T H E J OY A N D P OW E R O F T H E T I T H I N G C OV E N A N T

T HE J O Y AN D P O W ER OF TH E KENNETH COPELAND

TITHING
COVENANT TH E JOY AND POWER OF the
Tithing is a powerful biblical principle preached in
many churches. But until believers gain a deeper under-
standing of its covenant connection to God and why it TITHING
COVENANT
matters to Him, it becomes a religious exercise instead of
an act of joy and worship.
In The Joy and Power of the Tithing Covenant, Kenneth
Copeland examines what Scripture says about tithing
and why it’s still relevant today. Solid, biblical evidence
will reveal:
• Why tithing is a spiritual, not a religious, principle
• What God promises the tither
• How the tithe is connected to THE BLESSING.

KE NNE TH C OP E LAND
Gain a deeper understanding of the tithe, and discover
why it’s the smartest financial decision you’ll ever make!

30-0088
 KENNETH COPELAND

T h e J o y a n d P o w e r o f th e
TITHING
COVENANT
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked Amplified Bible, Classic Edition are from the
Amplified® Bible, © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman
Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked New King James Version are from the New King
James Version © 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc.
Scripture quotations marked New International Version are from The Holy Bible,
New International Version © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by
permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked New American Standard Bible-1995 are from the New
American Standard Bible-1995 © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman
Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked New Living Translation are from the Holy Bible, New
Living Translation © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers.

The Joy and Power of the Tithing Covenant

ISBN 978-1-60463-537-9 30-8088
28 27 26 25 24 23 654321
© 2023 Kenneth Copeland
Kenneth Copeland Publications
Fort Worth, TX 76192-0001

© 2023 Kenneth Copeland

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1
THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER
YOU COULD EVER HAVE 1

Chapter 2
TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH
THE BIBLE 17

Chapter 3
FOLLOWING THE FAITH
OF ABRAHAM 43

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

ABOUT TITHING 63
 Chapter 1

THE BEST
FINANCIAL
PARTNER
YOU COULD
EVER HAVE
 Chapter 1
THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER
YOU COULD EVER HAVE

T ithing is one of the greatest joys in the Chris-

tian life. It’s also one of the only two things I
learned about in church as a child. Pretty much all I
remember hearing preached on Sundays when I was
growing up was: 1. You need to get saved; and 2. You
need to tithe. Until I got old enough to refuse to go
to church anymore, I sat through an average of fifty
sermons a year on the first subject and two sermons
on the second. Yet, at the time, neither one of them
made much sense to me. I certainly didn’t have any
Bible revelation of them.
I could, however, see their power at work in the
lives of my parents.
People of unwavering integrity and commit-
ment to The LORD, not only were A.W. and Vinita
Copeland living proof of the reality of the new
birth, but they were also faithful tithers, and had
been, from the time they got married. My dad even
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

TITHING IS ONE
OF THE GREATEST
JOYS IN THE
CHRISTIAN LIFE.

4
 THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER

kept two bank accounts. Into one he deposited the

first 10 percent of his income, which belonged to
God. That was his tithe account. The other was his
personal account. He always kept them separate and
made sure to never mix them up.
Even through the 1930s during the Great
Depression, my mother and dad tithed on every bit
of their income. It didn’t matter whether they knew
where the next dollar was coming from or not, they
put God first in their finances and He took care
of them. While other people in this country were
standing in unemployment lines, my dad never went
twenty-four hours without a job. If one fell through,
there was always another, better one, right behind it.
I remember he once told me that he found out
at the end of a workday he’d been laid off. He and
Mother prayed about it that evening and, very early
the next morning, he felt impressed to go talk to
the owner of the local cotton gin. When the owner
asked why he was there, my dad replied, “Because
you need to hire me.”
As it turned out, the owner did indeed have a
position open. He needed a bookkeeper. Although
my dad had no experience keeping books, he was
confident he could figure out how to do it. He took
5
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

the job and liked it so much he eventually enrolled

in an accounting course at a local business college.
When he finished the course, the college hired him
to teach it! Over time, he kept getting promoted
and getting raises. Eventually, he went into sales
where he continued to increase.
It didn’t matter what the economy did, my dad
kept prospering financially throughout his life.
Why? Because he was a tither. Although he didn’t
have all the revelation we do today about divine
prosperity, he’d read the Bible enough to know what
God said about it. In Malachi 3:10-12, for instance,
He said:

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that

there may be food in My house, and try Me
now in this,” says The LORD of hosts, “if I
will not open for you the windows of heaven
and pour out for you such BLESSING that
there will not be room enough to receive it.
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;
“and all nations will call you BLESSED, for

6
 THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER

you will be a delightful land,” says The LORD

of hosts (New King James Version).

Proverbs 3:9-10, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition,

says:

Honor The LORD with your capital and suf-

ficiency [from righteous labors] and with the
first fruits of all your income; so shall your
storage places be filled with plenty, and your
vats shall be overflowing with new wine.

And in Matthew 6:31-33, the Bible tells us:

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall

we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Where-
withal shall we be clothed? (For after all these
things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heav-
enly Father knoweth that ye have need of all
these things. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you.

In the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, that last

verse says to seek “first of all His kingdom and His

7
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

righteousness (His way of doing and being right).”

Tithing is one of God’s right financial ways! It’s a
fundamental principle of godly prosperity that
allows us to put God first in our financial lives,
honor Him, and acknowledge Him as our Source
of provision.
Tithing lays the foundation for the kind of
financial success and abundance only God can
provide. It connects us to heaven’s economy and is
revealed throughout the Bible as a means by which
we partner financially with God and He partners
with us.
There’s no better financial partner you could
ever have than your loving heavenly Father!
Why? Because He can do for you what no
insurance company or investment firm ever could.
He can prosper you no matter what’s going on
in the world. He can protect you from economic
destruction. And if you experience financial loss, He
can more than restore you.
That’s why God established the tithe—so you
wouldn’t have to depend on this world financially.
You can partner with Him, tap in to His king-
dom’s economic system, and continually receive the

8
 THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER

TITHING LAYS
THE FOUNDATION
FOR THE KIND
OF FINANCIAL
SUCCESS AND
ABUNDANCE ONLY
GOD CAN PROVIDE.

9
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

financial BLESSINGS He is pouring out on His

people through the open windows of heaven. So, as
Psalm 37:19 says, even in days of famine you can
thrive economically and be satisfied!

