THURSDAY, AUGUST 4
Scripture: Malachi 3:1-5

                If I am going to teach you how to represent the God of War, then we must go to the very foundation of the issue and pass the mammon test.  There is a whole book on this issue called Purifying the Altar.  Malachi 3 gives a quick glimpse of the qualification that is most important.  It says in Malachi 3:1-3, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.  And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight.  Behold, He is coming,’ Says the LORD of hosts.  ‘But who can endure the day of His coming?  And who can stand when He appears?  For He is like a refiner’s fire  He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;  He will purify the sons of Levi,  And purge them as gold and silver,  That they may offer to the LORD  An offering in righteousness.“  On the day that you can offer an offering in righteousness is the day that you can represent the God of War.  And until you can do that, you might as well be whistling Dixie in the wind.  Notice what verses 4 and 5 have to say about God in action.  On the day that you can offer an offering in righteousness, God comes near for judgment.  He says He will be a judge against sorcerers and all who are in idol worship.  He will judge against adulterers, physical and spiritual – those who adulterate everything around them including our politicians.  He will judge against perjurers, those who knowingly deceive and against those who exploit wage earners, guaranteeing justice in the marketplace.  He will judge against those who take advantage of the widows and the fatherless.  He will judge against those who turn away the alien.  These are the issues over which God will go to war.  In order to represent Him, we must offer an offering in righteousness.   Can we?