ACCEPTABLE OFFERINGS

-

Leviticus 22:29,32

When you bring a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, sacrifice it properly so you will be accepted.

Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy.


We have established that when we talk of the Lord's temple today we are talking of us as living vessels and that all believers as a whole is the body of Christ. Thus, we preserve our body in holiness that we will be acceptable to the Lord.


The other part of Leviticus chapter 22 talks about bringing an offering to the Lord. 


Firstly, let us understand that God is King and by default we cannot offer a defective offering to royalty. We must give honour to the Lord. 


Listen, it is better not to bring any gift at all than to bring a defective offering. For God is the greatest, whatever we offer to Him must also be without blemish.


Malachi 1:6-10

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!“But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’

“You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.“Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’“You defile them by saying the altar of the lord deserves no respect.

When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the lord of Heaven’s Armies.

“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

“How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings.


The first thing we offer to the Lord is ourselves. Your heart must be with the Lord, it is the criteria to bring a worthy offering. You canNot come into the Lord's presence filled with malice, hatred, bitterness, immorality, jealousy etc and expect that you or your gift will be a worthy sacrifice. No!


You cannot defraud your brother or bring any form of proceeds from wickedness to the Lord as an offering. He will not accept it.


Remember what God told Cain:


Genesis 4:3-7

When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord.

Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift,

but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?

You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”


The heart of the giver is the first point of call before we talk of the gift the giver is presenting.


Remember that whatever the gift is, it is from what the Lord has blessed you with. That gift must be given willingly not with a grudge. You are not to be compelled to give but by your own will.


Listen, it is those who give that are qualified to be blessed, for why should the Lord invest in you if you cannot be a channel for Him to bless others. Selah


Have you given the Lord your heart, then Glory to God. If not, what are you waiting for?


The beautiful thing about giving God your heart is that He will not break it or hurt it as humans will but...


Psalms 91:1-2,4,14-16

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

This I declare about the Lord: 

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

He will cover you with his feathers. 

He will shelter you with his wings. 

His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. 

I will protect those who trust in my name.

When they call on me, I will answer; 

I will be with them in trouble. 

I will rescue and honor them.

I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”


Oh Glory to God.


Have you been bringing acceptable offerings? 


Have you been giving the three "T"s: your time, treasures and talent.


Give to the Lord.


PRAYER

Dear Father make me a profitable part of Your body, that I will continually bring an acceptable offering. I love You Lord, cause me to prosper and increase as a channel of Your blessings to others.


He calls us blessed.


Love

@the watcher

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DO YOU STILL SEE?

-
Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry. It may have been easy when we first believed, to visualize the promises. We reach out with zeal, loving God, seeking to do exploits. That was when we first believed, just as Jesus said: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." When we become born again we see God's kingdom, our spirit man is reborn and we count the flesh as nothing. Then time passes by, we are in the world, all its distractions, temptations, responsibilities, challenges and so on begin to reveal themselves. The question then is: * Can we still see heaven? John 3:3 * Are we still zealous? John 2:17 * Are we continuing in those things? Acts 2:42 * Are we walking in love? 1John 4:7 or Has the cares and worries of life and service ta
Read more

DO UNTO OTHERS . . .

-
Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. It is hypocritical of us to expect people to stand with us when we are experiencing challenges yet when we see others face their own challenges, we begin to imagine what they must have done wrong or maybe they annoyed God or did one evil or the other instead of reaching out to help as we would desire others to do for us. The same thing goes for prosperity, when the Lord opens a door for us and we have abundance of wealth or a breakthrough we expect others to rejoice with us, more so, some would even find it hard to give to others. What is our reaction when someone else gets this breakthrough, do we get suddenly suspicious without reason. Do we expect the person to reach out to us? It is better to stay on the side of encouragement than to sit as a judge or prosecutor. Jesus said, Matthew 7:2 "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same
Read more

MY YEAR OF FULFILMENT

-
Psalms 57:2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. We just finished the book of 1Samuel, in this book we see the cry of Israel for a king and how God raised Saul to rule them. We also saw how Saul disobeyed God and lost kingship for himself and his generation. He did not stop there, he went on to seek for the death of David, whom he saw as the next heir of the throne. In chapter 31, the last chapter, we see how Saul and all his sons and men were killed, it was tragic, however it was as a sign of relief for David. We could go on counting all the struggles and difficulties we faced in the past year. No, we should not, we should begin to look at all the positives, remembering all the good things God has done for us. If He promised it, He will do it and that is what we hold onto as we go through this year. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. This is the year of fulfilment, and
Read more