So often, people wonder if they can trust God.This is understandable, if you are not a believer.You have not decided to give your heart whole-heartedly to the LORD – as a matter of fact, you haven’t decided to do it at all.But once you take on the name of Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, it is time to walk a new walk, and part of that is learning to trust Him, and walk with Him daily.
But I am not focusing as much on us trusting Him, as the flip-side to the coin – Can God Trust You?If God gave you $1 million dollars today, what would you do with it?Would you blow it on beautiful homes, vacations, cars and clothes?Would you live a riotous lifestyle filled with sex and drugs?Or would you be faithful with the money entrusted to you?Would you use it to help those who were less fortunate?What would you do?Could God trust you with what is His?
It doesn’t even have to be just money – there are so many gifts that God gives us - many that we even take for granted.Are we faithful with those gifts?
Luke 16:9-12 / 9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
The word “mammon” means “confidence, wealth, or avarice (greed)”.The word “unrighteousness” means “(legal) injustice, mor. wrongfulness (of character, life or act), iniquity, and wrong”.It even has a root word that mean “treacherous”.
Jesus says to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.In short, he is saying to be faithful (be friends) with the wealth of the world – to treat it in a friendly, godly manner.One of the meanings of “friends” is “an associate” – treat the money as if it were for a company you were an associate for – with credibility and honor.
The word “fail” means “to omit, to cease, and to die”. There are a couple of other scriptures that use the same Greek word for “fail”, “eklipo” – Luke 22:32 and Hebrews 1:12.Let’s look at how the word “fail” is used in these scriptures.
Luke 22:32 - 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Jesus prayed that the Father would not allow Satan to harm Simon Peter to the point that he could not stand.We take prayer so lightly, but what if our prayer is the very thing that helps our faith “fail not”?
Hebrews 1:12 - 12And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
This word “fail” has a connotation of “to cease, to die”.It cannot be nailed down to one meaning, so it is important to understand a word in the context of the text.
The LORD honors our faithfulness to the riches of this world.When we do not blow our money, nor flash it, nor spend it crudely or selfishly, but we are godly stewards of the money we are entrusted with, God sees and takes note of our faithfulness.
Tell me – who would you rather give a million dollars to, a shopaholic or a wise spender?A party-til-you-drop guy, or someone who gives to those in need, while managing his money appropriately?So it is with God – He will give more to those who are wise and faithful investors.
The word “faithful” means “trustworthy, believing, sure, and true”, and it comes from a root word with a wealth of description – “to convince (by argument, true or false), pacify, conciliate, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty), agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) confident, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield”.
Here is a way we can use the meanings of the word to describe what our faithful behavior brings in action –
#1 – We convince God, and others, and ourselves, through our faithful living.
#2 – We pacify any doubts of where we stand when we are faithful.
#3 – We conciliate ourselves to God by trusting Him and being faithful to Him.
#4 – We assent to God’s authority and honesty by our faithfulness.
#5 – We rely on God’s Word rather than our understanding by our faithfulness to Him.
#6 – We agree that God’s Word is the ultimate authority by our faithfulness.
We could continue to dissect each word and its correlation to the key word “faithful”, but just take time to consider that being faithful means that we must trust God’s Word more than our own carnal reasoning, and be willing to follow wherever He leads, whether it is convenient or not.
The word “unjust” means “unjust, wicked, treacherous, heathen, and unrighteous”.If we consider that Jesus is effectively discussing polar opposites here, then the opposite of “faithful” is “unjust, wicked, treacherous, heathen and unrighteous”.Sure we don’t want God to judge us in this manner, but when we choose to obey evil rather than good, we will be unfaithful, or wicked.
“Commit to your trust” means “to have faith in, to credit, to entrust, to believe”, and it comes from a root word meaning “persuasion, conviction, reliance, assurance, belief, faith, and fidelity”.Even deeper, it means “to not hide”.In short, Jesus is saying, “Can God Trust You?” If you were God, looking at your life, would you trust you?Have you been faithful to God to the point that if He was telling others about you, He would give a report like He gave to Satan about Job: “there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil”?
There have been many people in the Bible that had favourable testimonies – just take a good look at Hebrews 11, called the Hall of Faith, to see many righteous men of God WHO BY FAITH wrought many powerful works in the name of God: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the harlot Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets.If Hebrews 11 were written today, would your name be mentioned in God’s Hall of Faith?Do you mightily believe in God to see miracles come to pass?