GIVE GOD THE OPPORTUNITY

TO PROSPER YOU
“But Brother Copeland,” you might say, “I can’t
afford to tithe! My bills are already outpacing my
income. If I give 10 percent to God, I won’t be able
to get by.”
I understand how you feel. I’ve been there.
When Gloria and I first started tithing and
giving, it looked like the very last thing we could
afford to do. I was a thirty-year-old freshman at
Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, mak-
ing only about $100 a month. Plus, I had a family
to take care of and had accumulated about $24,000
worth of debt.
These days, that may not sound like a lot of
debt. But back in 1967 it was the equivalent of
about $200,000 in today’s currency. What’s worse, it
had dogged me for years. I’d done everything from

10
 THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER

selling insurance to flying airplanes for a living,

trying to pay off that debt, but no matter how hard
I worked, I hadn’t been able to put a dent in it. We
just kept falling further and further behind.
What complicated our financial situation even
more was that we’d answered God’s call to go
into the ministry. I didn’t have a single preaching
engagement on my calendar, and we’d committed
to The LORD that we’d never ask anyone for a
place to preach, never preach anywhere based on a
financial arrangement, and never ask anyone to meet
our needs. We had also seen in Romans 13:8 that
it wasn’t God’s will for us to go into any more debt.
So, on top of our other commitments, we’d promised
The LORD we would never again borrow money.
At the time, we didn’t know how we could
ever have a worldwide ministry without borrowing
money—especially with our income being so small.
But by then, we had learned a little about living by
faith. So we agreed together to not only tithe but
to become partners with Oral Roberts’ ministry for
$10 a month.
What gave us the boldness to do that? For one
thing, I’d seen in Galatians 3:14 that THE BLESS-
ING of Abraham had come on us in Christ. Since
11
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

that BLESSING made Abraham “extremely rich”

(Genesis 13:2, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition), I
knew it would do the same for us. In studying God’s
WORD, I’d seen it confirmed time and again:

• THE BLESSING of The LORD makes

one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it
(Proverbs 10:22, New King James Version).
• The LORD your God…it is He who gives
you power to get wealth, that He may es-
tablish His covenant (Deuteronomy 8:18,
New King James Version).
• He which soweth bountifully shall reap
also bountifully. Every man according as
he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;
not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God
loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able
to make all grace abound toward you;
that ye, always having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work
(2 Corinthians 9:6-8).
• My God shall supply all your need ac-
cording to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

12
 THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER

In light of those scriptures, Gloria and I realized

it didn’t matter how impossible our financial situa-
tion appeared to be, God could and would provide
for us. So we put Him first in our finances and by
faith began to tithe and give. The result? God’s
WORD worked!
Financially, things began to happen for us in-
stead of to us. In eleven months, we were free from
debt and beginning to increase...and we’ve been
increasing ever since. As I write this today, more
than fifty-five years later, I can gratefully say God
has prospered us exceedingly abundantly above what
we ever could have asked or thought.
“Well, He did that for you because you’re minis-
ters.”
No, He didn’t. He’ll do it for any of His children
if they’ll give Him the opportunity. His WORD
works the same way for everyone.
One time, for example, a friend who was in
the construction business came to Gloria and me
asking us to pray for his company. Contracts had
been in short supply, and he needed a financial
breakthrough. As we were praying about the
situation, The LORD showed me what to do. He

13
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

reminded me that my friend was a tither and told

me we should stand by faith on Malachi 3:10-11.
So we did. We declared those scriptures over him
and claimed God’s promise to pour out upon him
so much BLESSING “that there shall not be room
enough to receive it” (verse 10).
We also rebuked the devourer. We said, “Devil,
this man is a tither, and you have no right to bind
his business. In the Name of Jesus, we command
you to get your hands off of it right now!” A few
months later, when I talked to my friend again,
he told me his business was flourishing and the
finances were pouring in.
Can the same happen in your situation? Abso-
lutely. When you stand on your covenant with God
and exercise your rights as a tither, you can stop
the devil from stealing from you just as we stopped
him from stealing from our friend. The devil doesn’t
stand a chance against a tither. So, no matter what
your current financial situation, go ahead and tithe.
Even when it looks to you like you can’t afford to,
it’s one of the wisest financial moves you can make.
If you don’t yet have the faith to tithe, study and
meditate on what God said about it in His WORD.
Feed on His scriptural promises of provision and
14
 THE BEST FINANCIAL PARTNER

TITHING IS ONE
OF THE WISEST
FINANCIAL MOVES
YOU CAN MAKE.

15
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

prosperity, and faith will come (Romans 10:17).

When it does, put it into action by taking the first
10 percent of the money that comes into your
hands and presenting it to God.
Then, the next time satan tries to pin your back
against the wall financially, he won’t have any lever-
age over you. You’ll be able to rebuke him, thank
God for BLESSING you with abundance, smile,
and know that you have it made!

16
 Chapter 2

TRACKING
THE TITHE
THROUGH
THE BIBLE
 Chapter 2
TRACKING THE TITHE
THROUGH THE BIBLE

“B ut Brother Copeland,” you might say, “I

thought tithing was an Old Covenant law
that doesn’t apply to us as New Covenant believers.
I thought it was just something the Jews had to do
to keep the rules God gave them through Moses at
Mount Sinai, and it’s not for us today.”
Then you need to think again because that’s a
misconception.
Although tithing was certainly included in the
Mosaic Law, that’s not where it originated. Tithing
has always been part of God’s BLESSING plan.
Track it through the Bible and you’ll find tender-
hearted, covenant-minded men and women of God
tithed long before the Law was given. Even Adam
and Eve’s family did it. In fact, the first murder, ever,
was committed by their son Cain, over the tithe!
The account of that incident in Genesis 4 reveals
a lot about how much the tithe means to God. It
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

also sheds some light on how hard the devil fights

it. If you’ve read the story, you’ll remember that
Cain was a farmer and his brother, Abel, kept sheep.
According to the Scriptures:

In the course of time Cain brought to

The LORD an offering of the fruit of the
ground. And Abel brought of the firstborn
of his flock and of the fat portions. And The
LORD had respect and regard for Abel and
for his offering, but for Cain and his offer-
ing He had no respect or regard. So Cain
was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he
looked sad and depressed (verses 3-5, Am-
plified Bible, Classic Edition).

I’ve heard it taught that The LORD didn’t

respect Cain’s offering because he brought crops in-
stead of a lamb, but that wasn’t the issue. Cain was a
farmer. Crops represented his increase, just as Abel’s
firstborn lambs represented his increase. The prob-
lem was that Cain didn’t bring to God the firstfruits
of his crops. The Hebrew word used to describe his
offering indicates he brought God the last and worst
of his harvest. He brought Him what the farmers
in my family called “the nubbins,” the tough, barely
20
TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

TITHING HAS
ALWAYS BEEN
PART OF GOD’S
BLESSING PLAN.

