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In the morning my prayer comes before you. --Psalm 88:13 There’s an amazing spiritual principle at work in our lives as Christ-followers called the principle of first fruits. It works like this: You and I honor God by giving back to him the first portion of all that he gives to us. One obvious example of this principle is tithing. We tithe 10 percent of our income to God in thanks for his provision. And in return, God blesses the remaining 90 percent of our income, making it go further than we could even imagine! But the principle of first fruits also applies to our work week. God calls us to dedicate the first day of each week to him and to set ourselves apart from the world for a day of worship and rest. And when we do this, we feel the wonderful blessings of God throughout our week. So let me ask you this. If we are to dedicate the first day of our week to God, shouldn’t we also dedicate the first portion of each day to him, as well? We should! Nothing will impact your day more positively than to begin it with Christ Jesus. So give him the first part of your day and let him set the pace and tone of what is to come. When you do, you will feel more connected to him and be more accessible to do his will. NOTHING WILL IMPACT YOUR DAY MORE POSITIVELY THAN TO BEGIN IT WITH CHRIST JESUS!

Thursday, November 29, 2018

The Value of the Word of God

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.”

1 Samuel 3:1–4

The amount of labor required to produce a hand written copy of even the first five books of the Bible was intense and meant that God’s people for thousands of years did not have easy access to much of what He had spoken. During the time of Samuel, the priests kept the sacred scrolls and ensured they were preserved, but most people did not have entire copies that they could read and study for themselves. As a result, they treasured the chance when they could hear the words of God read to them.

In our day the Bible is readily available. Thanks to modern technology, we can take it with us everywhere we go and read it in any number of different formats. We can even access study guides and resources to help us understand more clearly what we read. Yet with all of that available to us, we too often do not take the time to actually read the Bible and value it for the great treasure that it is. Charles Spurgeon said, “The Old and the New Testaments, are my heritage. I rejoice to accept them as the estate of my mind, the treasure of my thought, the mint of the heavenly realm, the mine from which I can explore fresh veins of thought as long as I live, claiming all as my heritage forever.”

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If we do not treasure and value the Bible, we will not follow its teaching and commands in daily life.