TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 24th August 2021)
“Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 236TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
In the kingdom of God, we cannot get anything significant from God until it has been released to us through revelation knowledge. Revelation knowledge of a thing is what precedes the manifestation of that thing!
Until something have been revealed to us, and we see it well, God will not hasten to perform it in our lives. In other words, if we lack the revelation, vision or snap shots of the things we want God to do in our lives, or the things He wants to do in our lives, they will never be done.
It is when we catch them in the spirit that we can have them in our lives.
That is why faith is one of the most important words in the Kingdom of God – a faith that sees what it needs in the realm of glory is the faith that turns things around. The truth is, we live in a world of ups and down – a world that is not totally redeemed from the consequences of the fall. But by our faith in God’s power we can live in it without having ups and down like the people of the world.
Today we will continue the flow we started yesterday on money matters in the Kingdom of God!
Money matters are the next most important matters in the realm of man after spiritual matters. Because of the role financial power play in the life of a man, money matters are not matters to be ignored. We need sufficient revelation on money matters in the kingdom of God so that we will not be deceived and so that we will be financially free enough to do God’s will without stress.
I have said it over and over that Revelation is Heaven’s clearance to the earth to come into things supernatural.
The vision for wealth among the elects of Christ is different from the vision for wealth among the people of the world. We do not dream for money the way they do or for the same reasons they do. And what drives us so long as money matters are concerned is different from what drives them.
When it comes to solving financial problems our case is different, because we have a Father in Heaven we care for us more than we can fathom!
SADLY, MANY OF US DO NOT KNOW THAT. WE DO NOT EXPERIENCE HIS IMMEDIATE PRESENT HELP IN TIME OF TROUBLE!
Maybe today’s devotional will be of help to us. To start with, when we need an urgent financial supply and we do not have anything in our bank account, what do we do as a Christian?
If we have not be lazy and foolish in our decisions; if we have been diligent and wise and yet money do not come, what do we do to unlock divine help? How do we unlock God’s immediate present help in times of financial trouble? If any of this is your worry, then welcome on board!
The need for supernatural financial assistance and the need to receive it without following the ways of the wicked or becoming a victim of prophetic deception, cannot be over emphasized.
As a minister of the gospel, I am always concerned about the financial state of those the LORD grants me mercy to lead and mine also. I know that after God, money is the next essential need of a Child of God. When someone has a huge bill to pay, it will take maturity and the grace of God working in the life of that person to concentrate in a Church service.
I want to share some practical things to do when you need a supernatural financial assistance after doing all the right things and getting nothing.
The first step to take is to check your previous financial commitment to God; have you been faithful in worshiping God with your substance when the supply was there or you have just been either taking care of your carnal needs or bankrolling some false ministries and ministers?
MOST TIMES WE ENTER INTO FINANCIAL CRISIS BECAUSE WE FAILED TO WORSHIP GOD WITH OUR SUBSTANCE WHEN THE MONEY WAS THERE – EVEN IF IT WAS LITTLE IN SUPPLY.
Many of us do not really know what it means to worship God with our substance. Everything that has to do with worship is painful to the flesh. That is why many do know how to do it. We could be manipulated by false and greedy men and women of God to give but we do not really know how to give the Bible way.
The Bible way is the way of worshiping God with our substance without the manipulation and seduction of any man.
Worshiping God with our substance remains one of the most important ways to the top (high finances) because it leaves the Devil with nothing to hold or use against us to stop the flow of income to us. That is why He will never allow any to worship God with their substance.
Remember in Exodus chapter 25 to 33, before Moses could come down form the mountain to make God’s people worship God with their substance having delivered them form Egypt with surplus wealth, the enemy had collected the substance to build himself a golden calf by their hands. He had already made them spend the money on what was not God but presented to them as God.
What fallowed after was death by divine judgment. True worship and sincere work will neutralize any financial resistance in a man’s life and plug the person to constant flow.
In God’s design, we were supposed to be receiving a constant flow of income from Heaven through the works of our hands, not an inconsistent flow. If constant flow is not so in our lives, something has stopped it and it could be a devil we allowed for not worshiping God with our substance when we had the chance or not working with our hands.
The Bible indeed says; “he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly.” And He who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully. That means our attitudes towards kingdom stewardship or worship of God with substance, can determine the rate money comes to.
IF THE ATTITUDES ARE WRONG, WE WILL CREATE A LOOPHOLE FOR THE ENEMY TO USE IN BLOCKING THE FLOW OF MONEY TO US!
Our devotional text this morning says
“Honor the LORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your increase.” The result of this spiritual act of worship as the scripture says is a constant flow of finances. It says “So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
This scripture was not designed to be a first fruit doctrine tool. It was a principle of Kingdom stewardship given to the nation of Israel in the days of the Bible. The nation was an agrarian nation.