21
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

edible crops that grew at the very end of the season.

The LORD didn’t respect Cain’s offering be-
cause the offering itself was disrespectful. Rather
than admitting it and repenting, Cain got mad:

And The LORD said to Cain, Why are you

angry? And why do you look sad and de-
pressed and dejected? If you do well, will you
not be accepted? And if you do not do well,
sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you,
but you must master it. And Cain said to his
brother, Let us go out to the field. And when
they were in the field, Cain rose up against
Abel his brother and killed him (verses 6-8,
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).

Notice, God told Cain that his offering indi-

cated that sin was at his door. What sin was God
referring to? Certainly, it didn’t have anything to
do with breaking the Mosaic Law. At the time, the
Mosaic Law about tithing hadn’t yet been given. It
was still thousands of years in the future. The sin
that had sneaked up on Cain stemmed from his lack
of faith. For God, this wasn’t a legal issue, it was a
faith issue. For “without faith,” Hebrews 11:6 says,

22
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

“it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh

to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
It didn’t take an ounce of faith for Cain to bring
God those nubbins! He wasn’t going to eat them
anyway. And since they weren’t worth much, he
didn’t have to believe he would be rewarded for them.
The scriptural definition of sin is to know to do
good and to not do it ( James 4:17). So, apparently,
Cain knew his attitude and actions were wrong. He
knew he was to honor God with his tithe by trust-
ing Him enough to bring Him the firstfruits of his
crops. How did he know that? There are only two
possible answers: Either God had personally taught
him, or he had learned about tithing from his par-
ents who’d passed along to him what God had
taught them.

***
The next time tithing appears in the Bible is in
Genesis 14. There we find Abraham doing it. Again,
this begs the question: Where did Abraham learn to
tithe? Probably not from his parents. They weren’t
like Cain’s parents. They had not known God as

23
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

Adam and Eve had. They lived generations later

and came from a city where people worshipped
the moon.
Most likely, Abraham learned about tithing
directly from God. We know God spoke to him.
Genesis 12:1-3 records that when He made cov­
enant with him, God said to him:

Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kin-

dred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land
that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a
great nation, and I will BLESS thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a BLESS-
ING: And I will BLESS them that BLESS
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in
thee shall all families of the earth be BLESSED.

Those verses sum up what’s known as “THE

BLESSING of Abraham.” As I’ve already mentioned,
one effect of that BLESSING is that it prospered
him financially. He became extremely rich in live-
stock, in silver and in gold. The fact that he tithed
on those riches is specifically noted in Genesis
14:20. It says that after winning a battle which
greatly enriched him, God’s high priest, Melchizedek,

24
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

BLESSED him, and Abraham “gave him tithes of

all.” (We’ll look at this in more detail later.)
It seems that Abraham also taught his children
and grandchildren about tithing. He must have
because the Bible reveals that his grandson Jacob
was a tither. According to Genesis 28:22, after God
spoke to him through a dream and BLESSED
him with THE BLESSING of Abraham, Jacob
responded by saying to God, “Of all that thou shalt
give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.”
Since all these people lived long before the
Law of Moses was given, it’s clear that tithing is
something God has always taught His people to do.
So it’s no surprise that, while it predated the Law,
tithing was also included in the Law. Why did it
have to be encoded into law? Because God’s Old
Covenant children weren’t born again. They didn’t
have His ways imprinted in their hearts like we do.
They needed a set of external legal requirements to
teach them how to walk in His BLESSING. So,
God turned His ways into commands and said to
them through Moses:

• All the tithe of the land, whether of the

seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree,

25
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

is The LORD’s: it is holy unto The LORD

(Leviticus 27:30).
• Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of
thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year
by year (Deuteronomy 14:22).
• Then there shall be a place which The
LORD your God shall choose to cause
his name to dwell there; thither shall ye
bring all that I command you; your burnt
offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes,
and the heave offering of your hand, and
all your choice vows which ye vow unto
The LORD (Deuteronomy 12:11).
• And it shall be, when thou art come in
unto the land which The LORD thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance, and possess-
est it, and dwellest therein; that thou shalt
take of the first of all the fruit of the earth,
which thou shalt bring of thy land that The
LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put
it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place
which The LORD thy God shall choose
to place his name there. And thou shalt go
unto the priest that shall be in those days,
and say unto him, I profess this day unto

26
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

The LORD thy God, that I am come unto

the country which The LORD sware unto
our fathers for to give us. And the priest
shall take the basket out of thine hand, and
set it down before the altar of The LORD
thy God (Deuteronomy 26:1–4).

Did the Israelites always keep those commands?

No. They repeatedly strayed not just from the teach-
ings in the Mosaic Law about tithing, but from God
Himself. Time and again, they got caught up in
idolatry and adopted the ways of the heathen na-
tions around them. When they did, they suffered for
it both spiritually and financially. Because they had
stepped out from under THE BLESSING of The
LORD, it ceased to operate in their lives, and they
stopped prospering.
When they repented and returned to The LORD,
however, the Israelites would find themselves living
again under the protection of God’s BLESSING.
They’d start walking in His ways again and begin to
flourish financially. We see an example of this in the
account of what happened during the reign of King
Hezekiah. He had become king at a time when the
knowledge of God and His ways had all but disap-
peared from Israel.
27
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

Determined to restore the nation to faith in

God, Hezekiah reintroduced the Israelites to God’s
WORD, including what it said about the tithe.
He commanded the people to give to the priests
and Levites what was due them, that they might
be free to attend to their ministry, and the people
responded wholeheartedly:

As soon as the command went abroad, the

Israelites gave in abundance the firstfruits of
grain, vintage fruit, oil, honey, and of all the
produce of the field; and they brought in abun-
dantly the tithe of everything. The people of
Israel and Judah who lived in Judah’s cities also
brought the tithe of cattle and sheep and of
the dedicated things which were consecrated
to The LORD their God, and they laid them
in heaps (2 Chronicles 31:5-6, Amplified Bible,
Classic Edition).

