CC#8 Tithing, Elder Anderson (final before music)

Elder Neil L. Anderson gave a talk on tithing, discussing its importance and how the funds are used. Tithing is a commandment to give one-tenth of our earnings to the church. The funds are used for various projects, such as humanitarian aid, caring for those in need, building self-reliance, and supporting missionary work. We have no control over how the funds are used, so our focus should be on paying an honest tithe. Tithing is a spiritual law of faith with both temporal and spiritual blessings. We need to trust in the Lord's timing and have faith that the blessings will come. The promise of opening the windows of heaven and pouring out blessings is a powerful imagery. Overall, tithing is a blessing and an opportunity to show our trust and obedience to the Lord. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Conference Chronicles. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and you felt a lot of love and gratitude and close to the Savior. This episode is being released on New Year's Eve, so Happy New Year and I can just feel that 2024 is going to be the best year yet. I hope you all feel the same way. This week's talk is given by Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve, entitled Tithing, Opening the Windows of Heaven. As I prepared for this talk, I couldn't help but ask myself, why? Why is he giving a talk on this? And I think this is maybe a healthy question to ask with any talk we hear in General Conference. Why is this prophet, seer and revelator, speaking to us about this specific topic? Why does the Lord want me to hear this and what does he want me to learn from this and do with this bit of information? With that being said, here's an overview of the seven points that we're going to go over today. Number one, what is the law of tithing? Number two, how are tithing funds used? Three, realizing that how the tithing funds are used isn't necessarily in our realm of control and what we should focus on is just controlling what we can control. Number four, the law of tithing is actually a spiritual law of faith and the blessings are both temporal and spiritual. Five, the law of tithing is a preparatory law. Six, tithing is a blessing, not a burden. And seven, we're just going to go over some of the specific blessings that I've noticed in my life when it comes to paying tithing. Okay, number one, what is tithing? So the word tithe comes from a Hebrew word which means a tent. It's an ancient divine law the Lord revealed to biblical prophets in the Old Testament. It's a sign of God's people. He has always commanded his people to pay tithe, so naturally it is found in his church today. One thing I've realized about tithing is it's one of those laws that can be perfectly obeyed. If you think of some of the other commands or instructions from the Lord to rid ourselves of pride or to be humble or to have charity, those things seem to be like lifelong pursuits that are extremely difficult to get spot on. We always seem to have pride creeping into our minds and hearts. It's hard for us to be perfectly humble or perfectly charitable, but tithing is giving one-tenth of our earnings to the Lord. It's a mathematical equation. We take a tenth of our money and we give it to the church. It can be perfectly obeyed, and so in turn you would naturally think that the blessings of it can be perfectly given, which is amazing. We can receive the fullness of God's blessings in reference to tithing because we can perfectly obey it. I think the key is maybe just recognizing perfectly the blessings that he does indeed give, and we'll definitely get into that point in principle as we go on. So local leaders send the tithing received each week directly to church headquarters. A council comprised of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the presiding bishopric determine specific ways to use the sacred tithing funds. Okay, so that gets into number two, how tithing funds are used. In Elder Anderson's talk, he goes over a few of these in terms of how they're used, and I also found a few other resources highlighting how tithing funds have been used in recent years. I just wanted to go over a few of them. So in 2022, there was $1.02 billion in expenditures from our tithing. There's 3,692 humanitarian projects, 6,300,000 hours volunteered, and 190 countries and territories served. In terms of caring for those in need, there is 174 refugee response projects, 11,030 welfare and self-reliance missionaries worldwide. In terms of worldwide aid, there is 520 food security projects, 156 clean water projects, 45 maternal care projects, 54 mobility projects, 42 vision care projects, and 483 emergency response projects. Thinking of emergency response projects, it reminded me of something I heard in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina happened. We all know how devastating that hurricane was, and there was a lot of relief and response efforts. There was somebody interviewed on the news, and she was asked about all of the people that had come to help serve them after this devastating event, and she said, oh, it's been wonderful. I feel so humbled by all the people that have come and served. There's been two organizations mainly that have really helped. It's been the Mormons and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I always thought that was really funny, but it just goes to show how active the church is in responding immediately to these natural disasters and other emergencies. In terms of building self-reliance, there is 439 education projects, 525 addiction recovery meetings per week, 106,261 self-reliance course participants, and 9,186 Deseret Industries Associates served. And then as of October of this year, of 2023, the church had over 71,000 missionaries serving in 414 missions. There's more than 30,000 congregations in 195 countries