THE GRACE OF GIVING - How you give is a matter of deep concern to God. He’s particular about how offerings are given. He won’t receive just any old thing however you feel like giving it. God refused to receive Israel’s offerings. They were bringing Him their defective animals, their blind calves and the injured ones they couldn’t do anything else with — and God said it offended Him. We’re going to have to quit being casual about it and to learn to give with faith and reverence in worship.

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The Grace of Giving

Gloria Copeland

“Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.” 2 Corinthians 8:7

How do you give to the Lord?

Do you just drop some money in the plate at church without much thought?

Or do you just write a check to God at the first of every month and pay Him like you pay all your other bills?

You need to think about that because how you give is a matter of deep concern to God. He’s particular about how offerings are given.

He won’t receive just any old thing however you feel like giving it.

In Malachi, for example, God refused to receive Israel’s offerings. They were bringing Him their defective animals, their blind calves and the injured ones they couldn’t do anything else with — and God said it offended Him.

He told them, “You don’t have any reverence or honor for Me, and I’m not going to accept your offering.”

That kind of thing didn’t die out after the book of Malachi. Many today don’t have any reverence for God at offering time.

People wait for the preacher to beat them over the head until they feel so guilty they have to reach down in their pocketbooks and get some money out.

But I want you to know, that’s offensive to God. In fact, He spoke directly to a friend of mine about it. The statement He made to her so impressed me, I wrote it down word for word.

“It grieves Me when the Church takes offerings, He told her. I said to worship Me. Don’t take from the people, but let them bring their gifts and worship Me. Then they will see the fruits of their giving.”

If you and I want God to be pleased with our offerings, we’re going to have to do what the Apostle Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 8:7.

We’re going to have to learn to “excel in this grace of giving” (New International Version). 

We’re going to have to quit being casual about it and to learn to give with faith and reverence in worship.

Next time the offering plate is passed, don’t just drop your gift carelessly in the plate.

Get serious. Determine to obey God. Worship Him with your money and be thankful. He’ll do more than simply receive it, He’ll open the windows of blessing for you.

Scripture Reading:  Malachi 1:1-14

Kenneth Copeland Ministries' mission is to minister the Word of Faith, by teaching believers who they are in Christ Jesus; taking them from the milk of the Word to the meat, and from religion to reality.

https://www.kcm.org/read/faith-to-faith?language=en-US&field_faithtofaith_date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=May+7

 

Malachi 1 The Message (MSG)

No More of This So-Called Worship!

1 A Message. God’s Word to Israel through Malachi:

^2-3 God said, “I love you.”

You replied, “Really? How have you loved us?”

“Look at history” (this is God’s answer). “Look at how differently I’ve treated you, Jacob, from Esau: I loved Jacob and hated Esau. I reduced pretentious Esau to a molehill, turned his whole country into a ghost town.”

⁴ When Edom (Esau) said, “We’ve been knocked down, but we’ll get up and start over, good as new,” God-of-the-Angel-Armies said, “Just try it and see how far you get. When I knock you down, you stay down. People will take one look at you and say, ‘Land of Evil!’ and ‘the God-cursed tribe!’

⁵ “Yes, take a good look. Then you’ll see how faithfully I’ve loved you and you’ll want even more, saying, ‘May God be even greater, beyond the borders of Israel!’

⁶ “Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: “You priests despise me!

“You say, ‘Not so! How do we despise you?’

“By your shoddy, sloppy, defiling worship.

“You ask, ‘What do you mean, “defiling”? What’s defiling about it?’

^7-8 “When you say, ‘The altar of God is not important anymore; worship of God is no longer a priority,’ that’s defiling. And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you’re trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn’t that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.

⁹ “Get on your knees and pray that I will be gracious to you. You priests have gotten everyone in trouble. With this kind of conduct, do you think I’ll pay attention to you?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.

¹⁰ “Why doesn’t one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is not pleased. And I don’t want any more of this so-called worship!

Offering God Something Hand-Me-Down, Broken, or Useless

¹¹ “I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They’re saying it everywhere: ‘God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.’

^12-13 “All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, ‘Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,’ and when you say, ‘I’m bored—this doesn’t do anything for me.’ You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it’s a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I’m going to accept it? This is Godspeaking to you!

¹⁴ “A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I’m a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I’ll not put up with it!”

The Message (MSG)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Malachi+1%3A1-14&version=MSG

CRUSHED LIKE A ROSE TO MAKE PERFUME - God’s people aren’t compared to roses that need to be crushed for fragrant perfume. God the Father did crush, or bruise, His Son in order to secure our salvation. But the crushing was done in Jesus Christ so that it doesn’t have to happen to us. He took it FOR us. The Bible never says God the Father will crush those who have come to Him through Jesus Christ — in fact it’s contrary to His Father’s heart. The Bible does talk about God’s people being refined like gold through trials, and our faith being tried and strengthened. But this is very different from being crushed to make perfume.

