God wants our firstfruits offering

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid; don’t give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai. I will help you defeat the king of Ai. I am giving you his people, his city, and his land. You will do to Ai and its king the same thing you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you can take all the wealth and animals and keep it for yourselves. You will share the wealth with your people. Now, tell some of your soldiers to hide behind the city.”

Joshua 8:1-2 (ERV)

Last week, we learnt that when Achan brought the accursed things from Jericho, it brought a curse into the camp therefore the Children of Israel could not stand up against their enemies because God did not go out to battle with them.

In today’s Scripture, God was instructing Joshua on how to defeat Ai however, His commands this time was different. God told Joshua that this time when they defeat Ai, he was to share the wealth with the people. You will recall that for Jericho God wanted them to give Him everything which is why He instructed them not to keep anything for themselves.

You see, Jericho was the first city that they conquered and God had already instructed the Children of Israel that the first of everything, including their children belongs to Him (Exodus 13:12 / Leviticus 23:9-14). The Bible tells us that we should honour God with the firstfruits, or the best, of all our increase:

Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

(Proverbs 3:9-10).

God Himself gave us His very best in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, who became our firstfruits offering when He died and was the first to be raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:23).

This story from Joshua shows that God wants us to give Him the very best of everything.

How can we honour God with our firstfruits offering?

We can give God the very best in the following areas:

1. Grateful heart

We can honour God by having a grateful heart and giving Him thanks for all that He has done for us:

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20)

2. Time

Time is a precious commodity that we cannot get back once it is lost. We can give God the best part of our time by spending time in His presence. Jesus says He is standing at the door of our heart and is knocking. If we will hear His voice and open the door, He will come in and dine with us (Revelation 3:20). We are also told that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).

3. Prayer

Prayer is basically talking to God and Him talking back to you. It is so powerful that it is described as an incense that goes up to the Throne room of God in Heaven (Psalm 141:2 / Revelation 8:4). We are told to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Throughout history, men and woman who have been used by God powerfully all understood the power of prayer. Martin Luther, the German theologian whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation, is quoted as saying:

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” – Martin Luther

4. Possessions

We can honour God by giving Him the best of our substance, whatever that may be, whether it is money, cars, houses, clothes, grain harvest etc. What matters is that we give it willingly with a grateful heart:

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver

(2 Corinthians 9:7)

One way we can give to God is to give to the poor because we are told that when we give to the poor we are lending to God (Proverbs 19:17).

5. Talent

In the parable of the talent, we learn that the servant who was given five talents and doubled it was given the talent of the servant who was only given the one talent who because of fear buried his talent (Matthew 25:14-30). This story shows that it honours God when we use and develop all the talents and gifts that He has given us.

 

Prayer

Dear Father, today I surrender my life to You. I choose to honour You with the best of everything I have. I thank You for the talents and gifts and potential that You have placed inside of me. Dear Lord, please give me wisdom to discover and to use them for Your glory in Jesus name, amen.

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Your views

I would love to hear from you on which other ways we can give God our best. Please share your thoughts.

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Hallmarks of Great Leaders: Part 2

So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?

Joshua 7:10 (NKJV)

After the capture of Jericho, Joshua, the leader of Israel, sent men from Jericho to Ai to spy it out. The men returned to Joshua and advised him to only send about two or three thousand men to attack Ai, because in their estimation the people of Ai were few.

So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they were soundly beaten by their enemies. The men of Ai chased them and struck them down and about thirty-six of them died. The hearts of the people melted and became like water.

Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord until evening, and he and the elders of Israel put dust on their heads.

Joshua then asked the Lord whether He had brought them from Jordan to deliver them into the hand of their enemies to destroy them.

In response the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?” (Joshua 7:10). God told Joshua that Israel had sinned, and they had also disobeyed His commands by taking things that were accursed. This, He said is why the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because sin had made them to become doomed to destruction. Furthermore God said He will not be with them anymore unless they destroyed the accursed things.

In obedience to God’s instructions, Joshua told the people to sanctify themselves and to gather themselves together in the morning so that God will reveal the person responsible for the sin.

So the next morning all the people gathered according to their tribes. From the tribe of Judah, Achan was taken and identified as the man responsible for Israel’s defeat by bringing the accursed things into the camp.

So Joshua spoke to Achan and told him to confess and reveal where he had hidden the accursed objects. Joshua then sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and took all the things and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.

Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger.

Under the Old Covenant, this is how Joshua as the leader dealt with rebellion in the camp. Thank God for Jesus that we are no longer living under the law but under grace. Like Achan, we too were accursed and were doomed for destruction because of our fallen sinful nature however Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God came to die for us and He became a curse so that we might obtain the blessing:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:13-14

What important lessons can we learn from this story about leadership?

1. A leader must ask questions

When things did not go as expected, Joshua asked God what was going on and why things had gone wrong. There is always a root cause and leaders must ask questions to find out why things have not gone as expected.

2. A leader must act on God’s instructions

After God told Joshua the reason for the defeat He told him to get up and put things into order and Joshua obeyed the instructions of God without delay. Once a problem has been analysed, leaders must have the courage to act on their findings and especially on the instructions given by God.

3. A leader must seek their advice from God

If you read Joshua 7 you will realise that Joshua sent spies to spy out Ai and he listened to their recommendations about how best to capture this city however he failed to ask God for advice on how to capture Ai. If He had consulted God, God could have informed him that there was sin in the camp and that He will not be going into battle with him.

God says you will find Him when you search for Him with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). God doesn’t just volunteer information but He will answer if you ask (Matthew 7:7).

4. A leader must avoid complacency

Joshua had fame as a result of the victory of Jericho therefore it is possible that he had become complacent and assumed that he will experience the same victory in Ai. This shows that no matter how successful you become as a leader you must avoid complacency and still seek the face of God.

There are more lessons to be learned about leadership from the book of Joshua so stay tuned for ‘Hallmarks of Great Leaders: Part 3’.

Prayer

Dear Father, I commit all that You have placed me in charge of into Your Hands. Please give me wisdom concerning my family, health, career, finances, business, ministry, academics and every area of my life and help me to act on what You have told me in Jesus name, amen.

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