They received rain in two seasons of the year – the early rains and the later rains. The early rains brought the first yield of the year called first fruits. The next rain brought the last yield of the year called the next fruits.
According to the principle, the crop they reap when the first rains comes was given to the LORD as the first fruits. Each time they do that, they position themselves properly for the yield of the later rains.
The rain will so bless them that their barns will be filled with plenty.
Today we do not have a first fruit to give the way they did because everything they did has been fulfilled in Christ. The Bible made it clear in the New Testaments that Jesus was the first fruit they depicted and the rain is the outpouring of the Holy Ghost that took place in the day of Pentecost as the first rain and the one taking place in our age and time as the later rain.
The crops they harvested represent the harvest of the souls of men into the kingdom of God by reason of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. But the Old Testament is the will of God concealed and the new is the will of God revealed.
WHAT MORE DID GOD CONCEAL FOR OUR GENERATION IN WHAT THEY DID?
For us today the principle tells us to put God first in our expenditures – He should be our first fruit – the first person to eat from our hands not our needs – He should be our first priority as soon as money enters our hands. That is what it means to honor or worship the LORD with our substance today.
If we do not make Him the first fruit or first person to eat the money, He place in our hands we will not enjoy a constant flow.
Here is what I am saying this morning; when we experience the presence of God in our lives, it makes the works of our hands yield financial supplies. When the supply comes we are to give God the first priority in our expenditures. We are not to give it to our needs.
In other words, our first priority in spending should not be our needs. It should be God’s needs. That is one way one to worship God with our substance.
Like I stated earlier, a Child of God was supposed to enjoy constant flow of finance from God. The key to this kind of favor is honoring the LORD with our substance as explained.
Sadly, some do not do this at all. They honor the LORD with their lips but not with their substance. When money come their needs comes first to their minds.
In other words, they honor their needs with their substance by considering it first. If you honor the LORD with your substance, you will be enjoying constant flow. But if you honor your needs with your substance, you will be experiencing no constant flow. That is the secret!
We do not make our needs the first partaker of our substance. We make the LORD the first partaker. That is how we enjoy constant flow.
We must understand that constant flow of income is God’s system of supply for His Children. What you do with money (as a Child of God) as soon as it enters our hand will determine if it will keep coming or not.
Doing the wrong thing with it will shut down our supply system and take us from the Heavenly realm of constant financial supply, to the earthly realm of financial struggle. Your financial vision should therefore be constant flow not just saving for the rainy day.
If you develop the vision of constant flow, God will always come first when money enters your hand; Knowing that He alone guarantees constant flow.
But if you develop the vision of saving for the rainy day instead of constant flow you will do things that will stop the flow. You will not honor the LORD with your substance when money comes. Saving for the raining day or dealing with pressing needs will always be the first place your heart will go to when money comes.
LET YOUR FINANCIAL VISION, THEREFORE BE CONSTANT FLOW FROM THE LORD.
As a Child of God, whenever money enters your hand, you have been given an opportunity by the LORD to activate or maintain a constant flow of finances from Him. If you put your need first instead of your worship, you will waste the opportunity and begin another circle again.
There are so many forms of giving the Bible teaches about. Ways of honoring the LORD with our substance. The first is the tithe, then we have other forms of free will offerings; some sacrificial others not.
There is also the money we give to those who labor in word and doctrine to form Christ in us. There is a commanded giving; generous gifts God commands that we bring to Him for specific things to be done in His kingdom. There is also have giving to the poor and etc.
I have come to realize that, if God use a man of God to bless you with either an insight or foresight into His word or will for your life, you are to respond with a show of gratitude by way of an offering. If you just tell him “God bless you man of God” and go, you will miss what the Bible calls the prophet’s reward.
The prophet’s reward sometimes manifests as constant flow of finances.
If you give your tithes regularly in a right place of worship, where the leaders are channeling the money towards divine purpose, and living a life of Holiness and intimacy with God, you will be enjoying a constant flow of finances.
Sadly, so many Christians do not practice the covenant of tithing that is why their lives are tight. There are basic truths that govern the covenant of tithing.
For instance, some Christians violate this covenant by tithing erratically, while those who tithe faithfully violate it by giving their tithes in the wrong places of worship or with the wrong attitudes.
Others give faithfully but live in sin terrible, thereby polluting their lives and shutting down God’s power from reaching them with the results of their tithes.
I believe God has spoken to us this morning.
As you embrace this day, make these truths your meditation. Constant Financial flow is your portion in Christ Jesus but you must put God first to have it – you must cultivate and become use to the life of putting God first with your money.
You must also remain pure in heart so you can see Him move in your life.
If you are facing a time of financial hardship and urgently need a miracle, the Bible says in the day of adversity consider. If you can trace what you did to stop the flow and then repent from it in deep prayers, God will show you mercy and give you another chance by putting money in your hands again.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 NKJV