Have you ever been taken in by a really good salesman – have you found yourself watching the ad for a new T.V. with all the mod cons and the colours on the TV look so much better than the colour on your TV – but then you realize you are looking at the colour of that TV on your TV…..A good salesman can often suck you in with a good sales pitch but do you know who the ultimate salesman is . . . . .Satan.

Satan will distract you with his sales pitch to try to take your focus away from Jesus, and from the call that God placed on your life. You start thinking that the Minister up there is so good at speaking that I could never be that good, or that guitarist in the band is awesome I could never play as well as him. That wealthy family is giving so much to the Lord – I am so poor my little bit doesn’t even count in comparison.

Satan is a liar!!! It counts. In the Old Testament it says of the offering of the first fruits that if the first fruits offering are Holy the whole harvest is Holy. So put God first and give to him first and he blesses all you then receive. What are you bringing as your first fruits offering? God wants to make whatever you do prosper – he longs to bless us, but to receive his blessing you have to work under his form of economics which is the total opposite of what the world tells you.

Go and have a read today of our Gospel reading to find out how God feels about the little bit that you give – but just as important is the time you give to God and your prayers. Sometimes the biggest struggle is time – caught in difficult circumstances you keep crying out to God and asking, "When is this going to happen?" When is God going to rescue me?

Don’t try to be someone else – or live your life like someone else or have someone else’s gifting or riches, you have to be you, and do what God has called you to do with whatever God has put into your hands. Remember while 144,000 pure and righteous souls will stand with God on the day, in our New Testament reading, millions more of us will be there in the crowd watching! Moses wasn't pure he was not a virgin, he was a murderer, but he was priviliged to see God's face, and on that day we will be there with him standing covered in Jesus grace.

Keep a firm grip on your faith, the suffering won’t last forever. Just stay faithful to the call of God on your life. You do you! If you be the best you that you can be with God’s help! You may find one day that you are not the person you envisioned you as being, but may look back and find you are the person God wants you to be.