As I mentioned in our 1st Street Ministry Update, Vanessa and I went back to Grace Church last Sunday. Grace has been a big part of our walk together, and it was so nice to see friends and mentors again. When they took up the offering, the Lord showed me that there was liberty in giving. He actually showed me the statue of liberty, with purses hung around it's upraised arm. I understood that giving in tithes and offerings is a display of liberty. It's a testament to it--to our freedom in the Lord. God can be creative sometimes.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10
Now in general we shouldn't test God. If there is an area where reckless faith is permissible, though, it's in the area of giving. God wants us to show Him what He means to us. He, in turn, wants to show us that our trust will be rewarded. He wants us to trust that He is able--able to take care of us, protect us, bless us, even reward us. He can be trusted even to give us liberty and freedom.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17
If we are in the Spirit, walking in it, living in it, full of it, then we will experience freedom. Freedom, not to concede to the flesh or to sin (Galatians 5:16), but to give ourselves away. We can boldly, maybe even recklessly, give ourselves to God. We can give away our bodies, our careers, our finances, and our families as thanks offerings to God (Psalms 50:23). We can lay everything up for God to have.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship" Romans 12:1
We need to give everything we have to God. We need to spiritually give it all to Him, Any area that is not His is in danger of being used by the enemy. Anything we withhold will get in God's way and to an extent limit how we are used for Him. Anything we don't hand over will only be a snare for us (Exodus 23:33). There is freedom in sacrifice. There is freedom in giving. There is liberty in devoting our possessions to the Lord.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10
Now in general we shouldn't test God. If there is an area where reckless faith is permissible, though, it's in the area of giving. God wants us to show Him what He means to us. He, in turn, wants to show us that our trust will be rewarded. He wants us to trust that He is able--able to take care of us, protect us, bless us, even reward us. He can be trusted even to give us liberty and freedom.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17
If we are in the Spirit, walking in it, living in it, full of it, then we will experience freedom. Freedom, not to concede to the flesh or to sin (Galatians 5:16), but to give ourselves away. We can boldly, maybe even recklessly, give ourselves to God. We can give away our bodies, our careers, our finances, and our families as thanks offerings to God (Psalms 50:23). We can lay everything up for God to have.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship" Romans 12:1
We need to give everything we have to God. We need to spiritually give it all to Him, Any area that is not His is in danger of being used by the enemy. Anything we withhold will get in God's way and to an extent limit how we are used for Him. Anything we don't hand over will only be a snare for us (Exodus 23:33). There is freedom in sacrifice. There is freedom in giving. There is liberty in devoting our possessions to the Lord.
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