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Crushed Like A Rose

Does God crush you like a rose to make perfume?

BY REBECCA DAVIS

Someone wrote to me recently about songs that ask God to “crush me,” “wreck me,” and “consume me,” saying,

If God can abuse his bride, yet tell her that it is for her good, of course a husband can do that to his. And both blame her for not trusting.

This reminded me of the popular teaching that just as the sweetest perfume comes out of crushed roses, God wants to crush us like a rose so He can make perfume like that. 

As if somehow our lives would become more pleasing to God if He crushed us.

And apparently, from the songs she was referencing, that’s a pretty popular notion.

Does the Bible ever compare the people of God to a flower?

Not unless you count the lilies Jesus pointed to when He said this in Matthew 6:28-30:

"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" 

He compares us to other plants, too. The people of God are compared to trees that bring forth good fruit (Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:8), wheat that multiplies (Matthew 13), and branches of a vine that draw their life from the vine (John 15), which I talked more about here.

But God’s people aren’t compared to roses that need to be crushed for fragrant perfume any more than they’re compared to eggplants that need to be sliced and cooked for delicious ratatouille. It’s just not there, and nothing that resembles it is there.

What the Bible actually says about crushing

God the Father did crush, or bruise, His Son in order to secure our salvation, according to Isaiah 53:9-10 when the prophet, clearly speaking of Jesus, said,

"And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. . . ."

I talked more about that in this post, “Do you pray for God to ‘break’ you?

But the crushing was done in Jesus Christ so that it doesn’t have to happen to us. He took it FOR us. The Bible never says God the Father will crush those who have come to Him through Jesus Christ — in fact it’s contrary to His Father’s heart. 

The Bible does talk about God’s people being refined like gold through trials, and our faith being tried and strengthened (I Peter 1:6-7; I Peter 4:12-13; James 1:2-4,12). But this is very different from being crushed to make perfume.

In fact, when it comes to crushing, this is what the Bible has to say about the Lord’s heart toward His people, in Psalm 34:17-19:

"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all."

What the Bible actually says about fragrance

The sacrifices in the Old Testament were designed to be a sweet-smelling fragrance to God (for example, Exodus 29, Leviticus 1, and Numbers 29). The ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ, was a sweet-smelling fragrance to God (Ephesians 5:2).

Paul also spoke of himself and his compatriots as a sweet-smelling fragrance:

II Corinthians 2:14-16 - "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life."

Do you see that this reference to being a sweet fragrance has nothing to do with being crushed? It’s not even about our lives somehow becoming pleasing to God. It’s about spreading the sweet-smelling gospel.

God’s people can be a sweet-smelling fragrance to God without being crushed because we are in Christ, all our life is in Christ. We don’t have to be crushed to be pleasing to God, because Jesus Christ has borne all the crushing that needs to be borne. Jesus Christ is the sweet-smelling aroma to God.

Just to be crystal clear, your “pleasingness” to God, your winning of God’s smile of approval, does not come through being crushed into perfume. It comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Jesus has already done it all.

What the Bible actually says about people who hurt other people

The saddest thing about this wrong teaching is that there are people who love God who have been taught to think that the crushing being done to them by another human being — the cruelty they’re experiencing, even sometimes at the hands of those who claim to be servants of God — is somehow from God Himself, so that He can “crush them,” “wreck them,” and “consume them” in the process of making them into sweet perfume.

On the contrary, though, the truth is that God is opposed to the wicked who harm others, and many Scriptures attest to that. (A few are II Samuel 22:28; Psalm 10:17-18; Psalm 11:5; Psalm 37:9; Psalm 140:12; Psalm 103:6; Proverbs 6:16-19; and II Timothy 3:1-5.) When those who claim to be servants of God harm others, we can see God’s attitude toward them by reading the scathing warning He gives the leaders of Israel in Ezekiel 34.

What’s the good news?

Here’s the joy for the people of God. Jesus Christ bore all the crushing that needs to be borne in order for the lives of His people to be a sweet-smelling fragrance before God. It is all accomplished for us in Christ.

Now instead of crushed roses, we can be like trees planted by rivers of water bringing forth fruit. We can be like branches drawing our strength from the Vine.

God is opposed to the wicked who would oppress the defenseless. He always views that crushing as wrong.

And finally,

Though there is suffering in this life, some of it severe,

·                  God provides a way of escape in times of testing (I Corinthians 10:13). He doesn’t want us to suffer passively, but to escape cruel and dangerous situations if possible, as David escaped Saul.