When King Hezekiah saw the heaps, he

BLESSED The LORD and His people, Israel. Then
he asked the priests and Levites the questions you
and I probably would have asked: Where did these
heaps come from? How did the Israelites become so
wealthy that they could give so lavishly to God?
28
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

The answer reveals not only what happened in

that instance, but what always happens when God’s
people walk in His financial ways: “Since the peo-
ple began to bring the offerings into The LORD’s
house,” the priest said, “we have eaten and have
plenty left, for The LORD has BLESSED His
people, and what is left is this great store” (verse 10,
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).
“Well, even so,” someone might say, “the fact
remains that those people were required to tithe by
Old Covenant Law, and Romans 6:14 says to us as
New Testament believers, ‘Ye are not under the law
but under grace.’”
That’s true. We aren’t under the Law. We aren’t
trying to attain righteousness by keeping its de-
mands. We were made righteous the instant we were
born again by faith in Jesus. He perfectly fulfilled the
Law for us and paid the price we owed for breaking
it. Taking upon Himself our sin and the curse that,
according to Deuteronomy 28, comes as a result
of breaking God’s Law, He “redeemed us from the
curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for
it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a
tree’)” (Galatians 3:13, New King James Version).
The curse of the Law isn’t the same thing as the
29
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

WE CAN KEEP
GOD’S LAWS AND
COMMANDS BY
LIVING IN THE
LOVE OF GOD
THAT’S BEEN SHED
ABROAD IN OUR
HEARTS BY THE
HOLY SPIRIT.

30
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

Law itself. The curse is bad, the Law isn’t. As the

New Testament says, “The law is holy, and the com-
mandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).
So the Law was not the problem. Our problem was
our fallen, sin-corrupted spiritual nature. It kept us
in bondage to the flesh, made it impossible for us
to obey God, and left us subject to the curse. “For
the mind set on the flesh is death…[and] is hostile
toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law
of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans
8:6–7, New American Standard Bible-1995).
That sin-deadened, flesh-dominated condition is
what Jesus redeemed us from. He set us free from it
and made us new creations in Him. Because of what
He did for us through His life, death, and Resur-
rection, we’re no longer just fallen flesh-creatures
trapped in a cycle of sin and condemnation. We can
live our lives by faith in Him and boldly declare, as
the Apostle Paul did in Romans 8:

There is therefore now no condemnation to

those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has made me free from the law

31
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

of sin and death. For what the law could not

do in that it was weak through the flesh, God
did by sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh…that the righteous requirement
of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to
the Spirit (verses 1-4, New King James Version).

Notice, Paul referred there to the Law as “right­

eous.” He didn’t speak disparagingly of it. He didn’t
say that, under the New Covenant, we’re to ignore
or despise it. No, he said now that we’ve been made
alive in the spirit and have a righteous nature, we
can walk in the fulfillment of it. We can keep God’s
laws and commands, not legalistically like His Old
Covenant people tried to do, but simply by living in
accordance with the Love of God that’s been shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

For the commandments, “You shall not com-

mit adultery,”“You shall not murder,”“You shall
not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,”
“You shall not covet,” and if there is any other
commandment, are all summed up in this say-
ing, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor;
32
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Ro-

mans 13:9-10, New King James Version).

Will we miss it and stumble in our love walk

sometimes? Yes. But when we do, we can simply re-
pent and receive the forgiveness and cleansing Jesus
provided for us through His blood. We can come
boldly to the throne of grace, obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need.
This is why we don’t have to get under condem-
nation when we see something in our lives that’s
contrary to the Law of God. Under the New Cov-
enant, the Law doesn’t condemn us, it helps us! It
helps us learn to live in accordance with our new na-
ture and the laws of God that have been inscribed on
our hearts. It helps us understand God’s ways so that
we can walk in them and enjoy all the BLESSINGS
He’s provided for us as His born-again children.
“The law is good, if a man use it lawfully,” the
New Testament says in 1 Timothy 1:8. The Holy
Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Second
Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, “All scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc-
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in

33
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

righteousness: that the man of God may be per-

fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” So,
rather than dismiss the Old Testament scriptures
about tithing, as New Testament believers, we ought
to study them.
They show us how to get with God’s financial
program of abundance. They teach us how to op-
erate according to the economic principles of the
spirit realm. They don’t put us back “under” Old Tes-
tament legalism, they give us the wisdom we need
to cooperate with God’s laws of prosperity so we
can freely enjoy all the financial BLESSING that
belongs to us in Christ.

TWO KINDS OF LAW

The spiritual laws of prosperity and the Mo-
saic Law are two different kinds of laws. The New
Testament speaks of both, and they harmonize, but
they’re distinct from one another. The laws God
gave through Moses, such as the Ten Command-
ments, are governmental laws of conduct. Like the
laws of a state or a nation, they define what be-
haviors are acceptable, legal or righteous, and what
behaviors are not.

34
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

The laws of prosperity, on the other hand, are

operational laws of the spirit realm. They reveal
how that realm functions. The operational laws of
the spirit are like the laws of physics in the natural.
They’re backed by very real forces that dictate what
happens in the spirit world, just as the laws of
physics are backed by forces that determine what
happens in the physical world.
Think about the law of gravity, and you’ll see
what I mean. That law would be meaningless if
gravity were not a real force. It’s the force of gravity
which makes the law of gravity work.
As powerful as the natural law of gravity is, how-
ever, the spiritual world and its laws are even more
powerful. In fact, spiritual law gave birth to physical
law. According to Hebrews 11:3, this physical world
and the forces that govern it were created by the
power of faith which God released with His words.
Faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy. It’s
the force of faith that makes the laws of the spirit
world (including laws of prosperity such as tith-
ing) function. When faith is put to work, the laws
of the spirit operate exactly the way God says they
will. You proved this when you got born again. You
activated the spiritual “law of faith,” referred to in
35
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

UNDER THE NEW

COVENANT, THE
LAW HELPS US
UNDERSTAND
GOD’S WAYS SO
THAT WE CAN
ENJOY ALL THE
BLESSINGS HE’S
PROVIDED FOR US.

36
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

Romans 3:27 by believing on Jesus and confessing

Him as your LORD. When you did that, faith set
in motion “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus” (which is another operational law of the spirit
realm). It made you free from the spiritual “law
of sin and death” (Romans 8:2), and you instantly
received THE BLESSING of salvation.
Anyone on earth can have that experience.
Jesus made the new birth available to all, and The
WORD says anyone who calls upon the Name
of The LORD shall be saved ( Joel 2:13; Romans
10:13). The higher spiritual law of life is here in the
earth, but every day, people die and go to hell. Why?
Because the law of salvation hasn’t been put to work
in their individual lives. It will work only when it’s
put to work.
The same principle applies when it comes to
prosperity. There are certain spiritual laws which
govern it. They are revealed in God’s WORD—faith
causes them to function, and they always work when
they’re put to work. Tithing is one of those laws.
Like the natural law of seedtime and harvest which
God said would never cease to function in the earth
(Genesis 8:22), it’s an enduring spiritual law of
prosperity.

