WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
April 04, 2023
TOPIC: HONOUR THE LORD WITH YOUR POSSESSIONS
BY T. O. BANSO
âHonor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produceâ (Proverbs 3:9 New Living Translation).
One of the lessons from the triumphal entry of Jesus to Jerusalem is to honour the Lord with our possessions. Because some people donât believe that God owns them and all they have, they donât honour Him with their possessions. Maybe itâs because some people acquired whatever they have through unrighteous means. Therefore, they cannot honour Him with them. But every child of God should honour the Lord with his/her possessions.
David says in Psalm 24:1 that the earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. What do you have that you did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7). James 1:17 says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
The colt Jesus rode on to Jerusalem did not belong to Him. It belonged to some people. But Jesus sent His two disciples to a nearby village where the colt was and asked them to loose it and bring it. He said if the owners asked them why they were loosing it, they should tell them that the Lord needed it. They went and when the owners asked them why they were loosing it, they replied as Jesus had told them (Luke 19:29-35; Matthew 21:1-7). And the owners let them go with the colt (Mark 11:6). Jesus didnât pay for using that colt. The Bible does not tell us if it was returned to the owners later.
Suppose the owners had objected to the colt being taken away. Iâm sure Jesus knew they wouldnât hence He sent His disciples there. We donât know what God told the owners before they tied the colt there and Jesus sent for it. We donât know the names of the owners of this colt but they cooperated with God by honouring Him with their possessions. They didnât withhold from God what belonged to Him originally which He gave them to hold in trust for Him.
If you were the owners of this colt, would you have released it to the disciples of Jesus to take to Him? Or would you have been more interested in how much you could make from selling it or using it for any other purpose you might have reserved it for, not allowing anyone to sit on it up till then?
Learn to always honour the Lord with your possessions. Donât let your sense of ownership make you fail to see God as the Source of your blessings. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, âAnd you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this dayâ (New King James Version).
In Malachi 1:6, God says, âA son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, âIn what way have we despised Your name?ââ (New King James Version). God rebuked these priests in Israel for dishonouring Him by offering polluted food upon His altar. If they honoured Him, they wouldn’t have done that.
Honour the Lord with your possessions. Donât withhold from Him what you should give Him and ensure you donât give Him what you would be ashamed to give a human being. In Malachi 1:7-8, God further told the priests, âYou offer defiled food on My altar. But say, âIn what way have we defiled You?â By saying, âThe table of the LORD is contemptible.â And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?â (New King James Version).
Honour the Lord with your possessions. Donât be a slave to them. Donât make your possessions your god. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, âHonor 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 wineâ (New King James Version).
Some people only focus on the latter part of this scripture but ignore the first part. They want their barns to be filled with plenty, and their vats to overflow with new wine, which talks about abundant blessings, but they donât obey the first part of this scripture that talks about honouring the Lord with their possessions. The New Living Translation renders the scripture thus: âHonor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.â Â Verse 10 says, âThen he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wineâ (New Living Translation). Â Â
Araunah was ready to give his threshing floor, oxen, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen to David to offer burnt offerings to the LORD for the plague in the land to be withdrawn. He didnât say that David should pay for it. And David wasnât like Ahab who wanted to acquire Nabothâs vineyard for use as a vegetable garden and when he refused, Ahabâs wife, Jezebel, killed Naboth and Ahab took possession (1 Kings 21). The house of Ahab didn’t escape the judgment of God because of this sin.
David didnât abuse his office to possess Araunahâs threshing floor and when he offered it to David free of charge, he said to Araunah, âNo, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothingâ (2 Samuel 24:24a New King James Version). 1 Chronicles 21:24 records the same thing. David bought the threshing floor from Araunah and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to God and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. David honoured the LORD with His possession. He ensured that His burnt offering to God cost Him something. Some stingy people would have been excited at the free offer and accepted it.
Honour the Lord with your possessions. The wise men, who were searching for Jesus when He was born, honoured Him with their possessions when they found Him. They opened their treasures and presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11).
After Jesus had been crucified, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate for permission to take away the body of Jesus (Matthew 27:58; Mark 15:43; John 19:38). He honoured Jesus by taking His body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock; he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and left (Matthew 27:59-60). Joseph of Arimatheaâs gift of his new tomb to Jesus for His burial was his way of honouring Jesus.
The book of John also records that Nicodemus, a secret disciple of Jesus, joined Joseph of Arimathea in burying Jesus. John 19:39 says Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they both took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as was the custom of the Jews when they put the dead to rest (verse 40).
Honour the Lord with your possessions. When the Holy Spirit is moving your heart to do something to honour Jesus, donât draw back. Be rich toward God; donât lay up your treasure for yourself (Luke 12:21). The generous soul will be made rich and he who waters will also be watered himself (Proverbs 11:25). God will honour those who honour Him (1 Samuel 2:30). There is a great reward for you here on earth and in eternity.
You probably remember the story of the woman (Mary) who had an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil and poured it on the head of Jesus as He sat at the table. Though His disciples were angry at her action, Jesus said she did it for His burial (Matthew 26:12). According to Jesus, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what the woman had done will also be told as a memorial to her (Matthew 26:13; Mark 14:9).Â
Honour the Lord with your possessions.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life â your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: Â Father, forgive me for not honouring you enough with my possessions. Holy Spirit, help me to be a good and faithful steward of the blessings of God in my life and use them to honour Him. Help me to obey Your instructions and leading, and honour the Lord with my possessions.
(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
WhatsApp No: +2349081295947
Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
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