The Power of Sacrifice

Looking up the meaning of the word sacrifice we come across a lot definitions in diverse line of reasoning. The word Sacrifice is defined to be an act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering as to a deity. This refers to making a blood sacrifice and something similar to whatever an individual regards as god. But the meaning of sacrifice that I'd love to hold onto and talk about is Sacrifice defined as an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.

Moving forward we will see this definition of sacrifice in line with biblical values and also learn the power in giving up something valued to God for the sake of something regarded as more important or worthy. Proverbs 3:9-10 teaches us to honour the Lord with our wealth, with the firstfruits of all our crops; then our barns will be filled to overflowing, and our vats will brim over with new wine. This is the kind of sacrifice that I wish for us to consider, the sacrifice of our best, in wealth and in the fruits of our labour to God who alone is able to cause them to multiple in yields and returns for us. 

Sacrifice to God serves a two-fold mission, it acts as an expression of whatever we actually feel in our hearts for God and also as a seed sown that will germinate and yield returns for whoever dears to sow the seed. If you truly love God, then it will reflect in the quality of substance you are willing to give to Him as a reflection of your claim to love Him. Gift given is an expression of love and I am positive a lot of people will agree with me on that. So whatever we are willing to give in gratitude to God reflects how much we love and appreciate Him. 

This gift is not weighed in volume, size of quantity, but it is weighed as a ratio of what you are giving to what you actually have or own. The widow in Luke 21:1-4 gave all she had to live on to God because that was how much God meant to her. Although what she gave was little compared to what the rich people gave, yet that was all she had to live on and that was how much God meant to her. 

Considering the act of giving to God as a seed sown that will germinate and multiply in returns, let us again consider Proverbs 3:9-10. When your honour God with your wealth and the firstfruits of your crops, you are actually making an investment that must yield good returns. Those who enter into partnership with God never make loses. When you learn to honour God with your substance, He will in turn honour you in multiples of what you have given to Him and return back to you with a package of heavenly riches, wealth, blessings and whatever it is your heart desires. 

There are two people in the early Bible days that I will like to do a brief analysis and compare their attitudes in relation to the issue of sacrifice. The first man I want us to note is Noah (Genesis 6-9) Noah was a man who by virtue of his righteous living found favour with God and was spared from the flood and God repopulated the earth through him and his sons. Genesis 8:18-22 tells us that as soon as Noah came out of the ark he built an altar to God and offered sacrifices to God which was a pleasing aroma to God and the Lord blessed him and his household and entered into a covenant with him placing the rainbow as a sign of His covenant.

The second man I want us to consider is Lot, Abraham's nephew (Genesis 18-19). When God was ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah were Lot was living, He informed Abraham who pleaded the case of Sodom and Gomorrah before God. But when the angels proceeded to carry out the destruction, Lot did something really commendable, he hosted the angels and prevented the men of Sodom and Gomorrah from molesting them and so he was spared from the destruction alongside his daughters. But unlike Noah, Lot never remembered to show gratitude to God, he never sacrificed to God. And so the resulting story of the life of Lot was a far cry from that of Noah. In the place of blessings and covenant, Lot was made drunk by her daughters and they took their turn to have sexual intimacy with their father, a sin before the Lord.

A man who understands the power and the importance of sacrifice and giving to God is a man who has positioned himself ready to be blessed by God. The Bible tells us to give and it will come back to us in good measure, pressed down and running over will men bring to our bosom. David in 1 Chronicles 21:24 says he will not offer to God a burnt offering that cost him nothing simple because he had walked with God well enough to understand the power of sacrifice. 

There is no investment that yields better returns than to honour God with our wealth understanding perfectly well that it is God that has empowered our hands to make that wealth. When your sacrifice is offered in holiness and righteousness to God, then it is a seed that is guaranteed to yield returns in due course of time and in season too. 