and territories, also 177 operating temples and five church-sponsored institutions of higher learning, with over 145,000 students. Wow, what a miracle. All of these incredible things that have happened in the last year or two because of our faith and our willingness to pay tithing. Okay, now with all of that being said, it's important to note that we do not have any control over all of these projects. We don't have control over how the leaders of the church use the sacred tithing funds. It's important for us to focus on what we can control. We can control paying an honest tithe. We can be honest with ourselves and before the Lord. Maybe we would want, instead of there to be 520 food security projects, maybe we'd want there to be more mobility projects or maternal care projects. Maybe instead of there being 439 education projects, we wish there was more emergency response projects. With all that being said, maybe we might want those things. Who knows? But it's important to note that we're not in control of those things, so please let us just be faithful over what we can control. Elder Anderson says, These sacred funds do not belong to leaders of the church, they belong to the Lord. His servants are painstakingly aware of the sacred nature of their stewardship. President Gordon B. Hinckley recounted this childhood experience. When I was a boy, I raised a question with my father concerning the expenditure of church funds. He reminded me that mine is the God-given obligation to pay my tithes and offerings. When I do so, my father said, that which I give is no longer mine. It belongs to the Lord, to whom I consecrate it. His father added, What the authorities of the church do with it need not concern you, Gordon. They are answerable to the Lord, who will require an accounting at their hands. Elder Anderson goes on to say, We deeply feel the weight of being answerable to the Lord. So in summation, the authorities of the church are answerable to the Lord on how the tithes are used. It is our opportunity, blessing, and obligation to pay an honest tithe, and we will be answerable to the Lord for that. Okay, number four. The law of tithing is a spiritual law of faith with both temporal and spiritual blessings associated. President Nelson recently told a story. He says, When I was a young intern, my income was $15 a month. Okay, so one night, my wife, Dansel, asked if I was paying tithing on that meager stipend. I was not. I quickly repented and began paying the additional $1.50 in monthly tithing. Was the church any different because we increased our tithing? Of course not. However, becoming a full tithe payer changed me. That is when I learned that paying tithing is all about faith, not money. To add to that, here's a quote from Elder Gary B. Saban. This was in September 2019. He was the Europe area president at the time. He says, We pay tithing with faith more than with money. God is more interested in our obedience and the impact it has on our souls when we declare an honest tithe than in the amount we pay. It shows that we trust God and His promises. We cannot be like the man who sat in front of the fire and said, Give me heat and I will give you wood. Moroni taught, Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. In Malachi 3.10 it gives perhaps the most quoted and powerful verse on this subject of tithing. It reads, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, 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. Elder Anderson says, The windows of heaven open in many ways. Some are temporal, but many are spiritual. Some are subtle and easy to overlook. Trust in the Lord's timing. The blessings always come. Okay, so a few things stand out to me from that verse of scripture in Malachi. The phrase, Prove me now herewith. Elder Anderson points out in his talk that that phrase is found nowhere else in all of scripture. Prove me now herewith. It kind of goes back a little bit to what I said earlier in the sense that it is a law that we can obey perfectly and it's incredible how the Lord is asking us here to prove him. Just do it. Prove me. I promise you that I will do what? I promise you that I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. There shall not be room enough to receive it. Which brings me to the next point that kind of stood out to me. That imagery of the windows of heaven. Think about heaven as if it were a window and the window opening and giving light and warmth and blessings. It's quite an amazing promise the Lord makes with us. In October 2013, Elder Bednar gives a talk entitled The Windows of Heaven. He says, The imagery of the windows of heaven used by Malachi is most instructive. Windows allow natural light to enter into a building. In like manner, spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing. I wanted to share a couple stories relating to tithing and the spiritual blessings it can provide. While I was serving on my mission in Arizona, I was in this specific area called Apache Junction. I've mentioned this area before on this podcast, but we went to a man's home who was a member but completely inactive. He hadn't been to church in a long time and we were sitting outside his little trailer and his name was Hoss. I don't know what his real name was, but he went by Hoss and he is a very memorable man. But we sat outside his trailer and somehow, this was the first lesson that we had taught with him, somehow the law of tithing got brought up. He was expressing to us that he just couldn't do it. He couldn't pay it. My companion and I, it was so crazy, we got into a yelling match with Hoss, but it was so loving. There was nothing contentious about it, even in the slightest. He was like, I just can't do it. I can't do it. We were sitting there yelling, you can do it, Hoss, and you have to do it. We promise you that as you do it, you'll receive blessings. You have to do