Look at Abram’s (later called Abraham) righteousness, documented in Genesis 15:6 - 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.The word “counted” means “to plait or interpenetrate, to weave or to fabricate, to plot or contrive, to think, to regard, value, and to compute”.
God knows that we can never truly be righteous on our own – look at Isaiah 64:6 (all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags).So God is so gracious, He counts our faith for righteousness.When we actively choose to believe God’s Word over the ways of the world, God counts it to us for righteousness.And even greater – when we choose to believe God, it truly changes our nature.The Word of God transforms our corrupt nature into the nature of Christ.
There is a principle in Luke 16:10 – “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.”Do you believe that God has provided for you sufficiently for your situation?Or do you covet more?When we learn to be content and give thanks in all things, we become like Paul who says in Philippians 4:12, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”God gives us what we have need of, and He is watching to see if we will be faithful in the little.He has always blessed those who follow Him, and not only financially.Some people’s relationship with God is more like “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”.They agree to be a Christian based on what God can do for them, instead of simply worshipping God, and being content and faithful with what they are given.
Sometimes God wants to see if we are faithful with other’s possessions.There are many who say, “Well, it’s not my money.”Or, “It’s not my problem.”What kind of a faithful attitude is that?Jesus says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 19:19).As the old Golden Rule states in Matthew 7:12 (paraphrased), “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.To truly live this lifestyle takes some humility and selflessness.
Do you have the attitude that every piece of money that you own belongs 100% to you, or do you give thanks and reverence to God for the money that you have been given?There are many that refuse to give tithes (the portion of money that rightfully belongs back to God) and offerings (gifts of thanksgiving) to God for what He has blessed them with – and then they wonder why their money never seems to last.There is scripture to back up God’s stand on tithing.
Haggai 1:3-11 / 3Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
8Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
9Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
We basically expect God to do everything for us according to our will, but we are not willing to bow down to His will.But who is God – Him, or us?Who can make the heavens and the earth – Him, or us?When you choose to refuse to give what is God’s portion back to Him, you have effectively stolen from the hand of God, and therefore God “steals” from you the blessings that you would have had.Where does the true increase come from?From the hoarding of money?From covetousness?Or do they come from the hand of God?Do we acknowledge that He can verily provide for our every need, or do we withhold God’s portion from Him because we don’t believe Him at His word?His word will not return void, but it will accomplish that which He has ordained it to do (Isaiah 55:11).If we choose to disobey God’s Word and withhold what is rightfully His, then He will in turn withhold every blessing that He would have originally given you.Please, take heed to the disciplinary word of God in Haggai 1, and choose to put God first, and be faithful, lest a curse, a drought, come into your life, and strip away all that you own.
God goes so far as to call us “thieves and robbers” when we refuse to pay our tithes to God.Take a look at Malachi 3:8-12.
8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
The reason the devourer (the devil) was operating so strongly in the lives of the Jews was that they were stealing from God, which gave the devil an open door in their lives to kill, steal and destroy all that was theirs. Why not give God what is his?Do we acknowledge that God is our source?He is the creator of life, He is the one who put the resources in the earth that help us make our living, He is the one who blesses us with wisdom to make money, He is the one who provides us with sun and rain, with dirt and seed…yet we still feel as if we are entitled to refuse God what is rightfully His.
There was a time in my life when I didn’t tithe, and every penny was always spent.I never had enough – many times I was very hungry, and making it from day to day was a burdensome chore.But when I finally began to give God what was rightfully His, the tithes and offerings, I have been much more blessed.God is good on His word.As a good friend of mine who is a prophet says, “Believe it and receive it, doubt it and do without it”.But we still will receive a spiritual and physical drought in our lives as long as we choose to refuse to give God what is rightfully His.
Some may say, “But what about the wicked who prosper?”A Psalmist wondered the same question – why do these wicked men prosper?Read what God revealed to the Psalmist about those who seem to just be “getting by” – Psalm 73:18-20.
18Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
19How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
If you read the whole psalm, it is a very moving psalm – considering that some people just seem to never have it bad, and the world is all theirs, no matter how wicked they are.But also consider this scripture – Proverbs 13:22 - 22A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.Sometimes God will allow a wicked man to heap wealth, just so He can give it to the righteous in the end.We see this in Exodus, when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, that they were able to ask from the Egyptians of what they had need of, and the Egyptians readily gave it to them.We could go into this in more detail, but the point is that God has everything under control, and it is not for us to covet more than we have need of – what He has blessed us with.