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You As A Parent

Everything about the world is evolving, there is the awakening of a need for improvement in technology and better ways of getting by in every area of our daily lives. There is the advent of different gadgets and so many companies are coming up with different innovations to improve their turnover, and we can go on and on about the so many changes that is taking place the world over. But one change that does not tend to improve but rather decline the world over is moral values. The world is dynamic, life is not designed to be stagnant, but the beauty of the world's dynamism is when it tends to improve on the previous state of things. 

With the older generation of the world's population benefiting so much from moral values, that cannot be said of the world today. But what calls for concern the most is what the future holds for the children that are fasting growing into adults. The children today have not been given the privilege to enjoy youthfulness in so many ways. What I am perceiving is children growing from toddlers straight to adults. A teenage girl feels very comfortable to wear make-up and the parents feel it trendy to let that happens. A child living the life of early thirties at age 15, while she lives the life of her fifties in her early thirties and so by the time she is in the mid-fifties to early sixties she is getting ready to die just because her life has been fast tracked unnecessarily. And the same applies to the male gender. But the very sad aspect of all these is that the parents who are responsible for the training of these children are busy either over pampering them in the name of love or are not even training them at all. 

Money answers all things just as the Bible has rightly put it, but money does not instill moral values neither does money train. Rather the Bible has instructed the parents to train their children in the way they should go and when they grow, they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). From what I am discovering in the lives of many, the pursuit of money is never an excuse to neglect the training of your children. There is a place for monetary pursuit and also a place for the matters of training our children. If the pursuit of money is beginning to take dominance over the training of your child/children then it is time to start to pray. It is time to start to seek the face of God for a means to generate wealth that will not hinder your assignment from God in life to train your children in the way of the Lord. 

The training of our children begins with the training of ourselves, noting that it is impossible to give what you don't have. A man or woman who lacks self discipline will not be able to discipline a child. Even the Lord Jesus Christ says in the Bible that "we should remove the log in our eyes before attempting to remove the speck in another person's eye." Far more than the verbal instructions we give to our children, the values they pick and copy from our lives goes a long way in molding their persons and shaping their values in life. 

The second aspect of training once the first aspect has been well taken care of is the training of the children themselves. A lot of parents are beginning to tolerate indiscipline in the lives of their children all in the name of love. The children are allowed to have their way at all times and are totally been over pampered just because the parent/parents are desirous of showing love to their children, and even when these children needs to be corrected, they are either too small to be corrected or the children will cry and that will break the parent's heart. Now here what the Bible says in the case of disciplining the child; Proverbs 23:13-14 "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death." Even the Bible speaks of the importance of discipline, it is very necessary that a parent wanting the best for his/her child needs to discipline him/her. There is the need to find a suitable means of correction for the child and apply it when necessary.

There is a big difference between discipline and child abuse. To use the rod on a child when it is required is NOT child abuse. To inflict bodily harm on a child is what is regarded as child abuse. To render a child disabled in any way is child abuse, but to cane a child when he/she is nutty and it is required is an act recommended even in the Bible. 

Another fact to note is that: effective discipline either by the rod or as any other form of punishment should be applied in love otherwise it is rendered ineffective. It is when love is lacking in discipline that we have cases of abuse. Our children are meant to be loved and disciplined all in one package. Excessive love without discipline leads to death (of moral values), and excessive discipline without love leads also to death (in emotions and even leads to physical harm). So there is a need to balance both. 

To discipline your child is a huge investment that you make in advance for your retirement, and so it is important to make that investment now that you are able to in order to enjoy the dividends when you need it the most. Children who are well trained are those who will take care of their parents when they are old. If you don't train your children well now and instill in them the right and godly values, they will not be available for you at old age.
So as you pursue money and make plans for retirement, be mindful of the fact that it is the investment you make in the lives of your children that yields the greatest dividend of all. So make the right investment now. If all parents will take their time to deposit the right values and good discipline in the lives of their children, then in the world over, there is a guarantee of a beautiful future for all.

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You Were Not Created Empty

I have meet quite a handful of people who have one negative thing or the other to say about their jobs, some others don't even have the jobs at all. For so many people the ability to make and retain wealth seem an impossible task, and yet the Bible says money answers all things. And so without a decent means of livelihood, so many people have resorted to doing insane things in order to meet up with the financial demands on their lives. 

