There's one key to receiving from God that is often overlooked. When we have it, our prayers can sail effectively to heaven on the winds of the Holy Spirit. When we don't, they seem to fall heavily to the ground—earthbound and unanswered. What is this often neglected yet undeniably vital key? Simply this: a clear conscience. Faith and a clear conscience are inseparable. We find them walking hand in hand in 1 Timothy 1:5 where we are admonished to love with a pure heart, "a good conscience, and… faith unfeigned." We find them together again in verse 19 where we are urged to hold fast to "faith and a pure conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck." We find them forever intertwined with answered prayer in the letter of John which tells us that when "…our consciences are clear, we can come to the Lord with perfect assurance and trust, and get whatever we ask for because we are obeying him and doing the things that please him" (1 John 3:21-22,
TLB). Never forget this: if your conscience is bothering you, it will always undermine the faith in your heart. Even though you know what God has promised in His Word, even though you firmly believe it, you will slip into doubt and begin to waver. You will suddenly be unsure that God will truly keep those promises to you.
WHEN SIN SNEAKS IN
What can we do to avoid that uncertainty? How can we make sure we keep our consciences perfectly clear? We must steer clear of sin. That's so obvious it almost goes without saying. What is not always so obvious, however, is exactly how we do that. We know, of course, how to avoid the big blunders like murder, adultery, lying, and hating our brother. But we also know there are times when sin sneaks in beneath the radar of our awareness. There are times when we sense that we've somehow grieved the Holy Spirit but we're not fully sure what we did wrong. I remember one time about three and a half years ago when that happened to me. The Lord had spoken to my heart and directed me to begin giving a particular amount in the offering every time I went to a church service. It was a larger amount than I had been accustomed to giving and it stretched my faith so, for a while, I pondered it, wondering if I was accurately hearing the Lord. But the direction persisted until it was lodged so firmly in my heart I knew I had heard from God. Even so, however, it was challenging to obey His instruction at times. When we went to conventions, for example, we might attend several meetings a day for a whole week. That meant I'd be giving the specified amount 11 or 12 times in a single week. I'd have to start building my faith in advance just so I'd be ready for the offerings!
DO SOMETHING DIFFICULT
You might ask, why on earth would God ask me to do something so spiritually and financially strenuous. One reason is that He wanted to lift me to a higher level of prosperity. Years ago, Mac and I saw in Psalm 35:27 that God "takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." We believed that and looked to God to increase our finances in a supernatural way. We expected Him to give money to us so that we could give money to others and become a clearing-house through which He could bless His people. Of course, we also learned that God's formula for prosperity is
seedtime and harvest. We plant financial seeds by giving to God. Then He gives the increase. As Luke 6:38 says, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (
NKJ). I assure you, it takes faith to give that way. And God has worked steadily with us to help us strengthen our faith in that area by giving us assignments or exercises. Through the years, He would instruct us to give certain amounts; we would get in agreement, obey and God would increase us. Sometimes we would have to obey two or three times and increase our seed before we would get our harvest. I finally figured out that was usually because we didn't fully obey Him the first time. He'd tell us to give a specific amount and we'd say, "Uh… that's a little much." Then we'd compromise by giving half of it. Later we'd give the other half and that's when our harvest would come. Over time, as God has worked with us that way, our faith has continually developed and grown. Some would say, "But I thought faith comes just by hearing the Word." It does come that way. But it is developed by exercise. In that respect, your spirit is much like your body. You can fuel your physical body and keep it alive simply by feeding it. But to strengthen it, you have to do something difficult. If you just let your arm hang by your side for a few months without using it at all, it would become weak and limp (no matter how much good food you ate). But if you use it to lift weights every day, it will grow strong.
THE OFFERING THAT OFFENDED THE LORD
I don't mind telling you, giving those offerings the Lord told me to give three years ago provided me with me a real, faith workout. But I diligently stayed with it until one particular service. I don't really know what happened to me in that service. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. Somehow the offering time slipped up on me and I thoughtlessly grabbed a couple of dollars from my purse, tossing them in the bucket as it passed by. When the service was over, I noticed that for some reason my heart seemed grieved. I didn't even know why at first. So I sought the Lord about it. I retraced my spiritual steps until I realized that by casually dumping that measly offering in the bucket that night, I had sinned. I had been disobedient to the Lord. Later that evening, I was reading Hebrews 10:38 which says, "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (
KJV). As soon as I read those words, I knew I had drawn back from the direction of the Lord that night. So I immediately repented and told Him I'd double up in the next offering. But, thank God, I didn't stop there! I kept reading until I got to Hebrews 11:4: By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet
speaketh. (
KJV) Through that verse, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to a greater revelation. I began to see not only what God wanted me to do but why He wanted me to do it.
WOULD YOU GIVE FLUFFY?
