THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE
God desires to release into your life His blessings, not just as an occasional occurrence but for these blessings to rest upon you continually! God has purposed that you experience the fullness of His blessings in every area of your life. He has made provision for you to live in His favor whereby you, your children and family, ministry, business, all your possessions and everything you do is blessed! There is no question or doubt that God desires to release His blessings upon His people. The question is, "Are you ready to receive them?" If you have accepted Christ as your Savior and have been born again, the blessings of God are part of your inheritance. However, before you can receive His blessings, you must position yourself. You must have a clear understanding of what the blessings of God really are and how to obtain them. What are God's blessings and who are eligible to receive them? Who are the "blessed" of the Lord? How does one live with the hand of God's blessing upon his life? What are the reasons why many Christians are forfeiting God's blessings? What is the purpose of having God's blessings upon one's life? We are anxious to claim God's blessings, but we don't want to think about the fact that God has given us a choice between blessing and cursing. We cannot just focus on God's blessings and refuse to acknowledge and deal with His warning about the curses.
GOD IS CALLING FOR REFORMATION!
Today God desires to release His blessings upon His people, but He is first calling for reformation in His Church. God showed me there is a strong correlation between believers recognizing the awesome holiness of God, living a holy life, and having God's hand of blessing upon their lives. How we honor God and His holy Name, not only through our giving but in all our actions and relationships, is a very real factor in taking hold of His promised blessings. He is calling us to return to Him with all our hearts. God doesn't want you to just seek after Him for His blessings and what He will do for you. What He desires is covenant relationship. He wants you to first seek to know and love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Your focus must be upon Him, blessing Him for Who He is and what He has already done.
CONDITIONS FOR LIVING UNDER GOD'S BLESSINGS
God is speaking loud and clear to His Church that it is time for His people to make a distinction between the holy and the profane. Early one morning as I was lying in bed praying and meditating on the Lord, He spoke to me very clearly. He said, "My people have lost their ability to discern between the profane things of this world and the holy things of God. They must come back to Me and see Me as I am; a pure, holy God." Not everyone who cries out for God's blessing upon their lives receives it. There are conditions that must be met in order to obtain and live under God's hand of blessing. There are Christians who have forfeited God's blessings because their hearts have turned away from Him and they are not living in obedience to His Word. When the children of Israel turned away from God and began to intermarry and worship idol gods, God warned that He would curse their blessings. Have you ever considered the possibility that your blessings may be cursed?
CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE HEART
There are many Christians who have forfeited their spiritual birthright through their unbelief and disobedience. There are many who want God's blessings on their lives. They pray and cry out, "Oh God, bless me!" But they are not receiving His blessings.
Why not? As we take an in-depth look at how the priests and children of Israel broke covenant with God, profaned His holy Name and the holy things of God, the Father will speak to us loud and clear what He requires of us in this crucial hour. The Father has made it very clear in His Word those who are blessed and will receive His blessing. Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psalm 24:3-5).
Clean hands. A pure heart. This is what God requires of those who will receive His blessings.
TURN YOUR GAZE UPON GOD'S HOLINESS
The starting point in your quest to live under a continual flow of God's blessing is to have a fresh revelation of the holiness of God and learn how to discern between the profane and the things God considers holy. The Father wants to take you by the hand and lead you into a fuller revelation of Himself so that you will be able to live with His blessings flowing continually into your life. Are you ready to receive? Once you receive just a glimpse of Him in the beauty of His holiness then you will have a foundation upon which to know the difference between the things which He considers holy and those that are profane. There is a place in the Presence of Almighty God we can live and truly know Him. God promised, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isaiah 57:15). As we begin this spiritual journey, ask God to strip the veil of darkness from your eyes and allow you to gaze upon Him in all His glory and perfect holiness. Dare to venture into the Holy of Holies and wait before Him as He reveals Himself to you in all His fullness. He bids you to come. Not in fear or trepidation. But, humbly. Just as you are.
THERE IS NO HOLINESS BUT IN HIM
What the Body of Christ must have today is a fresh revelation of the holiness of Almighty God! The holy, reverential fear of God is missing. The word God spoke so clearly and deeply into my spirit was, "My people have failed to discern between the profane things of this world and the holy things of God. They must come back to Me and see Me as I am, a pure, holy God." As I meditated on this strong word from the Lord, I began to search for an example of what might be considered "holy" not by man's standards, but by God's. In order for us to discern between the profane and holy, we must have an example of true holiness. I quickly realized that in the world in which we live today, we do not have an example that we can look to which represents what the Father considers holy.
Our God is altogether holy and He dwells in a high and holy place. Night and day around His glorious throne, the angels cry out, "Holy, holy, holy!" Wherever God is, there is holiness. On Mt. Horeb when God manifested Himself to Moses in the burning bush, He spoke and told Moses not to come any closer, but to take off his shoes because the place where he was standing was holy ground (Exodus 3:5). The reason the ground was considered holy was because God's Presence made it holy. God's Presence makes holy the place where He dwells. There is none holy but the Lord and there is no holiness but in Him! The only way we can possibly understand what is holy and the holiness God has called us to pursue, is to draw near to Him and look upon His holiness as He has revealed Himself in His Word and through His Son, Jesus.
WHAT DOES GOD CONSIDER HOLY?
