Heb 13:5 (NIV) Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:24-25.) I 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. Once totally possessed by mammon people become corrupted by it then they will conspire in greedy ways to unethically acquire as much money as they can get.
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. When 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 either a cow or 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 rich want more money and desire power from it so they collect it because they are afraid they may someday lose it. 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.
Have you experienced times where you trusted God to meet all your needs? What happened? How did God fulfill this promise in your life?
Showing posts with label God Provides our Needs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God Provides our Needs. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
II Chronicles 14:11
2 Chron 14:11 (NIV) Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, "Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."
When Asa became King of Judah he “did what was right in the sight of the Lord.” He brought about a revival in Judah by removing idols from the land, and removed people and places that were associated with idol worship. King Asa also deposed his grandmother (the queen mother) because she had made an idol of Asherah. He did what he could to follow God. After reigning 10 years in peace and safety, the King of Ethiopia or Egypt, King Zerah, came to invade Judah. Zerah had an army of a million men and 300 chariots (A host of a thousand thousand, vs 9.) This is the largest assembled army recorded in scripture to come against God’s people. On the other hand Asa had a small army of men that “bare large shields and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand.” (2 Chronicles 14:8). Only a fool would face an army so outnumbered and so better equipped. But Asa had been faithful to God, and trusted God, and claimed God’s promises, and went to battle, powerless, but claiming victory in the name of the Lord. Asa's prayer in vs. 11, in KJV reads, [It is nothing with thee to help] in other words, God can as easily help the weak as the strong. So what does our being hopelessly outnumbered have to do with God’s ability? In the same way it is nothing for God to answer your prayers, whether really small or great big prayer request, both are just as easy for Him to answer.
The defeat of Zerah is one of the most remarkable events in the history of the Jews. Not only did they defeat them but all the food and supplies that Zerah’s army brought with them in order to sustain such a large army was captured as bounty.
God promises if we are faithful to Him, He will defeat the devourer. One way we show our trust in God, as well as our faithfulness to God is to return back to God one tenth of what He has given us. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Mal 3:10 (NIV). Like Asa our faithfulness will be rewarded from the storehouses of heavens riches and power. When we are faithful to God then God says He will be faithful to us, “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal 3:11-12 (KJV)
When you are facing battles you feel you cannot possibly win, don't give up. In the face of a vast horde of enemy soldiers, Asa prayed for God's help, recognizing his powerlessness against such a mighty army. The secret of victory is first, like Jacob, to make a covenant with God, Jacob said, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." Gen 28:20-22(NIV). Jacob made this vow, repeating what God had already promised him. Jacob claimed the promise and surrendered dependence on God's faithfulness, as a conditional agreement, not a bargain. Then the second secret to victory is to admit the futility of unaided human effort and then to trust God to overthrow our obstacles. His power works best through those who recognize their limitations, “Gods power is made perfect in our weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). It is those who think they can do it all on their own who are in the greatest danger.
Describe a time that you cried out to God for Help? What kind of covenant have you ever made with God? Explain how you believe God answered your prayer?
When Asa became King of Judah he “did what was right in the sight of the Lord.” He brought about a revival in Judah by removing idols from the land, and removed people and places that were associated with idol worship. King Asa also deposed his grandmother (the queen mother) because she had made an idol of Asherah. He did what he could to follow God. After reigning 10 years in peace and safety, the King of Ethiopia or Egypt, King Zerah, came to invade Judah. Zerah had an army of a million men and 300 chariots (A host of a thousand thousand, vs 9.) This is the largest assembled army recorded in scripture to come against God’s people. On the other hand Asa had a small army of men that “bare large shields and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand.” (2 Chronicles 14:8). Only a fool would face an army so outnumbered and so better equipped. But Asa had been faithful to God, and trusted God, and claimed God’s promises, and went to battle, powerless, but claiming victory in the name of the Lord. Asa's prayer in vs. 11, in KJV reads, [It is nothing with thee to help] in other words, God can as easily help the weak as the strong. So what does our being hopelessly outnumbered have to do with God’s ability? In the same way it is nothing for God to answer your prayers, whether really small or great big prayer request, both are just as easy for Him to answer.
The defeat of Zerah is one of the most remarkable events in the history of the Jews. Not only did they defeat them but all the food and supplies that Zerah’s army brought with them in order to sustain such a large army was captured as bounty.