Let’s take a look at Luke 6:38 - 38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.Are we afraid to give, thinking that we won’t have enough for ourselves?Consider being faithful to the principle God has set forth here – when you give, you will receive IN GREATER ABUNDANCE THAN YOU GAVE!!!The mystery is hard for the human mind to comprehend, so it must be taken by faith.When you choose to obey God and give, you will receive much more than you gave.
We can see this principle at work in the Bible in the story of Elijah and the widow woman.Elijah was a prophet of the LORD sent to Zarephath to the house of a widow woman.Consider God’s words in 1 Kings 17:9 - 9Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.Now God saw ahead and knew that the woman had basically nothing left, due to the drought that God had called upon Israel.But He pronounced that she would be able to sustain Elijah in spite of her lack.
When Elijah got there, she was ready to give up – she only had a handful of meal and a little oil, and was ready to make her last meal and die.She even had a child, but they both had lost hope.But Elijah gives her the Word of the LORD – If you feed me first (GIVE), the LORD will never let your little run empty (AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU).And the widow woman obeyed the voice of the LORD, and it was done unto her according to the promise of God.
Our God is capable of making manna rain from the heavens – He can make water come out of a rock.Why do we have so much trouble being faithful to what He has asked of us?
Take a look at Acts 20:35 – “35I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”Do we understand this principle, or are we always more willing to receive than to give?There are true blessings in giving – the end blessings of giving (ETERNAL) far surpass the end blessings of receiving (NOW).But do we neglect our heavenly treasure in trade for our earthly treasure?
Take a look at Matthew 6:31-32 / 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.God knows what you have need of.He is not opposed to praying for things that you have need of, but we can be assured that He knows what we have need of.Consider that there were times when God led His people to places where they didn’t even have basic necessities, such as food or drink.They were REQUIRED to pray for what they had need of, so that God could supply it supernaturally for them.Sometimes God will lead you into a drought to cause you to pray, so that He can answer your prayer, and be sanctified and glorified.
In summary, God is for you, not against you, but it is up to you and me to choose to be faithful to Him in whatever He has entrusted us with.Whether it is a lot or a little, be assured that God can do whatever He wants with our amount, no matter the size.To God be the glory!
7-17-11 / Can God Trust You?
So often, people wonder if they can trust God. This is understandable, if you are not a believer. You have not decided to give your heart whole-heartedly to the LORD – as a matter of fact, you haven’t decided to do it at all. But once you take on the name of Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, it is time to walk a new walk, and part of that is learning to trust Him, and walk with Him daily.
But I am not focusing as much on us trusting Him, as the flip-side to the coin – Can God Trust You? If God gave you $1 million dollars today, what would you do with it? Would you blow it on beautiful homes, vacations, cars and clothes? Would you live a riotous lifestyle filled with sex and drugs? Or would you be faithful with the money entrusted to you? Would you use it to help those who were less fortunate? What would you do? Could God trust you with what is His?
It doesn’t even have to be just money – there are so many gifts that God gives us - many that we even take for granted. Are we faithful with those gifts?
Luke 16:9-12 / 9And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
10He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
11If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
The word “mammon” means “confidence, wealth, or avarice (greed)”. The word “unrighteousness” means “(legal) injustice, mor. wrongfulness (of character, life or act), iniquity, and wrong”. It even has a root word that mean “treacherous”.
Jesus says to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. In short, he is saying to be faithful (be friends) with the wealth of the world – to treat it in a friendly, godly manner. One of the meanings of “friends” is “an associate” – treat the money as if it were for a company you were an associate for – with credibility and honor.
The word “fail” means “to omit, to cease, and to die”. There are a couple of other scriptures that use the same Greek word for “fail”, “eklipo” – Luke 22:32 and Hebrews 1:12. Let’s look at how the word “fail” is used in these scriptures.
Luke 22:32 - 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Jesus prayed that the Father would not allow Satan to harm Simon Peter to the point that he could not stand. We take prayer so lightly, but what if our prayer is the very thing that helps our faith “fail not”?
Hebrews 1:12 - 12And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
This word “fail” has a connotation of “to cease, to die”. It cannot be nailed down to one meaning, so it is important to understand a word in the context of the text.
The LORD honors our faithfulness to the riches of this world. When we do not blow our money, nor flash it, nor spend it crudely or selfishly, but we are godly stewards of the money we are entrusted with, God sees and takes note of our faithfulness.
