The Bible expresses the mind and will of God.  The more you read it, the more you notice.

Psalm 119:130 (KJV) The entrance of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to the simple.

Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Details matter.  In any profession, any discipline, the true expert has learned to pay attention to, and mastered, the details.

When it comes to the promises of God, details matter.

Some promises are unconditional promises.  They are one-sided promises made by the Lord God in which God unconditionally does what He says He will do, or has done what He said He would do and it is up to man to receive it.

Then there are conditional promises.  These are if…then propositions.  God will do his part if  the believer fulfills his part.

Where a person can run into a wall is expecting God to fulfill a conditional promise as an unconditional one.  In that case, it is time to go back and read the “fine print”.

One of the biggest areas in which this happens is in the matter of finances.  People think that God helping them financially is an unconditional promise.

It is necessary to carefully read the Bible and follow what it says if we desire Biblical results.

The promise given in Malachi is one of the greatest in the Bible.  It gives man the opportunity to “prove God”.  Regularly, we are tested on this earth to see how much virtue, character, fruit of the Spirit, and growth we have achieved.     However, in Malachi, God himself challenges us to prove Him.

Malachi 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10 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.

11 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.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

There are those who would say the tithe is Old Testament, a part of the Law, and therefore no longer relevant since Jesus came.

However, Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedek and  that was several generations prior to the birth and life of Moses, through whom the Law was given.  Abel gave an offering, and that was shortly after creation.  So giving was established before the Law.

I won’t belabor the point.

He that complies against his will, is of his own opinion still     Link