MaxLucado.com: From Poverty to Pride
There’s a predictable progression from poverty to pride. The poor man prays and works; God hears and blesses. The humble man becomes rich and forgets God. The faithful, poor man becomes the proud, rich man.
As God said through Hosea, “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” (Hosea 13:6)
How can a person survive prosperity? Scripture says, do not be haughty! Don’t think for a moment that you had anything to do with your accumulation.
Scripture also makes clear that your stocks, cash, and 401k are not yours.
1st Timothy 6:17 warns us, “do not put your trust in uncertain riches.”
Money is an untrustworthy foundation.
Have you noticed that the word “miser” is just one letter short of the word “misery!”
Galatians 5
New International Version (NIV)
Freedom in Christ
5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Ruth 2:13-20
13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”
14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah[a] of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”
Take Notice
August 2, 2012 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Blessed be the one who took notice of you. —Ruth 2:19
While standing in a checkout line, I was estimating my bill and trying to keep my son from wandering away. I barely noticed when the woman ahead of me shuffled toward the exit, leaving all of her items behind. The clerk confided that the woman didn’t have enough money to pay her bill. I felt terrible; if only I had been aware of her situation earlier, I would have helped her.
In the book of Ruth, Boaz became aware of Ruth’s plight when he saw her gleaning in his fields (2:5). He learned that she was recently widowed and was the breadwinner for herself and her mother-in-law. Boaz saw her need for protection, and warned his harvesters to leave her alone (v.9). He supplied her with extra food by instructing his workers to let grain fall purposely (v.16). Boaz even addressed Ruth’s emotional needs by comforting her (vv.11-12). When Naomi heard about this, she said, “Blessed be the one who took notice of you” (v.19).
Are you aware of the needs of the people around you—in your church, neighborhood, or under your own roof? Today, consider how you might help bear someone’s burden. Then you will be fulfilling God’s plan for you (Gal. 6:2; Eph. 2:10).
Help me Lord, to notice
The hurting, sick, and lost;
Guide me as I help them
Regardless of the cost. —Schuldt
God works through us to meet the needs of those around us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 2, 2012
The Teaching of Adversity
In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world —John 16:33
The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling . . .” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.
If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.
God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life . . .” (Revelation 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Double Agent In Your Life - #6669
Thursday, August 2, 2012
I don't know if the espionage field is as exciting in real life as it is in fiction, but it sure makes for some great adventure plots - TV shows, novels, and movies. And I love spy stories! Let me tell you, they're pretty exciting! Now, in many good spy stories you'll find at least one character that they call a double agent. That means he's a spy who works for both sides, and you hope he's working for our side on this one. Of course, not all double agents are CIA types. In fact uh... you might know one intimately.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Double Agent In Your Life."
Now, there are many phrases from the Bible that people use all the time and they don't even know it's from the Bible. One of those is, "My thorn in the flesh." Well, that's out of the Bible and it's our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."
Now, literally that word torment means to keep beating me up; to beat on me. Now, we don't really know exactly what the nature of the thorn was. There are a lot of different theories; it could have been something physical or emotional, but that's not important. I think God didn't let us know so we could apply this thorn idea to our own lives.
You see, God had a message for Paul, and so he was given this thorn in the flesh. This thorn was God's means of delivering the message to Paul. In fact, the book of 2 Corinthians really recounts Paul's battle to learn to depend totally on the Lord. We're talking here about a guy who was very skilled, persuasive, influential, and highly educated. He had to battle to learn to depend on God, not on himself.
The simplicity of what we learned when we were little kids, "Jesus loves me, this I know." Remember the part that says, "They are weak, but He is strong." We have to spend a whole lifetime learning that we are weak and He is strong. That's what 2 Corinthians is about. The one thing that makes humility tough is being used mightily by God, and Paul was.
You know, the tendency to take the credit for what God has done through you. You probably know about that. In a sense, when you've been a great worker, well, you need a great "weakener" to bring about balance. Paul's thorn was an agent for God saying, "You really need me, Paul." But it wasn't just God's agent; it was also a messenger of Satan. "It was given to him," it says, God gave Satan permission, in a sense, so it came from God indirectly, but it was a messenger from Satan to beat on Paul. It was a double agent. The Devil was using that same problem to say to Paul, "Give up, man! Do your own thing!"
Now, if God has really been working in your life; if God's really been using your life, you've probably got a thorn in your life. Maybe it's a physical limitation, or financial, family, relational. And you know what? As painful as it is, you needed it, and so do I. It's the thorns that keep us desperately depending on the Lord, and it's depending that makes us strong. That means that there's just a little of me and a lot of Him because of what I'm going through. But, see, the Devil wants to use this thorn for his purposes. So, the enemy taunts you with that problem. He tries to get you out of God's will; out of God's power. Yeah, that thorn is a double agent in your life; potentially working for both sides.
So, you have to decide whose agent your thorn will be. It's a powerful messenger. Don't let it work for the Devil - the destroyer. Listen for God's message in the thorn, and be sure you're letting Agent Thorn work for the winning side.