Deeper Life #195

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

—Hebrews 11:4

A POINT OF SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT the sacrifice we make to the Lord: We must bind the sacrifice to the horns of the altar; we cannot place it on the altar. God does that. As soon as the sacrifice is presented to the altar and bound with cords of faith, God places the offering on the altar, so to speak. And then His own song begins.

No individual can be placed on the altar of self-sacrifice except he has been divinely born again of the Spirit of God. Yet many people are pleading, praying, and asking God to baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire, who really need to be born again. The burnt offering—in the Old Testament figure and in the New Testament application—must have no disease about it.

The act of sacrifice simply changes the identity of the offering, from physical to spiritual. And when the burnt offering is reduced to ashes, God gives beauty for ashes!

Prayer Thought: I surrender all, Lord, to You and Your holy will.

SUGGESTED READING: Genesis 4:1–16