Passing The Test

 Gen. 22:1,2
God tested Abraham…And He said, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

The scripture application to this passage is one of full surrender to God. A willingness to give up what you love dearly to serve God. I certainly don’t claim to understand the mind of God in this requirement. Yes, this was a test to see if Abraham was completely sold out to mind God, but on the other hand, I can see why some would question God’s requirement to have Abram kill his firstborn. In our day, if someone did this, they would be charged with murder and sent to prison for life, or given the death penalty, regardless of their religious beliefs. This subject, no doubt, has been debated and discussed for centuries, so I am not even going to attempt to explain this paradox. 
Looking at it at face value and deeper meaning, this is also prophetic in that God was willing to give His only-begotten Son. This same God, who commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son on the altar, sent His Son to earth, to live among us and sacrifice His life to save ours. 
As we walk with God, we are faced with many trials, tribulations, and tests. Trials and tribulations are given to all who walk this life, but tests are given to see what we are made of. Test of character, test of integrity, test of loyalty, and test of faithfulness are all given for the purpose of bringing glory to God. In our day, God has spoken through His word. When we hear the voice of God, it will not go contrary to His word. We need to test the spirits to see if they are of God. God grants us the wisdom to discern His voice and the strength to pass the test He sends our way.
 

Giving Back

1 Chron 29:14, 17 “..For all things come from Thee, and from Thine own have we given Thee… As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things;..”

Hold loosely to the things of this world. We came into this world with nothing and we will leave it with nothing. From dust we came and to dust we will return. God has made us stewards of what we have. He has blessed us with life and strength to provide food and shelter. The things we have will fade away with time and only that done for Christ will last when this life fades away.  The things we have are given to us by God, He is our great provider. We take what He has provided and the desire of our hearts is to give all things back to Him. We consecrate our life to Him in full surrender to all we have. It is more than just giving back the temporal things of this world, but the greatest offer we can give Him is the offering of our life. He blesses us in many ways, and my heart is grateful and willing to give back to Him anything He desires. 

With A Great Heart

Mark 14:6, 8a  And Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on Me…She hath done what she could;…”

Everyone has limits on what they are able to do. We all have expectations of ourselves and others. We measure what can be done by our abilities and our willingness. God sees our willingness to serve and then gives us the help we need to fulfill His will. Our limitations are caused by many things that are beyond our control. God does not see what great things we have done, but the great heart we do it with. A great heart will give it their best and leave the rest to God. The attitude of a heart for God is to give all we have to Him. He will take what we give Him and multiply it hundred fold according to His will. Jesus desires that we just do what we can do, and then believe Him to tell the rest of the story.

Serving Him

Num 4:24 “This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve and to bear burdens.”-

The service we give to God is not measured by what it is, but by our willingness to do it. God calls all that follow Him to serve in some way. Each according to his or her’s ability. It is our human tendency to rank the importance of service. We tend to think that those who service in direct full-time ministry have more important jobs to do. The calling of God to ministry is a great calling and should never be minimize, but God calls everyone to service and all service has a place and is important in the building of God’s Kingdom.  The Gershonites were given the grave responsibility to do the work of the tabernacle. Their job was manual labor, and it was ordained and order by God. There is no higher calling given to man, than to do the work that God calls him to do. There are no big “I” and little “I” in building His church. We all have a part to carry and He is pleased when we carry out the work with a cheerful heart. Our attitude toward our work and how we do it is a measure of our love and service to Him.