Posts Tagged ‘trust in the lord with all your heart’


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops

How important is God to you? Can you improve your finances? This proverb answers both questions! You can honor Him with your mouth, but talk is cheap. You should put your money where your mouth is to show true honor. Solomon promised, “So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Pr 3:10).

Success requires giving some of your assets, and the first part of any increase, to God. Giving Him leftovers, whether large or small, is not honor, and it does not fulfill the proverb. Solomon gave a financial secret – firstfruits giving to honor God. Giving money away is how to get ahead (Pr 11:24). Are you poor? You cannot afford not to give!

Firstfruits giving pays God off the top. Fruit is return on investment or labor. First is paying God before anyone else, including you. Many violate this rule by giving a few bits of all they make. This is not honor. Others violate it by giving from what is left after expenses. This is not honor. This is not firstfruits. Many give a percentage of take home pay, though they always quote their salary in terms of gross pay. This is not firstfruits.

The tithe is not taught directly in the New Testament. It was taught in the Law of Moses.  The Israelites gave 23 1/3 % with two annual tithes and a triennial tithe (Num 18:20-32; Deut 14:22-29). Plus they gave special vows and freewill offerings (Deut 12:6). How did Abraham and Jacob know about tithing before the Law of Moses (Gen 14:20; 28:22)? Because it is a general rule of godly giving, which New Testament saints should use as a guide or  minimum for the far greater blessings they enjoy (Luke 12:48; Heb 8:6).

God dares His people to test how much He can bless them (Mal 3:8-12). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were financially blessed, because they knew how to give (Gen 14:20; 28:22). God made David rich (I Chron 29:18), but David loved to give (I Chron 21:24; 22:1-16). If you give liberally, the Lord promises to reward you liberally (Pr 11:25; Luke 6:38).

A Christian businessman, R.G. LeTourneau, grasped the concept of honoring God and giving – he gave 90% and kept 10% for himself, no matter his financial situation! He became one of America’s great industrialists. “The question” he said, “is not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how much of God’s money I keep for myself.”

How you give counts more with the blessed God than how much you give. The Lord loves a cheerful giver (II Cor 8:12; 9:7). Giving should be your favorite financial activity. The Lord Jesus Christ took note of a widow woman giving just two mites (Luke 21:1-4). If you combine cheerful giving with liberal giving, God will bless you greatly.

 

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 6:1-5 My son, if you have put security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, If you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

 These verses are not a plea against generosity, but against overextending one’s financial resources and acting in irresponsible ways that could lead to poverty. It is important to maintain a balance between generosity and good stewardship. God wants us to help our friends and the needy, but he does not promise to cover the costs of every unwise commitment we make. We should also act responsibly so that our families do not suffer.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 3:5-6   Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  

Leaning has the sense of putting your whole weight on something, resting on and trusting in that person or thing.  When we have an important decision to make, we sometimes feel that we can’t trust anyone-not even God.  But God knows what is best for us.  He is a better judge of what we want than even we! We must trust him completely in every choice we make.  We should not omit careful thinking or belittle our God-given ability to reason; but we should not trust our own ideas to the exclusion of all others.  We must not be wise in our own eyes.  We should always be willing to listen to and be corrected by God’s Word and wise counselors.  Bring your decisions to God in prayer, use the Bible as your guide; and then follow God’s leading.  He will make your paths straight by both guiding and protecting you.


Under Gods Command

Romans 4:4-5 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.  However, to the man who does not work but trust God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.      

This verse means that it a person could earn right standing with God by being good, the granting of that gift wouldn’t be a free act; it would be an obligation.  Our self-reliance is futile; all we can do is cast ourselves on God’s mercy and grace.

When some people learn that they are saved by God through faith, they start to worry.  “Do I have enough faith?”  These people miss the point.  It is Jesus Christ who saves us, not our feelings or actions, and he is strong enough to save us no matter how weak our faith is.  Jesus offers us salvation as a gift because he loves us, not because we have earned it through our powerful faith.  What, then, is the role of faith?  Faith is believing and trusting in Jesus Christ, and reaching out to accept his wonderful gift of salvation.

 Lets Bring It Home: Where is our faith?  Who do we start trusting first when we are squeezed by the world?  Do we trust in God from the beginning, or do we lean towards are own understanding fist, and when that don’t work, we turn to God.  Well, God has an answer for that to.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

The more a person fears and respects God, the more he or she will hate evil. Love for God and love for sin cannot coexist. Harboring secrets sins means that you are tolerating evil within yourself. Make a clean break with sin and commit yourself completely to God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (6) in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.


Under Gods Command:  

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

The more a person fears and respects God, the more he or she will hate evil. Love for God and love for sin cannot coexist. Harboring secrets sins means that you are tolerating evil within yourself. Make a clean break with sin and commit yourself completely to God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (6) in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.


Under Gods Command

John 16:07-11 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer, and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Three important tasks of the Holy Spirit are:

(1) Convicting the world of its sin and calling it to repentance,
(2) Revealing the standard of God’s righteousness to anyone who believes, because Christ would no longer be physically present on earth, and
(3) Demonstrating Chris’s judgment over Satan.

According to Jesus, not believing in him is sin. Christ’s death on the cross made a personal relationship with God available to us. When we confess our sin, God declares us righteous and delivers us from judgment for our sins.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.


Under Gods Command

John 16:07 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Unless Jesus did what he came to do, there would be no gospel. If he did not die, he could not remove our sins; he could not rise again and defeat death. If he did not go back to the Father, the Holy Spirit would not come. Christ’s presence on earth was limited to one place at a time. His leaving meant he could be present to the whole world through the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.


Under Gods Command

John 16: 1-5 “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this; so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of your asks me, Where are you going?

Jesus warned them about further persecution. Saul (who later became Paul), under the authority of the high priest, went through the land hunting down and persecuting Christians, convinced that he was doing the right thing (Acts 9:1,2; 26:9-11). Although the disciples had asked Jesus about his death (13:36; 14:5), they had never wondered about its meaning. They were mostly concerned about themselves. If Jesus went away, what would become of them?

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.


Under Gods Command

John 15:26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Once again Jesus offers hope. The Holy Spirit gives strength to endure the unreasonable hatred and evil in our world and the hostility many have toward Chrsit. This is especially comforting for those facing persecution.

Jesus uses two names for the Holy Spirit-Counselor and Spirit of truth. The word Counselor conveys the helping, encouraging, and strengthening work of the Spirit. Spirit of truth points to the teaching, illuminating, and reminding work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit ministers to both the head and the heart, and both dimensions are important.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.