37
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

The laws of prosperity work the same as the laws

of salvation, healing and so forth. They were put in
motion by the same God and revealed to us by the
same WORD. They work by the same force of faith
and are designed to stop the same thieving devil
who’s been stealing God’s BLESSINGS from His
people since the Garden of Eden. They do not work
automatically, however. To experience their benefits
you must put them into operation—and whether or
not you choose to do that is up to you.
God won’t make the choice for you. Although
He’s given you “the measure of faith” (Romans
12:3), His written WORD and His Holy Spirit
to help you choose wisely, you can ignore God’s
laws of prosperity if you want to. You can choose
to not tithe and keep on doing things the world’s
way. When you eventually find yourself in financial
trouble (and you will) then you can beg God to bail
you out.
In His great mercy, He’ll help you as much as
He can in such situations, but that’s not His plan
for you. His plan is for you to prosper continually by
walking in His financial ways. He desires that you
activate His laws of prosperity by tithing and giving,
not out of legalistic obligation but out of love for

38
 TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

Him and faith in His WORD.

This is what Jesus was trying to get across to the
Pharisee in Luke 11. When the Pharisee, a legal-
ist, invited Jesus to his house for dinner and was
shocked that He didn’t wash beforehand in accord­
ance with the religious traditions of the day, Jesus
said to him and his friends:

You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup

and dish, but inside you are full of greed and
wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the
one who made the outside make the inside
also? But now as for what is inside you—be
generous to the poor, and everything will be
clean for you. Woe to you Pharisees, because
you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all
other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect
justice and the love of God. You should have
practiced the latter without leaving the for-
mer undone (verses 39-42, New International
Version).

Notice Jesus didn’t say that tithing wasn’t im-

portant. He didn’t tell the Pharisee, “Now that I’m
here, tithing has been done away with.” No, He told

39
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

the Pharisee that he’d missed the heart of it. He told

him to keep tithing and giving but to do it out of
love for others and for God.
Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever
(Hebrews 13:8). So He would say the same today.
He hasn’t changed His mind about tithing...but,
praise God, He has changed us! Through the new
birth, He’s given us what the Pharisee needed—a
new heart. “For this is the [new] covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith The LORD; I will put my laws into their
mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people”
(Hebrews 8:10).
As believers, we don’t tithe like the Pharisee did
out of a legalistic sense of duty, as something we
have to do. For us, tithing is something we get to do.

• We tithe to express our appreciation for

how much God has done for us—to honor
Him as the Source of our BLESSING
and to demonstrate our faith in Him.
• We tithe, not to get God to BLESS us,
but because He has already “BLESSED us
with all spiritual BLESSINGS in heavenly
40
TRACKING THE TITHE THROUGH THE BIBLE

THE FORCE OF
FAITH MAKES THE
LAWS OF THE
SPIRIT WORLD
(SUCH AS TITHING)
FUNCTION.

41
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

• We tithe, not to achieve righteousness,
but because we’ve been made righteous
by faith in Jesus.
• We tithe not because we’re afraid God
will curse us if we don’t, but to activate
His spiritual laws of prosperity and cel­
ebrate the fact that Christ has redeemed
us from the curse, being made a curse for
us, and THE BLESSING of Abraham
has come on us through Him!

42
 C hapter 3

FOLLOWING
THE FAITH
OF ABRAHAM
 Chapter 3
FOLLOWING THE FAITH
OF ABRAHAM

N ot only have we as believers inherited THE

BLESSING of Abraham, the New Testament
calls him “the father of all them that believe” and
says we “walk in the steps” of his faith (Romans
4:11-12). This is yet another reason we can be con-
fident that tithing is still for us as New Covenant
believers today: Abraham was a tither! Therefore,
following in his footsteps of faith means we’re to be
tithers, too. We’re to bring our tithes to Jesus just
as Abraham brought his to Melchizedek when he
“met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of
the kings and BLESSED him, and Abraham gave
to him a tenth portion of all [the spoil]” (Hebrews
7:1-2, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).
That was an extremely powerful moment in
Abraham’s life!
He’d just won a victory that he knew very well
was nothing short of supernatural. With only 300 of
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

his servants fighting alongside him, he’d conquered

the combined armies of five kings who’d been
ransacking cities throughout the region. He’d gone
after them because they’d captured his nephew Lot
and his family, along with the other citizens and the
wealth of Sodom, where Lot lived.
Defeating those kings should have been im-
possible. But with God, nothing is impossible. So,
by faith in the covenant of BLESSING he had
with God, Abraham fought the kings and won.
He rescued his relatives and brought them back
to Sodom. When they arrived, with all the other
people of Sodom who’d been captured and all the
riches in tow that the five kings had stolen, Sodom’s
king came out to meet Abraham. But passing right
by him, Abraham headed straight for Melchizedek,
God’s priest.
Why? Because the first thing he wanted to
do was honor God for everything He’d just done.
Without God’s backing there was no way Abra-
ham and his little band of servants could have
won such a massive victory. There was no way they
could have gotten Lot, his family and all those
other people back home safely and recovered all
the spoil, on their own. So, before doing anything

46
 FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

else, Abraham wanted to worship The LORD and

express his gratitude.
Melchizedek was there to help him do that.
As the high priest of God, he “brought forth bread
and wine,” and BLESSED Abraham. “BLESSED
be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven
and earth,” he said, “and BLESSED be the most
high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into
thy hand” (Genesis 14:18-20).
Notice Melchizedek called Abraham the possessor
of heaven and earth. Abraham had never heard him-
self called that before! He knew he was BLESSED.
He knew God had promised to make him a great
nation, that He’d BLESS those who BLESSED
him and curse those who cursed him (Genesis
12:2-3). But Melchizedek’s words took that rev­
elation to an entirely new level. When he referred
to God’s covenant partner as possessor of heaven and
earth, Abraham’s mind must have been reeling. Who,
me? Is he actually referring to me?
Abraham might have doubted it, except for one
thing: Melchizedek had backed up his declaration
with the covenant elements of bread and wine. That
was serious business, and Abraham knew it. Those

47
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

elements signified the unbreakable oath of a blood

covenant. They confirmed Melchizedek meant what
He said—that Abraham was the most powerful
man alive.
“But Brother Copeland,” someone might argue,
“Melchizedek was saying there that God is possessor
of heaven and earth.”
No, he wasn’t. The phrase “Abram of the most
high God, possessor of heaven and earth” is cov­
enant talk for “What’s mine is yours.” It’s a Hebrew
way of saying Abraham is in covenant with God,
which makes him the possessor of everything God
has. The New Testament verifies this. It says that
Abraham is heir of the world (Romans 4:13), which
is what Melchizedek was saying. He was declaring
that God had given Abraham the entire planet!
When Abraham realized this, he could have
just taken off like a rocket, jumping and celebrating
and shouting the victory. (That’s what most people
today would do.) But he didn’t, because an exchange
was taking place and the transaction wasn’t finished.
How did Abraham finish it? He demonstrated his
faith in THE BLESSING God had bestowed on
him. He responded with a covenant action that’s been
practiced among God’s people since time began.
48
 FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

He gave Melchizedek tithes of all.

