I was in one of our bedrooms just 5 minutes later and on the bed a page of a devotional that I had torn out for the previous day's reading to carry with me, now read on it's opposite side the title for the day..."TRUE RICHES!"
What a word and confirmation for me, but I wanted to share it with you. Here it is;
TRUE RICHES!
"Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [ including greed, avarice, lust and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you a have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax my hold on you). [ Assuredly not!]" (Hebrews 13:5 – AMP)
"Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [ including greed, avarice, lust and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you a have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax my hold on you). [ Assuredly not!]" (Hebrews 13:5 – AMP)
Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I am absolutely confident that God will never leave me, nor forsake me. If my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up because He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Even if I make my bed in Sheol (the unseen realm), He will come and find me!
Today I will be satisfied with solely seeking spiritual success, seeing myself safely and securely standing on the solid soil of soul salvation! In other words, as I seek the Kingdom first, everything that I need will be added to me, and I will prosper as my soul prospers! The most important thing is knowing that I am in Christ — for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and then lose his own soul?
Today I will serve God, and not mammon (money), for no one can serve two masters – he will love the one, and hate the other. But part of refusing to serve mammon is acknowledging that I do not have to ask mammon's permission to do anything! I never have to say, "I can't do this — or go there — or buy that, because 'I can't afford it.'" Money doesn't dictate or define the parameters of my life. Instead, I will say, "If the Lord wills, I will do whatever — or go wherever — or buy whatever." And my God shall supply all of my need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!
Today I will remember that I am bought with a price! I'm in! I'm connected! I have a covenant! I have a relationship! I am a son of the God Who owns the cattle of a thousand hills, an heir of the God Who gives me all things that pertain unto life and godliness, richly to enjoy ("He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32), and a joint-heir with the Christ who willingly and voluntarily shed His own blood for me! No one can pluck me from God's hand!
Today I will feel like a million bucks!
Today I will have a prosperous mentality!
Today I will enjoy being in Christ, and today I will live in the now!
Father, help me to realize how rich I am today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(taken from A Year In The Now, by Bishop Jim Swilley, - highlights in italics I stressed)
My son Zachary starts his new school next Monday and my wife Natasha is going to pre-planning sessions this week. There is a bit of confusion over some things there so if I could solicit your agreement that God would bring order and clarity over things there with Natasha's Latin and Spanish classes that would be great!..as well as favor...thanks.
May you see God's enabling and richness in your life today.-Love, Karl
Matt 6:24-25 (NASB) No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?”
ReplyDeleteI need to ask myself from time to time, “am I serving mammon?” If I am serving God I wouldn’t care about what I will eat or drink. But when I am serving mammon my wife and I may worry or fight over money. I have heard it said that in Christ’s day mammon was an actual pagan deity that represented prosperity. So that makes mammon the false god of prosperity. Much of the pagan idolatry at that time was connected to demonic forces, and today these demons are some of the Devils most powerful weapons to turn the hearts of Jesus’ followers away from God. Mammon is an evil spirit that causes men and women to give power and authority to money when money in reality it has no value and especially no power whatsoever. Mammon causes people to become fearful of running out of money when actually God supplies all our needs. Then mammon turns our hearts to love money and trust riches when our hearts are supposed to belong to God, and trust God alone.
A rich young ruler came to Jesus and wanted to know how to inherit eternal life, (Matt 19:16-21) Jesus said “sell all that you have and give it to the poor, then come follow me.” How many of us could actually do something like that? You are accustom to the finest clothes, the finest foods, servants waiting on your every need. Give it all away and live in destitution following around a Prophet, hated by the Priest and Pharisees. Jesus did. He was clothed in finer clothes than any human ever wore, ate the most perfect and delicious foods ever eaten from heaven. Angles served Him, and worshiped Him. He gave it all up and became a human child. Human birth is a nasty thing accompanied by blood and sometimes feces, as Mary cried with pain Jesus was born on the ground in a barn, He was wrapped in strips of cloth, and laid to sleep on straw in donkey’s feeding troth. If only the rich young ruler had listened more carefully he would have heard Jesus say, “I have true riches for you, give everything you now have away, but you will lose nothing, and you will have treasure in heaven” The Bible asks the rhetorical question, “Can a man out give God?” I dare you to try.
It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, mammon can consume the hearts of all. The poor have so little they protect what little they have. But protecting it is also another way of following Mammon. The story of the Widow’s mites is told in Luke 21:1-4 (NLT) and gives us a good example of how to have true riches. “While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. "I tell you the truth," Jesus said, "this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has."” Jesus praised this woman's generous and sacrificial giving. As followers of Jesus, we should be willing to give all—whether money, time, or talents—its only real value is when we put it in the LORD’s hands to use. If Jesus was willing to be satisfied with living day by day on what God provided for Him, then I can too. I can live with less and I can stop desiring more and accumulating more things than I need. It is so easy to look at what other people have and start to resent what I am missing. Instead I should be praising God that He has provided just the sufficient amount that I needed today. When we become materialistic we are saying to God, you can’t take care of me well enough, or at least not the way I want to be taken care of, and our drive for materialism leads us to a love of money. The cure for the sickness of mammon is to trust God to meet all our needs.
I just wanted to add one more thing . . . as I re-read my comment I just posted I remembered something else.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to make giving sound easy or trite. It is a very hard thing to do, at first.
As we were packing and getting ready to go to the mission field, I was sorting out my beloved things. Deciding what to keep, give away, or throw away. We did not have the money to store things, and we could not take very much with us. So a lot of things I got rid of and it was painful. More than once I broke down emotionally and started singing the words to the tune, “This word is not my home, I’m just a passing through.” To strengthen myself and remind myself that God “will never leave me or forsake me, and all my things didn’t count for anything.
I almost didn’t write this because I don’t want to sound like I am patting myself on the back or something like that. No, I wanted to say this because now that I have done it, and I have seen seen God pour out a blessing on us afterward, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Give God the glory, because He is faithful and will provide all your needs!
Thank you Dan for your comments, and for adding the second one, glad you did...a good testimony and lesson for all.
ReplyDeleteMuch of what you wrote really spoke to me once again...ain't God good!..love the Spirit.
I see the word TRUST a lot, and that is exactly what I was thinking/reading before I got on the computer...trust.
"If Jesus was willing to be satisfied with living day by day on what God provided for Him, then I can too."...yep, give us this day our DAILY bread.(of course I know that has spiritual implications of Christ being our bread, too), however, like you said, the point is not being anxious or worried about our day-to-day.
"The cure for the sickness of mammon is to trust God to meet all our needs."...amen!
By faith, TRUST God (believe), that He WILL SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEED!
In Dan's second comment I believe his experience led him from glory to glory, dying on one level, coming to life on another, and testifying to us that we can make it through the different transitions that we all need to go through in this life.
Well, son is clamoring for computer time, so, gotta go for now.
I'll leave you with TRUST IN THE LORD with ALL your heart...
Read Proverbs 3:5-8
Have an awesome day ya'll...peace!