God likes to brag on us kids. He is like any proud poppa who points to a
picture of our righteousness and obedience and says, “Have you considered
Job.” It grieves the Holy Spirit to see His
children involved in scandal after scandal or to hear them approving of sins
that He Himself has called abominable.
In our current touchy feely climate we offend Him daily by forgiving
others in His name without the evidence of repentance or even so much as a vain
word of guilt being uttered. When God
said that whatsoever you forgive on Earth will be forgiven in heaven it is
presupposed that you have forgiven them because they are forgiven by the Holy
Spirit who indwells you.
John 20:22 AMP And having
said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit! 23
[Now having received the Holy Spirit, and being led and directed by Him] if you
forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of
anyone, they are retained.
Notice the order of things.
Jesus breathed on His disciples after His resurrection and said,
“Receive the Holy Spirit!” Does anyone
think that God the Father did not keep God the Son’s word here? Of course not. They received the Holy Spirit. Understand also that there is no break
between verse 22 and verse 23. The word
‘now’ in verse 23 makes it a continuation of verse 22. Lets look at the same two verses in the King
James version.
John 20:22 And when he
had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy
Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose
soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
In the KJV it leaves off the word ‘now’ but adds a colon at
the end of verse 22 to continue the thought into 23. Remember, chapters and verses do not exist in
the Hebrew or Greek. They are added by
editors to make our Bible study more easily followed but they do not exist in
the original. You must read it in the
original to get the flavor of the original.
The original here says, “lambano
hagios pneuma tis an hamartia aphiemi aphiemi autos tis an kratao kratao.”
It’s perfectly clear now right? What He said is, “Now that you have taken
hold (lambano) of the Holy Spirit (hagios pneuma) and He in turn has taken
hold of YOU, if you forgive it is forgiven (aphiemi)
and if you keep hold they are held (kratao).” We are talking about forgiveness so if you
forgive something it has to be a sin and if you keep hold you are not forgiving
that sin. We know we’re talking about
sins and forgiveness because hamartia means to miss the mark. In either case, it MUST be led by the UNCTION
of the Holy Spirit which you have received.
I keep hammering this because it can’t be due to your tender heart or
family loyalty or for financial gain. It
must be because the Holy Spirit is leading you to do so and it must be SCRIPTURAL.
The reason I spent so much time on this is because too many
‘saints’ of God allow themselves to be led by feelings and not scripture or
spiritual unctions. This leads to error
which means that God is not with you no matter how much you might say He
is. Thousands of people commit terrible
acts in the name of God and what frustrates me is that most unchurched people
will NEVER EVEN ASK what our holy scripture has to say about it. We are not free to do whatever we want and
have God back us up. He only backs up
those who walk by scripture and not by feelings, opinions or man’s wisdom.
Now that we have established that God is not about to bless your
mess, what happens if we do obey His Word?
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he
shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her
fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
When you are paying your tithes and living God’s Word
everything changes. First and foremost
Satan attacks you and tries to get you to quit.
If you realize this up front you won’t be wondering why people out of
nowhere begin to attack you for no apparent reason when you serve God. The reason is not apparent because it’s
spiritual. Your money will get flaky and
your closest friends may turn on you.
You have entered the battle and while you can step on Satan’s head, he
will be bruising your heel (Genesis 3:15) and everyone knows it is painful to
walk with a bruised heel.
Because God knows you occasionally stumble and falter during
these attacks, He gets involved personally and rebukes the devourer and
destroyer of your labors for your sake.
I really want you to get this.
Have you ever had one of those days or weeks (or months or years) where
it seems like every time you try to do something in business or even church you
get clobbered? Yes? Are you paying your tithes? Do you know how to pay your tithes? The word tithe in Hebrew is maaser and it means tenth.
If you earn one thousand dollars a month and the government
takes two hundred dollars of your money in taxes, how much are your
tithes? I have had many tell me that
their tithes in this case would be one tenth of the remaining eight hundred
dollars. They would pay eighty
dollars…and cheat God out of twenty dollars.
