Tithing and offerings is the key to victorious life!

   

Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvrz7sTEWEI

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

      2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

     Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile. 

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.          **Sing a song to praise the Lord

      

     Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method) 

      https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

**Please click this link to read how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Today's Time with Abba:  Psalm 150:1-6; Malachi 3:1-4:6; Revelation 22:1-21; Proverbs 31:25-31

Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

Key passages:

6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors 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 mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—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 there will not be room enough to store it.11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.   

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”                                                                                                                                                                                 Malachi 3:6-12; 4:5-6

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passages we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.

The topic I received today from Jesus is:  Tithing and offerings is the key to victorious life!

Chapter 3 consists of part of the fourth oracle(2:17-3:6), the fifth(3:7-12) and the sixth, the last one(3: 13-18).

This chapter starts with Malachi's prophecy that the Messiah they were waiting for would certainly come.  Before that, God would send a messenger to prepare the way.  Malachi then challenged the Jewish community to repent and return to following the Lord. 

God's children were robbing God by failing to bring Him their tithes(one-tenth of what they have). God's law required tithing (Lev. 27:30) as a means of honoring God and providing for those who served in ministry.

If they changed their attitude, admitted their sin, turned from their own way and return to following God, God would restore His blessing to the people. The final oracle refers to God's "scroll of remembrance" concerning those who remain sincere in their worship of God and bring honor to His name.

What I received from Jesus today from Chapter 3 is an invitation to love Him not by saying but really loving him. Tithing and offerings is the key to victorious life. Why?

Malachi 3 is one of my favourite chapters in the whole Bible because many years ago Jesus used this chapter to be one of many sources to teach me and my wife to start tithing. We are being blessed so much after we started our tithing and now we offer much more than tithing. Not because we want to receive more blessings or to get more from Jesus, it's because we believe and experience tithing and offerings is the key to be really in love with Jesus!

We say that we love God, how do we show our love to God through our tithing and other offerings? 

Malachi concludes his six-part oracle in Chapter 4 with a prophetic warning and promise concerning the coming "day of the Lord". 

"The day" refers both to Christ's first coming and second coming. The day of the Lord, both His first and second comings to earth, will bring spiritual salvation and freedom for all who receive, love and serve Him. When Christ comes for the final time, everything will be made right, and God's people will leap for joy like young calves released from confinement.

Malachi tells God's people that to survive the day of the Lord, they must obey His laws. He prophesies that Elijah would come and minister before the coming day of the Lord. Elijah refers to John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ. 

The future ministry of the coming prophet is described in terms of bringing families into a right relationship with God and with each other, the families. 

How do you respond to this special ministry of "Elijah" and "John the Baptist" to bring families into a right relationship with God and with each other uplifting God's Word? 

May you be a John the Baptist preparing ways for Jesus using the Word in the Bible to bring families into a right relationship with God and with each other.

Yes, this is a call for each one of us! 

A call to be a John the Baptist!

A call to prepare the way for Jesus! 

May Malachi 1:5-6 (the last two verses of the Old Testament)  be your golden verse to memorize:

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to be able to tithe and have faith to offer more than tithing showing that we not only say we love you but we really love you. Lead us to be a John the Baptist to turn one's heart to you and to their family members.  In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:    

1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?

     2.  What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus, to be holy - that is to do what Jesus wants you to do and not to do what Jesus wants you not to do?

    

    Family Corner:

     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

     

     You are welcome to join our Monday to Friday 7am-7:30am(Pacific time (Vancouver)) Worship, Devotion, Prayer

    https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3962567042?pwd=4qqbcGJ2zQl3tlTUvus4Qv6g7byZKy.1&omn=88167363288

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Please click this link to worship with us - 

Open the eyes of heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViBNqNukgzE&list=RDViBNqNukgzE&start_radio=1

    Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible four passages: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

   For the Chinese version of this daily blog and video, please click this link (中文版請按此連結):

    https://timewithabbaprayinglisteningchinese.blogspot.com

     

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link:http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

       My first blog "Devotion on Fire"  was written in English only  (July 17, 2009年7月17日至November 22, 2012年11月22日). Each day one chapter of Bible, from New Testament and then Old Testament. Completed in four months and three years:

http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/blessings-from-rev-dr-john-stott.html

My second blog "Discipler 123"  was written in both Chinese and English (March 6,2011to December 31, 2016 ):

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-1-choose-light-away-from-darkness.html

and "Time with Abba" blog and video (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024): 

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2017/01/1-2017.html

 

 

Connecting Workshop 2025(Session 2)

Bishop Silas Ng on Three Streams

 https://youtu.be/xiSOSFF9Iw0?si=puDWFD9Cx01ADm-o