God promises if we are faithful to Him, He will defeat the devourer. One way we show our trust in God, as well as our faithfulness to God is to return back to God one tenth of what He has given us. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Mal 3:10 (NIV). Like Asa our faithfulness will be rewarded from the storehouses of heavens riches and power. When we are faithful to God then God says He will be faithful to us, “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal 3:11-12 (KJV)
When you are facing battles you feel you cannot possibly win, don't give up. In the face of a vast horde of enemy soldiers, Asa prayed for God's help, recognizing his powerlessness against such a mighty army. The secret of victory is first, like Jacob, to make a covenant with God, Jacob said, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." Gen 28:20-22(NIV). Jacob made this vow, repeating what God had already promised him. Jacob claimed the promise and surrendered dependence on God's faithfulness, as a conditional agreement, not a bargain. Then the second secret to victory is to admit the futility of unaided human effort and then to trust God to overthrow our obstacles. His power works best through those who recognize their limitations, “Gods power is made perfect in our weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). It is those who think they can do it all on their own who are in the greatest danger.
Describe a time that you cried out to God for Help? What kind of covenant have you ever made with God? Explain how you believe God answered your prayer?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
John 15:7-8
John 15:7-8 (NIV) “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
My very limited experience with peach trees and blueberry bushes on our property in Michigan helped me realize some important lessons illustrated in this passage. God makes the flower appear on the branch, bees pollinate the flowers and fruit appears. Pruning helps, fertilizing helps, watering is essential, and sunlight is essential. God sends the sunshine and the rain. God created a system that allows nature to take rotten food and worms turn it into compost that fertilizes the soil that allows the trees and plants to absorb nutrients. In the same way, God provides all our spiritual needs. The farmer prunes the dead or useless branches once a year. Only healthy branches that remain connected to the tree bear fruit. Farmers pride themselves in techniques that produce larger and more abundant fruits but really the farmer cannot make the tree produce any fruit. God does it all.
In our spiritual life, God produces all the fruit, we need to be a good branch that remains connected to God to avoid pruning. If there are things we know we can do to help make larger and more abundant fruit we should do them.
God answers prayer, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” God is like a loving parent he wants to give us whatever we want. Ask God in prayer, He will provide all or emotional, spiritual, and physical needs that are for our enduring good. But being a wise parent he knows to only give us the things that is for our ultimate good that will help us grow and bear more fruit.
What a time of celebration for the God when the harvest is ready, when all the fruit can be picked and collected in the barns. When we are mature and ready for use! God made it all happen! This farming analogy demonstrates how God is glorified when His people mature into a right relationship with him and the yummy fruit of our lives can be enjoyed by all.
In your experience, what are some things you have done that has made your life's fruit, juicer, larger, and more delicious?
My very limited experience with peach trees and blueberry bushes on our property in Michigan helped me realize some important lessons illustrated in this passage. God makes the flower appear on the branch, bees pollinate the flowers and fruit appears. Pruning helps, fertilizing helps, watering is essential, and sunlight is essential. God sends the sunshine and the rain. God created a system that allows nature to take rotten food and worms turn it into compost that fertilizes the soil that allows the trees and plants to absorb nutrients. In the same way, God provides all our spiritual needs. The farmer prunes the dead or useless branches once a year. Only healthy branches that remain connected to the tree bear fruit. Farmers pride themselves in techniques that produce larger and more abundant fruits but really the farmer cannot make the tree produce any fruit. God does it all.
In our spiritual life, God produces all the fruit, we need to be a good branch that remains connected to God to avoid pruning. If there are things we know we can do to help make larger and more abundant fruit we should do them.
God answers prayer, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” God is like a loving parent he wants to give us whatever we want. Ask God in prayer, He will provide all or emotional, spiritual, and physical needs that are for our enduring good. But being a wise parent he knows to only give us the things that is for our ultimate good that will help us grow and bear more fruit.
What a time of celebration for the God when the harvest is ready, when all the fruit can be picked and collected in the barns. When we are mature and ready for use! God made it all happen! This farming analogy demonstrates how God is glorified when His people mature into a right relationship with him and the yummy fruit of our lives can be enjoyed by all.
In your experience, what are some things you have done that has made your life's fruit, juicer, larger, and more delicious?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Exodus 4:2-4
Ex 4:2-4 (NLT) The Lord asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied. "Throw it down on the ground," the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, "Reach out and grab its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand.”
Moses’ staff was nothing but a common shepherd’s rod. Staffs as well as other personal belongings were used by people back then as items that identified them. In a similar way, today we can be identified by our car, or our house or clothes that other people recognize as ours. It is a funny thing how we become attached to our little things. A cook may have a favorite cutting knife, a physician may have a special stethoscope, a carpenter has a favorite hammer, a mechanic has a special tool box, and maybe you have a special possession like a laptop or a Bible. This story illustrates that whatever possession that we hold dearly in our hand, we have the opportunity to throw it down and give it to God. After Moses threw his rod on the ground – the rod of Moses became the rod of God. With the rod of God back in Moses’ hand Moses preformed supernatural signs and miracles. With the rod of God Moses called down plagues in Egypt, he divided the Red Sea, he struck the rock and water flowed out.
