God is most pleased with His children when they put Him first in all endeavours of life. For this reason, He gave the commandment in Deuteronomy 6:5 which says,
“And thou shall love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
God often tests His children to see whether they will honour Him by putting Him first in whatever situation they find themselves. Genesis 22:1-18 contains a vivid demonstration of this. After God gave Abraham a son in his old age, knowing well that he loved the child so much, God decided to find out whether Abraham loved the boy (the gift) more than he loved Him (the Giver). He therefore instructed Abraham to go on a journey and sacrifice his son, Isaac, to Him. When God saw Abraham’s determination to obey Him, just before he killed his son, God intervened and provided an alternative. You will pass God’s test in Jesus’ Name. After Abraham passed God’s test, God swore that He would bless Abraham the way no human being had ever been blessed before. God’s blessing on Abraham was the first of its kind, being one that is irreversible forever.

When we speak about the giving of first fruit, some people think it is a pastor’s way of making money, but they are making a great mistake. When you put God first, He makes sure you are blessed in a special way and that your blessing becomes irreversible. If you however try to show God that He is not number one in your life. You will not like what may follow. There was a young man who came to me and said, “Daddy, God has answered your prayers”, and my response was “Amen!” I asked him what happened and he said one big chief in Lagos asked him to help him sell a property of his consisting of 13 flats, 12 of which were regular flats. The chief told the young man how much he wanted for the house, and that the young man could have any amount above this as his personal gain. After narrating this, he looked at me again and said, “Daddy, God has answered your prayers; from this deal alone, I will be settled for life!” I congratulated him and asked him to give one of the flats to the church as his tithe, but he lamented that this was only his first breakthrough, and that God could wait for other future blessings. About a week later, after he got a buyer who was willing to pay far above the owner’s asking price, he went back to the owner, but to his shock, the man denied ever asking him to look for a buyer for the house! He lost his blessing because He did not consider it necessary to put God first. May the Almighty God give you a blessing that will last forever in Jesus’ Name.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.