it, Hoss. He's like, no, no, I can't. It was so crazy. I had never had another experience like that on my mission, but we were just sitting there screaming at each other and it turns out that was exactly what he needed and he paid his tithing. And guess what happened after he paid his tithing? He came back to church. We had fast and testimony meeting the following month. Guess who was the first person to stand up and bear his testimony on the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ? It was Hoss. This is a man who had been completely inactive in the church, but yet he paid his tithing and it filled his soul with the testimony of the restored gospel and of Jesus Christ. What a spiritual blessing he received indeed. Elder Hales also tells a story. It's in October 2002. His talk's entitled, Tithing, a Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings. This is the story he tells. I know of a couple who lived thousands of miles from the nearest temple. Although they earned little, they faithfully paid their tithing and saved all that they could to journey to the house of the Lord. After a year, the husband's brother, not a member of the church, unexpectedly came forward and offered them two airline tickets. This temporal blessing made possible the spiritual blessing of their temple endowments and sealing. An additional spiritual blessing came later as the brother, touched by the couple's humble faithfulness, joined the church. What an amazing example of both a temporal blessing and a spiritual blessing. And kind of want to point out that the spiritual blessings far outweighed the temporal blessing of those airline tickets the brother provided. Just saying. So in closing for this fourth section, I just wanted to read another quote from Elder Bednar from that same talk I quoted from earlier. He says, Often, as we teach and testify about the law of tithing, we emphasize the immediate, dramatic, and readily recognizable temporal blessings that we receive, and surely such blessings do occur. Yet, some of the diverse blessings we obtain as we are obedient to this commandment are significant but subtle. Again, the word subtle, Elder Anderson used it earlier. He says, Such blessings can be discerned only if we are both spiritually attentive and observant. Kind of amazing and maybe a little scary to think about how we probably receive blessings all the time, every day, that we don't even recognize because we aren't spiritually attentive and observant in that moment. Let's make an effort to be more attentive and observant. Okay, so point number five. Tithing is a preparatory law. In June 2011, President Henry B. Eyring gave a talk called The Blessings of Tithing. He says, One of the blessings that comes from paying a full tithing is developing faith to live an even higher law. To live in the celestial kingdom, we must live the law of consecration. There we will be able to feel all we are and all we have belong to God. I don't know how often we think about this fact that the law of tithing really is just preparing us to live the law of consecration. If you think about it, everything we have comes from God. Everything. Who we are. We wouldn't be here without Him, let alone all of the physical and temporal blessings that we receive. So naturally, there would be a law in place that would allow us to give everything we have to Him, and it would be this beautiful cycle of giving and receiving, us receiving all He has, us giving all we have, an ultimate act of faith and love, aka the law of consecration. The Lord knows we might not be in a position on this earth right now to live that law fully, and so what a blessing the law of tithing is to help prepare us to live that law one day. Okay, so point number six. Tithing is a blessing and not a burden. I'm going to quote from that same talk that Elder Hales gave in October 2002. He tells a story. I know of two missionaries who visited a very poor family. The family's home was made of press board and stick with a dirt floor and no electricity or beds. Each evening, the father, a farm laborer, spent his entire day's wages on groceries for dinner. Departing from their humble home, the senior companion thought to himself, the law of tithing will surely be a stumbling block to this family. Perhaps we shouldn't bring it up for a while. A few moments later, the junior companion, who had grown up in a similar circumstance in his own country, voiced his own thoughts aloud. I know the principle of tithing isn't taught for four more discussions, but can we please teach it the next time we visit? They need to know about tithing now because they need the help and the blessings of the Lord so much. This missionary understood that there is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world upon which all blessings are predicated, and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. The Lord wants to bless this family and anxiously awaits their obedience so he can. What an amazing and beautiful shift of perspective. The senior companion was just thinking in his mind, we need to wait to teach the law of tithing, maybe for a while, for a long time with this family, they just can't afford it. And then his companion has his own thought, almost in rapid succession, it was amazing how that happened, but voiced it aloud, I know we're not supposed to teach tithing for a while, but can we please teach it next time? They need to know about this. They need to know about the law of tithing so the Lord can bless them more fully. What an amazing shift, it's a paradigm shift. Tithing is there to bless, it is not there to burden. When we give what we have to the Lord, he can then open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing greater than we can even comprehend. There will not be room enough to receive it, as the scripture says. Okay, so now moving on to the seventh and final