·                  But even as we do that, we can be thankful in the midst of suffering for doing right, because through it we will become stronger and develop stronger character, and with that stronger character will come the anticipation of God’s continued work in us and His love poured out in us (Romans 5:2-5).

·                  In our afflictions, our Lord provides comfort so we can then in turn comfort others (II Corinthians 1:3-4). And the glory that is to be revealed in us is greater than any suffering we endure (Romans 8:18, II Corinthians 4:16-17).

Instead of thinking about how our God needs to crush us in order to make perfume, we can remember that He is perfectly pleased with those who are in Christ, He weepswith us in our suffering, He comforts us in our afflictions, and He strengthens our faith as we look to Him in the midst of trials.

That’s good news.

I’m Rebecca Davis, a writer, editor, wife, mother, grandmother, speaker, friend, advocate for the oppressed, and lover of Jesus who lives in Greenville, South Carolina. 

https://www.heresthejoy.com/2017/10/does-god-crush-you-like-a-rose-to-make-perfume/

WEBS OF LIFE - I thought of God's own hands and how they had lovingly reached down into my own web of impending death. I recalled those web-like sticky fibers of sin that had wrapped themselves around my mind and heart so tightly, just waiting for me to die a slow death. I desperately tried to free myself from the bondage of sin, but could not. He came along at just the right moment and cupped his palms around me and set me free. Today, I am that butterfly and I now soar in my new-found freedom, knowing full well just what I have been rescued from. I rejoice in the liberty that He has given me by way of my salvation. The very same palms that were nailed to a cruel cross, one day lovingly reached down into my own web of sin and forever set me free.

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The Webs of Life

Missey Butler

It's beginning to feel a lot like Fall.

The cool breezes of autumn cause us to reach for our favorite sweater, as we step outdoors to take a brisk walk in the crisp, clean air.

The smell of burning leaves always reminds me of my childhood, with thoughts of flickering fireplaces and large mugs of hot chocolate, topped with a big ole melting marshmallow.

Another not so fond memory of autumns past, was one of me riding along on my bicycle, minding my own business, when suddenly I would find myself plowing head-long, face-first, into the middle of a large sticky spider web!

Oh, how I hated that! With arms flailing and lips sputtering, I would attempt to peel off the remnants of what used to be Madame Spider's abode as she would have no other choice but to now come along for the ride, and I just knew that her little eight-legged self was creeping along somewhere in the vicinity of my shoulders.

For some unknown reason, I have found myself very intrigued (again) with spider webs.

I happened to spot one the other morning as I was heading out for my usual morning bike ride with my favorite Labrador companion, Champ.

It was still dark and the moon was shining at just the right angle where I could see the reflection of the silk woven web. I was amazed at how perfectly concentric its design was.

A few seconds later, I was stunned, as I witnessed a very large fluttering butterfly come out of nowhere and rapidly plunge head-long into the center of its web.

The poor butterfly frantically began to struggle only to find itself being wrapped tighter with each panicky movement.

I instinctively lowered my bike and walked over and with both hands, reached in, and as gently as I could, cupped my palms around her and slowly pulled her out.

I released her into the moonlight and watched as she hastily flew away.

Immediately, I thought of God's own hands and how they had lovingly reached down into my own web of impending death.

I recalled those web-like sticky fibers of sin that had wrapped themselves around my mind and heart so tightly, just waiting for me to die a slow death.

I desperately tried to free myself from the bondage of sin, but could not. He came along at just the right moment and cupped his palms around me and set me free.

Today, I am that butterfly and I now soar in my new-found freedom, knowing full well just what I have been rescued from.

I rejoice in the liberty that He has given me by way of my salvation. The very same palms that were nailed to a cruel cross, one day lovingly reached down into my own web of sin and forever set me free.

Will you allow Him to do the same for you? He understands how we so readily fall prey to the enemy of our soul, and He longs to release us from the entanglement of sin.

Stop trying to release yourself, and let Him reach down and set you free.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galations 5:1).

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in your own life. Discover how you can find peace with God. You can also send us your prayer requests.

Missey Butler is a freelance writer and contributor to CBN.com.

http://www1.cbn.com/devotions/the-webs-of-life

MYSTERIES OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT - At creation "the Word" is Jesus, who "became flesh and dwelt among us." Melchizedek was a "type," or picture, of Christ. Isaiah speaks of the Messiah's birth of a virgin, and that He would be both man and God. Isaiah was of course referring to Jesus. Christ was the fourth man in the fiery furnace. The angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate Christ. God reveals to us that Jesus has been there from the beginning, and we can thus have the hope and assurance that He will be with us always to the end of the age.

