Responding in Faith to God’s Invitation to Advance Forward by Relating with Him through the Lord’s Feast of Firstfruits

TRUTH AND PURPOSE

The Feast of Firstfruits provides a visual aid of God’s way of preparing us to advance forward and prosper. How so? God instructed the Hebrew people to bring an offering from the first fruits harvested of the crop. It signified recognition that all belongs to God. Furthermore, it served to honor the LORD’s headship. In addition, inspecting the first fruits of the harvest provided for affirming that if the first fruits were good so would be the rest. First Fruits, therefore, points forward to God’s way concerning the order of advancement in the Kingdom of God.

God instructed the Hebrew people to bring an offering from the first fruits harvested of the crop. It signified recognition that all belongs to God. Furthermore, it served to honor the Lord’s headship. In addition, inspecting the first fruits of the harvest provided for affirming that if the first fruits were good so would be the rest. The Feast of Firstfruits, therefore, points forward to God’s way concerning the order of advancement in the Kingdom of God.

Messiah Yeshua-Jesus revealed the way, the truth and the new life of God. The first way to the new life in God began with His resurrection from the dead. He became the first soul arisen in the newness of His eternal life. He also arose as our representative, establishing God’s order of raising up believers spiritually, and ultimately, eternally.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NLT)

RELEVANCE

God desires that we continuously advance forward in life. This encompasses progressively growing in trusting faith towards God. As a result, you likewise progressively bear new fruit.

This is accomplished as the Holy Spirit continues to strengthen your heart and renew your mind. As a result, you grow in the new life of the Spirit— your renewed nature– the nature and character of Messiah Yeshua-Jesus.

God works this renewing in us through a process of exchange: adding and deleting. Just as John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). This means God grows His nature in you by continuously adding and strengthening aspects of His spiritual nature– His virtue and character. Simultaneously, aspects of the old carnal nature are deleted. Paul described this as “our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

So such a process requires the cooperation and participation of the will. As you receive the pour of God’s love and amazing grace and presence of the Holy Spirit, you are enlightened. Therefore, your eyes are opened and heart convicted of aspects of wrong tendencies.  The grace of God, therefore, flows to strengthen you and delete such aspects of your disposition. So God transforms your nature and enables us you advance forward in His strength!

One way we facilitate this process is by giving of the blessings of God-our first fruits-back to God. By resisting our carnal nature to hoard, we take authority over the power of selfishness, greed and mammon, and gratefully give back to God. It frees up our conscience and gives God permission, so to say, to bless us even further!

See also, that God, as Creator, is always doing new things. This perspective, therefore, blesses you by keeping your mind open to new things God may be doing. It, therefore, becomes easier to receive new insights by the Holy Spirit– even new instruction– as God opens doors of opportunity.

Truly, as you continue to engage with God over time, He will nurture your faith and cultivate His nature in you from faith-to-faith and glory-to-glory! (Romans 1:17 and 2 Corinthians 3:18) Keep in mind, however, we continuously need to seek the Lord and pursue His will.

REFLECT AND RELATE

In what ways do you affirm the Lord’s headship and permit His Lordship in your life, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths?

How is your new nature reflected in your life?

In what ways may God be preparing you to advance forward in your life?

REFERENCES

Ephesians 4:17-32; Colossians 3:1-17

NEXT STEPS

Vertical movement: As you advance and grow from faith-to-faith, the Holy Spirit draws you deeper, providing greater insights into God’s ways. As a result, your spiritual vision is strengthened so you see things more clearly. In addition, you are more easily able to refocus and find God’s wisdom to experience more of His glory.

Horizontal movement: The more you advance in trusting faith and in your relationship with God, the more the Holy Spirit brings you to experience the glory of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

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