It is impossible to be a forthright Christian and not have enemies. Often our enemies are our enemies simply because we live a Godly life and they feel condemned because of the difference. A sweet-spirited, gentle servant of Jesus Christ is automatically a rebuke to the opposite- spirited person. All of GodÂ’s children have felt the sting of someone conniving lies out of innocent words they have spoken. Nothing hurts like a friend that betrays your friendship and turns to be an enemy. How we treat our enemies is the best evidence of what we really are in our heart. The saint that can survive the assault of those who hate them will rise to shine in the kingdom of our Lord.

The Psalmist David deals with this challenge as no other inspired writer of scripture. He is known as a man “after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). It was God Himself who said this of David. No doubt but his treatment of his enemies helped earn him this title. David cried out, “Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah. Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings” (Psalm 140:1-4). When men rose up against him, and it happened often, David fled to the Lord to fight the battle for him. He learned that his enemies were in a greater straight in God’s hands than in his own. He also knew that His God was perfect and there would be no misjudgment in God’s action. We may often defend ourselves, guilty or not guilty, but our Father is omniscient and knows every thought or word.

David further wrote, “The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set grins for me. Selah. I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah” (Psalms 140:5-8).

Pride is almost always the source of attacks by any one person against another. The humble person would rather be wronged than to wrong another. David knew that God alone could rightly judge this Pride and stop it before his enemy was completely destroyed. When you are under attack, nothing will destroy you quicker than your desire for the destruction of your enemy. The moment you can forgive your enemy and do so by the grace of God you are free to continue your walk with God even at a greater level of spirituality. There is no sweeter victory in your heart than when you have refused to descend to the same level as your enemy and have done so with ChristÂ’s grace working in your life.

The greatest moment of David’s God-like character was manifest as he fled Jerusalem before his own son. As David and his retreating company passed a certain village, a man named Shimei cursed David following along a hill overlooking the path the King was traveling. One of David’s servants said, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head” (II Samuel 16:9b). The great things that God had taught David about his response to his enemies served the King to act according to the following words. David said, “Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him. It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill’s side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust” (II Samuel 16:11b-13).

This is the Biblical order for God’s saints when enemies rise up against us. To do otherwise is to injure your own soul. The Apostle Paul put this message from David in New Testament words. “Dearly Beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21).

Always remember that every attack against you is contrived for your destruction. It will either overcome you or you will overcome it. Jesus plainly stated that His coming was not to condemn but to save. Any effort to condemn another person is evil. That includes condemning your enemy. “The Battle is the Lord’s” and you will serve yourself greatly by never forgetting it.

Tithing and giving with a pure heart is an unfailing path to blessings and plenty. God is not a debtor to any man and He will not allow a pure heart that is liberal in giving to go without a Biblical return of their investment. It absolutely cannot happen or our God would become a falsehood. If there is one principal of the Bible that men defy and seek to bypass it is the truth of tithing and giving. Apostle Paul addresses the facts that love for money is the root of all destruction. He stated by the Holy Ghost "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:10). Open your pocketbook and the God of incalculable riches will open His treasures.

Listen to what the Lord of every saint says about the liberal soul. "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself" (Proverbs 11:25). When you shut up your "bowels of compassion" you close the windows of heaven. One of the first great stories in the Book of Acts as the New Testament began its history was about a liberal "soul" that earned a spot in God’s revelation. His name was Barnabas and he was given the Bible name "son of consolation." The Scripture records "And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet" (Acts 4:36-37). His blessings spurred such envy that two careless church members tried to duplicate his liberality without giving in the same magnanimous fashion. They ended up lying to the Holy Ghost and died as a testimony to stinginess. I have often witnessed this same littleness among professing believers and watched in sadness their spiritual demise.

The Son of God left us no room to maneuver our way out of the Biblical truth of "tithing and giving." Why under God’s marvelous mercy would anyone try to change the Biblical principals of this great truth? But it happens constantly in the very house of God. Listen to the Son of God during His historic "Sermon on the Mount." He declares, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18). I marvel at the way people deny the righteousness of the First Testament but love to quote the thousands of promises in the same. Jesus marked the great truth of First Testament righteousness beyond argument when He spoke of the Pharisees and their devotion to God’s laws. He stated, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19-20).

At the beginning of the Christian walk "tithing and giving" is one of those areas where we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. Always remember how our cross will end if we are faithful. There is no such possibility of a cross-centered life that does not end in glory, both "here" and "over there." The Lord’s infallible promise says, "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting" (Luke 18:29-30).

The church history is replete with a multitude of saints that were saved in obscurity–poor and almost hopeless–that gave up everything to seek the "pearl of great price." A great company of these magnanimous souls touched the world for Christ, but also grew in statute, most often having far more of the world’s wealth than they ever needed or even desired for themselves.

A Godly and blessed person is always embarrassed by their blessings. The more they get the more they give. Mr. Penney, founder of J. C. Penney’s gave 90% of his income. Mr. Belk, founder of Belk’s department store would not build a new store in a new location until he built a new church. Each new store had to have a counterpart in a new church. America’s history is full of these stories.

The Biblical text that undergirds this great truth is found in Malachi. This prophet of God spoke by the Holy Ghost. If you call this a cultural teaching or an outdated Old Testament doctrine you have proven yourself an apostate. Listen to the Spirit speaking, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts" (Malachi 3:8-11).

To disobey such truth is to rob yourself as well as God. To obey with a true heart in sweet surrender is to do exactly what the Spirit said–you open the "windows of heaven" onto your life. If you do it selfishly there will be absolutely no reward. In fact it will turn on your head and your finances will dry up. If you give up all desires for things, riches, pleasures and wealth and seek His kingdom alone, then after He proves your love He will reward you with His blessings. The Psalmist David adds a beautiful addition to Malachi’s prophecy. These words of David have guided and inspired my life greatly. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (Psalms 1:1-3).

Your life will begin to explode when you begin to delight-find great joy-in living by the laws, commandments and truth of Holy Scripture. You have been set free from the old selfish self to live a magnanimous life. The most glaring Biblical test of a new life is our use of monies that pass through our hands.