point, I just wanted to go over a list of blessings that I've noticed in my life as a result of paying tithing. I came up with 11. Of course, this is not a comprehensive list, there's plenty more blessings we can receive from tithing, but I'm going to go over these 11 that I thought of for me and share stories or experiences to illustrate them, either personal stories or experiences or quotes from prophets and apostles. Okay, so blessing number one, paying tithing increases our trust and faith in God. Remember that it's supposed to increase our faith in the giver of the gift, in God himself, not the gift. It's all about the relationship with God. It's like a continuous pattern of falling and catching. I'm sure many of you have done that trust exercise where there's somebody standing behind you and you fall and they catch you. Tithing is much like this in the sense that it's difficult. It's not easy to give up our money. Sometimes we feel that we need it to survive, like this family that Elder Hales told about. So to pay it is a serious act of faith, almost like we're stepping off the edge of a building. But as we come to know and feel that the Lord will catch us every time, it builds our trust and our faith in him. Not in the actual blessing we received, but in him, the giver of the gift. It helps us trust him and to love him. A few years ago, around Christmas time, my mom was struggling for funds, for money. She is pretty incredible in how she provides an amazing Christmas for her kids every year. She always talks about how this Christmas isn't going to be quite as elaborate as last Christmas and somehow she finds a way to pull it off. She was struggling, needless to say, and she paid her tithing, as she always does, although this time it stung a little bit more. And it was later that day that somebody anonymously came to her home and gave her a Merry Christmas envelope on the door and she opened it and it was the exact amount that she had paid in tithing. Talk about falling and catching, right? She pays her tithing and immediately is blessed in a way that she could recognize the Lord's hand in such a specific and tender way, a tender mercy indeed. And I know that this kind of falls in line with Elder Bednar saying that oftentimes we tell stories of dramatic and immediate blessings to tithing that are mostly temporal and this totally falls into that category. Needless to say, it's no less miraculous. Quoting from that talk from Elder Gary B. Sabin from earlier, he says, as a new bishop, I had an experience with counseling a member concerning tithing. A recent convert approached me with a serious dilemma. He did not have enough money to pay his income taxes and his tithing. I simply asked, do you believe the gospel is true? He affirmed that he did and then quickly arrived at the conclusion that his acknowledged testimony was his answer. A few weeks later, he approached me again to report that his accountant had made an error in preparing his taxes by forgetting to take advantage of income averaging. His tax bill was reduced in excess of the tithing he had paid. I believe that this good brother's faith moved heaven to prompt his accountant with this new idea, an illumination which I believe would not have happened otherwise. Also what an unbelievable story of falling and then the Lord catching us. Okay, the next blessing I thought of was just peace of knowing that everything will work out. This has been a constant pattern in my life. I've lived in Alaska, in Arizona, Utah, Ohio, and Tennessee, and Georgia, and Colorado, and Florida, and California now. And each time was something relating to work and an opportunity with work. And while we really do hope we can settle down and be somewhere for a decade now, every time we moved, it felt as if we were following the Spirit. And there were confirmations of this. Every time we moved, we knew we had peace that all would be well. The Lord was taking care of us. That peace, in my eyes, is one of the blessings of paying tithing, in knowing that the Lord would provide for our needs. The next blessing I thought of was paying tithing helps us guard against idolizing material things. We live in a material age where things are flaunted. Homes, cars, clothes, possessions of all types and varieties are flaunted and in some ways idolized. Elder Anderson tells this story in this talk. He says, In 1998, I accompanied then Elder Henry B. Eyring to a large church meeting in the Utah area now known as the Silicon Slopes, a community of great innovation in technology. It was a time of growing posterity, and Elder Eyring cautioned the Saints about comparing what they had with others and wanting more. I will always remember his promise that as they paid an honest tithe, their desire for more material possessions would diminish. Within two years, the technology bubble burst, many lost their jobs, and companies struggled during this time of financial adjustment. Those who followed the counsel of Elder Eyring were blessed. How amazing. This was in 1998. This was 25 years ago. Imagine what has happened in what we now call Silicon Slopes in the last 25 years. Like everything. There has been so much development and progression in that area with all of the tech companies and then just all of the growth in homes, like so many families live in that area now and a lot of wealthy families at that. How amazing that Elder Eyring, through the Lord, could see the future, could see what would happen in this area. Not only the bubble being burst a few years later, but also everything that would happen now. I will always remember his promise that as they paid an honest tithe, their desire for more material possessions would diminish. That promise extends to us as well. As we give back to the Lord that which is rightfully his, it puts it in perspective that material things are really not all that important. The