I am learning grace.  I am learning more every day about grace.  I’m learning about how we need to walk by the Spirit and not by the law. We as men very easily tend to slide oh so easily over to the law, the flesh, and religion.  Living by the spirit is much more self-sacrificial, much more intimate, much more eyes on yourself rather than others, much less comparing yourselves among yourselves. 
Years ago when I was a baby Christian, I know I was hearing from the Lord, but I may not have behaved myself around others as best as I could.  I was just learning to walk in His ways and the old nature and mindsets or ways of thinking (self-centeredness) were still quite apparent.  One example of this was when the Lord was dealing with me about my Disney movies.  You see, Mickey darned the walls of my room in high school; I received presents of large stuffed Mickey’s for my birthday, and even went to work at Disney right out of high school.  I listened to The Little Mermaid soundtrack while driving back and forth to Orlando on home visits.  I loved Disney.  After I got saved and had children I began to see the many witches and evil sorcerers in the movies and the Lord began to show me this and prune this affection for these movies from me.  It was an idol.
I have quite a mouth and love to share and talk with others and like Joseph opening his mouth, sometimes it gets you into some trouble. See, our holiness (the things God wishes to get out of our lives or into our lives) is a personal, intimate thing between you and Him because He is the one that knows where your heart is and what work needs to be done in it.  I heard today that holiness is like the Old testament’s circumcision.  It was a covenant between you and your God, personal, private and between you and Him.  It would be strange today to go flaunting your “holiness” for all to see.  See my circumcision…see my holiness. 
You see I shared my intimate personal circumcision with an even younger Christian and she wanted to be like me, so she got rid of her Disney movies also.  Was God dealing with her on this?  Probably not.  This is where one person’s relationship then turns into law.  This is not what we are separated unto.
Are Disney movies of the devil and should they be never watched again?  By all means, no.  We watch Disney movies, my kids love them and the music.  Do many people stay in the law and just forbid, forbid, forbid which in turn make it ever more desirable (the strength of sin is the law)?
If we want to share, make sure others know that this is what the Lord is working on YOUR heart about.  He knows where the idols lie. Don’t put that on others.  Every one is on their own path and can hear from the Holy Spirit themselves.  Don’t become their God, help lead them to God.  Law makes the focus man, Spirit makes the focus Him.
For a time God circumcised my heart toward the movies because it was too valuable for me.  I like the movies now, I watch the movies now, but they have a place now for me.  If we are to train our children, it is not just in do this, don’t do that, but to raise them up to respect the Lord, be thankful for His goodness and the grace and relationship repair Jesus did for us so that we can walk by His spirit and not have to return to the law.  To have a personal, intimate, relationship with the One that made all things.  This is what true witness is to others, not our rules.  Men can come up with so many laws that truly are comical.  Let us not flaunt our holiness (keep your pants up and keep it to yourself, it is a private thing and let’s not compare our private matters and put them as a burden on others), but rather let us, by our love, show others the way, the way to relationship.
Rom. 8:4-17
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.
9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
12-14 So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!

From the other day's post on priorities, I am today leading into specific priorities like time, giving, love, etc. 
You know, of course, that I am a missionary, so therefore I base what I believe on the Bible.  I try not to have preconceived ideas to cloud my viewpoints, only what I think the Word is saying to me.  I love actually reading the Word and see how we as Christians, through religion or whatever, have messed up over time.  I think I enjoy doing this mostly because I was raised in a somewhat religious home and church and went through confirmation at 12, but never had a relationship with Christ until I was 22.  When I read the Bible for the first time, I was amazed at what it said and kept repeating, "How come I didn't know this?"  or "Are other people reading the same thing I am?"  Maybe some people go to church or do religious acts all their lives and never study scripture.  Maybe that's why the church is in the mess we are in.  Anyway, just my opinion and some background on that....
So that brings me to my topic for today.  Giving and the priorities the Bible puts on it and where it should go.  When I studied this topic, I wanted to be sure that my resources were going where God says to put them and where God says the leaders should put them...according to priority.
1)  Give to the Poor-  There are many scriptures about giving that begin as early as Cain and Abel bringing their sacrifice to God, then to Abraham bringing his tithe to Melchizedek.  When God told Abraham that he would be blessed to BE a blessing.  As a worldwide church, I believe we have done well giving to the poor, but we could do much better.  I believe God gave the responsibility to the church to take care of the poor, but when the church's responsibilities get out of order, there are issues and problems.  When there are issues and problems, the government or other institutions have to step in where the church is failing in their priorities.  When America was a new nation, the church was involved if not in charge of schools (small community ones up to universities), but they have since let the government take charge, the church was the leader in many hospitals and taking care of the sick, and we have also let go and let the government take care of the poor.  God gave those to us to care for, and we have handed it off.  The church is so concerned with buildings, when God cares for people. Just some references to refer to if you would like to do some study...(Rom. 15:25-27, Rom. 12:13, Acts 11:27-30, Acts 20:35, Acts 6:1, Gal. 2:9-10, I Cor. 16:1, II Cor. 8 and 9, I Tim. 6:18, Lev. 25:35, Deut. 15:7-11, Ps 41:1-3, Prov. 14:21, Prov. 19:17, Prov. 22:9, Prov. 28:27, Heb 6:10, I John 3:17, Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:34-37)  Giving is an overflow to the generosity and gratefulness that we have inside.  If we are missing this generosity and gratefulness, giving will be a law rather than a love.
