Godly Finances ~ Part
2
The land that you are going in to..
Everything we get from God is a gift.. “For God
so loved the world He gave His only Son..” ~ You
can’t receive anything from Him but by His grace.. Jesus
said.. “Fear not little flock, for it is the Fathers good
pleasure to give you the Kingdom” It ‘gives Him great
joy' to give it you! Much the same as the joy you get at
Christmas time when the kids open their presents.. Suddenly,
everything they cost and those sacrifices you made to get them,
fades away, as they rip the wrapping paper to pieces and you see
the joy on their faces! Don’t let us rob Him of His joy, by
trying to earn what it is His good pleasure to give us! Jesus
said to the disciples.. “Receive the Holy
Spirit”.. Peter said.. “For the gift is unto
you, your children and to as many as is afar of..” The
apostle Paul said to the believers.. "Have you received the
Holy Spirit since you believed?"
It’s the ONLY way to get anything from
God.. “ As many as received Him (Jesus) Them He gave
the right to become to sons of God” The Holy Spirit is a
gift too.. “and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit”
God’s in the giving business and it gives Him
great joy to do so..
The Promised land was just that.. A promise.. It was a
gift of grace. Others had laboured to build, plant and occupy and
now the Almighty was going to give it to His people! .. “We
have come into a land for which we did not labor and into cities
we did not build. We eat from vineyards and olive yards we did
not plant..” That's a type and shadow of us coming into
Christ and our inheritance in Him.. We didn't deserve Him,
neither could we do anything to earn His love and
sacrifice..
Jesus paid the eternal price to redeem us to God. There
is nothing more we can do, or needs to be done.. Jesus did it
all. Overcame every temptation and then sacrificed Himself for as
many as would receive Him..
God was telling Israel about this new land.. Egypt (a
type of sin/the world) produced fruit based upon their own
efforts. ‘They watered it with their feet’ ~ A type
of works.. ‘They’ have to do something to get the
water to the crops.. But the land they were going into was
watered by ‘the rains from Heaven’ a type of grace.
Yes. It was a natural rain but God was also showing them a
supernatural rain.. "I will send the latter rain".. Who
is the Holy Spirit ..
They still has to ‘go and posses the
land’.. That was their ‘act of faith’
"Everywhere the sole of your foot shall tread shall be
yours" God had made a promise but they had to act their
faith by going into it and driving out the enemy.. You see, faith
is an act! It’s not ‘what’ you believe..
It’s acting upon what you believe.. That’s how
we got saved.. “for with the heart man believes and
with the mouth confession is made..’ Romans 10:9-10 It is
said of the Pharisee's that "many believed upon Him but
would not confess him because of the Scribes” They believed
ok.. But didn’t act upon that belief through fear of
man.
The second time around, the Israelites, under the
command of Joshua, believed the promise of God and acted their
faith and went to posses what God had promised them some 40 years
before..
I'm saying all this to show you that God had
already set it all up for them. All they had to do was to go and
‘drive out the enemy and posses what He had promised them.
God also made a similar promise to Abraham.. “Lift up your eyes and look.. As far as your eyes can see, I have given thee..” Abraham believed what God had said and set out to explore this land he had been given.. One day, I was thinking about 'possessing the land’ That is, the one I lived in now.. You know, “get in there, work, fight for something, when the Lord said. “You don't have to posses the land as they did of old, you are Abraham's seed. You just have to believe you have received it” You see, I was still thinking like the Israelites.. Yes, I believed God was with me and would go before me but I had to ‘fight the enemy so to speak.. but we are the seed of Abraham and can inherit the promises of God, the same way he did.. simply by believing what His Word said and acting upon it.. God Bless John
Kenya Assistance: I want to encourage you.. As the apostle Paul said when problems struck.. "that this has fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel.." You can use 'events' to teach people and bring glory to God! Paul did..
We are going to send them some money.. and use this instance to help you in the financial things of God. This ministry tithes on all that comes to it. We shall be sending them some funds to help them and we know that God will "open to us the windows of Heaven and pour us out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi3) He will multiply our seed sown..(2Cor9)
"But" you say. "How do you know that?"
a) Because He said so in His Word. We are acting upon 2Cor9 ~ "Now concerning the collection for the poor saints.."
But how do you know that God is in this particular giving?"
A good question. Basically because He hasn't stopped us! Too many times, we try to get a 'leading' to give, instead of acting upon His Word. Jesus said 'give and will be given you' He will stop you if He doesn't want you to give. When the apostle Paul went to go into Asia, he was stopped of God.. "I went to go into Asia and the Lord stopped me" Then he went to go somewhere else and "the Spirit suffered me not" Do you see where we miss it sometimes? We have sought for a leading, rather than purposing in our heart and acting upon His Word.. Paul was acting upon the Word he had received of the Lord.. and as he went, he was directed.. Faith is an act!
