The first time we heard the term “First Fruits offering” was back in 1999 when we participated in a four-month teaching to learn about First Fruits. In the beginning, we did not fully receive the teaching because we were trying to understand it solely with our intellects. We prayed and asked God to help us understand. The Lord answered our prayer, and He let us know that we needed to receive this understanding in our spirits and not in our heads.
Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase: so, shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Honor God and He’ll honor you. It became clear to us: if you desire God to bless you financially, you’re going to have to honor Him with your money, or as the verse says, with the First Fruits of all your increase. We praised God for His Spirit-filled wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
The First Fruit offering is our way of honoring God at the beginning of the year. It’s our way of telling God that we love, trust, and recognize Him as our source and supply. He will provide everything we need for the coming year. It’s not only in words, but also in deeds or actions.
This year will be our 23rd First Fruits offering together. There’s such a peace that comes with giving our First Fruits at the beginning of each year. Each January, we celebrate giving our best to honor the Lord. We trust the Lord that provision will be attached to us this year. In accordance with Psalm 92:12, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree; they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord.”
As witnesses to the faithfulness of God to his Word and to us, we want you to know that God has a Covenant with us and with you. He is not a respecter of persons. What He has done for us He will also do for you. Become established in God’s covenant (Ephesians 2:12-13). Our covenant with God provides prosperity (Deuteronomy 8:18; 9:5-6). It’s our covenant right to prosper, but it’s also God’s oath or promise to us. It’s what God said He would do for His people. However, we must do our part with the covenant. Genesis 8:22 references seed time and harvest time. The covenant is in place forever. If we put a seed in the ground, we will receive a harvest.
There’s something spiritually significant about giving God your first and best rather than the leftovers. Malachi 3:8-12 says,
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: For you shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
Throughout these 23 years, it’s truly been a joy to give to the Lord. We want you to experience this joy and this peace. If you want God to bless you financially, you’re going to have to honor Him with your money. We began honoring God with our money by tithing. It was then that He began to help us financially in miraculous ways. You may say, “I just can’t afford to tithe right now.” But let us tell you, you can’t afford not to. If you don’t start honoring God with your money, you’ll be in the same financial position next year that you’re in today. Let this be the year you start being consistent in your giving to God.
When God gave His first and only Son as a sacrifice for our sins, He gave His first and best. He deserves nothing less than the same from us. We don’t depend on the world, but on our God, so we honor Him with our First Fruits. We believe that God has blessed us and will continue to bless us in ways immeasurably beyond what we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). We pray that you are ready and willing to experience this same blessing in 2023.
If you feel led, you can give your own First Fruits at bridgeway.cc/firstfruits
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