2) Gifts to ministers- From the OT to the new, we see that the ministers had to live off others generosity in order to minister full time.  They didn't own land or have inheritances to give their descendants, they lived in constant reliance on God and the people of God.  They weren't intended to be uber wealthy, but to live sacrificially, but comfortably. (I Cor. 9:7-14, Gal. 6:6, I Tim. 5:17-18, Deut. 14:27:29, II Chron. 31:4-20, Phil. 4:10-19, Acts 15:3, Acts 21:5, Rom. 15:24, II Cor. 1:16)  There is something about a preacher/missionary living in a mansion with the poor living all around that doesn't seem quite right, as there is also something not quite right with a preacher/missionary living in poverty that is also a wrong witness (that they are not being cared for by God or His people).  I thank God everyday that we have people that support the work we do.  That we live comfortably and our needs are met each month.
3) Give to missions- The missionaries could fall into the ministers category, but they could be separated.  Paul himself was a minister and missionary.  The minister himself needs to be provided for, and also the work he/she is doing.  They are different categories.  He sometimes took offering for himself, and from others he didn't want their offerings.  He was a tent maker and could support himself.  (Rom. 10:15, 3 John 6)  Many circumstances missionaries are not allowed to work to make money in the countries they are in, so funds must come from those who are doing the sending.
4) the Temple/Facilities- God set aside offerings to build His house in the OT (Ex 25:1-8) and a tax to help maintain the temple (Ex. 30:11-16).  In most of the NT, the believers were more concerned with people and the poor than buildings it seems to me.  Not that it is wrong to have a nice church building by any means, but remember, when our priorities are out of order, as we saw in yesterday's blog, things can get out of order and cause major problems.  Especially when mindsets are continued over long periods of time.  I see the church (being American I see mostly this philosophy there, but American church philosophies carry over to the rest of the world, believe it or not).  We are in Roma/Bulgarian churches now and most of what we hear are needs for buildings, not people.  It's sad to me... we are not an OT church, we are a NT church.
I love it when churches are about people, when they love people and meet needs (physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, financially, and, of course, spiritually).

Priorities are very important in life.  I know I have learned a set of priorities that help keep my life in good working order and when those priorities get out of order, I find trouble...or trouble finds me.  I was taught, and live by these order of priorities in order of importance.  It has always kept me grounded and kept my life working quite well. 
1)  God- keeping Him as first priority keeps my life full of love, purpose, and guidelines that keep me grounded and driven.
2)  Self and Family-  Love yourself so you can love others.  My family are my love in action.  They are where I love to give and sow purpose into and help pass on to the next generation what I've have learned and to encourage to love God, and also have purpose.
3)  Ministry/Work-  I also love to put my hands to work.  Work for the Lord, work for people, work to make a difference.  We all work at something that we want to make a difference in this world and something that gives us purpose.  This kind of work is so fulfilling.  Even if you have a job that you have to go to to earn a living that doesn't fulfill the sense of purpose you need, get involved in church, group, or place to give of yourself.  Put you faith in action.  Fellowship with others to encourage one another to be better and to give more of yourselves.
When these priorities get out of order...then chaos or trouble arrises.  If we make ourselves #1 then we make ourselves as gods and become consumed with ourselves only.  No one wants to be around that type of person very long. 
If we make our husband or children #1, then we can elevate our children as gods in our life.  (I've actually seen this before having been a teacher for 11 years.)  We think we are doing good and giving love, when in reality we are creating little monsters that believe that the sun and moon should rise and set with them and have no sense of reality (the real world). 
Being in ministry, we have also been tempted at some points to put ministry up before its place.  We all know the old stereotype of preacher's kids.  Sometimes preachers can put ministry as #1 or even #2 before family.  This in turn causes kids to act out in order to get the attention in priority they can feel they are due.
I'm sure you can come up with more examples of how a life out of order can be lived in many families and know the problems it can cause.  I thank the Lord everyday for bringing this knowledge to my attention years ago and keeping me in order.  We have not always been perfect, but we know when they get out of line, and we have some things to change.
Tomorrow part 2 of priorities...we talked about life priorities (that cover the big picture of life), but tomorrow I will share my thoughts on individualized priorities.