Rabbi Schneider - Are You Truly Dedicated to the Lord?
You know, the scripture tells us in Romans 12:1 that we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord. And when we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord, you know what happens? The glory falls. When the temple was dedicated in ancient Israel, when Solomon dedicated the temple, you know what happened? The glory of God fell so heavy that the priest couldn't stand in the temple.
And I think it's the same thing in our lives today. You know, we're looking to experience the presence of God, but the presence of God can only fall on our life in an eternal weight of glory and heaviness when we're surrendered to him and dedicated to him because we can push the Holy Spirit away through our lack of surrender and our lack of dedication.
The Holy Spirit came as a dove. And, you know, doves are very jittery. If you make a loud sound, a dove is going to scatter, a dove is going to move. So if you want a dove to rest, you've got to be very quiet and just create an atmosphere for the dove to come and be at peace and at rest in. And the Holy Spirit is like that as well. He's sensitive and he comes and rests where he's welcome. And when the one who wants him to rest on them has a spirit and a disposition that is loving and gentle and sensitive to his presence. And this only comes when we're dedicated to him and sensitive to him.
But if someone, on the other hand, is walking in self-will, the power of the Holy Spirit, the glory of God, isn't going to rest on that person because we have to create for the Lord a resting place. And the way we do that is by dying to our self and offering ourselves up to God as a living sacrifice, as the Scriptures teach. And this begins from the time that we wake up in the morning. We dedicate ourselves to the Lord when we wake up in the morning.
I remember a Bible teacher that I had who actually was the president of the Bible college that I went to, and he said when he woke up every morning, he did the same thing every day. He said he dedicated his toes to God. He dedicated his feet to God out loud. He dedicated his knees and went up his body and he dedicated his shoulders. Every part of his body. His tongue, his head. He dedicated to the Lord. I wake up every morning and I offer myself up to the Lord by being in the Word, by talking to God.
But the point is, is all day long, we want to walk in the spirit of dedicating ourselves to God. We constantly monitor what we're speaking and we're listening to ourselves in self-awareness as we speak, asking: "Lord, is what I'm saying honoring to you and pleasing to you"? So it all is about being dedicated to the Lord. But one area that some Christians won't let the Lord speak to them about and won't be yielded to, is being dedicated to the Lord in relationship to honoring him with our finances.
But Beloved, being honoring to the Lord with our finances, it's part of the ancient path. Abraham, who was the first believer, honored God with his finances. And we see it evidenced when he met Melchizedek, who was a foreshadow of Christ, when Abraham, the first believer, the father of all that believe, he's the father of us all, when he met Melchizedek, the high priest, he offered to Melchizedek a 10th of all he had, and then we read in the Scriptures how Israel was called to offer to the Lord a tenth. But some of us don't do that.
I want to encourage you today, if you love the Lord, if you love Jesus, honor Him, be dedicated to Him in the area of your finances. It's important because if we don't honor him with our finances, we're shutting off part of our heart to him. And when we shut off our heart to him, he can't come in and fully take possession of us, which results in us experiencing his blessing and his presence.
If the Lord is using Discovering the Jewish Jesus, if the Lord is using this ministry to help you in your walk with Jesus, would you make a financial offering to him today, right now, through this ministry, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, if you feel the truth of what I'm saying? If God is bearing witness with your soul right now to respond, just do it, Beloved. It's truth and you'll be blessed. God bless you. I love you. And thank you for choosing to honor the Lord with your financial offering through Discovering the Jewish Jesus today.