The beautiful, stained-glass cathedrals, churches, worship centers, Bible schools, seminaries, and breathtaking buildings we have built as part of our ministries are not holy. Our creeds, doctrines, books, teachings, songs, sermons, ministry, and evangelistic outreaches are not holy. The one, major thing I found in my search to find those things on earth which God considers holy is the gifts we offer Him. From His first dealings with the children of Israel, God chose to communicate with them at the altar of sacrifice. Before they entered the Promised Land, God told Moses that He would choose the place where He would establish His Name--where He would meet with the children of Israel at the altar (Exodus 29:42-43). The altar was considered holy. God said, "it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy" (Exodus 29:37). It was necessary for both the offering and the altar to be holy. When the children of Israel offered the sacrifices according to God's instructions, the burnt offerings ascended up to heaven as a sweet-smelling fragrance to God.
There were instances when the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices as a sign that their offering was accepted. But when the people did not bring their offerings in accordance with the Law and were disobedient to God, their offerings were a stench in His nostrils, and He would not accept them. Man's entire relationship with God revolved around His obedience to all the commandments God had given him and his faithfulness and obedience in presenting his tithes and offerings. The sacrifices and offerings they gave were holy before God. God received their holy offerings and poured out His blessings upon them in return.
GOD MEETS US AT A HOLY ALTAR
To walk in the fullness of the blessings of the Lord, you must realize that your offerings and gifts which you give are considered holy to the Lord. Your offerings are not to be taken lightly or to be given haphazardly. You must give them in faith. How you give your offerings, as well as what you give is very important, and will determine if they are acceptable to God. In Malachi, chapter one, we read how the priests and the children of Israel profaned the Name of the Lord by offering polluted sacrifices on His altar. Instead of offering the very best of all they owned, they offered the lame, sick, and diseased. God told them: A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then, I am a father, where is My honour? And if I am a master, where is the [reverent] fear due Me? says the Lord of Hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. Malachi 1:6 AMP. Can you hear the heart of the Father today asking, "Where is My honour?" as He looks down upon us as we approach His holy altar with our gifts? By offering polluted sacrifices, the priests and children of Israel dishonored God. The fear of the Lord was gone and there was no reverence toward the altar or the offerings they brought. They were guilty of not discerning between the profane and the holy. The priests asked, "How and in what way have we despised Your name" (Malachi 1:6 AMP)? God answered, "By offering polluted food upon My altar. And you ask, How have we polluted it and profaned You? By thinking that the table of the Lord is contemptible and may be despised" (Malachi 1:7 AMP).
The priests and children of Israel were just going through the motions. They were not worshipping God with their sacrifices and offerings. They were not honoring God but had become weary and despised the altar and the table of the Lord. God said: When you [priests] offer blind [animals] for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Present such a thing [a blind or a lame or sick animal] now to your governor [in payment of your taxes, and see what will happen]. Will he be pleased with you? Or will he receive you graciously? says the Lord of Hosts (Malachi 1:8 AMP). Think about it. When we offer God less than our best, we are guilty of doing the same as the priests and children of Israel in presenting polluted sacrifices. We are guilty of offering the profane on a holy altar and we are profaning His holy Name! God told them He had no pleasure in them and rejected their offerings. He then warned the priests that if they refused to listen and failed to honor Him with their offerings that He would curse their blessings. God said: If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name, says the LORD Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them because you have not set your heart to honor me" (Malachi 2:2 AMP).
WE MUST OFFER GOD PURE OFFERINGS
God has pronounced a curse upon those who offer blemished offerings. He expects us today to give pure offerings. He expects us to come before Him with clean hands and a pure heart and offer Him the very best of all we have, in true worship to Him. He doesn't want our leftovers! Whenever we give Him what is left of our finances after we have taken what we need for ourselves and offer it up to Him, we are guilty of profaning His Name. We dishonor God when we offer our second best! God desires to release His abundance into our lives, but when we fail to give gifts and offerings that are the very best of all that we have that will honor Him as the Almighty God, Creator, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we cannot expect to receive His blessings. God warned of a curse that would come upon those offering blemished sacrifices on the altar. He said, "But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen" (Malachi 1:14).
We must learn to discern between the holy and profane so that we will not be guilty of profaning God's Name through our offerings. As God's prophetic, end-time anointing is being released, He is going to bring us into a new dimension of worship through our giving. God is going to purify the altars upon which we offer our gifts to Him. He is going to cleanse and purify our hearts so that we will rise to a new level in our giving. God wants you to enter into a relationship with Him where you are giving holy offerings from pure motives, and from your heart overflowing with love for Him. He doesn't want you just to give because it is required of you, out of duty, or because you feel obligated or pressured into giving. God is raising up a new breed who will give their pure, holy offerings, unreservedly and so outrageously until His Name will be exalted and lifted up throughout the nations. We must ask ourselves, "Are we honoring God through the offerings we present to Him? Do our gifts reflect of our love for Him, given from a pure heart and with pure motives? God said, "For from the rising of the sun to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and indeed a pure offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 1:11).
God wants a pure offering! He wants to break through our traditions, preconceived ideas and hang-ups and take us to a new level in our giving where we are completely unfettered from everything that would hold us back from freely and joyfully giving the very best of all that He has given us. We have a choice: to live with the fullness of God's blessings flowing continuously in our lives; or to have our blessings cursed. We must humble ourselves before God and allow Him to expose any areas in our giving that does not bring honor and glory to His great Name. Ask the Father to enable you to discern between the holy and profane and to raise you to a new dimension of worship through your giving of pure, holy offerings to Him. He is saying, "Come to the altar and present your holy offerings to Me. There I will meet with you and there I will bless you!"