Tell me – who would you rather give a million dollars to, a shopaholic or a wise spender? A party-til-you-drop guy, or someone who gives to those in need, while managing his money appropriately? So it is with God – He will give more to those who are wise and faithful investors.
The word “faithful” means “trustworthy, believing, sure, and true”, and it comes from a root word with a wealth of description – “to convince (by argument, true or false), pacify, conciliate, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty), agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) confident, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield”.
Here is a way we can use the meanings of the word to describe what our faithful behavior brings in action –
#1 – We convince God, and others, and ourselves, through our faithful living.
#2 – We pacify any doubts of where we stand when we are faithful.
#3 – We conciliate ourselves to God by trusting Him and being faithful to Him.
#4 – We assent to God’s authority and honesty by our faithfulness.
#5 – We rely on God’s Word rather than our understanding by our faithfulness to Him.
#6 – We agree that God’s Word is the ultimate authority by our faithfulness.
We could continue to dissect each word and its correlation to the key word “faithful”, but just take time to consider that being faithful means that we must trust God’s Word more than our own carnal reasoning, and be willing to follow wherever He leads, whether it is convenient or not.
The word “unjust” means “unjust, wicked, treacherous, heathen, and unrighteous”. If we consider that Jesus is effectively discussing polar opposites here, then the opposite of “faithful” is “unjust, wicked, treacherous, heathen and unrighteous”. Sure we don’t want God to judge us in this manner, but when we choose to obey evil rather than good, we will be unfaithful, or wicked.
“Commit to your trust” means “to have faith in, to credit, to entrust, to believe”, and it comes from a root word meaning “persuasion, conviction, reliance, assurance, belief, faith, and fidelity”. Even deeper, it means “to not hide”. In short, Jesus is saying, “Can God Trust You?” If you were God, looking at your life, would you trust you? Have you been faithful to God to the point that if He was telling others about you, He would give a report like He gave to Satan about Job: “there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil”?
There have been many people in the Bible that had favourable testimonies – just take a good look at Hebrews 11, called the Hall of Faith, to see many righteous men of God WHO BY FAITH wrought many powerful works in the name of God: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the harlot Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. If Hebrews 11 were written today, would your name be mentioned in God’s Hall of Faith? Do you mightily believe in God to see miracles come to pass?
Look at Abram’s (later called Abraham) righteousness, documented in Genesis 15:6 - 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. The word “counted” means “to plait or interpenetrate, to weave or to fabricate, to plot or contrive, to think, to regard, value, and to compute”.
God knows that we can never truly be righteous on our own – look at Isaiah 64:6 (all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags). So God is so gracious, He counts our faith for righteousness. When we actively choose to believe God’s Word over the ways of the world, God counts it to us for righteousness. And even greater – when we choose to believe God, it truly changes our nature. The Word of God transforms our corrupt nature into the nature of Christ.
There is a principle in Luke 16:10 – “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” Do you believe that God has provided for you sufficiently for your situation? Or do you covet more? When we learn to be content and give thanks in all things, we become like Paul who says in Philippians 4:12, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” God gives us what we have need of, and He is watching to see if we will be faithful in the little. He has always blessed those who follow Him, and not only financially. Some people’s relationship with God is more like “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”. They agree to be a Christian based on what God can do for them, instead of simply worshipping God, and being content and faithful with what they are given.
Sometimes God wants to see if we are faithful with other’s possessions. There are many who say, “Well, it’s not my money.” Or, “It’s not my problem.” What kind of a faithful attitude is that? Jesus says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 19:19). As the old Golden Rule states in Matthew 7:12 (paraphrased), “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. To truly live this lifestyle takes some humility and selflessness.
Do you have the attitude that every piece of money that you own belongs 100% to you, or do you give thanks and reverence to God for the money that you have been given? There are many that refuse to give tithes (the portion of money that rightfully belongs back to God) and offerings (gifts of thanksgiving) to God for what He has blessed them with – and then they wonder why their money never seems to last. There is scripture to back up God’s stand on tithing.
Haggai 1:3-11 / 3Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
8Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
9Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
We basically expect God to do everything for us according to our will, but we are not willing to bow down to His will. But who is God – Him, or us? Who can make the heavens and the earth – Him, or us? When you choose to refuse to give what is God’s portion back to Him, you have effectively stolen from the hand of God, and therefore God “steals” from you the blessings that you would have had. Where does the true increase come from? From the hoarding of money? From covetousness? Or do they come from the hand of God? Do we acknowledge that He can verily provide for our every need, or do we withhold God’s portion from Him because we don’t believe Him at His word? His word will not return void, but it will accomplish that which He has ordained it to do (Isaiah 55:11). If we choose to disobey God’s Word and withhold what is rightfully His, then He will in turn withhold every blessing that He would have originally given you. Please, take heed to the disciplinary word of God in Haggai 1, and choose to put God first, and be faithful, lest a curse, a drought, come into your life, and strip away all that you own.