next blessing that I thought of is that it reminds us of the purpose of money. Paying tithing reminds us what money is for. That it's a means to an end, not the end itself. Sometimes I'm tempted to want to just make a lot of money for the sake of having money. Like somehow it's going to make me worth more in the eternal scheme of things and it's not. Paying tithing helps me remember what money is for. Why it's even important. Because it can be very important as a resource, right? Paying tithing reminds me that money is a resource for good and it's not the end goal. The next blessing I thought of is that tithing gives us an eternal perspective. I saw a quote where someone said, I am happier living on 90% of my money with the Lord's blessings than I ever was living on 100% of my money without them. This kind of made me think of that show Shark Tank. I know a lot of us are familiar with that show where an entrepreneur will come before the panel of sharks who are proven entrepreneurs who have become multi-millionaires or billionaires in some instances and pitch their idea or product or service in hopes to get an investment from one of the sharks. Now I do realize that the example that I'm about to share is not foolproof. You know, it's not a direct comparison to the Lord. But in this instance, this entrepreneur is giving up a portion of the business that they created, right? They created this idea or this product or this service. They created this business and they're giving up some of it to one of these sharks, one of these investors. You would think maybe, oh man, they've lost something, you know, they've lost a part of themselves. They've lost a part of their business, but what do they get in return? Of course they get money, but even more importantly, they get so many resources. They get plugged in to a wealth of knowledge that this shark has. They have access to their contacts, to their manufacturers and assembly lines and points of contact. They just, in essence, resources. They get so many added resources and benefits from this shark, from this investor outside of the actual money they're providing. And while this is not a perfect example, it kind of relates to paying tithing and with our Heavenly Father. When we give back to Him what is already His, I guess that's the difference really, everything we have is already His to start with. And so when we give a tenth of it back, we are plugging in to His resources, to His light, to His knowledge. He, as the scripture says, opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings that there's not room enough to receive. When we pay tithing, we are allowing the Lord to invest in us and there could never be a better partner than Him. So paying tithing gives us that eternal perspective and kind of paradigm shift a little bit. The next one I thought of is paying tithing increases our patience in His timing. It's important to realize that our timing is not His and paying tithing opens our minds and blesses us with patience to accept that and to realize that. The next blessing is paying tithing increases our gratitude. Elder Bednar says, A grateful person is rich in contentment. An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of endless discontentment. Having an attitude of gratitude makes us rich in so many ways. Next, paying tithing helps me have an abundance mindset as opposed to a scarcity mindset. Sometimes we're so scared to lose something that we never really live at all. President Uchtdorf gives a talk and there's a Mormon message made about this and I'm just recounting this off of memory right now so I won't do a perfect job but he tells of a man who goes on a cruise and he packs with him all of this food like baked beans and you know saltine crackers and he is going on this Mediterranean cruise and he just sits in his little cot in his little room peeking out his window looking at all the cities that he goes by you know all the European cities or Mediterranean cities I can't remember exactly as they go by in his room and he's you know eating his canned beans and everything and he sees all the people that are going by in their fancy clothes you know going to these extravagant parties and going to these fancy dinners and whatnot on the cruise and he thought to himself man if only I could have afforded to have paid for all of these extra stuff that these people are doing and on the last night one of the workers on the cruise comes to him and asks him which one of the dinners he'll be attending on his final night and he said oh you know I I can't afford it you know I'm just going to be eating here in my room and the worker in a confused way says it's included all of the dinners and the parties were all included in the price of your ticket and then it dawns on him what he had missed out on and sometimes we can be like this man we can be living in this scarcity mindset of trying to just hoard any little blessing that we receive when in all reality it's an amazing law of the universe law of God that when we give we receive so much more than we gave and this is a principle that I'm trying to improve on every day but it is so true and paying tithing is one of the ultimate ways that we can shift our mindset to having an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity mindset the next one I thought of was paying tithing helps me feel connected to the temple to our church buildings and all the resources we enjoy in the church it is so special sitting inside the temple doing sacred ordinances for ourselves and those who have passed or sitting inside the church building and partaking of the sacrament and the blessings of the Savior's atonement knowing that I made a small contribution to help build this facility or maintain this facility in some way or all of the scriptures that the church prints or all of the pamphlets or come follow me notebooks or