Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 August 2013 Psalm 37:1

26 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 37:1:     Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
 
Oh Friends, as Jesus opened the windows of heaven this morning, before He could even look out, an unfamiliar strain from earth reached His ears. It sounded like a chant, but one that He’d never heard before. So He leaned out the window to try and hear it better. Lo and behold my people, a warm, fuzzy smile broke out over His radiant countenance as He heard these words rising up to heaven.
 
‘TGIM! Thank God it’s Monday! Time to be up and about Jesus’ business! The battle will soon be joined, for Jesus is already at the front lines! Up and at them Christian soldiers! For the victory is ours, through Jesus! Amen!’
 
Ah Friends, what a blessed day that will be eh, when we begin the workweek in such a joyful and godly mood and state of mind! But don’t worry, we’re working on it. It will become reality in God’s good time. But until then, let’s lustily sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn.
 
As one sweet, sounding harmonious choir now: ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together.
 
We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies.
 
But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle.
 
Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’
 
Ah mih breddren, that was good! Jesus was pleased. So with the adrenalin pumping, the faith, strength and confidence soaring, let’s go out now and engage Lucifer and his evil buddies in a fight to the death!
 
And our Bit ties in quite nicely with all of that my people. ‘Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.’
 
Oh Friends, I know that is often very difficult to do in this evil and ungodly world, when it seems that the wicked is forever prospering, while the righteous struggle and suffer. But please remember my fellow believers, that even the psalmist and man of great faith, Asaph, also had that problem, as he tells us in Psalm 73, the mystery of prosperous wickedness.
 
‘But as for me, my feet were almost gone (I had almost stumbled); my steps had well-nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish (boastful), when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.’ (Ps.73:2-3) 
 
But Bruh David then tells us why we should not be jealous of the prosperous evildoers. ‘For they shall soon be cut down like the green grass, and wither as the green herb.’ (Ps.37:2)
 
Now that’s the true state of the wicked my brethren! And I’m sure we don’t want to be a member of any group that’s eventually going to be destroyed by Almighty God.
 
Note too, that Moses in his only psalm, ‘From everlasting to everlasting thou art God,’ acknowledges God’s eternal staying power and man’s short, flimsy and futile nature. ‘For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth.’ (Ps.90. 4-6) 
 
Meanwhile Friends, the author of Psalm 92, in his praises for the Lord’s goodness, puts it thus: ‘Oh Lord, how great are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring (sprout, spring up) as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed  for ever: But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.’ (Ps.92:5-8)
 
And that’s undeniable, unalterable, indisputable gospel truth my brethren, for our God is the Creator and Controller of this universe and all therein! Please let’s not forget that very significant and salient point, because in doing so, we jeopardize our eternal destiny. 
 
Yes Friends, with His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence, there’s NOTHING or NO ONE greater than Yahweh, the Most High God Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
 
It thus behoves us to pay serious attention to His Word, His commands, His statutes and His dictates, if we want to live a long, prosperous and righteous life, encompassed by salvation through the sacrificial death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with eternal life in heavenly places as our final reward.
 
And that, my fellow believers, is true wisdom, wisdom of the everlasting kind! Much LOVE!
 
…wickedness will never prosper for very long…because in the eyes of our righteous and just God…it is an abomination to His exalted Being…and therefore must be destroyed… 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 16 May 2013 Psalm 40:6

16 May 2013 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 40:6.    Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
 
