2 Samuel 24:18-25

David knew that he could not petition from the Lord based on what was given to Him rather than paid for. We as a people of God need to be conscious of this principle. You cannot acquire anything from the Lord unless you are willing to give up something to get it. This is a principle that is found in the Word of God from Genesis to Revelations. The principle started in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and continues today. Cain and Abel. Cain slew Abel because God accepted Abel’s gift, but did not accept Cain’s. God never wants us to give Him anything that we did not pay for. How do we not uphold this principle in our own lives?

The bible speaks of the fact that God inhabits the praises of His people. But, as much as God enjoys our praises, He gets real joy when we praise Him and it is a sacrifice to do so. Hebrews 13:15 In other words, what was the cost of your praise? I am reminded of the woman with the alabaster box. She paid dearly for her praises and God received them. Is God receiving your praise? Oh, I’m not talking about when you go to church and stand for the praise & worship portion of the service. No, I’m talking about true praise when its just you and God and you lay prostrate before Him. That which comes through your tears, your groans and your coming to grips with the fact that despite what is not happening in your life, despite the unanswered prayers, despite the persecution, the challenges, you can praise God any how. When you can praise God anyhow – that’s the praise that God receives.

We too often give what does not cost us anything or what costs us the least. For example, let us look at our time. We rarely sacrifice our time for the Lord. We do what we want to do when we want to do it and give God the leftovers. Think about it. How many of us will sacrifice two, three hours a day to spend talking to God, but we spend more time than that watching TV or talking to our friends on the telephone? When we weigh the time we spend working, eating, watching TV or socializing against the amount of time we spend in that same day with the Lord in either our prayer time, study time or worship time; God comes up short every time.

We can be in the middle of a very busy day and someone calls us to schedule some fun time and we get out our calendar right away and make time on our schedule to spend time with that person. Let someone else call us with a request of something the Lord would like us to do and all of a sudden our calendar is full. We just can’t squeeze in another thing. Do you know how that grieves the Holy Spirit?

God doesn’t want our leftover time. He wants to be the top priority in our lives. Before we schedule anything, we should check with Him to see if He has already allocated that block of time. Even before we book that vacation, we need to ask God if it is in keeping with His plan and purpose for that time. Before we make a dinner date, we need to check with God if He is going to need us during that time. Most Christians don’t think like that. We think if we gave him our fifteen minutes in the morning and five minutes at night and if we go to church on Sunday and stay for at least two hours and maybe a bible study or midweek service, well we’ve given God our all. God gave you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 30 to 31 days a month and 365 days in a year and do you know what? They all belong to God. Why? Because you belong to God. Everything that you have and are belongs to God and we need to stop robbing God.

Let’s not schedule our time or splurge our time away with little or no regard to what God would like to do with His time. You would be surprised how much time you have leftover if you submit your time to the Lord and ask Him to allocate it for you. I find it amazing how much you can get done when you follow His schedule instead of your own.

But what about our talent? God gave each and everyone of us specific gifts and talents to be used to His glory, yet we use them for our own gain. With many of us, the gifts and talents that God gave us we use to earn a living and never think to use it to further His kingdom here on earth. Proverbs 18:16 Did you ever wonder why your gifts have never brought you before great men? You are gifted. There is not a person alive who is not gifted in some way. Some gifts are more obvious than others, but you are gifted. So why haven’t your gifts prospered? Because you are not using them to further the kingdom of God here on earth. God gave you your gifts for a specific reason, to fulfill your plan and purpose. They will never bring you before great men until you use them for the purpose that they were intended.

Do you realize how many people have tremendous singing abilities that will never be discovered, simply because they wouldn’t use their gift to glorify God, but to make money from and that is not the purpose God gave them the gift. It has to cost you something to use your gift and until you pay the cost – God can’t bring you before people who can help you.

When we give Him our time and talent we aren’t doing it for Him. We are doing it with Him, to further His kingdom here on earth. It isn’t your time and talent anyway. If He owns you (and He does) than everything that you have and are belong to Him. You are merely using with Him, what is rightfully His anyway.

And what about our finances? Did you ever wonder why when we try to apply a particular message or principle we learned in a church setting or when we submit a particular area of our lives to the Lord based on something that was taught, nothing seems to change in our lives?

We begin to think that the man or woman of God that taught the lesson must not know what they are talking about or we think that we may not have sufficient faith to believe for that thing to change and do you know what? Neither of those two explanations is correct. It is because what you have received cost you nothing.

When you are blessed by the Word of God, God wants you to give Him a sacrifice before you will be able to apply the Word you received. That is why David could not go before God to petition deliverance for the people without first paying a sacrifice because he knew he could not use what cost him nothing. And you are probably thinking, well that doesn’t apply to me because I pay my tithe. When we attend our local church we pay our tithe, but the tithe is not the sacrifice, because the tithe already belongs to God. You are just giving to God what is rightfully His. The offering is the sacrifice.

Actually God doesn’t want you to do anything for Him. You don’t pay your tithes and offering for Him. You don’t even pay them to Him. God does not need your money. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so why would you think that God needs your money? When you give your money, you become a co-laborer with Him. The money is His already. All you are doing is coming into agreement with Him to use it to further His kingdom here on earth. You haven’t actually given Him anything. It already belonged to Him. He needs you to give for your benefit, not His. Even though Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice and paid for our sins, we don’t need another blood sacrifice, but we do need to pay a sacrifice. What is a sacrifice? It is something that you do not want to give up and it may hurt you to do so, but you give it anyway. In other words, the sacrifice is something you cannot afford – something of value.

Let me give you an example. Say I have just enough money to pay my bills, buy my food and have $5 left over. I come to a meeting and receive the Word and I want to apply it to my life.

When the offering is taken up, I put in $2 of the $5 I had left over. Have I given a sacrifice? No, because you can afford the $2. Say, I give the whole $5 have I given a sacrifice? No, because you can afford it. Suppose I give $10, have I given a sacrifice? Yes because you are going to have to give up something, like food, to pay it. Mark 12:41-44

That poor widow gave out of her lack and Jesus was pleased. And some might wonder why God would take the last from a poor widow and leave her nothing. She placed herself in a position to receive more by her act of faith then any of the others who gave much. Why is it that we think that God should feel blessed, when we give Him a little and save the rest for ourselves? God is not pleased until we give until it hurts. In other words, it must be a sacrifice to do so.