all of the above it's nice feeling connected to those knowing that I contributed to do that and to move the work of the Lord forward on the same vein the next thing I thought of was paying tithing helps me feel connected to my brothers and sisters near and far I know that my tithing dollars are used to bless people whether they live next door or halfway around the world I know that my tithing funds are used to help missionary work around the world as well so it is truly a blessing to realize that my tithing dollars are used in that capacity and it helps me in a spiritual way feel connected to those people okay last and definitely not least paying tithing increases my capacity it increases my capacity to be disciplined with how I use my resources it increases my capacity to prioritize that which is important good better best it increases my capacity to be resourceful with what I do have Elder Sabin tells a story many years ago as a state president President Gordon B Hinckley interviewed a man for a temple recommend when President Hinckley asked the man if he was paying an honest tithe the man candidly replied that he did not because he had too many debts President Hinckley felt impressed to tell him that he would not be able to pay off his debts until he paid tithing he later told President Hinckley that in the few years that followed no matter how hard he tried he could not manage to reduce his debt finally he and his wife concluded that they would try the promise of the Lord the man reported somehow in a way we can't quite understand the Lord has blessed us we have not missed that which we have given to him and for the first time in many years we are reducing our debt he and his wife were finally able to live within their means but more importantly they were able to feel the peace from knowing they were worthily keeping their commitment to the Lord the Lord did not reduce this man's debt the Lord increased his capacity and then he reduced his debt in Elder Bednar's talk the windows of heaven he highlights many ways in which this happens I'll just share a few he says we may appropriately desire and work to receive a pay raise in our employment to better provide the necessities of life eyes and ears of faith are required however to notice in us an increased spiritual and temporal capacity to do more with less a keener ability to prioritize and simplify and an enhanced ability to take proper care of the material possessions we already have acquired we may want and expect a larger paycheck but the blessings that come to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else he goes on to say the stripling warriors in the Book of Mormon prayed earnestly that God would strengthen and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies interestingly the answers to these prayers did not produce additional weapons or an increased number of troops instead God granted these faithful warriors assurance that he would deliver them peace to their souls and great faith and hope in their deliverance in him assurance peace faith and hope initially might not seem like the blessings warriors in battle might want but they were precisely the blessings but they were precisely the blessings these valiant young men needed to press forward and prevail physically and spiritually he concludes sometimes we may ask God for success and he gives us physical and mental stamina we might plead for prosperity and we receive in large perspective and increased patience or we petition for growth and we are blessed with the gift of grace he may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we strive to achieve worthy goals and when we plead for relief from physical mental and spiritual difficulties he may increase our resolve and resilience this last point completely summarizes what God wants for us and tithing is just one of the tools he uses to assist us in this he wants us to be better he wants us to be stronger he wants us to be more capable he wants us to be like him he doesn't want or need our money he has access to every resource that ever was and is he with our Savior created this earth he doesn't need our money he needs us to trust him enough he needs us to become like him one day so in recap these are the 11 that I thought of when it comes to paying tithing paying tithing increases our trust and faith in God it gives us peace knowing that all will work out it helps guard us against idolizing material things it reminds us of the purpose of money it gives us eternal perspective it increases our patience in his timing it increases our gratitude it helps us have an abundance mindset it helps us feel connected to the temple our church buildings and all the resources we enjoy in the church it helps us feel connected to our brothers and sisters near and far and it increases our capacity so in closing I'll quote from Isaiah chapter 55 verse 8 and 9 for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts I would like to bear my testimony that the Lord is keenly aware of each of us and our needs and our desires he has given us the law of tithing to help us become who we are supposed to become I testify that paying tithing helps us know and understand our maker better and it increases our capacity to be like him what a wonderful opportunity and blessing we have before us to pay tithing and I know that as we do so he will open the windows of heaven and there will not be room enough to receive his blessings and I close this in the name of Jesus Christ amen thank you very much for tuning in please share this podcast on social media and with your friends and family please tune in next week the talk will be by brother Jan E Newman he's the second counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency and his talk is entitled preserving the voice of the covenant people in the rising generation I look forward to next week I'll see you then