And the choir sang: ‘One more morning, One more day. Filled with blessings and mercies new. One more morning, One more day. The Lord’s opened the windows of heaven, and sent us grace, through forgiveness; sufficient for One more morning, One more day.’ Oh Friends, are we ready to receive the steady showers of grace, mercy, blessings and forgiveness that our wonderful God is preparing to rain down on us today? I surely hope so. Because, if we’re not, then we’ll be missing something very special in our lives, something only believers can experience and receive. And therein lies the rub; the reception of God’s goodness. Many of us know and talk about it, but don’t really receive it. And that part is solely up to us. It’s just like if someone offers us something physical. If we don’t accept and receive it, we’ll never have it. It’s the same principle with God’s LOVING-kindness, only this time it’s spiritual and not physical offerings, but you still have to actually receive it in and by faith. A good example is when we ask for forgiveness, the Lord grants it, but until we acknowledge it ourselves, and actually feel forgiven, the forgiveness is wasted. So it’s essential that each and everyday, we brace ourselves to sincerely receive God’s grace, mercy and blessings through our faith and the help of the Holy Spirit that indwells us. That will enable us to get on and stay on the path to righteousness. I pray this in Jesus’ Name. And all God’s people gave a mighty shout of ‘Praise the Lord! Amen!’ And in passing, I’d like to say that the weatherman actually got it right yesterday, because by mid-morning the sun had come our bright and sparkling, though the wind played a hard and fast tune all day. Hurrah for the weatherman! (smile) When he screws up, we let him know, so in all fairness we should applaud him when he gets it right. And he says it’s going to be hot and sunny again today. Let’s hope he can get it right two days straight. And now turning to our Bit: ‘ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.’ Words of awesome truth my brethren! Sacrificing things or animals doesn’t cut it with our God. As we saw yesterday, it’s our penitent and contrite hearts and minds that He’s interested in. Today, we’ll continue to highlight scriptures that deal with this fact. Listen to the prophet Amos on God’s behalf, in a call to repentance. ‘I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell (savour) in your solemn (sacred) assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols (stringed instruments). But let judgement (justice) run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.’ (Amos 5:21-24) That’s surely telling us eh!  The scholars explain that scripture thus. ‘I hate, I despise your feast days:  Religious activity without heart reality is repugnant to God. God-ordained forms of worship and religious expression without heart reality become only nauseating, empty formalism: and they anger rather than appease God.’ Truth in spades my people! And if we read Hebrews 10:1-18, we’ll find the subject discussed in greater detail, where we see Jesus, the unblemished Lamb of God, being the once and for all time atonement for sin. Hear the Good Book: ‘But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.’ (Heb.10:3-4) And that’s the honest truth! Under the Old Covenant, sacrifices for the remission of sins had to be made every year. But God, in His infinite wisdom did away with that under the New Covenant, where Christ atoned for the sins of ALL mankind for ALL time. We surely are wonderfully blessed, my fellow believers! There’s no other faith but Christianity where forgiveness of sins can be had by contrite repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. What a kind and caring God we worship! So I can’t understand why we’re so bent on removing Him from our society. He is the One who created us, cares for us, causes us to get health, wealth, peace, wisdom and understanding. And have you noticed that since we embarked on the erroneous task of removing God from our lives, that we’ve had much less of all those things mentioned above. Everything has gone into a deathlike tailspin because God is the One who causes all of that to happen, and if we’re not dealing consistently and truthfully with Him, then He’ll obviously stop blessing us. Now let’s end with another very informative and telling scripture. This from the prophet Micah, re the requirement of the Lord. ‘Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body (my own child) for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to LOVE mercy (LOVING-kindness), and to walk humbly with thy God.’ (Mic.6:6-8) That says it all Friends! So today, let’s ponder our individual situations and see how we shape up per those requirements, then ask the Lord to help us rectify whatever is wrong in that respect. That’s truly wisdom of the highest order. Much LOVE!…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…or else he’ll pay an exorbitant price for his disobedience…
 
    
 
   

Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 April 2013 Malachi 3:10

04 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Malachi 3:10.    Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
 
