job?” It comes down to a place of trust that God has what He wants for you every season. If you’re a tither, you can come to God no matter what is happening around you. When the wind, waves, and storms of life are raging against you, ask God to open a window and show you the season of your fruitfulness. God promised that you would bear fruit in every season. Let Him show you where you are and what He is doing. Don’t be a hindrance to your fruitfulness. Let God move you however He needs you to move. Trust that you will never see the righteous forsaken or begging for bread. God is before you. He will protect you, whatever season you’re in. When you put your faith in God, nothing can stop you from bearing fruit. God’s last promise for the tither is that He will make you fruitful in every season.
When you understand the five promises God makes to the tither in Malachi 3, you don’t have to try to do it all. Do what you need until it is manifested by faith and patience. Write them down if you need to understand them. These promises need to become real in your heart and in. your spirit. Pay your tithe by faith that comes from hearing the Word of God.
The Bible says, “we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). It also says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).” You can trust God and stand on His promises if you are a tither. Act on them by faith so you can see them manifest in your life. Take God at His Word and prove Him. Bring your tithe by faith and not out of habit. Declare all His promises as you approach with the tenth of your increase. Let the rhema word you receive become alive in your spirit. Let your heart be good ground to receive the seed that will produce the harvest. Don’t move by habit. Move by faith.
God wants to bless you in all seasons of your life! Learn more about the principles of tithing from Apostle Don Meares.
Follow the Evangel Cathedral YouTube page here for more powerful messages from the Word of God.
