Wed’s Devo - Dedication

Read: Leviticus 27:14-Numbers 1:54; Mark 11:1-26; Psalm 46:1-11; Proverbs 10:23 A person could choose to dedicate their possessions to the Lord, but if they changed their mind and wanted it back it would cost them a fifth of the cost. The number ‘five’ has to do with redemption. If we dedicate anything to the Lord, then decide to take it back into our hands, it will cost us. That is why we need to consider what we do before we do it. Once we give a matter to the Lord, it needs to stay in his hands. The first born were not negotiable…they were the Lord’s. The only first born’s that could be bought back were the unclean animals. The ones that were specially set apart for the Lord, whether a person, an animal, or family property, must never be sold or bought back. The Jews believed that there were three types of people: the totally wicked, the totally righteous and the in-betweeners. These laws tend to prove this is true. The totally righteous would be the first borns and the specially set apart ones. The ones that could be bought back from the Lord could be the in-betweeners. In verse 29 it says that no person specifically set apart for destruction may be bought back. Such a person must be put to death. That sounds like the totally wicked. Then God talked about the tithe - the 10%. If you bought that back it would cost you an additional 20%. That doesn’t sound like smart financing to not pay your tithe. Numbers is a book of numbers. LOL! The first thing they numbers were the names of the warriors by their clans and families. They were taken from all the tribes except the Levites. The Levites were to tend to the Tabernacle and ministering to the Lord. The New Testament tells us the same thing. Our weapons are not carnal but they are powerful through God to the pulling down of strongholds. We do not fight in the conventional way; we fight on our knees. Every tribe had their own banner and designated area to camp and to march into battle, just like in the Body of Christ - we all have our designated areas to minister from. In Mark, Jesus told his disciples to go into a village and get a donkey that had never been ridden. As they were ’stealing’ this donkey, the owner asked them what they were doing. When he heard who was going to ride it he let them have it. A donkey is the most stubborn animal and they hate to be ridden and yet Jesus sat on this donkey who had not been trained to carry a person and it took him into Jerusalem. That was a miracle in itself. As Jesus was entering from the southeast to Jerusalem, the Temple lamb was coming into Jerusalem from the northwest. People were ascending upon Jerusalem from all directions. They were carrying palm branches and singing the Hallel in Psalms 112-118. They laid down their branches and sang the part that says “Hosannah! Blessed are they who come in the name of the Lord.” Psalm 118:25-26. Jesus went to the temple and observed what was going on. He then was able to curse the fig tree. The fig tree was Israel and when he came, they were not ready to receive him. They were not ripe in season and out of season. So Jesus cursed them so that no one would eat from their fruit again. Jesus came back to Jerusalem the next day with vengeance and drove out the buyers and sellers and the money changers. He told them that they had made the house of prayer into a den of thieves. This made the Pharisees and leaders of the synagogue even more determined to kill Jesus. When the disciples passed the fig tree the next morning, it had withered from its roots just like Jerusalem had. Jesus used it to teach his disciples how to bring down Satan’s kingdom. We have the authority to bring down mountains and throw them into the sea. Lord, we bring down this mountain of idol worship and Satanism in our nation. We cast it into the sea of forgetfulness and we pray that this nation will be called a House of Prayer for your name sake.