God goes so far as to call us “thieves and robbers” when we refuse to pay our tithes to God. Take a look at Malachi 3:8-12.
8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
The reason the devourer (the devil) was operating so strongly in the lives of the Jews was that they were stealing from God, which gave the devil an open door in their lives to kill, steal and destroy all that was theirs. Why not give God what is his? Do we acknowledge that God is our source? He is the creator of life, He is the one who put the resources in the earth that help us make our living, He is the one who blesses us with wisdom to make money, He is the one who provides us with sun and rain, with dirt and seed…yet we still feel as if we are entitled to refuse God what is rightfully His.
There was a time in my life when I didn’t tithe, and every penny was always spent. I never had enough – many times I was very hungry, and making it from day to day was a burdensome chore. But when I finally began to give God what was rightfully His, the tithes and offerings, I have been much more blessed. God is good on His word. As a good friend of mine who is a prophet says, “Believe it and receive it, doubt it and do without it”. But we still will receive a spiritual and physical drought in our lives as long as we choose to refuse to give God what is rightfully His.
Some may say, “But what about the wicked who prosper?” A Psalmist wondered the same question – why do these wicked men prosper? Read what God revealed to the Psalmist about those who seem to just be “getting by” – Psalm 73:18-20.
18Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
19How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
If you read the whole psalm, it is a very moving psalm – considering that some people just seem to never have it bad, and the world is all theirs, no matter how wicked they are. But also consider this scripture – Proverbs 13:22 - 22A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Sometimes God will allow a wicked man to heap wealth, just so He can give it to the righteous in the end. We see this in Exodus, when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, that they were able to ask from the Egyptians of what they had need of, and the Egyptians readily gave it to them. We could go into this in more detail, but the point is that God has everything under control, and it is not for us to covet more than we have need of – what He has blessed us with.
Let’s take a look at Luke 6:38 - 38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Are we afraid to give, thinking that we won’t have enough for ourselves? Consider being faithful to the principle God has set forth here – when you give, you will receive IN GREATER ABUNDANCE THAN YOU GAVE!!! The mystery is hard for the human mind to comprehend, so it must be taken by faith. When you choose to obey God and give, you will receive much more than you gave.
We can see this principle at work in the Bible in the story of Elijah and the widow woman. Elijah was a prophet of the LORD sent to Zarephath to the house of a widow woman. Consider God’s words in 1 Kings 17:9 - 9Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. Now God saw ahead and knew that the woman had basically nothing left, due to the drought that God had called upon Israel. But He pronounced that she would be able to sustain Elijah in spite of her lack.
When Elijah got there, she was ready to give up – she only had a handful of meal and a little oil, and was ready to make her last meal and die. She even had a child, but they both had lost hope. But Elijah gives her the Word of the LORD – If you feed me first (GIVE), the LORD will never let your little run empty (AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU). And the widow woman obeyed the voice of the LORD, and it was done unto her according to the promise of God.
Our God is capable of making manna rain from the heavens – He can make water come out of a rock. Why do we have so much trouble being faithful to what He has asked of us?
Take a look at Acts 20:35 – “35I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Do we understand this principle, or are we always more willing to receive than to give? There are true blessings in giving – the end blessings of giving (ETERNAL) far surpass the end blessings of receiving (NOW). But do we neglect our heavenly treasure in trade for our earthly treasure?
Take a look at Matthew 6:31-32 / 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. God knows what you have need of. He is not opposed to praying for things that you have need of, but we can be assured that He knows what we have need of. Consider that there were times when God led His people to places where they didn’t even have basic necessities, such as food or drink. They were REQUIRED to pray for what they had need of, so that God could supply it supernaturally for them. Sometimes God will lead you into a drought to cause you to pray, so that He can answer your prayer, and be sanctified and glorified.
In summary, God is for you, not against you, but it is up to you and me to choose to be faithful to Him in whatever He has entrusted us with. Whether it is a lot or a little, be assured that God can do whatever He wants with our amount, no matter the size. To God be the glory!