Prayer Week 3: First Fruits

The year after I graduated from college, I decided to begin the year with an hour of prayer every morning through Easter. I got up earlier every day so that I could spend those first minutes with God, and while I am not a morning person, it was a wonderful time that I relished, and I believe that it helped to deliver me from a spirit of depression that I had battled most of my life.

 

Mark 1:35 New American Standard Bible 1995

In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.

Leviticus 2:12 New American Standard Bible 1995

As an offering of first fruits you shall bring them to the Lord, but they shall not ascend for a soothing aroma on the altar.

As part of their sacrificial system, the Israelites were to bring the first fruits, or the very first part of their harvest whatever it may be, to God. This is quite possibly why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and Cain’s was rejected. When tithing, it is important to write that check first. Jesus saw the importance of spending time with God regularly and promptly. It makes a great start to the day to begin it with Him. It not only helps to start the day off right, but I believe that it puts a sort of blessing on the day if we willing devote that first part to God as an offering of first fruits. As evidence in my experience with prayer, amazing things happen when we give God the first part of what we get.

 

For the next week, spend the first 30 minutes in prayer. Get up earlier if you need to. Give God your first fruits and see what blessings flow from it.

Prayer points taken from Praying Through Adversity by Jennifer Kennedy Dean.

Bloodguiltiness: Lent week 2

In our preparation for Resurrection Sunday last week we considered dust, what we have come from and what we will return to. Apart from God that is all we are. God breathed life into us. He sustains us. He gives us all we have and makes us all we are. Of ourselves, we are nothing.

 

But that life He gave us is not enough. He breathed life into mankind at creation, but we fell back into death through sin. Though alive physically, we all begin life dead spiritually. Sin separates us from God. It is only by His sacrifice on the cross that we can gain spiritual life. In 40 days, we will celebrate that sacrifice, Christ’s victory on the cross to defeat our sin and His resurrection to give us eternal life. Take some time to read Psalm 51.

 

Psalm 51 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings.
Wash me thoroughly from my guilt
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my wrongdoings,
And my sin is constantly before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in guilt,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in secret You will make wisdom known to me.
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
Cleanse me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones You have broken rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins
And wipe out all my guilty deeds.

Create in me a clean heart, God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach wrongdoers Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips,
So that my mouth may declare Your praise.
For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, God, You will not despise.

By Your favor do good to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

 

Ask God to draw your attention to sins which are preventing you from having the life of His fullness. Ask Him to reveal to you sins you may not be aware of.

 

Psalm 139:23-24 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Search me, God, and know my heart;
Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there is any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

 

Take some time to write down what God has revealed to you, sins you have been ignoring, denying or even harboring. Be open to God’s revelation and prompting throughout the week. Keep them on a piece of paper in your Bible or some place safe until next week.

Is the Law for Us?

Many modern Christians reject the Old Testament as necessary scripture, saying we are no longer under the Law so we don’t need to obey it. They even go so far as to say that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. What is true? If we are not saved by the Law, does it really apply to us? Do we need the Old Testament?

What Kind of Sacrifices Do You Make?

painting courtesy of zatletic/bigstock.com

Offering sacrifices is something we tend to relate to the Old Testament where God commanded the Israelites to offer certain sacrifices for certain situations and feasts. In that sense, it is something which ended when Jesus died on the cross, paying the ultimate sacrifice and permanently ending the need to offer sacrifices for sin. If that is the case, wouldn’t offering sacrifices now be unnecessary and even idolatry?

Love Above And Beyond The Call Of Duty

The phrase “above and beyond the call of duty” invokes the image of soldiers giving their lives to save others in battle, a fireman rushing into a burning building to save a child, even an employee who works far beyond their pay grade. The idea is noble, and generally one of selflessness, but it is rarely connected with love. Maybe we expect that kind of sacrificial action from love, or perhaps love is just something we take for granted. But the greatest act of love is also an action that went farther above and beyond than any other.

True Virtue: Love

“Hey, what’s so important? Whacha got that’s worth living for?

True love.

Did you hear that? You could not ask for a more noble cause than that.

Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world…”

“And wove, twue wove, will follow you foweve.”

 

The idea of true love is rampant in our ideology. Every girl dreams of a fairytale romance where Prince Charming comes to her rescue and they live a life of bliss. But real life rarely (if ever) happens that way. Is the reason because she didn’t find the right person? Or is there another explanation?

Have You Partaken of His Flesh and Blood?

Every church practices it a little differently, but all evangelical Christian churches (and many others) offer communion at some point. Whether your church has the traditional cracker and ½ oz communion cup, or the less formal loaf to dip in a cup, I’m sure you have seen and even participated in communion, and have probably heard the traditional passages read aloud, either from the gospels when Jesus gave the Last Supper or from 1 Corinthians where Paul describes how to take communion. Each passage talks about Christ’s body and blood, but obviously you don’t eat real flesh and blood, so what does that mean? Do you really have to “partake of His flesh and blood”? 

Have You Been Passed Over?

All was still. Darkness covered the land far beyond any mere physical absence of light. There was a silence, a tension, a waiting. Everything was poised in apprehension. A battle between two great powers, wrestling for control, stood in checkmate. Who would win? What would happen next? Suddenly, just after midnight, there arose a cry, a great wailing. Sorrow and terror covered the land as those belonging to one power were stripped of their first born. In every family on that side there was loss. But those on the other side were passed over.

What About Love

The concept of love has changed in the past years to the point that many now, even churches, do not know what love really is. When you say love, people think of romance and fluffy feelings. It has become something that you cannot control, it just happens, and as a result comes and goes at its own will seemingly. But is that biblical?