The Lord's will for your concerns

[HeIsEnough]

Peace my friends.

Here are some admonitions from the scriptures for times like these, at anytime, whether good or bad, rich or poor. They are hard hitting, and don't leave much room for us fighting with the Lord about these things.

Please take note of them, think hard and long about your life and what it consists of, as these are a light in this time of darkness. Each of our lives are half consumed over just living, so they speak to the core of our hearts, our thoughts and our priorities.


Matthew 6

24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
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.
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve God and money at the same time. That should cut us all to the quick, I know it does to me, and makes me dig further into what the Lord is telling us, and how would I know I'm doing one or the other, or trying to do both?

He goes on to tell us the difference, and we can see it in our own lives.

Here is the affect of His words being implemented:




25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? When we are serving God, we will "take no thought" for these things. The scriptures tell us that Jesus had nowhere to lay His head. And yet, the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it.



What the Lord is telling us over and over is to trust Him. To take no thought for tomorrow. How many times have we read that, and yet that is all we do is take thought on the morrow? What does this lead to when we do these? Worry. Not trusting in the Lord for our daily provision. Eventually, we become less and less thankful for what He has provided already, and not thankful for what He will provide for tomorrow.



The Lord demonstrates His sovereignty over all things in the next verses:




26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
We have a difficult time sometimes making the connection concretely. We worry over tomorrows bills, over having enough money for food, clothing, everything. Yet the Lord tells us plainly we actually cannot do anything about it. We think we can plan, be good stewards and it will all come out ok, but that is not what He is telling us. Of course we are to be good stewards, not wasteful. Careful planning is good, but that is only your part.



The real outcome is from the Lord, despite our best planning. It doesn't negate our responsibility to have self control and stewardship, but we also shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking we are in control, or indeed can even 'take control.'



He goes on to reiterate what He already stated:



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.
This should makes us take note. It doesn't happen a lot in the scriptures where the Lord repeats Himself. He doesn't even say it twice, He says it three times! The Lord is exceptionally serious about this, because it goes to the heart of who we trust, God or mammon, and for us to see within ourselves which we are doing.



Here He states our answer to what we should do, and it will be seen like a wake of our lives when we look back, what do we seek?





33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.This isn't a 'one time' thing, it is a daily priority thing. It also has daily ramifications and will squelch the worries of this life when we do it, because we are concerned over what the Lord is concerned about, His Kingdom.



Notice also that it comes back to His sovereignty, He will supply our needs, just like the hundreds of examples in the scriptures where He supplies for the needs of His people. Except now, He speaks plainly of His will and what we need to take thought over.

[HeIsEnough]

Luke 12

The Parable of the Rich Fool

13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Often times I see the Lord responding to someone who asks a question, and their answer was far more than they expected! Of course He did answer the man, but for our sakes, He states much more. The words of the Lord are perfect and deep. Be on the lookout next time you read His answers, He often goes far afield to teach pure spiritual food for our souls.

This is a difficult teaching, but it makes perfect sense when we know the Lords will. We see things happening in this world, and we get anxious to plan. Plan for this, plan for that. Lay up treasures now because I can, because I see trouble coming, because its what the world tells me to do. Three things we all fall for, yet it is not God's counsel to us, He often counsels just the opposite....sell all that you have.

So, what do we do with this in times like these? Exactly what He says, "take no thought of the morrow." Counterintuitive to mans reasonings, but pure truth from the Lord nonetheless.

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greedHow deep greed can go, and how deceptive it is to ourselves. We can more easily see it in others, but it is much more difficult to see it in ourselves.

Examine your motives for why you do what you do, it is your duty, and be brutally honest with yourself so you do not become self deceived.

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."So, how can we be "rich towards God"?

And just as importantly, are we storing up things for ourselves?

[Hugs]

Thank you, its awesome how His sovereignty has been in my thoughts the past few weeks, even certain people talking about it. Now I read it here. God Bless you my friend.

[HeIsEnough]

Here is one way to be "rich towards God."


Luke 16

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

1Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' 3"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg— 4I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'
5"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6" 'Eight hundred gallons[a (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2016&version=31#fen-NIV-25619a)] of olive oil,' he replied.
"The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'
7"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?'
" 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied.
"He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'
8"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. [B]9I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
Use your money for His Kingdom. There are many around who need help, there are many you can share what you have with. It is simple I know, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.

But, what you won't be doing is being greedy, building bigger barns to store your wealth. Even if you did build a bigger "barn", the first person who came to your door saying "I am hungry", would change the purpose of your new big barn! Perhaps you could be a Joseph for this time, and Lord help you to be that, just take the time to examine why you do what you do, and make certain it is with pure motive, aligning with His will.

[HeIsEnough]

Thank you, its awesome how His sovereignty has been in my thoughts the past few weeks, even certain people talking about it. Now I read it here. God Bless you my friend.

:hugs

I like your name.

At one point at a church I attended, I was the "little old lady hugger" :lol2

It was a hard job, but somebody had to do it. :)

[Hugs]

:hugs

I like your name.

At one point at a church I attended, I was the "little old lady hugger" :lol2

It was a hard job, but somebody had to do it. :)

From one fellow hugger to another :hug

[Glory]

HeIsEnough, THIS IS AWESOME! THIS is what I've been saying all along. I'm so glad you posted this.:hug

[Shayna]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really needed to see this. I'm also going to share this with my precious guy....

[gratefulberean]

HeIsEnough, great lesson, Thank You!!

[acceptedinthebeloved]

Great post! :thumb