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Archive for May 2011

May/11

30

God Our Provider Pt 3

Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (GNB)

Before we can trust God to be our provider, we must be convinced that it is His will to do so. Let’s first look at the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, as the last Adam, He won back everything the First Adam had lost; one of which was prosperity.

God provided everything Adam needed in the garden of Eden. Food to eat, protection and work to give man focus and fulfillment. All man had to do was obey God and look to Him and all these things were guaranteed; but we know Adam disobeyed God and gave his allegiance to the devil. Thus Adam fell into sin and was banished from God’s presence (Gen 2:8-10, 15-17; Gen 3.)

He now had to provide for himself through painful toil and the sweat of his brow (Gen 3: 17-19). The channel through which Adam could trust God to provide for him (his relationship with God) was now broken; but at Calvary Jesus as the last Adam, repaired this relationship and reconciled man back to God. Thus man can now look to God once more to be his provider.

As Christians we now have to move away from the mindset that says I must rely on myself to provide and develop a new mindset that says, God is now my provider and I must trust him and keep my eyes fixed firmly upon Him; We trust God through His Word and the promises He has given in His Word.

Phil 4:19 And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs. (GNT)

Matt 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)

These are just 2 of the promises God has spoken to us assuring us of His will not just to provide but give us an abundance so we can build the Kingdom of God.

The No 1 reason why we fail to trust God is worry which is why Jesus addresses this problem and shows us how to overcome it and put ourselves in the place of receiving God’s provision; We will look at this in our next Blog.

Meditation Point: Am I assured through God’s word that it is His will to provide for all my needs.





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May/11

25

God Our Provider Pt 2

Money Money Money

Deut 8:18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (NIV)

In Pt1 (Mt 6:19-34) Jesus spoke about not making riches (mammon) into a God and having a divided heart, that is we can’t serve God and mammon at the same time (v24). So how can we tell if we have a heart that covets riches; Jesus gives the answer in Matt 6:32 For the pagans (unconverted) ‘run’ after all these things. (NIV)

We can so easily come under the pressure of the world system (Rom 12:2) and find ourselves running after riches, position or status. Working our fingers to the bone in order to provide for ourselves or our families. Our low self esteem feels inferior to others without designer labels, flashy cars and big houses.

Stop and think for a moment! Is this how God wants us to exist, stressing over material goods, overstretching our health, denying ourselves the ‘me time’ of rest and play. As D.L. Moody used to say, “No, a thousand times no”.

God’s way in life is always found in trusting Him. He is our provider, from Him comes our finance, strength, ability and vision for life. Phil 4:19 And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs. (GNT) ; Many have turned God’s promises into trite phrases that trip off the tongue without ever putting them to the test. This is because they are fearful that God will let them down or they’ve never experienced God’s provision before and don’t know where to start.

In our next Blog we will look at how we can trust God as our provider.

Meditation Point: God has given Himself names to show mankind how He wants to relate to them in life. One of these names is ‘Jehovah Jireh’ which means, The Lord our provider (Gen 22:14. Read this story).


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May/11

16

God Our Provider Pt 1

Matt 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (NKJV)

In Mt 6:19-34 Jesus gives a general discourse regarding our use of money and things and whether we will pursue them and make a god of them or whether we will trust God to provide. Matt 6:24 “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. The word ‘mammon’ is an Aramaic word speaking of worldly wealth and riches  with a strong negative connotation thus pointing out the dangers of wrong use.

So let’s look at some points in this story. In v 19-21 Jesus warns against the accumulation of riches. There is nothing wrong with storing up wealth; many people invest in pension funds, stocks and shares, property, inheritance for their children or as a fall back when times are tough; but as Jesus points out, are we storing up riches for riches sake or are we doing it to put it to good use.

