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Words Of Life Ministries, Inc. 24148 Iowa Rd PO Box 652 Lebanon, MO 65536 Located in downtown Sleeper, MO 417-532-8050 |
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BIBLE-BASED FINANCIAL GUIDANCE, Part 3
by Jerry Dewey
Financially speaking, you are where you are today because of the decisions and choices you made yesterday. Likewise, tomorrow you will be where you are based on the decisions and choices you make today. Therefore, if you continue managing and handling the resources God gives you today the same way you did in the past, tomorrow you will be in the same financial situation that you are in today, or you could be in a worse situation. The only way you can improve your financial situation is to change how you manage and handle the resources God gives you. God has a plan. All you need to do is fully commit yourself to God’s plan and apply all of His principles in the management and handling of the resources He gives you. The sooner you start, the quicker a brighter tomorrow will happen. Every moment you delay or hesitate applying all of God’s principles, the longer it’s going to take for you to improve your financial situation and for you to become financially independent. Deuteronomy 28:1-2 says that if you observe and do ALL of God’s commandments, then God promises you’ll receive all the blessings listed in verses 3-13 (“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”). Get this concept firmly entrenched in your spirit, because it is the key to how you should be living your life. The word “all” means every single one; God’s plan is not a smorgasbord or a buffet line, where you can pick and chose which principles you are going to do. You cannot sway to the right or left of God’s plan by omitting those principles you don’t agree with or you don’t like or they’re too hard (they cause you a little more discomfort than you’re accustomed to or you are unwilling to endure). Deuteronomy 28:14-15 serves as a warning to anybody who thinks they are getting away with or going to get away with omitting one or more of the principles in God’s plan (“And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee”). If you are not doing ALL of God's commandments, chances are your life and your financial situation probably resemble verses 16-68 more than verses 3-13. James 4:7 says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Somebody is thinking to themselves, “If I don’t know what the principles in God’s plan are, I can’t be held accountable for not doing them, right?” Sounds good, but here’s the fallacy in this logic. There isn’t any exclusionary statement, such as, except those that don’t know them, in Deuteronomy 28, which simply means, ignorance is no excuse; you are still going to suffer the consequences of not doing them (because you are not doing them). Furthermore, when you became a Christian, you made a vow to God to walk in His ways, to keep His statues, commandments, and judgments, and to hearken unto His voice (Deuteronomy 26:17, “Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice”). So, it is your responsibility to find out what His ways, statues, commandments, and judgments are so you can walk in and keep them. You will be tempted by the enemy of your soul to either not follow through with doing one or more of the principles or to get you to stop doing one or more of the principles you’ve been doing. Satan does not want you to follow God’s plan because he doesn’t want you to succeed. The first part of John 10:10 says, “the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”, so he will do anything to keep God’s Word from getting into your heart. He will use deception, like he did with Eve, to convince you that you don’t need to do everything or he will get you to focus on what’s not happening versus what’s going to happen (just because it isn’t happening today doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen tomorrow - Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted”). Resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”); persevere and it will happen (1 Timothy 4:16, Amplified, “Look well to yourself [to your own personality] and to [your] teaching; persevere in these things [hold to them], for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you”; James 1:25, Amplified, “But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience)”; 2 John 1:8, Amplified, “Look to yourselves (take care) that you may not lose (throw away or destroy) all that we and you have labored for, but that you may [persevere until you] win and receive back a perfect reward [in full]”). You must follow God’s plan exactly – just omitting an “s” or doing things out of sequence will bring about a result you did not bargain for. Luke 5:1-9 describes an incident where Jesus instructs one of His soon-to-be disciples, Peter, to row his boat out and throw his nets overboard. Peter’s response is the typical response many Christians give whenever they’re told that this is how God expects them to manage and handle the resources He gives them: “I can’t do that – I just barely make enough money now to pay my bills” or “I tried that once and it didn’t work.” Never the less, Peter half-heartedly did what Jesus told him to do; to his amazement, he caught so many fish, he had to call his buddies over with their boat to help haul them back to the shore. Well, this proves the better half of Deuteronomy 28. Not so fast. Why did Peter fall down at Jesus’ knees and make the statement he did in verse 8 (“…Simon Peter…fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”)? Why wasn’t Peter leaping and shouting for joy? He should’ve been; he and his buddies had just hauled in the catch of a lifetime, and now they were going to be rich. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Look at verses 6 and 7: their net brake and both ships began to sink (“…they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink”); these are two things a fisherman doesn’t want happening to his equipment. He can’t haul in a catch if his net is broken and he can’t get off the shore if his boat has sunk. Doesn’t this sound more like the bad half of Deuteronomy 28? What caused this calamity? Read verse 4 very slowly; notice what Jesus said to Peter: “…he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” Do you see it? Jesus said NETS. Now, read verse 5 very slowly (“And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net”). Do you see it? At the very end of Peter’s reply he said, “I will let down the net.” Jesus caused a great multitude of fish to gather at that location; that’s why He told Peter to let down more than one net. But Peter chose to only let one down – remember he was in the process of cleaning and repairing his nets after an all night fishing trip, so he probably didn’t want to re-clean the ones he had already cleaned. How many more fish would he have caught had he done exactly what Jesus told him to do? We will never know. You will never know what it feels like to be financially independent (free from financial problems and difficulties) as long as you do not follow God’s plan exactly! Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 state, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death”, meaning, “God, I am smarter and wiser than you and I don’t need to follow your plan to be financially independent.” You are a fool, according to Proverbs 1:7 (“…but fools despise wisdom and instruction”); you will never become financially independent as long as you think, act, and live this way (1 Corinthians 1:19, “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent”; 1 Corinthians 1:25, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men”; 1 Corinthians 3:18-19, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness”). There is only one way to financial independence and that is God’s way – it is the only way you can tap into God’s eternal abundance (John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”). In Ecclesiastes 12:13, it says that it is your duty, as a Christian, to keep all of God’s commandments (“…Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man”). Remember: you are where you are and will be based upon the decisions and choices you have made, are making, and will make; “If it is to be it is up to me [you].” The question you must answer, do you want a tomorrow where you are basking in the blessings of God or do you want a tomorrow where you are stewing in the curses. If you would like more information, click on the Contact link and send us an email; someone will contact you shortly thereafter.
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email address: wofl@wofl.org | ||
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