Wednesday, December 5, 2012

HOW DO WE ROB GOD?



“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need(Malachi 3:6-10 ESV)

More and more discerning believers are discovering the gems which the Holy Spirit put in plain sight for us to see....right in the open! The problem is not just that hardly any Christians read the Bible anymore (in the industrial west) but even those few who do, skip the Old Testament and therefore are missing Rhema revelation from the Lord! Almost every prophet, before the so-called "silent" 400 years (pre-the Birth of Christ) has a prophesy from the Holy Spirit directly related to these End Times!  As we have already seen, the Book of Malachi is one of those!

So what does today's passage mean, in these terms? In a nutshell, from Verses 6, 7 and 8, we basically see that God's people not just ignored and treated Him as irrelevant, but they did not give their offerings (first fruits) as they were supposed to! This is a mirror image of not just society today, in general, but increasingly the modern American church has made up its own god.  We already know that most people who call themselves Christians do not even tithe 5% of their income, (far less the 10% which the Bible implies) but when they do, they do it grudgingly. 

But you see, in the final analysis, God is not interested in our puny little money. He is not even interested in the massive wealth of unbelievers like Bill Gates or Steven Spielberg. What God cares about is how He is robbed of the Respect, Awe, Fear and Worship which is due! He cares about our lack of obedience, from Adam in the Garden to Alice making breakfast in the kitchen to send little Johnny and Sarah off to grade school in the morning. ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of His Glory...everyone from Pastor, priest and president to the small child.

Right now, in these last days, as America's leaders chose the enemies of Israel, we have become an anathema to Him; a curse if you will.  But He is a loving God. He is a gracious God. He is a compassionate God. He is a merciful God. Even with all the disobedience we have shown Him. Even with all the disrespect, blasphemy and thumbing our noses at Him, He still says to America and the church "Return to Me and I will return to you"! THAT IS THE GOD OF HEAVEN! That is not some made up god who has you doing unbiblical things which the TRUE God of Heaven never asked for, nor did it even cross His Mind This is the God of Heaven and Earth...and the owner of everything (even Gate's billions or Trump's real estate)....that is Who He is.

My friends, do not treat His offer of forgiveness and Grace lightly! It is ONLY for a time. That time is now. See Him while He can be found, because one day soon, it will be too late for you....that Day is coming. It is the fearful Day of the Lord. Return to Him, now. Amen.

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