When we enter into the sanctuary of God we must bring an offering to Him.

The Lord deserves our best because He is good and mercyful towards us.

Contrary to many people’s belief, your offering is not money.

The offering that the Lord requires

• Praise and thanksgiving

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations. (Psalms 100:4-5)

• Glory and strength

Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! tremble before Him, all the earth. (Psalms 96:7-9)

• Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever. (2 Chronicles 20:21)

• Give freely and purely

Give your offering freely with a pure heart.

Accept, I pray, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me your judgments. (Psalms 119:108 NKJV)

• Sacrifices of righteousness

The sacrifice that the Lord requires is a broken spirit and a contrite heart (Psalms 51:17).

The Lord wants us to offer our body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptible unto Him, which is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

In the Old Testament period, God needed a sanctuary to dwell among His people so that they could physically see His presence and know that He was with them.

The Lord gave Moses specific instructions on how to build the tabernacle.

One specific requirement was that the people gave their best offering and gave it willingly. The offering was not accepted if it was not given willingly (Exodus 25:1-2).

Likewise, the Lord wants us to build our body as His tabernacle. Our offering to God, in this case, is our entire life – body, spirit and soul.

A life that is totally surrendered to God will be complete in Him and will become our best offering to God.

Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar (Psalms 51:18-19 NKJV).