As Christians we are told to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” If we are doing this, then one of our most prized possessions should be the Kingdom of God, a possession we should be most notably identified with. Jesus told his disciples to “go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt 10:6-8 (KJV)
When you are seeking the Kingdom does your relationship with God flow both ways, in as well as out? Too many times we only allow the Kingdom to flow into us and not necessarily out to others. If this is your experience then, throw it down. Give it back to God, who gave it to you, and throw it down! When you give it back to God, the dry dead wood of our spiritual life will become like a living hissing snake, a living hissing relationship with God is a dangerous thing to the world around us. But we can do as Moses did and grab it by the tail and share it with those around us to show them that our relationship with God is real.
Share some things in your life you could throw down and give to God? How do you think God could use them through you once He gives it back to you?
Moses’ staff was nothing but a common shepherd’s rod. Staffs as well as other personal belongings were used by people back then as items that identified them. In a similar way, today we can be identified by our car, or our house or clothes that other people recognize as ours. It is a funny thing how we become attached to our little things. A cook may have a favorite cutting knife, a physician may have a special stethoscope, a carpenter has a favorite hammer, a mechanic has a special tool box, and maybe you have a special possession like a laptop or a Bible. This story illustrates that whatever possession that we hold dearly in our hand, we have the opportunity to throw it down and give it to God. After Moses threw his rod on the ground – the rod of Moses became the rod of God. With the rod of God back in Moses’ hand Moses preformed supernatural signs and miracles. With the rod of God Moses called down plagues in Egypt, he divided the Red Sea, he struck the rock and water flowed out.
As Christians we are told to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” If we are doing this, then one of our most prized possessions should be the Kingdom of God, a possession we should be most notably identified with. Jesus told his disciples to “go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt 10:6-8 (KJV)
When you are seeking the Kingdom does your relationship with God flow both ways, in as well as out? Too many times we only allow the Kingdom to flow into us and not necessarily out to others. If this is your experience then, throw it down. Give it back to God, who gave it to you, and throw it down! When you give it back to God, the dry dead wood of our spiritual life will become like a living hissing snake, a living hissing relationship with God is a dangerous thing to the world around us. But we can do as Moses did and grab it by the tail and share it with those around us to show them that our relationship with God is real.
Share some things in your life you could throw down and give to God? How do you think God could use them through you once He gives it back to you?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Matthew 18:3
Matt 18:3 (NIV) "Jesus said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything you need for life will be added to you."-Matthew 6:33. The kingdom of God or God’s priorities are not in contrast with our needs. They are in perfect unison, if God is the source of our needs. But if we think our money or our job or our own efforts are our source of our needs then we don’t trust in God to provide our every need. We will end up putting all our strength and energy in acquiring all our needs for ourselves.
But with trust in God we lay aside all our concerns for our daily needs and put all our efforts into seeking first the kingdom of God and God provides us with everything we need, often slower than we would like but He provides. Is it possible to seek God and put all your energy in the Kingdom, to personally grow in the understanding of God and then learn how to share that understanding with others? Easier said than done, because it is against our natural tendencies to not worry about all these things we think we need.
Unless we become like children who don’t worry about if their parent’s have money in the bank account to buy groceries, pay our mortgage, and car payments or not then we cannot see the Kingdom. If they outgrow the clothes we bought for them last month and there is no more money for more new clothes so soon, children don’t worry about it, they know the money will come.
Give some examples of ways you think you would like to become more childlike spiritually? Share some of your experiences, how you have been rewarded by seeking the kingdom of God first rather than your own needs?
*Originally posted as a comment by Dan on Kingdom Quest Blog on July 14, 2009 3:07 PM
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything you need for life will be added to you."-Matthew 6:33. The kingdom of God or God’s priorities are not in contrast with our needs. They are in perfect unison, if God is the source of our needs. But if we think our money or our job or our own efforts are our source of our needs then we don’t trust in God to provide our every need. We will end up putting all our strength and energy in acquiring all our needs for ourselves.
But with trust in God we lay aside all our concerns for our daily needs and put all our efforts into seeking first the kingdom of God and God provides us with everything we need, often slower than we would like but He provides. Is it possible to seek God and put all your energy in the Kingdom, to personally grow in the understanding of God and then learn how to share that understanding with others? Easier said than done, because it is against our natural tendencies to not worry about all these things we think we need.
Unless we become like children who don’t worry about if their parent’s have money in the bank account to buy groceries, pay our mortgage, and car payments or not then we cannot see the Kingdom. If they outgrow the clothes we bought for them last month and there is no more money for more new clothes so soon, children don’t worry about it, they know the money will come.
Give some examples of ways you think you would like to become more childlike spiritually? Share some of your experiences, how you have been rewarded by seeking the kingdom of God first rather than your own needs?
*Originally posted as a comment by Dan on Kingdom Quest Blog on July 14, 2009 3:07 PM
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