II Corinthians 8:1-5 NKJV
“Moreover,
brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches
of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their
liberality.
For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and
beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much
urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship
of the ministering to the saints.
And not only as we had hoped, but
they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of
God.”
It is obvious to me and maybe to some others like me, that God does not accept every offering or gift given to Him.
God is not pleased with everything we bring to Him and the reasons are obvious. Our text offers us some of those reasons, and they are as follows:
-God wants you to first give yourself to Him:
God is more interested in your heart than in anything that is in your hand. When a man's heart has been given to God, his gifts to God will be quality gift, and it will come with a lot of worship.
As a matter of fact, Abraham told his servants that he would go yonder and worship with the lad, which was actually to offer Isaac as an offering to God.
Your offering will never be a worship to God when He doesn't first have your heart.
-Paul said they also gave themselves to the apostles:
He said "they gave themselves to us". They were willing to obey all they were instructed to do by the servants of God.
To live in distrust and rebellion against your pastors is a huge disadvantage to your life of prosperity, and this could cause God to disregard your giving.
He had said "believe in the Lord and you will be established, believe in His prophets so shall you prosper". (2Chronicles 20:20).
If you are the kind of person who has any form of disdain for servants of God because of a few bad ones you may have heard of, then you have been trapped by the enemy, never to be blessed through God's vessels.
Regardless of what some men of God have done, God has chosen to still use men nonetheless to do his work.
So, respect that and still open up to be blessed through servants of God. All you will need to do is to learn to sharpen your discernment.
God will send instructions through His servants that will bring you prosperity. However, you must have yielded yourself to these servants of God as you may have been led by His Spirit, so that you can possess all you require to fulfill destiny in Jesus Name.
Assignment
i) Give your life and heart to Jesus today.
ii) Vow to live in absolute obedience to Him (His word and His Spirit).
iii) Determine to submit and obey the ministers He has set over you.
Prayer
-Turn each assignment to a prayer point today.
Nugget
To live in distrust and rebellion against your pastors is a huge disadvantage to your life of prosperity.
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