| | Dear friends, i hope you will allow me to share some thoughts on 'Gifts' however it seems sad that this site should be neglected of interest ... so i hope that those of you number will feel exercised to use that gift which He has given.
When Moses was planning the building of the tabernacle durig the wilderness journeyhe had very specific instructions direct from God himself.
In order to fulfil these it was necessary that Moses should draw on the resources of he people who accompanied him.
The help they were asked to give had to be given voluntary, there was no compunction and no complaint against any who failed to give.
Not all were able to give the same and the amount given was dependent on the personal resources of the giver and the willingness of his/her heart.
The Gifts were brought b both men and women and comprised to a large extent of the materials available to them.
Those who gave were described as willing hearts; wise hearts;and hearts that were stirred up.
Furthermore, in the end the people gave too much and had to be restrained from giving any more!
clearly teir hearts were willing wise stirred up and overflowing.
1. Giving Myself; Before anything else god requires me to give mysel to Him.'Give me thine heart' is still the devine command and we recall the New Testament believers who first gave their own selves before contributing other things.
Believers are of course no longer their own; they hae been bought with a price and the outcome of that is that they must glorify God in their mortal bodies.
There are many demands on an individual today, but as a believer we need to give ourselves to the Lord.
Paul advised Timothy in connection with devine thngs, 'Give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all.
As we recognise the cost of our redemption we should be willing to put the Lord first. It is wise to do so becuse with Him in the preeminent position everything else will fall into line.
Thus consecrated our hearts will be stirred up within us and will overflow as wew lay ourselves at his disposal.
2. Worship; Another thing that God requires from the believer is worship. Worship is our moving towards God prompted by His love and guided by His Spirit. Worship may be offered publically,or privately, communally or individually, and again the four heart conditions outlined will influence this.
Firstly,we must have willng hearts.Worship is not enforced against the will; but believers readily come together to worship and with preparation of heart towards God in love, to His glory.
In Worship the heart must not only be willing, but also wise. This is so whether in public or private worship.
There are some things that may be acceptable in other circumstances,but which in worship of a holy God are unsuitable. Wisdom in adressing the Father and the Son is learned by the Holy Spirit and excludes everythng which is of man.
If we are to be successful in allocating our time, so God is not robbed, we must have willing hearts.
there must be a determination on our part not only to give God the time we have left over at the end of the day, if any, but to make time for Him.
The hymnwriter was aware of this when he penned the words ' Tak time to be holy, the world rushes on; spend much time with Jesus alone!
So too the allocation of our time must be done wisely. We must not neglect our job, family, nor health; but then there are some 9000 hours available each year and a lot can be achieved if we give only a small proportion of this.The more time we give the more we will want to give. We will be stirred up and as we joy in the time spent for God so our desie to give Him more will increase.
Time cannot be recalled. once gone it is gone forever. Let us not waste this precious commodity given to us by grace but dedicate as much as we can back to God who gave it.
Giving Money; Money is hard earned and once we have it we may find that we are reluctant to part with it, or at least what we do spend is normally on our needs and pleasures.there is basically nothing wrong with this.
Each person should work (notwishing to get into the political arena on this subject) to provide for himself and those of his house,but it is wrong to neglect God in this.
A proper assessment of money will help me in this respect I need o be aware that it is possible to be rich and yet have nothing; that riches can take to themselves wings and fly away.
Also that the love of money is the root of all evil. i must realise that all I have has been loaned to me by God.
The amazing thing about giving of our means is tat we find that what we give finds its way back to us.
This experience stirrs up the heart and encourages exercise inpractical affairs. so we should determine to give to the Lord and His work in a willing, wise, enthusiastic and unrestrained way.
Conclusions; 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' says the Bible.
there is much that we have available, either - to give or waste. Our worship, our time, our money and out on selvesare all invaluable to God. Let us give these thing wisely, and freely to the Glory of God. I hope as you consider God's gift to the World His Son that as Christians we might consider our response.... i appologise for taking up so much web space..
. this might start up a new thread.
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