Making God 1st in our lives

Proverbs 3:9-10 [9] "Honor the Lord from your wealth, and from the first of all your produce; [10] so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine."

Paying God first results in His blessing. When you receive your income, it is essential that God be paid first. This is us giving Him our first fruits. If we give God His whole tithe first before paying our bills then He blesses our finances. To pay all of our bills and give God whatever we want that is left over is not putting Him first nor do we honor Him by acting this way.

Malachi 3:8-12 [8] "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. [9] You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! [10] Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing until it overflows. [11] Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the Lord of hosts. [12] And all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the Lord of hosts."

It is by honoring God and being obedient to His word that receive His blessing on our endeavors.

We should always be praising and thanking God, whether we be in good times or bad. No matter what, we should always be thanking and praising God for His lovingkindness, His truth, His word, and His faithfulness.

Psalm 34:1-4 [1] “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. [2] My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear it and rejoice. [3] O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. [4] I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

Psalm 34:1 says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

God in His desire for us to keep Him first Him came up with some ordained festivals for us to observe. Three times a year, God commands that special feasts be observed. The reason for these feasts is to give thanks to God for all of His blessings. We acknowledge it is because of His blessing that we are successful and prosperous. God says that when we appear before Him, we are not to appear empty-handed because we are to give Him a gift from all of our success. He also commands us to rejoice before Him and be joyful for all that He has done.

Deuteronomy chapter 16 in its entirety goes into much more detail regarding the three feasts that God commands be observed.

Deuteronomy 16:16-17

[16] “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. [17] Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you."

In order to receive the fullness of the blessings of God and be successful, we have to honor Him with offerings, praise and thanksgiving as He has commanded and instructed us to do.

Those of us who are financially able to go to Jerusalem and celebrate should go. Those of us who are not able to go should still celebrate the feasts at home, giving God gifts however one can according to all that He has given to us.

The three feasts begin with Passover which typically starts in the middle of April, the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot which is in the beginning of June, and the Feast of Booths or Sukkot which is in October. We have to pay attention to the Jewish calendar as the dates vary from the Gregorian calendar which is used by the majority of the world.

In America, we observe Thanksgiving, the fourth of July, and several other man-made holidays. How much more so should we observe the holidays that are commanded by God in His law.

When God says have a feast in remembrance of Me and rejoice before Me, we should obey Him. Its a feast of thanksgiving and rejoicing for all that God has blessed us with. To disregard God’s ordained feasts is disobedience and lawlessness. The feasts are for our good to remind us that it is because of God and His blessing that we are prosperous and successful.

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Until next time, keep Christ first, and may God bless you.