Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament we're told that if we'll return unto the Lord, He'll return unto us. If we don't pay our tithing, we're robbing God. But if we do offer up our tithes and offerings, we'll have so many blessings poured out upon us that there won't be room to receive them and the Lord will rebuke the devourer for our sakes. I've found wonderful blessings in my own life and those of people I know as the result of paying tithing. When we pay our tithing first, even if we don't know how we'll pay for other things, the Lord does indeed bless us with the necessities of life and miracles occur. Mal. 3: 8-11 "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."

In the Pearl of Great Price we read that there were many noble and great souls in the pre-existence and they were
chosen, before they were born, to fulfill callings as leaders in this life. Abr. 3: 22-23 "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born."

Some verses with a thought booklet warn us not to do good things for the sake of other people seeing us and
thinking highly of us. If that's what we're seeking for, we'll already have our reward from receiving this recognition
from men. But we should do our good deed in secret, and then we'll receive our reward from Heavenly Father.
It's not enough to just do the right things, but we need to have the right motivation in doing them. We need to look
into our own hearts. Do we have a sincere desire to please God and bless the lives of others? Or do we merely
want other people to think how wonderful we are for doing what we're doing? Matt. 6: 1-4 "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

--------------------------------------------------------