In the book of Deuteronomy 8:18, Moses declared that it is God that gives us the ability to make wealth, and so I wondered that will God really give some the ability to make wealth and not give others? If God is not a partial God, then there is a need to find out why some are able to produce wealth while others are still finding it rather difficult to carry on that task successfully.

In my search for answers to this assumed imbalance I made some discoveries that is worth sharing. The first thing I discovered is that No Man Was Created by God Empty. Paul talking about spiritual gifts in the book of 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 says there are different kind of gifts all from the same God and that it is the same God that works all of them in all men. He didn't say some men, but all men. One thing to note is that these gifts given by God is not just limited spiritual gifts alone, but that all gifts given by God designed to give man the ability to make wealth has been given to all men.

Proverbs 18:16 says "A man's gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men." (NKJV) That tells me that the gift of God given to all men is design to make room for him and bring him before great men. This is a confirmation of the declaration of Moses in Deuteronomy 8:18 that it is the Lord that gives us the ability to make wealth. And so as a man created by God, you have residing within you the ability to make wealth deposited in you at the time of your creation. That gift has been given to all men.

In order to have an example of what I am talking about lets take a look at Exodus 31:1-6, this passage follows after when the Lord gave Moses the details for constructing the Tabernacle. When the Lord was finished with giving the construction details, He told Moses that He had set a man aside to do the job, Exodus 31:2-5 says "See I have chosen Bezalel son Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God,with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of craft-to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftmanship." So that tells us that the gift of God are not limited to spiritual gifts and they are given to all men in different aspects of life. Moses was given the skill, ability and knowledge to lead, but Bezalel was given the skill, ability and knowledge in craftmanship. Yet some been blessed with the gift of good voice, while others have been given the gift to heal. Diverse gifts all from the same God for different assignment in life.

I have heard so much about the man called Ben Carson, I have seen but yet to read his book "the gifted hands," but when I heard he was the first surgeon to separate twins joined together from birth a thought came to my mind. I wondered why God will create and join twins from birth? He had created and brought to this world millions of twins that were not joined, some never even looked like each other, there are twins with different sex gender, some other sets will come with one tall while the other is short and some will have different complexion entirely, while one is fair the other is dark. But this same God created some twins joined together. And so the gift He had placed in the life of this man Ben Carson was activated and brought into action in order to meet with the need in the lives of these joined twins.

There is a need in the world that your gift is designed to meet. You have something locked inside of you that is designed to bring you to prominence and birth in you the ability to make wealth.In Nigeria there is a package of sachet water sold around, someone came up with that idea and it has well satisfied the thirst of millions of low income citizens of Nigeria and created wealth for the inventor. We all have a gift that is designed to move us out of financial stagnation that God had placed in us. All that we need is to discover it and run diligently with it. 

In Matthew 26:11, Jesus said the poor will always be among us, while in Deuteronomy 15:4 Moses speaking as a mouthpiece for God declared that in the Land of Promise, there should be no poor among us. There is no contraction in these two Bible passages at all. Moses said there should be no poor; but he didn't say there shall be no poor. That is to say, based on the creation work of God and the gift deposited in the life of man by God there shouldn't be anyone poor. But like the Lord Jesus said there will always be poor people among us because there will always be people too lazy or too ignorant to discover there locked in gifts. There will be people who will not be patient and diligent enough to allow their gift to grow and mature, and there will always be people who have allowed sin to dominate their lives thereby robbing them off their heavenly blessings and so there will always be poor people among us. But based on what God has done and perfected in us there should not be poor people among us. 

You have a right to be successful, in fact you were created by God to be a success, in you resides the ability to make wealth given to you by God. You need to search out your own area of gifting, if you are finding it hard to lay hold of it, then start to pray and the Lord will help you. Do not be included in the category of frustrated beings who are poor among us. Take hold of the blessings of us provided for you before hand, discover your gift and run diligently with it.

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