Oh Friends, oh Friends, the ole fella’s up and about with surprising spunkiness this Resurrection Thursday morning! Yes my people, please remember that it’s only been a few days since our Lord and Saviour Jesus defeated that ole cowardly crook Lucifer, and triumphantly rose from the grave, which had no power to hold Him captive for long. And all God’s people declared a loud and grateful, ‘Glory Hallelujah! Blessed is the Lamb that was slain but rose again with absolute power and might, to whom all knees shall bow and every tongue confess that He is God!’ (Rom.14:11) Yes mih Friends, our Advocate, Deliverer, Leader, Prince of Peace, etc. etc. is riding high in the world this week. Please let’s keep Him riding high all year long, because that’s what He expects, desires and most assuredly deserves. The heathen will try to put Him down, try to make Him of no account, but we, His true believers and followers know that He is indeed the Most Wonderful Being in ALL the universe! Let’s make sure that others know it, and by our faithful words and actions, draw them into His ever increasing and most worthy fold, so that they too will experience the LOVE, the Brotherhood, the Salvation and Eternal Life that we’ve been guaranteed. And all God’s children said a loud and hearty. ‘Amen!’ Yeh mih breddren, the ole fella’s chuckling here because he certainly seems to be on a roll this morning. The Good Lord didn’t even give me a chance to ask for strength and guidance, but just got me going, jump-started me right away. No wondering what to write at all. And all I can say is a hearty, ‘Thank You Lord! You are so wonderful to me, that I don’t know what I’d do without You in my life! And thankfully I’ll never have to find that out, since You’ve faithfully promised never to leave or forsake me, but be with me all the days of my life, even into eternity. Thank You again Lord!’ Awright Friends, enough of that now, or else I’ll just get carried away and continue with much deserved thanks and praise to our wonderful God. (smile) And today we’ll continue with our Bit that deals with tithes. ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat (food) in mine house, and prove (test) me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’ And that’s the living truth, my brethren! If we do as God declares, we’ll be so blessed that we won’t have room to store the great magnitude of blessings He’ll pour down on us. And remember, that’s not because of what or how much we give, but because of our obedience, which signifies that we hold the Lord in true sovereignty and reverence. Now let’s look at a true example of tithing bringing great blessing. It deals with King Hezekiah’s provision for priests and Levites in olden Israel. Having set the work assignments for both groups, he then made provision for them to concentrate on their numerous duties without having to worry about food and shelter too. ‘Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of (due to) the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in (devote themselves to) the law of the Lord. And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps. In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps (lay them in heaps), and finished them in the seventh month. And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord, and his people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the Lord hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store (abundance).’ (1 Chr.31:4-10) Yes my people, the Lord is indeed faithful to all His promises! Now here’s some info from the scholars that I think is very important to us all. ‘Tithing is the practice of giving 10 percent of one’s income to the Lord. It is called “storehouse tithing” by some who require that the tithe be given to the Lord through the local church. Illustration: while some Christians disagree, the principle of “God’s place” for worship is the basis for storehouse tithing. (Deut.12) The temple in the Old Testament (1) was the central place characterized by God’s presence; (2) possessed the symbols of redemption; and (3) was where the man of God served. In the New Testament, these three attributes characterize the local church. Hence the principle of storehouse tithing continues into the church age. Application: Some people withhold their tithe from their local church because they disagree with its expenditure of funds. These Christians should join another church where they can wholeheartedly make their contributions in good conscience. Because our actual tithe belongs to the local church, giving to parachurch organizations should be in addition to the tithe. (First Ref, Gen.14:20; Primary Ref, Mal.3:10; cf. Matt.22:21) Ah Friends, I know that that will complicate some of our lives, including mine, but we’ll just have to step up to the plate as best we can. And please, let’s not beat ourselves to death if we’re guilty of not fully tithing. The Lord knows our circumstances and the state of our hearts, and once we do our best to repair the situation, He will still look down favourably on us. Remember His mercy and LOVING-kindness know no bounds. Now let’s allow Cousin Sol to take us home with some of his wise words on the topic. ‘Honour the Lord with thy substance (possessions), and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses (vats) shall burst out with new wine.’ (Prov.3:9-10) And that my Friends is the gospel, gospel truth! So let’s try and catch up as best we can nuh, starting NOW! Much LOVE!…give to Caesar…the things that belong to him…and to God…the things that belong to Him… (Matt.22:21) 
 
