BIBLE IN A YEAR: Esther 1-3
ABUNDANCE IN FIRST FRUITS
MEMORIZE: "Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase:" (Proverbs 3:9)
READ: Proverbs 3:9-10
Today's reading says those that know their God honor Him with their first fruits. If you do not pay your first fruits, it is evidence that you are yet to know who you serve. Those who know God never trivialize His commands because whatever He asks you to do is of utmost importance. When Abraham gave Isaac as an offering to God, he was honoring God with his first fruits. No wonder today, he has countless children all over the world! Your first salary in a new job is your first fruits. The first profit from a new line of business is your first fruits. For those already working, every year, your first salary or profit is your first fruits. When promoted to another level, the difference between your former salary and the new one is your first fruits. Honor God with it. As you faithfully pay it, abundance is triggered.
"A just weight and balance is the LORD's: all the weights of the bag are his work"
(Proverbs 16:11). Those who will be strong materially never take the money that does not belong to them. They know it will be counter-productive. Lies, falsification of records and other fraudulent measures cannot add to you. They will work against your financial prosperity. Have you ever sat back to compare how you spend the money that comes clean with the ones that come through the back-door? If you do, you will observe that the former is peaceful, gives joy and is well spent. The latter however, does not give its owner peace of mind. Negative events suddenly erupt and before long such wealth is gone. You cannot use such money to do something truly meaningful. A Muslim Alhaji once gave his hall for rent to a Gospel church. After some years, he was under pressure by Muslim leaders to eject the church. He refused, saying the little that the church pays him is clean money as he could not compare it with the millions of dirty money he gets elsewhere.
Proverbs 15:16 says, "Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith". What most struggling believers do not know is that the rich in the world are envious of them. The CEO of a large establishment was envious of one of his staff who is a believer. The staff was poorly paid and denied his benefits for years, yet the little he has, as well as the clothes he wears, became the envy of his multi-millionaire boss. This year, you will be envied. Your little will be blessed. The Lord will multiply your blessings. You will overtake those ahead of you. But remember to honor the Lord with every increase He brings your way.
ACTIONPOINT: Do you owe God first fruits? Pay it today!
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11 comments:
I know some of us have questions when it comes to paying our tithes, please feel free to ask here
Hi everyone...again. I found this interesting article to supplement what today's devotional touches on. It’s called the PRINCIPLE OF GIVING.
As our creator, God has given us certain laws of love—gracious, caring guidelines to live by. When we follow those principles, we find deeper joy and greater fulfillment. Some of those guidelines relate to the money he has entrusted to our care, financial resources he urges us to generously share with others. What are these guidelines of giving?
1.God is the owner of all.
2.The priority of all giving is dependency.
3.The motivation for all our giving must be love.
4.People are always more important than dollars.
5.God expects us to be faithful.
1)God is the owner of all.
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1).
It all starts with an understanding of who owns what. Houses and land, bank accounts and investment portfolios, family and friends, the earth and everything in it—everything belongs to God, 100 percent. There is nothing that does not belong to him. Even we ourselves are no longer our own according to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "You are not your own; you were bought with a price." If we don't own our lives, how can we possible own property? This principle may be the second most important truth in Scripture, as it helps explain the significance of what we do. The most important principle is that God loved us so much that he sent his son, so that we might live with him and enjoy him forever. Without recognition of God's ownership of us, we cannot live as Christ would have us live. While we may affirm this principle, it is difficult to live it in a secular, affluent western society where we are often judged by what we own.
5)God expects us to be faithful.
"So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God [the gospel]. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
If God is the owner of all, if he wants us to care for those dependent on us, if he wants us to be motivated by love, if he want us to value people above dollars, then how should we regard ourselves and our financial responsibility? These verses give us the pattern: We are servants of the God who owns everything, and he has entrusted us with a vital purpose in life—we are to further the gospel. Our job is to remain faithful in this responsibility. What does that mean when it comes to our money? Every financial decision is first a spiritual decision. We are to make all of our financial decisions in light of their eternal impact on souls—our own soul and the souls of others.
http://www.worldventure.com/Give/Donor-Resource-Center/Principles-of-Giving.html
For those of us who have flexible jobs where we work more than one and our salaries aren't fixed, should we go with a general fixed amount as tithes each week??
