25 David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped

How many times have you insisted on doing the best for God? Insisted on giving Him the best offering or praise? Insisting is a very demanding word. This offering was a demanding one. It was as if David was saying, this is going to be a personal offering from me, and God HAS to see that. He has to honor it.

Araunah was offering David to take the oxen and use it for his offering, at no cost to the King. David could’ve easily said “YES!!! I’ll take it all; this is going to be easier than I thought.” But David knew that the offering that God was looking for wasn’t a cheap, free or hand me down offering. He was looking for an offering that had been purchased just for Him, something special.

Nothing we bring to God should be cheap, or unworthy of a King. This goes for everything in your life. We shouldn’t give Him the last 5 minutes of the day, or the change in our pockets. Everything presented to our God should be well thought out, and with a good price tag on it. King David knew this, and he was a King!

In reading this entire chapter, the verse that impacted me the most is verse 24. David didn’t even hesitate, he instantly reacted. He said “I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing”. It’s so easy to give things up that don’t cost us anything. It’s easy to give cheap things up. These are not the kind of sacrifices God is looking for. He is looking for the best; He is looking for special and unique.

Verse 25 says that God answered David’s prayer. Our blessing, our answer is at the other side of that special offering.

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend. She couldn’t understand how God could forgive her; she said “I couldn’t forgive me!” That’s what’s so great about Him, I told her. He isn’t like us, as humans we judge, criticize, hold grudges and purposely hurt each other. God is nothing like this. All He wants is to forgive us, He wants us to turn to Him and come home. God wants us to have a true repentance and Let Him in! Luke 24:47 (NLT) “…There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.” It’s there for us; we just have to choose it.

So are you ? are we fools to even ask for forgiveness? For redemption? NO! because we will never deserve it. You will never save up in your piggy bank for it. Do not fall into the lies satan tries to tell you. God paid the way; He paid the way so that we could choose it. If we don’t accept His redemption or His “rescue plan” for us, than His son died in vain? No one else will do what God our Father did for us. Why did the prodigal son’s father rejoice after his return? If your child goes missing, wouldn’t you celebrate their return? This is our wonderful God, the one who waits for us with open arms, hoping for us to come home. He is hoping to embrace us once again.

So when you find there is no hope, no way out. Hope in Him! The word of God says that his redemption overflows, meaning it’s more than enough. Psalm 130:7 (NLT)
“.. hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows”

Many times I’ve met people for a brief 5 or 10 minutes in the waiting room or random places. Selfishly thinking about myself and why I was there, I failed to see the opportunity God was presenting. Every time you meet someone, it’s our duty as Christians to speak the truth to them. It’s like knowing that someone’s going to fail at something and not warning them.

We are to do as God has commanded. God has brought us here to spread the good news. Think about how lost you would be if God hadn’t used someone to preach to you?

“UNSELFESHNESS” should be an important word in our Christian walk. Jesus is our greatest example, since He laid down His life in the most unselfish act. So, next time don’t be afraid or timid. Satan can rob great blessings this way, great miracles that God is trying to perform through you!

God is unlike any other person you will ever meet. God is love, not someone who gives it and takes it back whenever they feel like it. He created love; He is the author of it. So, if God is the creator of Love and happiness, why is it that we don’t seek Him to obtain these things??

Many women put their entire faith in a man and vice versa, which is incredibly dangerous. Don’t make your husband, wife, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, leaders etc, idols that your happiness depends on. The truth is, at one point or another they will let you down. When this happens, your whole world is flipped upside down and for what?? A mere human! this is the nature of humans, we fail.

Now, don’t get me wrong. God will bring people in your life, relationships and friendships that are a demonstration of just how much He love us. These will be wonderful, but this is only after you build up the most important and eternal relationship with God, you will start to see how He guides you. The Holy Spirit is like a best friend, someone who will start to guide you as to who should and shouldn’t be in your life.

I like this version of this particular verse (God’s Word) Matthew 6:33 “But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you.” This verse is a reminder that the most important relationship, our concern should be with God. His approval of you is more important than anyone else’s.

“Trust” is a key word. When you trust in God, it’s like you sign your life over to be guided by Him. The Holy Spirit will take over; it’ll let you know when you’re making the wrong decisions, when you’re in a bad relationship, when you’re in the wrong place. This is why the bible speaks so much about putting all your trust in God, because he knows us better than we do!! He knows what’s best for us, but He needs us to trust Him to get us there. Trust your entire life over to Him. 1 Peter 4:19 says “…trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”

Encouraging each other is something that the disciples learned from Christ. It’s so important that you be attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. There are days that you’ll share a word with someone and it happens to be the exact word that they needed. As humans we are weak, we get sad, emotional and we fall. How great is it that we don’t have to be alone though? We have God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit and our brothers and sisters in Christ. For someone to feel alone that’s a lot of company to have!!

Reading these verses in Acts, God spoke to me. We need to encourage and help each other, no matter how busy and no matter what situation we might find ourselves in. Paul understood this, He went to such lengths that they landed him in jail. All Paul did was help a woman in need. Paul travelled to revisit far away places just to re-encourage his new brothers and sisters. Paul realized how important it was to go back and re-affirm their faith in Christ, lift them up in case they had fallen and strengthen their relationship with God.