God did not tell the government to take more of your money than He
requires. That is something you might
want to take up with your government.
God requires a tenth of your income.
If you get paid ten cabbages for a salary or ten chickens then you give
one to God even if your government comes and takes two of your chickens or
cabbages.
In my case I can’t stop the government from taking theirs
first off the top. They will have to
answer to God for that themselves. I
calculate how much I have earned. If I
have worked for one hundred hours at ten dollars an hour then I have earned one
thousand dollars. I owe God one hundred
dollars. When the government and my
insurance get done my check may be seven hundred and eighty dollars. I still owe God one hundred dollars.
Some people have problems with managing money. They get into a spending binge right after
payday and the next thing you know they forgot tithes. I might not get in a spending binge but I am
forgetful and so I came up with a way to make sure God gets His. I have opened an account at my bank and named
it Tithes. On payday the check is
automatically transferred into my household account. I use my computer to go online and transfer
that one hundred dollars from my Household account to my Tithe account.
My tithe account is sanctified. That means it is set apart for God’s
use. If the IRS decided to take that
money to pay a debt they believe I owe they will have stolen from God. I do not use that money for food or anything
else. If there is a hundred dollars in
my tithe account and it is a week before payday and I’m broke, I guess I will
be going on a fast because I cannot use that money for food. The majority of that money goes to my local
church so there will be meat in God’s house.
Occasionally I might send a portion to someone in need just as Paul
spoke to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 9:1-12).
I’ve heard the arguments for and against tithing and I am
personally against anything that will reduce the amount of income we faithfully
give to the church…or the poor…to do God’s work. I have been privy to enough ‘Christian’ men
and women who tithe to God pretty words and little else. They do not trust God, refuse to walk in
faith and have answered ‘yes’ in every way possible to the question, “will a
man rob God.” Let me ask you a question. If you were in financial straits and
struggling for your next meal or a roof over your head, can you look up to
heaven in the midst of your suffering and say, “Lord! I faithfully pay my tithes and I need your
help now!”
If you can then you are a rare and precious Christian. God has great things in store for you and is
ready to make all your prayerful financial decisions and actions prosper. He looks upon you with great affection and is
absolutely thrilled to open the windows of heaven.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall
be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
God is even more than just excited to bless you. He wants to brag on you like He bragged
on... “Don’t say it preacher! Not Job again! I don’t want to be like Job.” Why not?
Sure…Job went through a lot and in Christ we will all go through a
lot. It is a difficult walk, full of
spiritual warfare and insults by ignorant men and women. Most of what happens to us falls under the
heading of training. When I joined the
Air Force I went through some pretty rough training, but that was mild compared
to the Marine Corps. I suppose the
forces closest to our walk in Christ is the Navy SEALS. It’s more than the pressure, discipline and
exhaustion that makes these elite warriors SEALS. It’s their unity, how they work together
toward that common goal, no matter what.
They are well trained, disciplined and absolutely focused on
the task at hand. If someone stumbles
they are right there to lend a hand and lend their strength to the weaker
members. To me that sounds a lot like
the church OUGHT TO BE. God wants to let
everyone know that we are the apple of His eye and that we will stand when all
those who thought they were bigger, tougher and stronger have been ground into
the dust. Sure we are walking in His
strength and reaping His blessings along the way. That is only right since so many hate and
despise Him. We endure their taunts and
threats and God blesses us with Eternal Life and great joy.
It takes a man of great spirit and faith to understand
Hebrews 12:2 which says, “Looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God.” Verses 3-7
are pretty eye opening too. Abraham knew
he was not from around here. He believed
he was a sojourner on his way to a better place. We too must believe we are headed to a better
place and know that when our training is complete, God will show His love for
us in tangible and very real ways, both now in in the time to come.
This life can be difficult for God’s children, but His
promises are sure and His blessings tangible.
I pray that every one of you who reads this will stand in His love and
reap His blessings.
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