As Abraham presented those tithes to Melchiz­
edek, the words of THE BLESSING were thunder-
ing in his ears. The power in them was exploding in
his consciousness like fireworks on Independence
Day. He wasn’t tithing out of religious obligation.
He was tithing as a sign that he was in covenant
with Almighty God, whose BLESSING had made
him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.
Talk about a powerful exchange! Abraham’s
experience with Melchizedek that day changed him
forever, and he immediately proved it. When, right
after he finished tithing, the king of Sodom offered
to give Abraham all the city’s wealth, he refused
to accept it. “I have lift up mine hand unto The
LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven
and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to
a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that
is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram
rich,” he said (Genesis 14:22-23).
Abraham flat turned down a fortune! What gave
him the guts to do it? He’d just finished a covenant
exchange with God Himself. The revelation of THE
BLESSING was roaring through his spirit. He was
thinking, I’m richer now than I’ve ever been. The whole
49
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

earth is mine. Why would I get involved in some finan-

cial monkey business with a wicked king? I’m Abraham
of God, possessor of heaven and earth!
That’s how we, as new covenant believers, are
to think! We’re to tithe with The WORD of God’s
BLESSING resounding in our hearts. We’re to
follow in Abraham’s footsteps of faith and bring
the tenth of our increase to God as a sign that we’re
in covenant with Him, who has made us wealthy
beyond our wildest dreams. We’re to honor God
by saying no to the financial ways of the world
like Abraham said no to the offer from the king of
Sodom, and respond to THE BLESSING of our
High Priest by giving Him tithes of all!

JESUS RECEIVES YOUR TITHES

“But I’m not in the same situation Abraham
was,” you might say. “I don’t have a high priest to
bring my tithes to.”
Yes, you do! In fact, yours is even mightier than
Abraham’s was. His experience with Melchizedek,
though awesome, was just a type and shadow. You
have the fulfillment.

50
FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

TO DO AWAY WITH
TITHING WOULD BE
TO DO AWAY WITH
HALF OF JESUS’
HIGH-PRIESTLY
MINISTRY.

51
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

For when God made a promise to Abraham,

because He could swear by no one greater, He
swore by Himself, saying, “Surely BLESS-
ING I will BLESS you, and multiplying I
will multiply you.” And so, after he had pa-
tiently endured, he obtained the promise.
For men indeed swear by the greater, and an
oath for confirmation is for them an end of
all disputes. Thus God, determining to show
more abundantly to [us as new covenant be-
lievers] the heirs of promise the immutabil-
ity of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
that by two immutable things, in which it
is impossible for God to lie, we might have
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge
to lay hold of the hope set before us. This
hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which enters the
Presence behind the veil, where the fore-
runner has entered for us, even Jesus, having
become High Priest forever according to the
order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:13-20,
New King James Version).

As a born-again believer, your High Priest is

The LORD Jesus Christ! Your soul isn’t anchored

52
 FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

just in the Old Testament covenant elements of

bread and wine. Your faith is anchored in the body
Jesus laid down for you and the blood He shed for
you when, through His crucifixion, He became your
covenant sacrifice.
Acting as our High Priest, Jesus walked into
the heavenly Holy of Holies and in the presence of
Almighty God presented His own blood on our be-
half. When He did, God accepted it! He called Jesus
God, gave Him the Name that is above all names,
and swore an oath making Him a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek (Philippians
2:9; Hebrews 7:21).
The book of Hebrews uses that phrase, a priest
forever according to the order of Melchizedek, seven
times in reference to Jesus. So, there’s no mistake
about it, He does for us what Melchizedek did for
Abraham. What did Melchizedek do? The Bible
only mentions two things: He administered THE
BLESSING and received tithes.
This is one of the reasons I’m so big on the tithe.
It’s why I’m so confident that tithing wasn’t just an
Old Covenant law that’s now been done away with.
To do away with tithing would be to do away with
half of Jesus’ high-priestly ministry. It would mean
53
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

He’s not really a priest forever after the order of

Melchizedek. But, as Hebrews declares seven times,
He is!
Melchizedek was the Old Testament type and
shadow; Jesus is the New Testament fulfillment of
what he foreshadowed.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest

of the Most High God…first being trans-
lated “king of righteousness,” and then also
king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,”
without father, without mother, without ge-
nealogy, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like the Son of
God, remains a priest continually. Now con-
sider how great this man was, to whom even
the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the
spoils…. [and] received tithes from Abraham
and BLESSED him who had the promises.
Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is
BLESSED by the better. Here mortal men
receive tithes, but there he receives them, of
whom it is witnessed that he lives (Hebrews
7:1-4, 6-8, New King James Version).

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 FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

Look again at that last verse. It tells us that,

while here on earth, we bring our tithes to mortal
men by taking them to church or sending them to
ministers and ministries that are doing God’s work.
There in heaven, Jesus is receiving them and min-
istering them to our heavenly Father. He’s lifting
them up as a worship to God.
To think that God would honor us by receiving
our tithes is amazing! He doesn’t need our money.
He isn’t so destitute that He needs our 10 per-
cent so He can get by. He owns all the resources
in existence. He could finance His work on earth
without any help from us at all. But that’s not what
He’s chosen to do. He’s chosen instead to BLESS
us with the “power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy
8:18), give us 90 percent of it, and receive from
us the other tenth. Then He uses that tenth to
advance His kingdom on earth and to provide
ministry for us.
You can’t out-give God! What you give to Him
He ministers back to you through the fivefold gifts
He’s set in the Church. As Ephesians 4 says, “He
gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,

55
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

WHEN WE BRING
OUR TITHES TO
THE LORD,
WE CAN TELL
GOD HOW MUCH
WE APPRECIATE
ALL HE’S DONE
FOR US.

56
 FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

for the edifying of the body of Christ” (verses 11-12).

