Bottle in the midst of Smoke

Psalms 119:83
(83) For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.
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As the bottles in the East are made of skin, it is evident that one of these hung up in the smoke must soon be parched, shrivelled up, lose all its strength, and become unsightly and useless. Thus the Psalmist appeared to himself to have become useless and despicable, through the exhausted state of his body and mind, by long bodily afflictions and mental distress.
------ Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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Because, though his affliction was great, yet it had not driven him from his duty, and therefore he was within the reach of God's promise: Yet do I not forget thy statutes. Whatever our outward condition is we must not cool in our affection to the word of God, nor let that slip out of our minds; no care, no grief, must crowd that out. As some drink and forget the law (Pro_31:5), so others weep and forget the law; but we must in every condition, both prosperous and adverse, have the things of God in remembrance; and, if we be mindful of God's statutes, we may pray and hope that he will be mindful of our sorrows, though for a time he seems to forget us.
---- Matthew Henry's Commentary

Surely David is expounding the feelings of the children of God in the midst of life. So much awesome Revelation is coming from the heart of David and is available to us in the middle of our trials. Such strength, such encouragement from the heart of the man after God' heart. David is telling us that he felt like a "BOTTLE in the midst of SMOKE" This is what the NT refers to when it says we are "IN THE WORLD" but not "OF THE WORLD". This is what Apostle Peter exhorted the Church when he said:

1 Peter 2:11
(11) Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

The SMOKE is the influence of the world. SMOKE chokes the breath out of people. The danger of house fires is NOT just the fire burning, but the danger of choking and dying from SMOKE inhalation. SMOKE finds a way to get through the cracks. SMOKE leaves it's dirty aroma and contaminates anything nearby. SMOKE darkens the lungs. SMOKE sucks the oxygen out of the environment around it. Doesn't the WORD of GOD give us a really good object lesson of the world. So we are surrounded by this WORLD. We are IN THIS WORLD, but we ARE PILGRIMS. That means we are BOTTLES in the midst of the SMOKE. The danger of this, is if the BOTTLE becomes empty. As long as the BOTTLE is full, the smoke cannot enter it. As long as the BOTTLE is full, breath remains, oxygen remains, SMOKE is refused. The danger is when the BOTTLE becomes empty. Then the smoke darkens it, pushes against the outside of it until the inside of the BOTTLE COLLAPSES. Then the SMOKE begins to invade. The only answer to fixing the collapsed bottle is for the life giving OXYGEN to fill it back again.

Psalms 22:15
(15) My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Psalms 32:3
(3) When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

Job 30:30-31
(30) My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
(31) My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Proverbs 17:22
(22) A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Psalms 102:3-4
(3) For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
(4) My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

When the BOTTLE collapses, and our heart is smitten, it can absolutely cause you to forget to eat your bread. The Word of God can become distant, our pray life dry, and our vision dim. The key to victory is to remember how good God has been, to begin to meditate on the mercy of God, begin to eat. A sick person always needs to EAT. That BOTTLE must get filled again to push back against the SMOKE.

The REMEDY to re-filling the BOTTLE

Psalms 119:87-88, 92-94
(87) They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.
(88) Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.

(92) Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
(93) I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.
(94) I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.

Romans 12:1-2
(1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
(2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Isaiah 54:6-17
(6) For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
(7) For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
(8) In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
(9) For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
(10) For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
(11) O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
(12) And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
(13) And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
(14) In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
(15) Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
(16) Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
(17) No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Jude 1:17-21
(17) But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
(18) How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
(19) These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
(20) But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
(21) Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.


Remember - the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, but the VIOLENT take it by FORCE. The devil is no match for the Holy Ghost. Greater is HE that is IN ME, than he that is IN the WORLD.

Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan

Psalms 1:1-6

(1) Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

(2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

(3) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

(4) The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.a

(5) Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

(6) For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Deuteronomy 29:2-9

(2) And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;

(3) The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

(4) Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

(5) And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

(6) Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.

(7) And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:

Heshbon

khesh-bone'

From H2803; properly contrivance; by implication intelligence: - account, device, reason.

khaw-shab'

A primitive root; properly to plait or interpenetrate, that is, (literally) to weave or (generally) to fabricate; figuratively to plot or contrive (usually in a malicious sense); hence (from the mental effort) to think, regard, value, compute: - (make) account (of), conceive, consider, count, cunning (man, work, workman), devise, esteem, find out, forecast, hold, imagine, impute, invent, be like, mean, purpose, reckon (-ing be made), regard, think.

"And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer" (Joshua 21:27 KJV)

(8) And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

(9) Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.

Psalms 135:10-12

(10) Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings;

(11) Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan:

(12) And gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people.

Deuteronomy 29:29

(29) The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Tithing – A Spiritual Principle for humanity

1. Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek establishes the principle BEFORE the LAW.

- Melchizedek is a type and shadow of the NT Ministry (Hebrews 7)

- Abraham paid tithe to the Priest BEFORE he was circumcised. (Applies to Gentiles)

- Cain’s offering was cursed because it was not a BLOOD sacrifice, but also because it was NOT the FIRSTFRUIT of his increase. Abel’s offering specifically mentions that his was the firstfruit.

- Adam and Eve could eat of every tree of GARDEN EXCEPT for the one tree (Type and Shadow of the Tithe)

- Jacob continued in the process of the “tenth” in his walk with God (Genesis 28:20-22)

2. Is the tithe (as required by the LAW) required by the NT saints today?

- God owns all, and we are Stewarts.

