Cain and Abel one perspective

Genesis 4 1 Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.

When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

There are many perspectives on the story of Cain and Abel. Many sermons have been preached on Cain's offering vs. Abel's offering. So, when I read this passage about a week ago I was surprised that a different perspective jumped off the pages of my Bible at me.

First off notice, in verse 3, Cain is the first to bring a offering to the Lord, then Abel. I also want to point out that at this point in scripture (reading front to back or chronologically) we are not told to the reason the Lord rejects Cain's offering. Except for this one point, we are told that Cain brings SOME of his crop, but Abel brings the BEST of this flock. This is were most teaching on this stops and jumps strait to Cain's murder of Abel. If we stop at this point though we have missed the rest of what the Lord wants to show us, the Lord also reveal to us a warning that is so pointed and relevant to today.

From the end of verse 5 - 7 we see what the Lord wants to deal with Cain's reaction to His rejection of the offering. Look at what the Lord tells him, "if you do what is right you will be accepted." Oh man, you mean it is possible that the sin was not just in what Cain brought as the offering but more so in his reaction to the Lord's rejection of that offering. I know this flies in the face of much church doctrine on this topic but bear with me for a moment. Cain's sin was not just the offering he brought but that he got mad at the Lord for rejecting it. After all he was a farmer and he brought a offering from what the Lord gave him to do. (Hang in there I am not focusing on why the Lord rejected Cain's offering in this post, in order to prove a different point.)

Has that happened to you brothers and sisters? Did an offering you brought before the Lord get rejected? You know He is a sovereign Lord and He has the right to reject anything He wants, and just because we think a offering should be accepted doesn't mean it has to be. I recently went through a period in my life where I knew that I knew I was doing the Lord's work. Work that He ask me to do and the way He asked me to do it. But as time passed the Lord rejected that work. The reason he rejected it is not the issue at this point and a topic for another time. He has the right to reject or accept anything He chooses He is the Lord, King of Kings. If He should decide he does not want to accept something who are we to tell Him that He has to?

Cain bigger problem was that he got offended by the rejection of his offering, sound familiar? Truth is rejection hurts and we don't like it, especially if think it was the best gift we had to offer. He still had a chance to be accepted by the lord if he would react correctly. How then are we to react when the Lord rejects our offerings to Him? How are we to react when the church or ministry rejects our offering, or help work prayer or even revelation knowledge? What would have been the correct response for Cain? What was the right thing for him to do and then be accepted by the Lord?

Might I propose that the right thing to do is also the hardest for us most of the time. Worship the Lord even if He rejects your offering. Later in Deuteronomy we read that the Lord does not really even want our burnt offerings any more but our hearts. So even the Abel type offering gets rejected by the Lord at some point. The offering the Lord really wants is you. All that you are.

Observing wounded Christians I see, this is what has happened to them. They got rejected by someone or for some reason by the Church body and now they are not doing the right thing. Dear friends if this is you, like God told Cain "sin will come your way and you must subdue it." I know this is a hard message and if you are currently in the position Cain found himself this message is not one you want to accept, but I urge you to come back to the Lord worship Him because He is Lord. Not because He accepted or rejected your gift but because He is the King who reigns on High.

- Lord I pray that if these words reach one, who like Cain, is angry with you because you exercised your sovereignty. Then send your Holy Spirit ahead of the words and prepare their heart to accept your love and fall at your feet and worship you. You rejected the offering not Cain himself. And though you sometimes reject our offering to you, you love us and are calling us back to you. Heal the wounds cause by rejection, strengthen us in your love, that we may come back to you and do what is right.

Amen.

A Calling

Beloved Readers,
I eagerly want to finish my walk with you through the Sermon on the Mount. And I will write more as the Lords walks me through it. But I would like to take a minute of your time to write to you and tell you where the Lord is taking my family and I.

When the Lord called us to seek Him first. We at first (like most Christians) thought it meant to keep Him in mid as we went about our daily routine or living in the world. How wrong we were. As we continued to press in and seek His face and what it meant to put Him first He started to drastically change our lives. From removing all full time employment from my grasp to leading us into intercessory prayer and worship. When He said "Seek me first" He really meant FIRST.

First, means before anything else, He told us to lay down our wants and desires for Him and Him alone. Since about September of last year He as helped us to lay down many things. It was easy for us to lay some things down but not everything. Those things that we either refused to lay down or did not know how He is doing for us. We have been stripped of just about everything and honestly I hope He is done. It is no fun to have your lives turned upside down and end over end. And for What?

He is now starting to show us the "For What". If you have looked around my page at all you know I am headed for Virginia Beach in July. For a Conference called God in Our Midst. From the day of the invitation I new I was to go but did not have the means to pay bills let alone fly to Virginia until today. Yes today, Someone now very dear to my hear (although I do not know who they are) with the promoting of the Holy Spirit is paying for my tickets and Hotel to go. Who ever you are THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Praise the Lord!!!

There are more travels He is calling me to and I am just as confident that the Lord will provide. Remember precious saints. He never calls you to do anything He has not already made a way for. This is a whole new level of trusting in the Lord for my family and I. But we Know His promises and He always keeps them.

If you would like to join me by supporting this and other missionary travels, please feel free to donate to the Northern Colorado Regional House of Prayer or support us with your heart felt sincere prayers as we go where the Lord sends us and Seek Him First.

The Ladder of Success

So, sometimes the Lord brings a truth to light through the most usual of circumstances in your daily life. The other day I was down in my office and my son was wondering around the basement getting into everything he could find (he is 21 months so what else is he gonna do, right?). Finally it was time to go upstairs to do something else. So we started the climb up the 14 steps to the top. Some days he races right up but most of the time like this particular day he was taking his own sweet time. I was eager to get to the top but he had all the time in the world. That was when I was hit with this insight from the Lord.

I could carry you to the top. it would be much faster and in the end the result would be the same. You will up here with me. I could just pick you up and bring you up to my level and it would be much easier on the both of us. However if I do that how many more time will I have to do that. No, I want you to practice getting up those steps so that as you grow stronger you can run up them like your daddy does. Yes, I am right here with you as you are learning to climb these steps because if not you might fall and that would not be good. So instead I patiently wait right here beside you for you to learn to climb. No, I won't hold your hand I want you to do it on your own. If I help it will take you longer to figure out how to do it on your own.

I knew right away that this was not just an idea I had for my son, but it was a concept being burned into me by the Holy Spirit. You see He does love us and Yes, He wants to have us with Him. He wants you to become strong He wants you to learn how to run up the stairs into his arms.

The thought of our Lord letting us struggle up the steps to Him like we were babies or puppies seems a bit strange. But look, we do that so that the process of learning will be accelerated.