God reinvests into their work the 10 percent you
bring Him so that you can be perfected, equipped
and edified.
What’s more, tithing positions you to receive
the same explosive revelation that Abraham received
when he brought his tithes to Melchizedek: the
revelation that you truly are in covenant partnership
with Almighty God. That in union with Him, you
are possessor of heaven and earth. That in Christ you
have inherited the world, and you are BLESSED in
every way beyond your wildest dreams!
“Well, I’ve been tithing for years,” someone
might say, “and I’ve never gotten that revelation.”
That’s because you never learned how to do
it the way the Bible teaches. You probably just
wrote a check for 10 percent and put it in the
offering bucket on Sunday morning. But that’s
not all there is to tithing. You’re not meant to do
it like you’re just paying a bill. When you bring
your tithe to The LORD, you’re supposed to speak
words of faith over it because Jesus is the “High
Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1, New King
James Version). He’s Anointed to not only receive
our tithes but to see to it that His WORD in our

57
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

mouths comes to pass in our lives. Even under the

Old Covenant, the Israelites were instructed to say
specific things when they brought their tithes to
the priest. Moses told them:

It shall be, when you come into the land

which The LORD your God is giving you as
an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell
in it, that you shall take some of the first of
all the produce of the ground, which you
shall bring from your land that The LORD
your God is giving you, and put it in a basket
and go to the place where The LORD your
God chooses to make His name abide. And
you shall go to the one who is priest in those
days, and say to him, “I declare today to The
LORD your God that I have come to the
country which The LORD swore to our fa-
thers to give us.” Then the priest shall take
the basket out of your hand and set it down
before the altar of The LORD your God. And
you shall answer and say before The LORD
your God: “My father was a Syrian, about to
perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt
there, few in number; and there he became
a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But

58
 FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and

laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out
to The LORD God of our fathers, and The
LORD heard our voice and looked on our af-
fliction and our labor and our oppression. So
The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a
mighty hand and with an outstretched arm,
with great terror and with signs and wonders.
He has brought us to this place and has given
us this land, ‘a land flowing with milk and
honey;’ and now, behold, I have brought the
firstfruits of the land which you, O LORD,
have given me.” Then you shall set it before
The LORD your God, and worship before
The LORD your God. So you shall rejoice
in every good thing which The LORD your
God has given to you and your house… (Deu-
teronomy 26:1-11, New King James Version).

Many years ago, when The LORD first told me

to begin teaching about tithing, He told me to study
those verses. As I did, I realized how closely they
mirror our experience as believers. Just as the Isra-
elites were delivered out of the bondage of Egypt,
we were delivered out of the bondage of sin. Just
as they cried out to God and He heard their voice

59
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

and saved them, the same happened to us when we

got born again. Just as God brought the Israelites
into the Promised Land, and gave it to them as an
inheritance, God has brought us into the kingdom
of His dear Son and given it to us as our inheritance
(Colossians 1:13).
So, when we bring our tithes to The LORD, we
can say something very similar to what they said.
We can tell God how much we appreciate all He’s
done for us. We can praise Him for making us the
righteousness of God in Christ and BLESSING us
in Him with every spiritual BLESSING in heav-
enly places (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:3). We
can partake of the Communion elements and say to
Jesus our High Priest, “LORD, I bring You my tithe
in love, joy and honor. Thank You for all You’ve done
to deliver me, provide for me and minister to me. I
receive by faith THE BLESSING of Abraham that
is mine through You. I declare I am a joint heir with
You, Jesus, and I receive Your BLESSING.”
I call this “tithing the tithe.” Not just an empty
religious ritual, it’s a living interaction that involves
releasing your faith. It’s your opportunity to bring
to God what belongs to Him and receive from Him
what belongs to you. And as you can readily see, it

60
FOLLOWING THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

“TITHING THE
TITHE” IS
A LIVING
INTERACTION
THAT INVOLVES
RELEASING
YOUR FAITH.

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THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

can’t be done in the few seconds before the plate is

passed in church.
Gloria and I prepare our tithes at home, so we
have an opportunity to pray over them before we
give. We hold them before God and worship Him
with them. It takes some time, but we can tell you
from experience it is worth every minute because
that kind of interaction with God will change you.
It will anchor you firmly in the knowledge of
THE BLESSING, and you will never be the same
again!

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 FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
ABOUT TITHING
 FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS ABOUT TITHING

Q: WHERE SHOULD I BRING MY TITHE?

A: Malachi 3:10 says we bring our tithes “into the

storehouse.” In biblical times, the storehouse was
where the food was kept. That means your tithe
is to go where people are being spiritually fed by
The WORD of God. Not all religious organiza­
tions are storehouses. Even some that are con­
sidered churches are just dead works that don’t
provide anyone with any real spiritual food at all.
Deuteronomy 26:14 says not to give any of the
tithe to “the dead.” So personally, I would never
consider putting God’s tithe into a church or
organization that doesn’t preach God’s WORD.
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

Q: UNDER THE NEW COVENANT, DOES GOD

STILL CURSE BELIEVERS FINANCIALLY FOR
NOT TITHING?

A: God doesn’t curse anyone. He never has. He’s

not the author of the curse. He’s the author of
THE BLESSING. The one behind the curse is
satan. He introduced it into the earth through
Adam and Eve’s sin. When they bowed their
knee to him, they opened the door to all his des­
picable works. Death came upon all mankind,
and every­thing under man’s authority (which
included the entire earth and everything in it)
came under the curse.
God didn’t instigate any of that. He did, however,
make a way of escape. Through the covenant of
BLESSING He made with Abraham, God pro­
vided an umbrella of protection. As long as Abra­
ham walked with The LORD by faith in that cov­
enant and listened to His WORD, that umbrella
of BLESSING shielded him from the curse.
If, however, he stepped out from under THE
BLESSING by disregarding God’s WORD and
doing things his own way, he would once again
become vulnerable to the curse’s effects.

66
 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The same principle holds true for us as New

Covenant believers. In Christ, we are Abraham’s
seed and have inherited his BLESSING. But
since we live in a world where the curse is still
operating, we become vulnerable to its effects if
we disregard God’s WORD and do things the
world’s way. The good news is that we don’t have
to do things the world’s way anymore. Although
we’re in the world, we’re not of it ( John 17:14).

We’re born of God, and He’s given us every­

thing it takes to walk in His ways. He’s given us
a new heart, His own righteousness, His written
WORD, His grace and His Holy Spirit. Plus,
He’s assured us that if we do sin, we can go to
Him and “he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
(1 John 1:9).

There is no reason at all for any of us, as believers,

to put up with the effects of the curse in our lives.
We’ve been redeemed from it. We just need to
renew our minds to that fact and stay under our
umbrella of BLESSING by walking according to
God’s WORD. For Jesus said, “If ye continue in
my WORD, then are ye my disciples indeed; and

67
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make

you free” ( John 8:31-32).

Q: WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE THE FAITH TO

TITHE?

A: Faith comes by hearing The WORD of God

(Romans 10:17), so spend more time in The
WORD. Go over the scriptures in this book. Put
them in your heart and in your mouth, and faith
will quickly rise up inside of you. As soon as it
does, act on it.