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!
My 1st Eva Blog writin..its jes a shout out anyways not a blog talk..
Sup pacesetters Live large y'all
I'm Out
cheekytangerine said...
For those of us who have flexible jobs where we work more than one and our salaries aren't fixed, should we go with a general fixed amount as tithes each week??
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Hi Cheekytangerine,
The biggest misconception about paying your tithes is that you have to do it every week....it's convenient but not exactly written in stone. Some people pay it 2 times a month, others just once. For the salaried workers who know exactly what their bi-weekly pay is, it easier to make their 10% calculations. My advice is to keep track of monthly income and at the end of the month, calculate what your 10% was and pay it but if you think waiting till the end of the month may not be a great idea (trust me I know how that money comes and goes), I'd advise an alternative which is to do a guesstimate based on your past monthly income, pay the 10% off that and if by the end of the month, your guess was not so on the mark, then you pay the difference and if you've paid more than...oh wait, there's nothing like "paying more than" to God, is there? :)
I hope this helped out even if just a little. Please feel free to ask more questions.
btw..to bonwitJesus..dis is discussion forum not shout-out forums...lol
neways...i read dis open heavens b4 actually...i think earlier dis year
like cheekytangerine (wot a nickname? lol) said, if u work in like 2 diff places, all u can do u just try as much as possible to keep track of ur paychks and calculate the 10%...as long as u're faithful..i guess u're gd..
one thing abt thithing tho is dat...u're helping ur financial status if u give. its part of d PRINCIPLE OF GIVING.
y'day in class we had a guest speaker and he was talking abt how to be financial independent with a 20yrs range.
the first thing he was was give 10% of ur money out (well he basically meant thithing cos he's a Christian). at the end of his talk, however, sum1 asked dat..y cant u add the 10% u're giving to the money u're investing...dats wen he explained the principle of giving/thithing to d whole class...i was happy/impressed abt it..mostly because he's not ashamed to put God in wot he's doing. even tho they said here in America u talk abt God to anyone..He's an American, yet, he makes use of any opportunity he has to talk abt God.
(i guess i kinda diversed a lil bit..)
but anyways..GIVE! GIVE!! GIVE!!!
God help us in Jesus name!
Lol...Tayo, I have feeling I'm going to be laughing a lot at your comments. Please allow Ayo, as he said...this is his 1st time blogging.
What your guest speaker said is right on the mark..GIVE TO RECEIVE. I've heard stories about people who follow this principle to the latter and their lives are evidence that it works. For Instance, Bill Gates is said to be a fanatic (not in the bad way) when it comes to paying his tithe and where is he today? He's one of the richest men in the world, which means his 10% keeps increasing, he keeps tithing and the circle continues...be faithful with your giving and just sit back and wait to be burdened with an overabundance of all things good.
I hope we aren't missing the point of this message, tithing is different from first fruits ...first fruits is your very first income in a new year, that is EVERYTHING which would also include your tithe for that pay period so you don't have to be looking for another way to pay your tithe and if there are other circumstances, it explains how to pay those to God. I know it is a challenge because you're thinking about all the bills you have to pay and all the things dependent on that paycheck that you might have calculated 4 weeks coming but it's when you give out of inconvenience but obedience that God too will shower you in a way that people will start asking is it only you? so lets not confuse this message with tithing, that's 10% of whatever you earn each pay period, but first fruits is the first paycheck you get in a new year or the difference in your previous salary and your new salary if you had a raise.
yea..true
I kinda got caught up in the thithing thing and forgot to talk abt the first fruit.
Vey Good point Taiwo and I'm glad your brought it up. As evident by comments, most of us don't remember the 1st fruit and pay more attention to our tithes.
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