 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 April 2013 Malachi 3:10

03 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Malachi 3:10.    Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Oh Friends, it’s Wednesday morning and I am very unhappy because I just opened my mailbox and found it had all been changed to the foolish, stupid looking and very inconvenient Outlook nonsense. I don’t know who designs these sites, but as far as I’m concerned they should be shot! It’s a very poor use of space and I can’t move anything the way I want to or am accustomed to doing. But I guess we’re at the mercy of the owners of the websites, unless we want to pay for it, so as I keep saying we just have to grin and bear it. I now have to develop a whole new way of working or move to a different provider, which will just be like starting over again. Okay, I’ve had my rant (smile) but I’m still not happy, and since I know the Lord will provide a way, where there seems to be no way, let’s forget them and move on to our Bit. ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat (food) in mine house, and prove (test) me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’ Oh Friends, yesterday we saw where tithes first came into being; from Abram, to Jacob and then the official law through Moses. Today we’ll look at some more scripture dealing with that very contentious and controversial topic of tithes. First, let’s see how it cropped up in our Bit. The prophet Malachi was talking to his people about the approach of the day of judgement, (Mal.3:1-5) re who would survive it, and what the people needed to do to get on God’s right side. ‘Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein (in what way) shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. (Mal.3:7b-9) Then our Bit comes in, and the Lord continues. ‘And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field (fail to bear fruit), saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome (delightful) land, saith the Lord of hosts.’ (Mal.3:11-12) Now before we go any further, listen to the scholars on those verses (&-12). ‘These Israelites have done what no man should presume to attempt, namely, to defraud God in tithes and offerings. The payment of tithes and heave offerings was a recognition of their subjection to God and that He owned them and all that they had. To withhold the tithe is to renounce the sovereign authority of God and to be guilty of the same sin as Lucifer in the beginning. Pour you out a blessing: The blessings come not because God received His due portion, but because in giving the tithe the believers put themselves in the place of proper obedience and subjection to God. Tithing was clearly commanded in the Old Testament and served as the minimum standard for giving in the New Testament. See Matthew 6:1-4 in the Sermon on the Mount, where true spirituality exceeds the outward demands of the Law.’ Wow! What challenging words! Now here’s the billion dollar question my people. Having taken all that’s been said above, both by the scholars and the Good Book, can the fact that our land is not delightsome today be because of our robbing God, like the Israelites did way back then? Can it be because we’re not giving Him His rightful due, what’s lawfully His, that our countries and our world are plagued by such wide scale negativity and disasters, from economic to physical and spiritual? I want to strongly suggest that there is a direct correlation between our dealing with God and the sad state of our world. How can turning away from Him and desperately trying to eradicate Him from our society and our consciences not have a negative effect on us eh? As He says earlier: ‘For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.’ (Mal.3:6-7a) And that’s the undeniable truth my brethren! So the logic here is really simple: If we want to have true prosperity, then we have to return to sincerely and diligently worshipping Almighty God, the Creator of the universe and all therein, paying whatever He requires of us from whatever He allows us to have. End of story Friends! If we continue with our current foolish attitude of ignoring God and trying to remove Him from our society, then we’re simply going to continue paying a serious and hefty price for that disobedience. Remember Friends, our God doesn’t change, neither do His laws. So basically all the stuff in the Good Book still pertains to us today, and we’ll be well advised to return to Him, rather than trying to get away from Him. That, my people, is wisdom at its very zenith. More on this tithing subject tomorrow, God in favour. Till then, please let’s all consider our situations, re our personal relationships with God and fellow believers, and try our best to work for a speedy return to worshipping and serving the Most High God Jehovah in truth and deed, per the LOVE Revolution, so that all may be well with our societies and our world, as true wisdom dictates. Much LOVE!…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…else He will certainly feel…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 April 2013 Malachi 3:10

02 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Malachi 3:10.    Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
 
