
God does not NEED us to give Him anything. But the way mankind was designed, WE NEED to worship. Everyone worships something or someone. Many years ago, my idol was sports. Do you know how you could tell? It was because I sacrificed my life (time, money, blood, sweat and tears) for it. Candidly, I was trying to fill a hole that only God could fill.
I challenge you, go through the Bible and count how many times whenever people approached God, they prayed, they interceded or asked God for help, that they brought and offering. The number of times is HUGE.
You can tell what someone worships because that will be their treasure. Jesus said in Luke 12:34 that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. How do you measure treasure today? Time and money! You can tell what you worship by counting where you spend your time and money. You can tell what the priority of your heart is.
Today you can tell what we worship just by looking at where we spend out time and our money compared to other things. We don't give because we have to anymore either. We do so because we want to. We do so out of love and gratitude for our heavenly Father. We also worship with wisdom. What I mean by that is, we understand how God's kingdom works. There are four basic categories of giving and there is a covenant promise associated with each one.
This morning when I woke, I heard the Lord encourage me to give you (those who receive our newsletter) an opportunity to worship Him. Why? Because we are a pure altar. Jesus teaches us in Matthew 23 how important a pure altar is. It is one of the keys to the covenant being kept. 1 Kings 13 illustrate how when people worship at an impure altar, they worshipper also partakes of the impurity. A pure altar will not operate in greed, manipulation, permit habitual sin nor exercise poor stewardship.
Here's the truth. KLI does not need your money or your stuff. But you need to worship, and we are a pure altar. That's a blessing to the giver. There are three things we encourage everyone to practice when worshipping through your giving. First, follow the pattern established in Deuteronomy where six times we find this concept. We are to take our tithes and offerings where "God chooses to make His name abide." So, the first criteria is that you ask our heavenly Father. Where does He want you to bring your tithe, firstfruit or offering?
I teach our ministers that it is our sacred duty to follow the pattern Jesus modeled in Hebrews 7. Like a priest, we receive the tithe/offering and then we also worship with it. Then we make intercession for the giver. In doing so, we enter the courtroom of heaven upon behalf of the sower and worship. When we do we bring that family before the Lord and if it is a tithe, we declare it and then proclaim the windows of heaven opened and that God would rebuke the devourer. If it is a firstfruit, offering or alms we proclaim the covenant promise associated with each form of giving. You see, the giver has a voice, the gift has a voice and the minister who brings that offering once again before the Lord has a voice.
Have you ever read Deuteronomy 26:12-15? We find a principle. The principle is this, when you have given your tithe or offering where God told you, THEN YOU SHALL SAY before the Lord, "I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel (insert your name here) and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, "a land flowing with milk and honey."'
The scripture teaches us that in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established. In this way the giver testifies, the gift testifies, and the minister testifies in heaven. This releases God's word on the earth to on behalf of the worshipper. Isaiah 55:11 says God's word shall go forth and accomplish all that He sent it to do. That's what we expect God's word to do upon your behalf.
With these things in mind, I would like to invite you to pray and obey. Do whatever He says. For those of you who are on our newsletter list, I'd like to invite you to ask our Father if it would please Him for you to sow an offering at the KLI altar.
Recognize that when you do, remember that you become a partaker, a fellow workers and share in the work we do through our ministers in cities, states and nations, even persecuted nations around the world. With that in mind, if you appreciate this ministry and what we do then, I'd like to invite you to pray and obey. Ask our heavenly Father where it would please Him for you to worship. If you are led to sow an offering here, then click here to worship.
Remember that when you do, you become a partner with the altar God showed you to give into. You will share in the fruit and rewards produced through that altar. So, if you are led to sow, I want to encourage you to exercise your faith and review Deuteronomy 26:12-15 and speak those words before the Lord, only replace your family name where it says Israel.