"But how do I really 'know' that the Lord's in it?"
Well, this is what I did this morning.. When the news came to me about Kenya, I sat and thought for a bit as to what to do. It's easy to react to a need, rather that look to the Lord to see what 'He' wants to do.. So I prayed and sought direction. I didn't 'hear' anything but as I sat there, it 'seemed good' to do it.. The Bible says that the apostles gave a decision about a matter in the Book of Acts. They said.. 'it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.." They had weighed up what to do and it 'seemed good' First to the Lord and also to them' There was a 'Yes' on the inside of them and that's what I got whilst sitting here.. When I think of it, it brings a joy to my heart. That's another leading of the Spirit. The Bible says "The Kingdom of God is... in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit"
Three things..
"Is is Right?" Yes!
"Do I have Peace about this?" Yes!
"Does it bring Joy to me when I think on it?" Yes!
Three Yes's! God's in it!!
NOW, I also know, that because of this, that what we sow will open the windows of Heaven for us and the seed will be multiplied..
"How do you 'know' that?"
Because "God is not a man that He should lie" I am simply acting upon the written Word (Logos) and then I have the spoken Word (Rhema) in the way revelation. plus, He hasn't stopped me.. and I have a joy!
The motive of the heart. "I don't give to get.. but I also know that when I do.. I will" Do you see what I am trying to share with you here?
God bless you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
John
God also made a similar promise to Abraham.. “Lift up your eyes and look.. As far as your eyes can see, I have given thee..” Abraham believed what God had said and set out to explore this land he had been given.. One day, I was thinking about 'possessing the land’ That is, the one I lived in now.. You know, “get in there, work, fight for something, when the Lord said. “You don't have to posses the land as they did of old, you are Abraham's seed. You just have to believe you have received it” You see, I was still thinking like the Israelites.. Yes, I believed God was with me and would go before me but I had to ‘fight the enemy so to speak.. but we are the seed of Abraham and can inherit the promises of God, the same way he did.. simply by believing what His Word said and acting upon it.. God Bless John
Kenya Assistance: I want to encourage you.. As the apostle Paul said when problems struck.. "that this has fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel.." You can use 'events' to teach people and bring glory to God! Paul did..
We are going to send them some money.. and use this instance to help you in the financial things of God. This ministry tithes on all that comes to it. We shall be sending them some funds to help them and we know that God will "open to us the windows of Heaven and pour us out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi3) He will multiply our seed sown..(2Cor9)
"But" you say. "How do you know that?"
a) Because He said so in His Word. We are acting upon 2Cor9 ~ "Now concerning the collection for the poor saints.."
But how do you know that God is in this particular giving?"
A good question. Basically because He hasn't stopped us! Too many times, we try to get a 'leading' to give, instead of acting upon His Word. Jesus said 'give and will be given you' He will stop you if He doesn't want you to give. When the apostle Paul went to go into Asia, he was stopped of God.. "I went to go into Asia and the Lord stopped me" Then he went to go somewhere else and "the Spirit suffered me not" Do you see where we miss it sometimes? We have sought for a leading, rather than purposing in our heart and acting upon His Word.. Paul was acting upon the Word he had received of the Lord.. and as he went, he was directed.. Faith is an act!
"But how do I really 'know' that the Lord's in it?"
Well, this is what I did this morning.. When the news came to me about Kenya, I sat and thought for a bit as to what to do. It's easy to react to a need, rather that look to the Lord to see what 'He' wants to do.. So I prayed and sought direction. I didn't 'hear' anything but as I sat there, it 'seemed good' to do it.. The Bible says that the apostles gave a decision about a matter in the Book of Acts. They said.. 'it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.." They had weighed up what to do and it 'seemed good' First to the Lord and also to them' There was a 'Yes' on the inside of them and that's what I got whilst sitting here.. When I think of it, it brings a joy to my heart. That's another leading of the Spirit. The Bible says "The Kingdom of God is... in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit"
Three things..
"Is is Right?" Yes!
"Do I have Peace about this?" Yes!
"Does it bring Joy to me when I think on it?" Yes!
Three Yes's! God's in it!!
NOW, I also know, that because of this, that what we sow will open the windows of Heaven for us and the seed will be multiplied..
"How do you 'know' that?"
Because "God is not a man that He should lie" I am simply acting upon the written Word (Logos) and then I have the spoken Word (Rhema) in the way revelation. plus, He hasn't stopped me.. and I have a joy!
The motive of the heart. "I don't give to get.. but I also know that when I do.. I will" Do you see what I am trying to share with you here?
God bless you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
John