Normally
when a person has small children, we celebrate their birthdays, and we invite
some or all of their friends to join us for the celebration; the list could be
as short or long as you and your budget allows it to. We have to remember that if we invite ten
friends, must likely when those ten friends birthdays come, they will invite
you and your child to celebrate theirs. If we buy a present for each of those
ten birthdays, that’s ten gifts that we ought to have a budget for, but then if
you have three kids, and those three kids each have ten friends, that would be
three sets of tens, can you guess what I’m thinking? Yeah, sometimes, we have
to be either a little more selective or plan for a “Gifts Fund”. My grandma used to have a Christmas Fund for
birthdays and another one for Christmas Gifts.
I never understood why, until I had my own kids, and birthdays to
celebrate… funny, ha!?
Said that, as
I was reading about the appointed festivals in Bible times, and living in the
budget like some of us do, I couldn’t help but to wander if we would add all
these gifts how deep our Gifts Fund would have to be? I’m sure it would take long, long time, to try
to figure out the amount of money in the market price for that time and even
more time to bring it to today’s market.
But just to have an idea of the amount of gifts were REQUIRED to bring
to each festival, here’s the decree issued, and the numbers:
“The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions
to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals…”I. Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread
This festival was set to be for
seven days, eating bread without yeast; on the first day people didn’t work. For seven
days gifts MUST be presented to the Lord; the seventh day was free of work
as well.
II.
The Feast of First fruits
1. Bring a bundle of grain
2. Sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb
3. Present a grain offering of four quarts of choice flour moistened
with olive oil
4. Offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering
III.
The Feast of Weeks/Harvest
1.
Bring the bundle of
grain
2.
An offering of new grain
3.
Bring two loaves of
bread from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast
4.
Present seven
one-year-old male lambs with no defects,
5.
One young bull
6.
Two rams
7.
Liquid offerings
8.
One male goat
9.
Two one-year-old male lambs
IV.
The Festival of Trumpets
This would be an
official day for holy assembly, with no ordinary work on that day, although you
were to present special gifts to the
Lord.
V.
The Day of Atonement
This day was only about keeping
the day for holy assembly. This will be a Sabbath day of
complete rest, a day to deny themselves, and not work; whoever disobeys would be
cut off from God’s people.
VI.
The Festival of Shelters
1.
Present special gifts to the Lord—burnt and grain
offerings, sacrifices, and liquid offerings
2.
In addition to, a personal
gifts
3.
Gather branches from
magnificent trees; palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows
In addition to
all these, The Lord said to Moses, to command the people to bring pure oil of
pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually; Aaron must
keep the lamps burning in the Lord’s presence
all night.
Have you realized
and make numbers for yourself, just yet? They had to have a Gifts Fund to make it!!!
Really! But you know what really the
amazing thing is? That GOD KNEW their hearts, and The LORD Himself provided for
them, for they were WILLING!!!
Things today are
done different that in Bible times, we do not bring bulls, rams or goats, but
we still bring our offerings. When we’re
willing to give GOD, not only our offerings but that ten percent that HE ask us
to, HE WILL stretch that ninety percent to the fullest, so that rest can cover what
needs to be done. This is really a mystery
that in our humanity we cannot comprehend, but that’s what happens, GOD will provide
for you.
“Bring all the
tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will
open the windows of heaven for you. I
will pour out a blessing so great you
won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!”[1]
I pray you
meditate on this offer The Lord is giving you, today. I pray you choose to test
Him on it, and if you have not tried to tithe before, determine that you will
on next paycheck. I pray that whenever
you get your income, you take a ten percent of it, and bring it with a cheerful
heart, as your love offering in obedience to Him who provides you with life and
all the needed resources to work for it.
I pray the Lord fill your heart with His joy as you obey Him, and
continue to grow in the knowledge of His Word, for the glory of God I pray, in
Jesus name, AMEN!!!
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