Trusting the Lord Through Tithes and Offerings

Trust the Lord Through Tithes and Offerings

Elder Giuffra presents tithing as a law of faith through which disciples demonstrate trust in the Lord. The sister he teaches faces severe financial limitations, yet she turns to Heavenly Father for help in keeping the commandment.

I testify that the law of tithing is a law of faith.

As we obey it, we demonstrate our trust in the Lord and allow Him to work miracles in our lives, often in ways we do not expect.

Elder Giuffra, you are no one to deny this sister the blessings of the law of tithing. There are no exceptions to this commandment.

• Faithful obedience expresses confidence in the Lord even when circumstances make obedience seem difficult.
• The widow’s mite account informs President Caballero’s counsel about the sister’s opportunity to obey and receive blessings.
• The sister demonstrates continuing commitment by bringing her tithing each week and her fast offering each month.
• The Lord’s miracles may come in unexpected forms.

• What experience helps you recognize the difference between trusting the Lord and relying only on your own calculations?
• When do you feel invited to obey a commandment before you fully understand its blessings?
• What example of quiet, consistent faithfulness inspires your own approach to tithes and offerings?
• What experience with tithing or offerings can you share without disclosing sensitive financial details?

Seek Heavenly Father’s Help Through Prayer and Fasting

The missionaries seek counsel, pray, and fast as they help the sister prepare for baptism. She also turns to Heavenly Father, expressing her desire to join His Church and asking for help to live the law of tithing.

My companion and I decided to pray and fast because two days later we would return to review the commandments once again before her baptism.

Last night I knelt in prayer and told Heavenly Father that I truly wanted to become a member of His Church and that He would need to help me live this law.

As we heard those words, a profound feeling of peace and assurance filled our minds and hearts.

• The missionaries respond to a difficult situation by seeking counsel and turning to God.
• The sister’s prayer expresses both her desire to obey and her dependence on Heavenly Father.
• Peace and assurance help the missionaries recognize the Lord’s involvement.
• The account emphasizes spiritual support rather than merely resolving a financial calculation.

• When does prayer help you approach a commandment or responsibility that feels beyond your ability?
• What experience shows you how fasting helps you seek the Lord’s guidance?
• When does wise counsel help you see a difficult situation through a lens of faith?
• What experience of peace or assurance can you appropriately share to illustrate Heavenly Father’s help?

Keep Commandments Because You Love God

Elder Giuffra shares his wife’s teaching that love for God, rather than a desire for rewards alone, motivates obedience. Commandments draw disciples closer to the Savior, offer protection, and help them remain free from sin.

We keep the commandments because we love God, not merely because we hope to receive the blessings that come from obedience.

Commandments are given to draw us closer to the Savior, to protect us, and to help us remain free from sin and many of the challenges the world presents.

• Love for God provides a deeper motivation for obedience than the expectation of blessings alone.
• Keeping commandments strengthens a disciple’s relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Commandments offer protection and help preserve freedom from sin.
• A talk about tithing can emphasize discipleship rather than treating obedience as a financial transaction.

• What helps you keep a commandment out of love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
• When does obedience help you feel closer to the Savior?
• What commandment brings protection or greater spiritual freedom into your life?
• How do teachings in your family help you understand the purpose of obedience?

Recognize Blessings in the Lord’s Time and Way

Elder Giuffra describes both temporal and spiritual blessings associated with faithful obedience. He also makes clear that obedience does not eliminate hardship and that the Lord fulfills His promises according to His own timing and wisdom.

Some blessings have been temporal, others spiritual, but all have strengthened our testimony that the Lord always fulfills His promises and that the windows of heaven are opened according to our obedience.

This does not mean that we will be free from trials or difficulties.

Yet even when we do not understand the purpose of our trials, we can have the assurance that the Lord knows our circumstances, honors our obedience, and fulfills His promises in His own time and way.

I have also witnessed the Lord open doors for employment, provide education, strengthen marriages, and fill faithful hearts with peace and hope.

• The blessings Elder Giuffra describes include employment, education, greater stability, stronger marriages, peace, and hope.
• He cites President Russell M. Nelson’s teaching that tithing can break cycles of poverty.
• His examples of temporal progress include faith and diligent effort.
• Faithful disciples still experience uncertainty, financial hardship, illness, and loss.
• The Lord’s promises do not establish a timetable or guarantee a particular financial result for each person.

• What spiritual blessing helps you recognize the Lord’s care even when your circumstances remain difficult?
• When does a blessing become clearer only as you reflect on an experience over time?
• What experience helps you trust the Lord’s timing when an answer does not come as you expect?
• How can you share an experience of receiving help without implying that everyone receives the same outcome?
• What experience connects faith and diligent effort with an opportunity the Lord provides?

Prepare for Consecration Through Faithful Tithing

Drawing on President Dallin H. Oaks’s teaching, Elder Giuffra explains that paying tithing demonstrates acceptance of the law of sacrifice and prepares disciples for consecration and higher celestial laws. He connects these laws with temple covenants that deepen an enduring relationship with Jesus Christ.

The payment of tithing … brings the individual tithe payer unique spiritual blessings.

Tithe paying is evidence that we accept the law of sacrifice.

It also prepares us for the law of consecration and the other higher laws of the celestial kingdom.

These laws are fulfilled as we keep the covenants made in the house of the Lord, which deepens and perpetuates our relationship with Jesus Christ.

• Paying tithing brings spiritual blessings as well as any temporal blessings.
• Tithing provides an opportunity to accept and practice sacrifice.
• Faithful tithe paying prepares disciples for consecration and higher celestial laws.
• Keeping temple covenants deepens and perpetuates a relationship with Jesus Christ.

• What experience with giving helps you understand sacrifice as part of following Jesus Christ?
• How does paying tithing influence your willingness to dedicate other resources to the Lord?
• What appropriate, non-sacred experience helps you explain how keeping temple covenants strengthens your relationship with Christ?
• When does giving something up for the Lord help you better understand what matters most?