Journey4Jesus
Praying Gods Word in all areas of life… The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
(TT) FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY…
Welcome to Throwback Thursday, I hope you don’t see this intro and assume you have already read this post as many of my following friends started after these initial posts. Besides that, I find in our economically difficult times right now that these words continue to speak to me. Always remember that our God is bigger than anything life can throw at us (even Covid 19 life). He will use our struggles past & present if you allow him… read on friend 😊
How did I not see?
Have you ever had one of those days when you are just doing your thing, then WHAM something you read or see hits you square in the face? This was one of those days for me as I settled in to read this well known (and if I’m honest here… not always well loved) passage of scripture.
I’ve read and heard sermons preached on this scripture many times over the years, but it never pertained to me… after all I didn’t have excess money… I certainly wasn’t rich.
Yet today was different, today I sensed Holy Spirit pointing out something new to me; this wasn’t just about money and it wasn’t just for the rich… it was more about the desires of my heart. What were my hearts desires, was it possible to get really honest with myself?
As I allowed the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to what He was showing me, I started to see things in myself I wasn’t so proud of. I’d always claimed I wasn’t motivated by money, and in a sense that was still true, but what about pride? what about the material things money could buy; such as nice clothes, nice hair & makeup, among all the other external things this world offers… that list can grow uncomfortably long.
As I reflected on what the Holy Spirit was teaching me, I remembered something I had heard somewhere before, “Godliness combined with that inner God-given sufficiency, which does not depend on material circumstances, is indeed of great gain”. I had to be honest with myself, I had somewhere, somehow fallen off the path and started depending on material circumstances rather than trusting in Gods sufficiency, and now I was experiencing great pain rather than great gain.
I’m so thankful that God is a God of now and new beginnings. I’m grateful that when we fall off the path He has planned for us, He will get our attention and help us back on. We may have accumulated a few obstacles that are now on that path as well, due to our decisions & choices, but He will still take our hand and guide us through… always making a new way forward.
Journal Entry: # 12
“But those who crave the wealth of the world slip into spiritual snares. They become trapped by the troubles that come through their foolish and harmful desires, driven by greed and drowning in their own sinful pleasures. And they take others down with them into their corruption and eventual destruction. / Loving money is the first step toward all kinds of trouble. Some people run after is so much that they have given up their faith. craving more money pushes them away from the faith into error, compounding misery in their lives! 1 Timothy 6: 9,10 TPT
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word. Your Word that was inspired by the Holy Spirit and written down by your chosen servants, so that we now in this day and age can learn your truths and not wander down the paths of our own making.
Lord, there are many in the world today that would teach that You desire ALL to have financial wealth, and if we simply believe you will provide all of our dreams to us. Lord, forgive these teachers that are twisting your words and causing false hope in these seeking you, causing them to seek You with the hope of financial gain. Forgive those, that have caused people to lose their faith when they did not receive their hearts desire.
These lies are often subtle and come from so many directions that we don’t always recognize when we have boughten into them. Forgive me Lord, for living beyond my means, for putting my mind and attention onto “things” rather than focusing on You and Your goals for our life.
Forgive us Lord, for not bringing our business decisions before you, including our purchases, testing our “needs” verses our “wants”. Forgive us Lord, for allowing our debt to grow into the giant it has become. Lord Jesus, we recognize now that we bought into the lies of the enemy, this blinded us with a worldly vision rather than an Eternal one.
We forgot that we came into this world with nothing and we will leave it with nothing. That our main purpose on this earth is to glorify You. Help us Lord, to be thankful every day for meeting our basic needs of food and clothing. Thank you that we continue to have a roof over our heads and a warm bed to sleep in at night.
Forgive me Father for desiring the riches of this world, for greed and envy of others, rarely being satisfied with all that You had provided. I can see now looking back Lord, how these thoughts and actions helped us slip down that slippery slope into the financial difficulties we now face.
I do recognize that other things added to this; the perfect storm of being self-employed…growing too quickly… and an economic melt-down were other contributors. But I can also accept responsibilities for our failures; failure to plan…and prepare for lean times… failure to be content with what we had… and the failure of focusing on this worlds pleasures rather than our eternal rewards.
I see now what Your Word tells us that money is the root of all evil, its not that money in itself is evil, but if unchecked we can slip easily into Satans domain, where he will try to take us away from You and Your plans. Forgive me Lord.
Thank you for All You have provided us with, help us to simplify our life and teach us how to reduce our giant of debt that we have accumulated. Help us Father, to learn from our mistakes so that we don’t fall into the same traps once again. Although this mountain feels insurmountable to us, lead us Lord along Your paths.
Teach us to keep our eyes fixed on You, to trust in Your plan and Your purpose. This situation we now find ourselves in is not a surprise to You Father, You saw this all along, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that You will use this for Your Glory as well… Thank you that You redeem our failures Lord. In Jesus name❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
Do you find yourself in an uncomfortable predicament, possibly even of your own making? Maybe it had nothing to do with your choices but the choices of others… yet here you are anyways deep in the mire. Take heart and grab hold of Gods hand, He has so much for you to learn and do, He has a way through this for you, if you can just trust Him with the situation and more importantly with you.
Maybe your situation has nothing to do with finances, maybe its health or some other unexpected blow that came your way. Let me assure you today, that Nothing… absolutely Nothing is too big for God. If you will allow Him, He will use you in the midst of the circumstance you find yourself in. Just be prepared, it might be in a very unexpected way. God will never allow our pain to be wasted, ask Him to use it today for His Glory and be faithful to do whatever it is He tells you… even if He’s opening it up for the world to see. We don’t need to see the outcome… we just need to be faithful with what He puts in front of us.
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
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Journey4Jesus 