Daily Manna 15 August
KEY VERSE: “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.” – (Numbers 18:19)
TEXT: Numbers 18:8-19
8 And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, I Myself have also given you [a]charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering and every sin offering and every trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. 10 In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.
11 “This also is yours: the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. Everyone who is [b]clean in your house may eat it.
12 “All the [c]best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. 13 Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
14 “Every [d]devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.
15 “Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. 18 And their flesh shall be yours, just as the wave[e] breast and the right thigh are yours.
19 “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”
Read yesterday’s Daily Manna here
W.A. Criswell tells of an ambitious young man who told his pastor he had promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making $40.00 per week and tithing $4.00. God did just that and in a few years his income increased and he was tithing $500.00 per week. He called the pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly now. The pastor replied, “I don’t see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income to $40.00 a week, then you’d have no problem tithing $4.00.”
Freewill offerings are used for the maintenance of the ministers and the work of the ministry. God Himself made provisions for the upkeep of Aaron and his family out of the freewill offering given by the children of Israel. As seen in our text, the Lord apportioned the heave and wave offerings of the holy things offered by the children of Israel, the firstling of all clean animals, devoted things, and the first fruit of the harvest to the priests.
The practice of tithing has been since the very beginning. It was practised before the Law of Moses, during the period of the law, and throughout the entire Old Testament. Jesus, in his preaching, did not cancel the need to tithe. He only condemned the religious Pharisees’ emphasis on tithes without considering other important matters commanded by God (Matthew 23:23).
The need to provide for the upkeep of ministers involved with ministry work cannot be over emphasised. Giving to God attracts blessings. Although there are preachers who extort from their members under the guise of sowing seed to get blessings from heaven, giving for the upkeep of divinely appointed ministers and ministries is a command from God Himself, not man.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Giving to God makes us beneficiaries of His blessing.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 11-15
Thank you for studying today’s Daily Manna – Caring For Ministries – by Pastor Enoch A.
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Daily Manna 15 August 2021
