We had been in Virginia, USA just a week, when the Lord begun to speak to me from Gen 4, specifically 4:3-5.
“At the end of days it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock & of the fat. And the Lord had respect unto Abel & to his offering: But to Cain & to his offering he had no respect. And Cain was very angry & his countenance fell.”
As I pondered on this story, I was intrigued how God respected one offering but not another. I looked for a reason why. The only difference I could see was that Abel gave the FIRST of his earning to God, Cain just gave an offering from his earning.
As I pondered on this difference the Lord reminded me of one of the seven Feasts that He asked his people, Israel to observe for all time, the Feast of First Fruits (Ex 23:19). The significance of this Feast was twofold:
1. Offerings given to God were the first of the harvest. It was the BEST & often it was ALL that was available at this time of the beginning of the harvest. As they gave this to God, they did so in faith that God would provide more rain to make their crops grow, so they would have enough for themselves. It was primarily an act of faith & of love.
2. The second significance is that this offering is sowing out of a place of need, even from the place of not yet having it. The previous harvest supply was dwindling or even gone.
Faith is what God is always into! How we love formulas. How He loves faith! This He rewards.
We were half way through our trip in the USA when we were in Kansas City. It was also the time of the Feast of First Fruits. I remember asking the Lord what our first fruits offering was to be this year. As we have arrived back from the USA, the Lord revealed what this was to be. The offering He was asking was to take money from all that we had left, our superannuation, & give it to Him. Through dreams & words from His body, He directed us to put it into air tickets – He was sending us again to the nations to sow more seeds & bring messages of encouragement to His people. This time He was sending us back to Europe & UK for 8 weeks in Nov/Dec. We, like the farmer had no more of last season’s harvest & are even in a place of debt, but He was inviting us to sow out of our place of need & even in the place of not having, a first fruits offering to Him.
What’s He inviting you into today?