Honour God with your Firstfruits

Wednesday 10 June
READ: Neh. 10:35 (NLB)
MORE LESSONS: Ezek. 44:30

In our text, Nehemiah confessed the sins of Israel in backsliding from the Lord. He prayed and pledged a complete return to the Almighty. In repentance, the people promised to always bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord's temple. The first part of a harvest is what the Bible calls the firstfruits.
When a believer begins to backslide, his/her giving to God is the first casualty. To forget to give to God your tithe and first- fruits before spending out of your income is a proof that your love for God has gone cold. To become stingy in your giving to God shows that excitement for God and His household is now a secondary matter and many believers are in the backsliding state (Prov.14:4).
But when a man's heart is burning with love for God he will give with great excitement, he will tithe and honour God with his firstfruits. Your salary in a new employment, the first profit in a new business, the first produce of your farm, the difference in your new and old salaries when you are promoted, the first money you earn in a new year, these are all examples of firstfruits. You are to bring your firstfruits to God’s servant in the house of God. He will receive them and command the blessing of the Lord to rest upon you and your work. It is this blessing of the Lord that will make you rich with no sorrow added (Prov.10:22).

Giving your firstfruits opens Heaven upon your life. When you give your first- fruits, you are working in obedience to God's Word and He will make you to eat of the good of the land (Isa.1:19). When you put God and His Kingdom first in the affairs of your life, He will surely add other things to you(Matt.6:33). Honouring God with your substance connects you with abundance (I Sam.2:30). Finally, when you give God your firstfruits, you trigger the release of His blessings upon all the work of your hand. He will see to it that you become rich (Prov.10:22). Give God the firstfruits always and He will defend and preserve the remaining harvest from wasters (Prov.3:9-10).

Prayer/Action
* Give thanks to God because He is the One who gives strength to His people.
* Ask God to help you obey Him in all things.
* Ask God to forgive you any act of disobedience in your financial responsibilities and restore all the blessings due you.
* Ask God to stop devourers that could be working against you because of a weakness in the area of finance.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
The enemy shall wait in vain for my failure, andall who secretly desire my fall shall be disappointed, in the name of Jesus.