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5 Mysteries of Jesus Hidden in the Old Testament

Carole Schryber

No child likes to go to the doctor's office, but I do have one fond memory of the waiting room — the Highlights magazine! I would immediately turn to the Hidden Pictures page. How many items could I find?

In a similar way the Old Testament has "hidden" pictures of Jesus.

He doesn't just show up for the first time in a manger in Bethlehem. He is in the Bible from the beginning!

How many pictures of Him can we find? Here are five:

1.    At creation: When we consider the account of creation, we tend to think of only God the Father.

Yet when God is about to create man, He declares,

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26a).

Who is included in "our?"

John, the Gospel writer, gives us the answer: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created" (John 1:1-3).

We know that "The Word" is Jesus, who "became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14b)

2.    With Abraham: In Genesis 14, Abraham had just succeeded in battle when he was greeted by Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who had a few interesting characteristics.

First of all, he was both a priest of the God Most High and a king — unheard of anywhere else in the Old Testament.

His name means "king of righteousness." He was from Salem, which means "peace."

In other words, he was a king of righteousness and peace. He brought to Abraham bread and wine, and he blessed Abraham.

Abraham felt compelled to give him a tithe. Does this remind you of anyone else?

Jesus is both King and Priest. Jesus is the King of righteousness and the Prince of Peace.

Jesus broke bread and wine with His disciples to remind them of His body and blood which would be sacrificed for them.

Jesus gives blessings to those who believe, and is alone worthy of our worship and our tithes.

While scholars have debated whether Melchizedek was the pre-incarnate Christ, at the very least, we can agree that He was a "type," or picture, of Christ.

3.    In prophetic words: Isaiah speaks of the Messiah's birth of a virgin, and that He would be both man and God: 

"For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

How can one born, also be Mighty God? Isaiah was of course referring to Jesus.

Micah tells us that He would be born in Bethlehem.

Genesis and Numbers provide His lineage.

Other prophets describe His betrayal, His persecution, and His mission to save us from our sins.

The Old Testament includes many prophecies of Jesus — recorded hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years before His actual birth.

These prophecies all provide pictures of Him before He was born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, and of the forecasted lineage.

4.    In the fiery furnace: Daniel 3 depicts one of the most exciting pictures in the Old Testament.

Three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were thrown into a furnace of fire because they would not worship the king of Babylon and his idols.

King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished that his own men, who had put this trio in the furnace, perished in the fire, and asked what happened to the three offenders.

"He declared to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’

“He answered and said, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods’" (Daniel 3:24-25).

Who was the fourth man? Why did He have the appearance of a son of gods? Could He have been Christ?

5.    As "the" Angel of the Lord: The Old Testament mentions the article "the" several times, before "angel of the Lord."

Is it possible that this angel was the pre-incarnate Christ?

In every instance where "the angel of the Lord" appears, He speaks with the authority of God, and the listener assumes His divinity.

For instance, "the angel of the Lord" appeared to an Egyptian slave girl in Genesis 16:2; to Abraham in Genesis 22:11; to Moses in Exodus 3:2.

Moses also "hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God." (Exodus 3:6c)

We may never know this side of heaven if "the angel" was the triune Person of the Godhead, Christ, but it certainly seems possible.

After all, Jesus Himself said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58).

The Old Testament includes many more illustrations, types and foreshadowings of Christ, but they are not hidden images.

And just as children can't "un-see" the hidden pictures in the Highlights issues once they find them, we can't "un-see" Jesus once we find His images in the Old Testament.

How will we respond? Will we deliberately choose to revert to blindness or open our eyes to the enormity of God's gift to us?

I believe that for those with eyes to see, the Old Testament illustrations are there to assure us of the divinity of Christ.

He is One with God. God reveals to us that Jesus has been there from the beginning, and we can thus have the hope and assurance that He will be with us always to the end of the age.

He is indeed, "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Revelation 22:12-13).

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrew 13:8).

Amen. 

Carole Schryber  was an attorney in New York who gave up the practice of law to devote herself to studying and teaching Scripture. Her talk, Genesis to Revelation in 60 Minutes, was the impetus for the book HIStory in 30 Days: Genesis to Revelation. She regularly speaks and teaches at her home church, McLean Bible, in the Washington D.C. area, in addition to other churches. She was the associate teaching director of Community Bible Study, which serves more than 400 women weekly. She is a wife and mother of three grown children. Her weekly blog can be found on her website caroleschryber.com.

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https://www.charismamag.com/spirit/bible-study/36057-5-mysteries-of-jesus-hidden-in-the-old-testament