God – Page 11 – I AM for You!

Putting God to the test?

Malachi 3 NIV

6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse —the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit, ” says the LORD Almighty.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

Until you experience the blessing God gives in response to tithing you may be reluctant to give God back His ten percent of what He gives you. At least that’s what I think my sons are experiencing.

Several years ago I challenged my older son when he was about 12 years old, to test God and see what God would do if my son tithed. My son tithed seven dollars and we watched what God would do. God said to test Him in this and so we did. Within a few days I was given four free tickets to a first run major kids’ movie. God blessed not only my son, but his brother and mom and dad.

I didn’t stick with teaching this to my son and now, ten years later, my son is not interested in tithing. I don’t plan on giving up on teaching him and his younger brother though. My wife and I are going to double tithe and ask God to bless my wife and I doubly (so that we doubly don’t have enough room for it) so that my sons will see that God can be tested and also see that God comes through on His promises. This test will be for the month of September 2013. I will report back with developments.

Let’s change the world

Deuteronomy 8 (NIV)

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,
13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,
14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.
16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.
17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”
18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Though my university selectively showed me facts that imply otherwise, I believe our nation was founded on Jesus and the Gospel. (Other faiths enjoyed freedom of expression, and that is attributable to the characteristic of being a predominately Christian country). Because Jesus permeated the new culture, God blessed this nation just as He blessed Israel when Israel obeyed God. However, God did not spare Israel, His “treasured possession”, when they did not obey Him. He sent droughts, floods. storms, and lastly, invading armies, to get their attention.

The parallels to what has been happening to the USA is striking. America has suffered droughts, floods and storms in increasingly greater severity. Why? I believe because America has gone far from God and God is trying to get our attention.

God has a great heart for justice for the oppressed, for the helpless.

Racism causes great injustice: educationally, socially and economically.

Abortion literally chops up helpless living babies and sends them to the garbage.

And our money driven culture doesn’t care.

For a few brief moments American’s priorities were exposed by 9/11. We suddenly saw that ball players were not the heroes that the commercial culture makes them out to be. The real heroes were firefighters, police officers, and military personnel; and the countless ordinary citizens who have also sacrificed themselves by helping others. Churches saw many new faces…briefly. President George W. Bush said that the rest of America moved on from 9/11 but that he stayed there. I wish all of America would have stayed there long enough to pay attention to God.

God said to Israel that if they obeyed Him they would be the head and foreigners would be the tail. And if they did not obey Him foreigners would be the head and Israel would be the tail. Similarly, hasn’t our own economic health paralleled our moral decline since the 1960’s? We used to lend to other nations. Now we are in massive debt to other nations. And the debtor is servant to the lender.

What is next for God to use to get our attention? As terrible as 9/11 was, it only woke up America for a few weeks, a few months at best. Since then it has been no different than before. When Israel refused to acknowledge the One that won their wars and gave them freedom from their enemies, God stopped helping them. In time of war after 9/11 our nation prayed. And we saw God help us using technology. If we do not acknowledge the One who loves us and protects us, all our technology will be useless.

You may be asking, what can we do, the problems are so big and I am just one person? God says one person praying is like a thousand and two like ten thousand. Let’s ask God to first change us and offer ourselves to Him each day to do whatever He asks. Then let Him lead us. Margaret Mead is attributed as saying, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”.

Practice what I preach?

The Pharisees, religious and political leaders of Jesus time, failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah their beloved Moses talked about. This was because they did not believe or obey the Scripture they had memorized and talked about each Sabbath. They were, as Jesus pointed out to them, hypocrites.

What does that mean for me? It is easier to write about Jesus than it is to actually follow Him. I get convicted while I type the words to some of these posts. How much time do I spend in meaningful conversation each day with my wife? with each of my sons? Do I give my best at church? at work?

I realize that I need to let Jesus order my world, let Him set the priorities and manage my schedule. And I do that by obeying Him when He nudges me to set the computer aside and listen to my family. Jesus will give me the time to write, that is not the problem. The problem is that I not use my family’s time as writing time and crowd out what is more important. My family, my church, and my work come first. In that order.

I believe this struggle of priorities will be ongoing. I also believe that by putting into practice what I already know to be true from the Bible, the way will get clearer, if not easier. And by relying on the Holy Spirit, to guide and empower me, the end result will be the balance that God is looking for from me.

Please feel free to hold me accountable to this.

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