Word Up Ministries

February 26, 2022

Scripture:

LEVITICUS 27:1-34, NUMBERS 1:1-54

The Dedication Of Me

The LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate someone to the Lord by paying the value of that person, here is the scale of values to be used.
Leviticus 27:1-3a

My Takeaways

Something Old

Everyone can give their life to the LORD; there are none who are too small, or too insignificant, or too useless. God wants to use each and every one.
Enduring Word

Unbroken and un-surrendered

Focuses on the failure of others
Self-righteous, critical, fault-finding
Looks down on others
Self-condemning, although often hidden
Independent, self-sufficient spirit
Maintains control – must be “my way”
Has to prove he’s right
Claims rights
Demanding spirit
Self-protective of time, rights, reputation
Desires to be served
Desires self-advancement
Driven to be recognized
Thinks of what he can do for God
Trumps others through his knowledge
Self-conscious, self-absorbed
Guarded with others
Quick to blame
Unapproachable
Defensive when criticized
Concerned with being respectable
Clings to his self-proclaimed “word from God”
Overly concerned with what others will think
Works to maintain and protect his reputation
Hides his sin
Confesses sin in generalities
Clings to gifts from God
Remorseful over his sin
Demands those he disagrees with see it his way
Displays false humility
Uses the words of God
Uses “god talk” to control others or get his way
Blind to his true heart condition
Promotes an “experience with God”
Durable, thick-skinned for the moment

What does as life given to the LORD look like?

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. (AMPC)

So, I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way. Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. (ERV)

And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy—the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you. (TLB)

So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (MSG)

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