Jesus taught that faith the size of a mustard seed

will grow and produce great things if it’s planted
(Luke 17:5; Mark 4:31-32). So even if your faith
seems small, take God up on the challenge He is­
sued in Malachi 3:10 where He said in the New
Living Translation: “Try it! Put me to the test!”
The King James Version says, “Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse…and prove me now
herewith…if I will not open you the windows
of heaven, and pour you out a BLESSING, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

There was a book written in the 1940s about

68
 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

a farmer named Perry Hayden1 who accepted

that challenge. After hearing his pastor preach
on Malachi 3:10, he decided to tithe, record
the results, and see just how much BLESSING
tithing would produce. He started by sowing one
cubic inch of wheat (or 360 kernels) on his farm,
and committing to The LORD that for the next
six years he would tithe 10 percent of the harvest
and sow the remainder the following season.

The first year he planted the 360 kernels in a

four-by-eight-foot plot of land. The second year,
after tithing 10 percent of the harvest, he had to
expand the plot to twenty-four by sixty feet to
have room enough to plant the remainder of the
seed. The third year, after tithing the 10 percent,
he had to expand the plot to three quarters of
an acre. The fourth year, it took fourteen acres
to accommodate the seed. The fifth year it took
230 acres. Year six, he needed a plot of over 2600
acres to have room enough to plant the 5,000
bushels of seed he had to sow.

The experiment worked!

In six years, the original 360 kernels multiplied to

1 Raymond J. Jeffreys, God Is My Landlord (Tecumseh: Dynamic

Kernels Foundation, 1967).
69
THE JOY AND POWER OF THE TITHING COVENANT

become fifty-five billion, and Perry Hayden made

$288,000 (that was a lot of money in 1940!),
compared to the other farmers who made an
average of $21,000.

As Gloria says, “Tithing gets God in on your

deal!” So test it out. Whatever your deal is—
whether you’re a farmer, a teacher, a businessper­
son or something else—allow God to get involved
in your finances. He will “increase you more and
more, you and your children” (Psalm 115:14).

70
 Prayer for Salvation and
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your
Word says, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
saved” (Acts 2:21). I am calling on You. I pray and ask Jesus to
come into my heart and be Lord over my life according to Romans
10:9-10: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.” I do that now. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I
believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I repent
of sin. I renounce it. I renounce the devil and everything he stands
for. Jesus is my Lord.
I am now reborn! I am a Christian—a child of Almighty
God! I am saved! You also said in Your Word, “If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: HOW
MUCH MORE shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13). I’m also asking You to fill
me with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, rise up within me as I
praise God. I fully expect to speak with other tongues as You give
me the utterance (Acts 2:4). In Jesus’ Name. Amen!
Begin to praise God for filling you with the Holy Spirit.
Speak those words and syllables you receive—not in your
own language, but the language given to you by the Holy
Spirit. You have to use your own voice. God will not force
you to speak. Don’t be concerned with how it sounds. It is a
heavenly language!
 Continue with the blessing God has given you and pray
in the spirit every day.
You are a born-again, Spirit-filled believer. You’ll never
be the same!
Find a good church that boldly preaches God’s Word
and obeys it. Become part of a church family who will love
and care for you as you love and care for them.
We need to be connected to each other. It increases our
strength in God. It’s God’s plan for us.
Make it a habit to watch the Believer’s Voice of Victory
broadcast and VICTORY ChannelTM and become a doer of
the Word, who is blessed in his doing ( James 1:22-25).
 About the Author
Kenneth Copeland is co-founder and president of Kenneth
Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas, and best-selling author
of books that include Honor—Walking in Honesty, Truth and
Integrity, and THE BLESSING of The LORD Makes Rich and He
Adds No Sorrow With It.
Since 1967, Kenneth has been a minister of the gospel of Christ
and teacher of God’s Word. He is also the artist on award-winning
albums such as his Grammy-nominated Only the Redeemed, In
His Presence, He Is Jehovah, Just a Closer Walk and Big Band Gospel.
He also co-stars as the character Wichita Slim in the children’s
adventure videos The Gunslinger, Covenant Rider and the movie The
Treasure of Eagle Mountain, and as Daniel Lyon in the Commander
Kellie and the Superkids videos Armor of Light and Judgment: The
TM

Trial of Commander Kellie. Kenneth also co-stars as a Hispanic

godfather in the 2009 and 2016 movies The Rally and The Rally 2:
Breaking the Curse.
With the help of offices and staff in the United States, Canada,
England, Australia, South Africa, Ukraine and Latin America,
Kenneth is fulfilling his vision to boldly preach the uncompromised
Word of God from the top of this world, to the bottom, and all the
way around. His ministry reaches millions of people worldwide
through daily and Sunday TV broadcasts, magazines, teaching
audios and videos, conventions and campaigns, and the World
Wide Web.

Learn more about Kenneth Copeland Ministries

by visiting our website at kcm.org
 BELIEVER’S VOICE OF

When The LORD first spoke to

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland about starting
the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine...
He said: This is your seed. Give it to everyone who ever responds
to your ministry, and don’t ever allow anyone to pay for a
subscription!
For more than 50 years, it has been the joy of Kenneth Copeland
Ministries to bring the good news to believers. Readers enjoy
teaching from ministers who write from lives of living contact
with God, and testimonies from believers experiencing victory
through God’s Word in their everyday lives.
Today, the BVOV magazine is mailed monthly, bringing
encouragement and blessing to believers around the world.
Many even use it as a ministry tool, passing it on to others
who desire to know Jesus and grow in their faith!

Request your FREE subscription to the

Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine today!
Go to freevictory.com to subscribe online or, call us at
1-800-600-7395 (U.S. only) or +1-817-852-6000.
We’re Here for You!®
Your growth in God’s Word and victory in Jesus are at the very center of our hearts. In
every way God has equipped us, we will help you deal with the issues facing you, so you
can be the victorious overcomer He has planned for you to be.
The mission of Kenneth Copeland Ministries is about all of us growing and going
together. Our prayer is that you will take full advantage of all the Lord has given us to
share with you.
Wherever you are in the world, you can watch the Believer’s Voice of Victory broadcast on
television (check your local listings), kcm.org and digital streaming devices like Roku®.
You can also watch the broadcast as well as programs from dozens of ministers you
can trust on our 24/7 faith network—Victory ChannelTM. Visit govictory.com for show
listings and all the ways to watch.
Our website, kcm.org, gives you access to every resource we’ve developed for your
victory. And, you can find contact information for our international offices in Africa,
Australia, Canada, Europe, Ukraine, Latin America and our headquarters in the
United States.
Each office is staffed with devoted men and women, ready to serve and pray with you. You
can contact the worldwide office nearest you for assistance, and you can call us for prayer at
our U.S. number, +1-817-852-6000, every day of the week!
We encourage you to connect with us often and let us be part of your everyday walk
of faith!

Jesus Is LORD!

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland