Faithway Baptist Church: Leesburg, VA

I am amazed at how the Lord constantly provides His children with everything we need for life and godliness. There is this philosophy alive and well today that teaches that the more money we have, the more we can get done for God. Beloved, that is a pure lack of spirituality.

The story of the widow’s mite found in the Gospels is a perfect example. God was pleased with the little that she was able to give because it came from a pure heart. Compare that small gift to the large sum of cash donated by the Pharisees - but their heart was far from pure. As the old song goes, "Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth nor fame, there's a crown, and you can win it, if you go in Jesus' name." 

In Isaiah 1, God made it clear that He would reject Israel's offerings and He would not even hear their prayers until they started obeying from the heart. Contrast that passage to II Chronicles 7:14.  The Bible tells us how to receive blessings from God. It gives a list of things that we can do to get God’s blessings. The one thing different from II Chronicles is and Isaiah is that God says He would not hear their prayers in the latter passage. Israel knew what they had done wrong, they knew their sins, but refused to deal with them. God calls His children to a life of holiness and obedience if we want to receive His blessings.

by: Barnabas Schwanke |