Tithing, Giving and the Scriptures: It’s Not What You Think [Part 15]

Malachi and the Lord’s List of Charges Against Israel (Malachi)

1:1The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2″I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; 3But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”

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OUT OF THE STONE AGE by Ray Prinzing

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

“I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and thy shall be to Me a people,” (Heb. 13:10). Thus that which was written in the tables of stone must give way to that which is now written in heart and mind. There are plenty of people who still carry all their ‘tables of stone’, living in THE STONE AGE. Laws and standards, tenets of traditional creed by which they measure and brand all else as false, judging most freely, and using their ‘tables of stone’ to throw at, to beat, coerce others who do not follow their prescribed course. But God has a people which follow the promptings of the Spirit, because THE VOICE IS WITHIN, writing His laws in their heart and mind, and they are living a life which redounds to His glory, in freedom, joy, and peace.

He has to remove our stony heart just as much as we need to be loosed from the ‘tables of stone’, that it might be a living, pulsating, vibrant expression of truth. We are not left without a law, but no more is it engraved upon stone, as a letter that killeth, but it is a new ministration of the “Spirit, which giveth life”.

Many have rebelled against the restraints of the law; have cast it aside, to become lawless. They caught a glimpse of the freedom of the new, without possessing the SPIRIT OF THE NEW, thus use these truths for an occasion to the flesh. Jesus is our transition from the old into the new – not to abandon the old, He fulfilled it, and He will fulfill it in us, for “the righteousness of the law shall be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”, (Rom. 5:4). The indwelling Spirit of God leads to a path of holiness far more exacting than the first covenant on tables of stone, yet it is wrought in freedom because it is HIS LIFE living the requirements in us.

[Hedz Up] Review

Today stop and review your schedule with the Lord. Make sure you are clear with Him regarding His expectations of how you spend your time. If necessary, make adjustments now, while changes are expected.

Listen, don’t necessarily hear something, just listen.

Have a gentle week.

RETURNING GOD’S LOVE by Ray Prinzing

 

“We love Him, because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19)

 

The initial expression of love is always HIS, He loves us, and this love that is directed our way, working in us, becomes the cause of our loving Him in return.

Love unexpressed is love unfulfilled, unsatisfied.  Therefore God has brought forth this whole creation upon which He can express His love.  “For Thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11).

Furthermore, it requires an even greater expression of love when the object of that love is ever so unlovely, unholy, unclean.  Hence the introduction of evil to form the bleak background against which the ultimate of His love can be portrayed.  It was while we were yet sinners that this expression came to us, for “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16).  Jesus is a manifestation of the Father’s heart of love, sent to us when we were so very unlovely, rebellious, and selfish.

Though this Divine love, so sacrificial in nature, so freely given, is ours to receive, it remains unsatisfied until it can be returned.  Love shared, but if one-sided, one sharing and the other doing all the receiving, this does not bring happiness.  Not that love requires a return or a reward for loving, but it rests in the happiness of the beloved, and to receive love selfishly, is to remain unhappy, thus the giver realizes that his love has failed to make the loved one happy.  But when that loved one begins to return that love because it is out of a heart overflowing with joy and love, it brings joy and happiness to the heart of the initial lover.

When we are so completely transformed by His love to us, and so filled with that love that we must express it back to Him again, then He knows that His creation is happy with His expression to us-ward, and receiving that which now flows from us to Him, He shall be satisfied as well.  Love expresses and returned is love fulfilled.  He truly is worthy of our love.

[Hedz Up] Fearless

This week remember that your emotions do not reflect or represent reality. To overcome them, you will learn how to take them into account yet ignore them. When the time comes to face your fears, do so boldly! This is not “acting” but choosing to behave according to your true fearless spirit identity rather than your soulical attributes.

Try it!

Overcome your challenges this week!

Tithing, Giving and the Scriptures: It’s Not What You Think [Part 14]

Amos and Tithing to Idols (Amos 3:12-4:7)

    3:12Thus says the Lord: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion Two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be taken out Who dwell in Samaria—In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch! 13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord God, the God of hosts, 14″That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar shall be cut off And fall to the ground. 15I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; The houses of ivory shall perish, And the great houses shall have an end,” says the Lord.

    4:1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, Who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!” 2The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days shall come upon you When He will take you away with fishhooks, And your posterity with fishhooks. 3You will go out through broken walls, Each one straight ahead of her, And you will be cast into Harmon,” Says the Lord.

    4″Come to Bethel and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression; Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days. 5Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; For this you love, You children of Israel!” Says the Lord God.

    6″Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord. 7″I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered.”

The prophet Amos, speaking for God, lists tithing and sacrifice to idols (at Bethel and Gilgal) as one of their crimes against Him. Clearly, it was not just tithing that was important.

Soulical Warfare

Soulical warfare refers specifically to us humans, and must be fought with weapons more powerful than the field of battle; we can’t use soulical weapons to fight soulical battles. The soulical battles involve overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil in our individual lives. These enemies can only be overcome through spiritual weapons made available through dependence on God.

[Hedz Up] Get Through It!

Things are getting busier and busier. Because you’ve developed the habit of hearing God, and testing what you hear, it’s okay to focus on what is at hand and be comfortable with relaxing your routine. Be wise, though, and sensitive to the slightest prompting from the Lord to get your attention. He may speak to you even more clearly, more profoundly even though you are busiest. Then return to your quiet routine, checking with Him regarding any changes.

Overcome with quietness and vigor.

Have a great week!