OK! Before I forgot let me mention this: There will be some people however, that God will instruct you to stay away from. Acts 16: 6…’The Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at the time’. Some people are used strategically by satan to come and destroy you, be very careful and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and wisdom.

Ok we’re back!! So, what a cool job we have huh?? God has given us the power through His word to encourage and help one another. This word really spoke to me, as I have so many friends and family members in need of help. I have made it my responsibility to help them and encourage them, to be a light in the dark place they find themselves in. Not just to encourage the non-believers though, but also my brothers and sisters like Paul did. This is just one of our duties and responsibilities as Christians.

God did many great things with Paul, but this was because Paul was obedient and listened to Him. If you want God to use you in this way, You have to be willing to go to great lengths to do the work of God!!

Imagine what you can do without fear.   We don’t try as hard or give up easily because of fear. Does fear controls your life?  But, what if there’s a way out of it’s grip?  I’ll invite you to read the Bible in Psalm 27:1a (NKJV):

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?”

This text is suggesting that if we allow God to be our light and salvation, what will you be fearful of?  The New Oxford American Dictionary says fear is, an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat. Did you catch that?  Fear is based on a false belief!

Put your trust in God.  Let His light illuminate your path.  And whenever you are in need of being saved, He’ll step right in.

You don’t have to live a life full of fears.  You can choose to be fearless!

Matt Redman – You Never Let Go

God can’t do anything with you until you allow Him full access. Until you let Him come into your life and take over. This is called “Discipleship”. Mathew 16:24 (NIV) says “Then Jesus said to his disciples, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. When you are no longer the one behind the wheel, that’s when we take the step into discipleship, to be followers of Christ. It’s to let go of being masters and directors of our own lives and allow God to lead us instead.

Think about this, you cannot be a disciple if you aren’t following anyone. Have you ever heard of a student without a master? Or a famous person without loyal fans?. Well this is what we are, faithful followers and loyal fans of God. Going from that person who accepted the Lord to a disciple, can be challenging though. This transition is such a critical step in your walk with God. In my church we call it “Consolidation”. Taking you from the person who took that leap of faith, into becoming a true disciple of Christ, one that can be sent out to lead others and do God’s work to extend His Kingdom.

This transformation that will take you to become this great disciple can only be done through faith. Taking that little bit of faith you had in the beginning of your walk and multiplying it every day. Growing in faith is important, but what will get you to grow in faith?. The best way that I have found, is to read His word. Read His word every day; drink it up like the H20 you need to keep you going, or caffeine in my case. Fuel yourself every day with His word. This is the only way you will know whether you’re obeying God and doing His will. How do you know if your building something correctly if you don’t read the manual? Same thing with your life, you need His word to build up your faith in Him and get to know Him.

Let God transform your life!! I guarantee that if you nourish your spirit with His word, your life will be transformed. You will not be the same person and you’ll be on your way to discipleship!

Pardon me for putting so many questions into this article, I am just trying to get my point across and emphasize that this is actually our decision, if we want to get caught up in bad habits it is because of the decisions we make, I had to learn that first hand when there was no one left to blame but myself for my problems.

Now if you are still reading this that means you do want more than material things. Let’s see what your other option is.

John 7:37-38

“³⁷ On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! ³⁸ Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”

Jesus said “anyone who is thirsty” anyone who desires more than this world, anyone who desires more than what you have already. If you’re tired of living the same life that seems to always lead you into ruin, this means you. Living waters flow through his heart. He offers you life! He is spirit which is everlasting and greater than what any material thing could ever offer you. Life.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I am single, but I have been surrounded by so many relationships that it has become overwhelming! But with all these relationships around me I was able to observe love, and what it really is. So let’s break down the verses in the text above!

First we see love is patient and kind. Patience is a virtue, when we rush into relationships due to lust or even just emotional feelings our relationships tend to lose something and eventually end in disaster. Love will always be there, never rush into it just because you both like each other. Establish a courtship and ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you. Even if you aren’t spiritual per se, going based just on emotion is bad, you see that emotion is eventually going to die off, have patience and kindness in a relationship and actually wait on love.

Love is not jealous, boastful, proud or rude. I don’t how many relationships I’ve seen where there is jealousy, how terrible it becomes. Jealousy usually means there is a lack of trust somewhere in the relationship. There can not be a healthy relationship without trust, so if you begin to see a lack of trust, or jealousy creeping in to your relationship, fix it!

Another thing we have to understand is that love is not wrong and is never forced, it never demands it’s own way. Love will always find a way, even when you are panicking. Forcing a relationship to become love will never work, that is not the way love functions. Let love have it’s way with you and I promise it will be worth it.

Love ever gives up and endures through any circumstances. One thing that upsets me is the amount of divorces we see in the United States. You see, I was raised to believe love can endure anything, so seeing this really hurts. I mean why marry if it was not love in the first place. Why give up? Love can endure through anything. If it is love, love will prevail.

All this leads me to this conclusion, love is patient and kind, never settle for a person you don’t feel this way towards. If they treat you wrong, what makes you think that is love? Before starting any relationship check your motives and what that relationship is based upon, never rush into anything. That is why we see so many people getting hurt when it was unnecessary. So to all those sitting at home waiting for love today on Valentines Day, stay patient, love will find you!

May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The LORD be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

-Psalm 35:27

Expect big things from your heavenly father, he will always be glad that you count on Him!