Oh Friends, on this Resurrection Tuesday morning, the ole fella’s coming out shouting: ‘I, I am blessed. I want to tell the world, that I, I am blessed!’ 
The man Melo G sings that song, and says that if you have a roof over your head, shoes on your feet, clothes on your back and food on your table, then you’re indeed blessed. And mih people, I have all those things, therefore I must be blessed! Most of us also have them all, that means you too are blessed! So we can all sing: ‘We, we are blessed. Let’s tell the world that we, we are blessed!’ And that’s the gospel truth Friends! So please don’t forget it. When things aren’t looking so good, remember that we’re more blessed than 90 percent of the world, and that 90 percent will very gladly take what we have and be exceedingly grateful. Now here’s a most pertinent quote for this time of year, attributed to the famous American Poet, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). It says: ‘Spring is a happiness so beautiful, so unique, so unexpected, that I don’t know what to do with my heart.’ And that’s oh so true! Those of you who have never experienced the deadness and deadliness of winter, won’t be able to understand the depth of emotion that spring brings. It’s such a refreshing joy, such newness of life, with everything growing, just springing up, being alive again, the air filled with all the beautiful sights, sounds and smells of a renewed, resurrected Mother Nature. It’s just like this season of Easter, with Jesus rising triumphantly from the grave after a winter in Hades. (smile) Now let’s turn to our Bit: ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat (food) in mine house, and prove (test) me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’ Ah Friends, though our Bit has been in existence for donkey’s years (smile), it still causes serious contention even to this day. The first mention of tithes is when Melchizedek the king of Salem blessed Abraham, when he was still Abram, after he’d fought off the heathen kings who had besieged Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding area. (Gen.14:1-16)  ‘And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes (a tenth) of all.’ (Gen.14:18-20) And since this is such a misunderstood subject, I guess we should include some explanation on that scripture from the scholars. ‘Melchizedek king of Salem probably was not a theophany (a visible manifestation to human kind of God or a god, or simply the appearance of God) but an actual king of Jerusalem or Salem (cf.Ps.76:2). He typifies Christ and His priesthood according to Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 7. He is a priest of the most high God. It is interesting to note believers besides Abram and his descendants in this limited account (chs.12-50). He gave him tithes of all: Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek, indicating Melchizedek’s superior priesthood, since Levi (Israel’s high priest) was considered to be in the body (seminally) of Abram when he paid tithes to Melchizedek (Heb.7:9-10).’ But the whole tithe scene seems to have really unfolded when the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel and blessed him, and he in return promised: ‘And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth (a tithe) unto thee.’ (Gen.28:20-22) And we all know how the Lord blessed Jacob after that, with much goods and many offspring and changed his name to Israel, from whom the many (12) tribes of Israel were descended. Later on, for those same 12 tribes of Israel, it became an unchangeable edict in the laws Moses gave to the Israelites from God. ‘And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy: it shall not be redeemed.’ (Lev.27:30-33) Oh fellow believers in Christ, yuh see how adamant the Lord was about the givings of His people! And the scholars’ have a good explanation to all of that. ‘The tithe, comprising 10 percent of all the produce, is regarded as the offering due from the people to the true owner of the land (God) (25:23). If the tithe were to be redeemed, the normal 20 percent premium was to be paid to the priests. This chapter points out that holiness is more than a matter of divine call and correct ritual. It actually requires the total consecration of a man’s life to God’s service. It involves giving oneself, one’s family and all of one’s possessions to God.’ And isn’t that the living truth my brethren? It sure is! It’s also interesting that the law dictated if you try to redeem your tithe, you have to pay a 20 percent premium. It’s just like our mortgages or most contracts we sign today; (smile) we have to pay extra to get out of them early, or just to get out of them period. Oh my people, our God doesn’t want merely a part of us, the part that we find it most convenient to give, but He wants ALL of us! And so it should rightfully be, because He’s our Creator, our Provider, our Protector and our Saviour. In fact He determines EVERYTHING about our lives! That means we can’t just be part-time believers and followers as so many of us seem to think and try to be. Anyway Friends, time and space are upon us, so we’ll end here for today, and continue tomorrow with this most interesting and very controversial topic, with the Lord’s consent of course. But believe me, it’s a tried and true formula! Till tomorrow then. In the meantime, please, let’s ponder our personal situation re tithes, and see how we match up to it, and try to match up as best we can. Remember we can’t fool our omnipotent, omniscient, omni-present God. Much LOVE!…the Lord knows our substance…and blesses us in proportion to our giving to His holy church… P.S. Oh Friends, please excuse the lateness of the Bit. It’s long but very informative and I spent more time editing it than I’d intended to. Plus I had to run outside just now and put out the garbage, since I heard the garbage truck tooling around in the neighbourhood. But lo and behold, what do you think greeted me out there; snow flurries. Hn! And this is supposed to be the third week of spring. But them’s the breaks! We just have to grin and bear it, while rolling with the punches. (smile) Much LOVE!