2020-05-25
John 1:14 MSG
Jesus came into the world for two reasons. First, to give you the greatest gift of all – eternal life. Second, to let you know He cares about every detail of your life. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NKJV). In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases it: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” Roughly 20 percent of everything Jesus taught had to do with your finances, your job, and your earthly needs. He cares! And when you can’t make ends meet, the Bible says, “God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory” (Philippians 4:19 NKJV). When your business is going under, His promise is “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit” (Isaiah 48:17 NKJV). God cares about the burden you’re carrying today, so if your needs aren’t being met, reevaluate your understanding of your heavenly Father. Have you even discussed your finances with Him? How about the purchase of your home? Did you feel the inner confirmation of the Holy Spirit that the timing was right? Have you been tithing, sowing into God’s kingdom and expecting a harvest in return? Seed sown in good ground always produces a harvest, and faith is the magnet that pulls the harvest into your life. The word for you today is – God loves you and wants to bless every area of your life.
Soul food: 1 Kings 1-2; Mark 11:12-26; Ps 45; Prov 12:7-9
2020-05-24
2 Corinthians 8:9 NKJV
The Bible assures us that God isn’t poor. “‘The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ saith the Lord” (Haggai 2:8 KJV). “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10 KJV). Now ask yourself: If you were a billionaire, would you be happy seeing your children running around ragged and hungry? No? Well, neither is God! Paul writes, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 KJV). Maybe you’ve read this Scripture and thought Paul was talking about being spiritually rich but not financially rich. Let’s read the verse in that context and see if it makes sense: “He who was spiritually rich, for our sakes became spiritually poor, that through his spiritual poverty, we might become spiritually rich.” That’s not what it says! Question: When was Jesus ever spiritually poor? No, the verse says what it means and means what it says: “That you…might become rich.” Now, the word “rich” means different things to different people. In some countries you’re considered rich if you have a roof over your head, three square meals a day, and a bicycle to ride to work. In fact, right now would be a good time to discuss the much abused and widely misunderstood Bible word “prosperity.” Prosperity simply means “having enough to do the will of God.” Does God have a will for your life? Yes. Does He want you to have enough money to fulfill His will for your life? Yes. That’s God’s plan for your life!
Soul food: John 6:1-15; John 6:25-40; 1 Cor 11:23-24
2020-05-23
Deuteronomy 8:18 KJV
When it comes to God and your money: (1) When you do what pleases Him, He will bless you. Why? Because your actions prove that doing His will is more important to you than doing your own thing. “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things” (Matthew 25:23 KJV). But there’s another side to the coin. When you knowingly don’t do what pleases God, He will stop blessing you. “Take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away” (vv. 28-29 NKJV). (2) God will show you how to make more money. He taught Joseph how to prosper in the midst of a worldwide famine, and bless the needy nations around him. And when the fish weren’t biting, Jesus showed the disciples where to find a boatload of them. On one occasion, they actually caught a fish with enough money in its mouth to pay their taxes! (See Matthew 17:27). God works through unlikely channels, and He wants you to depend on Him as the source for everything you need. The Bible says, “Remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” The word “power” encompasses ideas, strategies, plans, relationships, and investments. Yes, God can send you an unexpected check in the mail that will solve your problem temporarily, but you should believe Him for a plan that’ll solve your problem long term.
Soul food: Heb 11:17-13:25; Mark 11:1-11; Ps 47; Prov 12:4-6
2020-05-22
Matthew 6:33 NLT
When it comes to money, the Bible teaches that: (1) God wants you to have enough to meet any size of need you may face. Think about it: Employees are mainly concerned with one thing – getting their paychecks. Employers, on the other hand, have a bigger need. They must have enough money to cover everybody’s paycheck. And here’s the good news for both employer and employee: “Your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” (v. 8 NLT). (2) Many times God will send you to a particular place or person in order to meet your need. During a time of severe famine when people in Israel were dying of starvation, God said to the prophet Elijah, “Turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith…I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there” (1 Kings 17:3-4 KJV). And that worked well for a time – until “the brook dried up, because there had been no rain” (v. 7). God arranged it that way, because He will never permit you to depend on anybody or anything other than Him. He will dry up your “brook” in order to send you back to your true source – Himself. Here’s what God told Elijah next: “Arise, get thee to Zarephath…and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman to sustain thee” (v. 9). God used unlikely things like ravens, a brook, and a poor widow to meet Elijah’s needs. So stop trying to figure God out! Trust the One who “hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7 NLT) to use whomever, whatever, wherever, and whenever to meet your needs.
Soul food: Heb 9:1-11:16; Mark 10:35-52; Ps 97; Prov 12:1-3
2020-05-21
Ecclesiastes 10:19 KJV
The Bible teaches that God wants you to have enough money to: (1) Provide for the needs of your family and help them to succeed. “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5:8 KJV). (2) Tithe, and finance His work. “‘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 there will not be room enough to store it'” (Malachi 3:10 NIV). (3) Pay your taxes and your obligations. In answer to the question “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” Jesus replied, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God” (Matthew 22:17-22 NLT). (4) Send His Word to the four corners of the world. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15 NKJV). (5) Help the poor and needy. “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments…Wealth and riches will be in his house…He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever” (Psalm 112:1, 3, 9 NKJV). When your reason for wanting money is to fulfill God’s will and bless others, God will honor you.
Soul food: Heb 5-8; Mark 10:23-34; Ps 93; Prov 11:30-31
2020-05-20
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
When you have a spiritual, physical, relational, or financial need, God says He will meet it. But some of us have a hard time believing this. After all, Jesus condemned the rich man for overlooking the poor man sitting on his doorstep. And God hasn’t changed His position on that issue. Jesus told the story of a man so busy making money that he had no time for God. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God” (Luke 12:20-21 NLT). And He hasn’t changed positions on that issue either. Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple because they were ripping people off. He went so far as to call them “a den of thieves” (Mark 11:17 NKJV). Does that mean God is interested in meeting our spiritual needs but not our material ones? Let’s be clear; your spiritual needs should always be your highest priority, but let’s allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves. When it comes to God and your money, Jesus said: “Don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:31-33 NLT). Note the word “everything.” When you’re in right standing with God, you can pray with confidence and ask Him to bless you in all things!
Soul food: Heb 1-4; Mark 10:13-22; Ps 88:9b-18; Prov 11:27-29