As I read about Abel, it dawned on me that when it comes to giving, God isn't as interested in quantity as He is in quality. Abel's gift delighted the Lord not because it was so large but because it was his very best. He gave it wholeheartedly in an attitude of faith. Abel loved God so much that only the best was good enough for his God and for him. As for the offering given by his brother, Cain, that was a very different story. We can find that story in Genesis, chapter four where the Bible says: And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. (verses 1-7
KJV) Let me ask you something. How in the world could it possibly be a sin to bring an offering to the Lord? Bringing an offering is a good thing! The Bible instructs us to do it. Yet here we clearly see that Cain didn't do well when he gave. He had somehow stumbled into sin. How? He sinned by failing to give God his best. He just brought some of what he had to the Lord. His heart wasn't really in it. He picked out a few of the fruits and vegetables he had grown and said, "Well, that's enough for God. It's not the prize pick of the crop but it will do." Abel, however, had an entirely different perspective. He went out to the pasture and said, "It's offering time! And since I love God with all my heart I want to give Him my very best." Then he looked over the flock and saw Spot, but Spot wasn't his best. He saw
Wooly, but
Wooly wasn't his best. He saw Mutton, but Mutton wasn't his best. Then he saw Fluffy. Fluffy was Abel's pride and joy. If Abel had been a member of the 4H club, Fluffy would have won him a ribbon at the fair. So Abel said, "Fluffy, you're the one. I'm going to give you to God because I want to give my very best to Him!" That may sound silly but, the fact is, God was so delighted with Fluffy that He wrote about it in the New Testament and said that offering is still speaking of Abel's faith!
THAT'S WHAT GOD CALLS PERFECT!
If you want to be a person who pleases God, this story should be music to your ears. It assures you that you don't have to be rich or talented or superbly skilled in order to bring God something that delights Him. All you have to do is give Him your very best—and that is something you can always do. Granted, your best might be different from somebody
else's best. Their best might be more expensive or more naturally impressive than yours. But that doesn't make any difference to God. When you give your best to the Lord in wholehearted love for Him, God looks at your gift and calls it perfect! I'm not just talking about the financial gifts you give Him, either. I'm talking about what you give to Him in every area of life. After all, God doesn't just want your money, He wants all of you. That's why Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (
KJV). When we consider all that God has done for us, it's only reasonable to give our whole lives to Him as a sacrifice! Does that mean we should climb up on an altar and let somebody burn us up? No, it means that every day we are to give Him our best all day long. We are to live the best we know how to live. We are to be the best friend to others that we know how to be. We are to be the best husband or wife, the best employee, the best church member that we can possibly be. Every day, in everything we do, we should do our absolute best for the praise and glory of God. That is an excellent sacrifice.
EVEN FLUFFY HAD HER FLAWS
"But Lynne," you might say, "sometimes my best doesn't look very good. Sometimes I fall far short and seem unable to give the perfect gift that God is worthy of!" I know. So do I. So does every other believer. But that's okay. Abel's sacrifice was imperfect, too. Even Fluffy in all her beauty had her flaws. Even she fell short of the glory of God. Although I wasn't there to see her, I know she did because by the time Abel came along Adam had already sinned. He'd already committed high treason, and sold out to Satan. The curse was in the earth. Imperfection had set in, so if you'd taken a magnifying glass and looked at Abel's little sheep, you would have seen something wrong with her. But you know what you wouldn't have seen anything wrong with? Abel's heart! It was right toward God. It was wholly turned toward Him in love. And in the end, that's all that really mattered. The same is true today. God isn't looking at our
Fluffies. He isn't looking at the amount of our checks. He isn't looking at the mistakes we make when we endeavor to do His will. He is looking at our hearts to see if we're withholding something from Him or if we're keeping the command He gave us in Matthew 22:37. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (
KJV). He knows when we're giving our all to Him and that's what He considers our best. We know when we're giving our all, too, and that clears our conscience of all condemnation so that we have hearts full of confidence toward Him. My, how God longs and searches for hearts like that! How He desires to find and bless them. Second Chronicles 16:9 says, "…the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."
THE KEY TO COMING BOLDLY
Think about that verse for a moment. Think about God searching the world over for a heart wholly dedicated to Him. Wouldn't you like to come to God in prayer knowing you had a heart like that? Wouldn't it be great if you could approach His throne, not because you were trying to get God's attention but because He was trying to get yours? Just imagine what it would be like to start your prayer time knowing that God Himself is nudging and tugging on you saying, "Come on, ask Me for something! I've been looking all over the earth trying to find someone like you to bless. I want to show Myself strong on your behalf. Just ask and you'll receive!" I dare say that would make it much easier to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). That would make it much easier to believe that you receive what things soever you desire when you pray (Mark 11:24). That would make it easier to be sure that you can ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you (John 15:7). If you think such boldness is beyond your reach, think again. It's as close to you as your own conscience. And you can have it every day for the rest of your life if you'll only give God your best.
Labels: Faith, God, Words to Live By
