Are You Paying Attention?

1 Peter 5:8-10 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the G-d of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Be alert. Be aware of the things around you, what you are doing, what you are exposing yourself to. In order to ensure that we are healthy, happy, and prosperous, we must learn how to make good decisions and this process first begins with being aware of what surrounds us and how it affects us.

Tithing

This being my first post on this blog, I wanted to share with you the blessings associated with tithing.

The Bible instructs us to tithe (10 percent), of our income. We should give 10 percent of our first fruits to the church. In order to receive, you must give. It's all very simple and it is indeed a great blessing.

Our first fruits simply means that it should be 10 percent of our gross pay --before taxes are taken out. At first this idea may sound overwhelming. For many that 10 percent sounds quite a bit especially when you consider it to come from the gross amount rather than take home pay. It seems that so many of us live from paycheck to paycheck struggling to make ends meet. You may ask yourself, "How am I going to give what I really do not have?" A better question should be, "Why haven't I taken the time to give before?"