Thursday, May 24, 2012

Recession Is Not For Us

As Christians we learn from God in His word that He will supply all of our needs. One verse that everyone loves to memorize and quote is found in Philippians chapter 4. Phil. 4 v 19....and my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus...... However a lot of times these same Christians are talking about how bad the economy is and how they can't afford this or that. It is like when you quote that scripture and then say the latter you are talking out of both sides of your mouth. When we do this we are being what the word calls double minded. In other words it sounds as if we can't make up our mind if we are blessed or if we are headed for poverty. God says that as a child of His, all blessings are ours. The problem is not with God when we lack in any area, the problem usually falls back into our lap. What can we do to keep our blessings flowing? First question we need to ask ourself, are we sowing? You can't expect a corn field to grow if you never put the seed in the ground. You will never reap a harvest of corn if your seed is still in the packet sitting on the kitchen table. HELLO! When we read about one famine in the bible with the story of Isaac, we see how he prospered even in the year of famine. Gen. 26 v 1a...There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham...... v2-3.....Then the Lord appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you, Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants, I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father...... v4....and I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed...... Now Isaac was headed for Egypt a better place but God sent him to Gerar a land that was in famine. Now here is the reasoning we would use. "Lord, I thought You said You were going to bless me and all that is mine, but yet You are sending me into a land of famine. A parched land where nothing is growing, how exactly is that a blessing?" Yet he still obeyed God and did what God told him to do, and he trusted God to bless him as he sowed into this land of famine. And now look what God did for him. Gen. 26 v 12-13....Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year, a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.... When he obeyed God and sowed, he not only got back what he sowed, he got back a hundredfold and he not only prospered but continued to prosper and became very prosperous. He didn't just look at the circumstances at the famine that was going on, but he chose to obey God's word and do things God's way and he not only made it through the recession but came out of the recession a very prosperous man. AMEN! God is not asking us to give Him anything that doesn't already belong to Him. God blesses us so that we may be a blessing to others and so that we ourselves will continue to be blessed and prosper. Sometimes we cut our blessing off after the first reaping. We get so excited over what we reaped that we forget to sow back into His kingdom out of our abundance so that we too can be like Isaac and be very prosperous. 1 Chronicles 29 v 14...But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You..... Let us be careful lest we forget Who our blessings come from. Don't reap your harvest before it's time. Don't get impatient and take it out of the ground before it has had time to mature. And when we do harvest don't let us forget to sow the first fruits unto Him. Prov 3 v 9 and 10....Honor the Lord with your possessions, and the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.... God is very clear in His word how He rejoices in doing us good and making our way prosperous. We just have to be obedient to His word, not out of law but out of cheerful giving hearts. Jer. 32 v 40a....And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good;...... v 41....Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul..... God tells us in Malachi chapter 3 how we are to bring all of the tithes into His storehouse and how He will open the windows of heaven and bless us with so much we can't contain it all. And then He goes on to tell us that He will even rebuke the devourer (whoever or whatever) that may try to come and steal our seed out of the ground before it has had time to mature. He says He will cause our vines to be fruitful and bear fruit. This is one of my favorite passages of scripture, be sure to read it for yourself. It will definitely bless you. 2 Cor. 9 v 7....So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.... 2 Cor 9 v 10....Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness..... So, let us change our way of thinking, so that we can change our way of speaking so that our actions will line up with our faith in His word; and we may be VERY PROSPEROUS even in times of famine. How do we make these changes? STAY IN HIS WORD!

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