Jesus exposes our motive for riches by asking us where our heart is. Is our heart a covetous heart that lusts after riches or is it a heart that wants to use riches for the promotion of the kingdom of God; He links this with v 22 which is a Hebrew idiom regarding our use of riches: The eye is the lamp of the body. So if you have a good eye (that is, if you are generous) your whole body will be full of light; but if you have an evil eye (if you are stingy) your whole body will be full of darkness. (JNT)

In other words, are you stingy or generous with money and things. Are we givers or are we hoarders. Prov 11:24-25 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.  A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

In this verse, God is showing us that to selfishly hoard riches will bring us to poverty but if we use our riches to meet the needs of others it will bring even greater prosperity. Giving is God’s antidote to a selfish heart, giving forces us to look outside ourselves toward others. God gave His Son as a sacrifice, He sowed Him as a seed to meet the needs of sinful mankind and now He is reaping the harvest with billions of sons coming into His family.

Meditation Point: We are freed up to give when we see God’s purpose for our lives. His purpose is to grow His Kingdom.



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May/11

10

Holiness:Law OR Grace Pt 5

Jn 15:8 YOU SHALL BEAR MUCH FRUIT

We’ve seen that in Christ we are holy. Today we will look holiness being worked out in our lives which is called the process of sanctification. Sanctification is a verb and means to make holy.

What we must always keep in mind is that if holiness is from within, it can only be accessed by faith. Faith releases the power of God to to change us from within and release the fruit of the Spirit (character of God) into and through our lives; and that faith is released through God’s Word. Rom 10:17  Faith comes through hearing God’s Word.

Example: We hear a rumour at work that there will soon be redundancies. We now have 2 options: we can either worry, fret  and stress or we can trust God who is our provider and sustainer.

A) Worrying and fretting about anything is a work of the flesh’ (Gal 5:19-21) because we are seeking to resolve the situation by what we can do. It is putting our trust in our own abilities and strength and is unbelief; and when we work, He rests.

B) Trusting in God through His Word means we are looking to God to do the work on our behalf, therefore, “Father, according to your word of Phil 4:6, I will not be anxious, fret or worry about anything. Instead I give this situation to you and trust you to provide and sustain me. I will rest while you work”.

As we let go of the situation into God’s keeping, He works on our behalf and provides what we need. It may be we retain our job or are made redundant and have a period of inactivity before we find another one; but as we steadfastly trust God by holding to and confessing His Word, He will provide for us.

Heb 10:23-24 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  (NKJV)

Trusting God through His Word now releases within us and through us peace, joy and self control, the particular fruit of the Spirit that we need for this situation (Gal 5:22,23). Instead of exhibiting the work of the flesh, we are now bearing the fruit of God’s Spirit in our life.

This is the holiness that reveals God’s glory in our lives and is generated from within by the power of the Holy Spirit. John 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. (NKJV)

Meditation Point: I must not exhibit the work of the flesh through struggle in my own strength but bear the fruit of the Spirit through trust and rest in God’s Word.


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May/11

6

Holiness: Law OR Grace Pt 4

I AM the Vine - You are the Branches Jn 15:5

The Parable of Jn 15 (the vine and the branches) perfectly illustrates New Testament holiness. Jesus often used God’s creation to teach spiritual truths.

A vine is fruitful because the life or sap of the vine travels up through the vine and out into and along to the end of the branches and produces the fruit; Hence the fruit is produced from within the vine.

To prevent the wastage of sap,the husbandman keeps the vine healthy by pruning (cleansing) the branches so they will bear more fruit and cuts off any branches that are dead or diseased.

As it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual (1 Cor 15:46). Christ is the living vine and we are the living branches. Because we are now ‘In Christ’,  the sap or life of Christ flows from Christ into us producing the 9 fold fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22,23); Hence the fruit is produced from within us by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

It is important to realise that as a branch, we will never be cut off from Christ the vine. At the beginning of the Parable (v3) Jesus assures His disciples that they have already been cleansed (pruned)  by the Word of God.

In Christ we are now perfect and holy before God the Father (Eph 1:4) and now the process of sanctification (to make holy) takes place; that is, as we live out who we are In Christ, that holiness is worked out in us bearing fruit for God. Holiness and the process of sanctification produces fruit from within.

Holiness that is produced from the outside by our own achievements is dead works, whereas holiness produced from within by the Holy Spirit is good works and brings glory to God.

John 15:8  When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. (NLT)

Meditation Point: It is as I function out of who I am In Christ that the fruit of a holy life is expressed through me.

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