- The firstfuit is mentioned in Proverbs 3, which is a principle that exists within the LAW of Moses, but is a timeless law just as much as the moral law of God was within the ten commandments.

Proverbs 3:9-10

(9) Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

(10) So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

- When the scripture refers to the LAW being fulfilled, it specifically refers to the ceremonial laws. Colossian 2:16 Paul refers to the meat and drink, holyday, new moon, and Sabbath days. These are fulfilled by Calvary and acted as “schoolmaster” to the people of God until Faith in Jesus’ atonement became a reality. Tithing is a spiritual concept that is intended to be obeyed, just like prayer and the moral law. It is an unchanging principle of the people of God.

3. The rebuke of Malachi to the Levitical Priesthood, does it apply to believers?

-Absolutely, the whole book of Malachi is not just a teaching for the Old Testament, the principles of the PROPHECY apply to the Church without a doubt.

Malachi 1:11 …”my NAME shall be GREAT among the GENTILES”

The message of this prophet is a rebuke to the people of God in Malachi’s time, but it also is loaded with spiritual principles that the GENTILES would take up in the NT Church and provoke Israel to jealousy (Romans 11), no doubt the tithe and offering is a PRIVELDGE for God to accept, and it being the firstfruit of the Child of God gives Honor and Glory to God and His Church.

Can believers in Christ be cursed?

-Absolutely – Acts 5 look at Annais and Sapphira

Can believers rob God?

-No doubt, the firstfruit of our increase BELONGS to God, taking it for yourself is robbing God. But also the scripture teaches “tithes AND offerings” so therefore, offerings are ALSO belong to God. Tithe is not simply a law, it is the bare essential, it is the reasonable service of a Child of God, it is the measure that God has chosen to set as the requirement. No doubt that times come in our walk with God that we feel led to do more, tithing sets the Church in order and sets a standard so that the ministry can be supported.

4. The tithe belongs to the ministry

Nehemiah 10:37-38

(37) And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.

(38) And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.

1 Corinthians 9:9

(9) For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?

1 Corinthians 9:13-14

(13) Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?

(14) Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

Paul spoke in 9:15 that he was not writing this for his own profit, and I totally understand his feeling of this. When you are the minister, you do not preach tithes, respect, etc.. for your own gain and that is what Paul is stating. He went on to say that it would be better for him to die rather than use his God given authority for his own gain. This is not something a child of God should put his finger on, once the obedience of giving has been done, it is completely up to the ministry on being good stewards of the offerings of God. Rather Paul chose to give it back or whatever is completely his choice, just as it is today. The sentiment of the “church world” has a bad taste in folk’s mouth because so many false prophets have misled and misused their position and taken offerings that folks gave from a willing heart for their own gain, but they will receive their just due. As a saint of God, it is our duty to be obedient to giving to God and leaving it at that, you do what the Spirit has instructed and should have the attitude that it belongs to the house of God. Also the attitude of not “muzzling the mouth of the ox” should be in our hearts, the saints should desire for the man of God to be well fed and taken care of, which strengthens the ministry. This is profitable for the BELIEVER! Think about this – do you have a problem paying the doctor bill after the doctor does surgery on you? How about the dentist, the CPA, etc… Having a problem with tithing/offerings shows an issue with trust to God and His Church. If you do not believe that your ministry and Church is God led, then you have no business trusting your soul to it, and of course that cuts off the pocket book. The opposite of this is also true, if you trust your soul being fed and your family receiving ministry from the house of God, then your tithe/offering will be unrestricted and coming from the same trusting heart. This operation is for our own good, it is the plan of God for the Spirit led NT Church.

Does the NT still have a Priesthood?

Of course, and no doubt the scripture teaches that Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15).

He is the head of Church. (1 Corinthians 11:13) which is his BODY.

He is the only mediator between man and God. (2 Timothy 2:5)

But is an erroneous teaching to not be accountable to a man of God in the NT Church. The plan of God is NOT for the children of God to be led of the Spirit outside of the BODY.

Ephesians 1:22-23

(22) And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

(23) Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Notice that every statement in the 1^st chapter of Ephesians speaks of “we” and “us” and “our” plural pronouns.

Ephesians 1:3 …who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Go on and see that this is addressed to the Church not to an individual. This means the idea of serving God outside of the BODY is a false pre-tense. Just as there was no atonement in the Old Covenant without the tabernacle, there is no atonement in the NT times outside of the BODY. This also goes for the Lord’s prayer… “OUR Father, give US this day, and forgive US, etc….

The New Testament Church has local government and order that is absolutely essential for the children of God to submit to:

Hebrews 13:6-9

(6) So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

(7) Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

(8) Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

(9) Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Hebrews 13:17-18

(17) Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

(18) Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Romans 13:1-4

(4) For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

(5) Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

(6) For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

(7) Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

1 Corinthians 1:21

(21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Tithes and Offerings are the tribute that is due to the House of God in the New Testament established by the Word of God. When you encounter a true Spirit Led Ministry and Apostolic Assembly that teaches the Apostles Doctrine, these scriptures are not just a teaching of a time gone past, but they will come alive in your life and heart. When we truly say that we want to be Apostolic, it is not only in doctrine, but in Spirit, in attitude, in appearance, and in every aspect of our walk with God.