Devotionals 6-10

Who's in Control Priorities "Absolute Honesty" "Success God's Way" "Faithful in the Least"

Who's in Control?    II Kings 5:1-19
    Man since the time of Eden has been trying to go his own way and do his own thing with out God's authority. Most people want to control their own destiny. We do not to give up calling the shots.
    Naaman, a military captain, one by whom the Lord had given victory over Israel, one who was intensely impressed with himself, a very rich man, but he was also a leper. Leprosy is a disease of the flesh. It will eat away the flesh.
    Leprocy in the USA is virtually not existent today, but there is a form of Leprocy in the heart of many Christians that is eating away their fervency of spirit for the Lord. Christians in the USA have had such an abundance of materialism that it has lead to apathy in the heart, apostasy in our worship and anarchy in our country. This form of leprocy is far greater than the leprocy of the flesh. The greed and materialism in the heart of the average Christian is the greatest stumbling block to the unbelieving world. We are fast approaching in the USA a time when all most people care about is their own personal peace and prosperity. We do not want to go God's way, nor do we want to be under His authority. Most believers are willing to go God's way as long as God is going their way. It is also very easy to choose your own way and try to convince yourself its God's way.
    Naaman wanted to go his own way to healing and not the way that the prophet had instructed him. He even attempted to do with his wealth that which only God can do in the heart of man. When Elisha had instructed Naaham to go and wash in the muddy Jordan River and be clean, he became angry. "Are not the rivers Abana and Pharpar in Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?" The only answer to today's world problems is God's way. When your heart is opened to absolute submission to God then you will begin to solve your problems. Then will we begin to have healing. Naaman finally submits to the word of the man of God. He first must strip himself of what he is by taking off his uniform. There are no more brag buttons to show off, just corrupt flesh. All our accomplishments and all out authority apart from God is bankrupt compared to hearing God say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." Naaham goes down unwillingly seven times into a dirty river. At the seventh time he realizes he has encountered a power that is greater than he is. He comes up out of the river shouting, " there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. If Christians would wash themselves of the worlds methods and the worlds materialism we would be cleansed of the Leprocy of the heart. Many others would see Jesus in us and cry, "there is no other God in all the earth, ...but the Lord he is God."
    Which way are you going. Who is in control in your life, you or God?

Priorities Mt.6:33

When we establish God and His Kingdom as the number one priority in our life, then the Lord becomes our security and strength in this life. The majority of our problems in this life can be traced to priorities that are out of order. In the book of Genesis, we can see in the Garden of Eden, when Eve put the material over the spiritual. Many people have chosen the material over the spiritual and have found that the material always leave empty and void within their soul. Nothing should take preeminence over your relationship with God. There is nothing more painful that to realize that you have lived your life for something so fleeting as the vanity of pleasures. Eve also considered the word of the serpent over the Word of God. Too often we allow ourselves to be discouraged by inconsiderate remarks of an acquaintance, friend, or co-worker. When you get your priorities out of balance you will find it easy to listen to your feeling instead of focusing your faith on God. Not to be out done by his wife, Adam put his relationship with his wife over his relationship with God. To often we put our relationship with our friends as priority one and live as if God did not exist
We will tell the preacher that we are sorry for not coming on Sunday night but, "My relatives came in unexpectedly, so I could not come." Why not bring your relatives to church with you? No other person should take priority over your relationship with Christ. We must not allow money and possession to become the number one priority in our life. How we manage our money and possessions is a direct revelation of what we deem to be most significant and meaningful in our lives. When you have exhausted that last dream, that last desire, you will have meaninglessness without God as your number one priority. Even the best of pleasures that man can conceive of will eventually have a shelf life. Any pleasure that you may indulge in must not distract you or destroy you final goal in life of bringing glory to God.. Any pleasure that destroys another's well-being is an ill-legitimate pleasure. When David pursued Basheba as his number one priority, he was seeking an ill-legitimate pleasure that lead to the destruction of Uriah, her husband. When ever our priorities get out of balance we will not only hurt ourselves, but others as well. We must put God and His Kingdom as number one (Mt.6:33) , because of Mt. 6:24, "No man can serve two masters..." Solomon found that putting the Kingdom of God first was the right way in life (2Chron. 1:7-12). Because he asked God for wisdom and made God's kingdom his first priority in life, the Lord gave him riches, wealth, and honor. When the widow woman in I Kings 17:8-16 , followed God's instructions, an abundance of food was added unto her. The multitudes came to hear Jesus teach in the wilderness. When they didn't have enough to feed the 5,000, a lad put forth he small amount and God sent him home with 12 baskets ful. Are your baskets full of God's blessings or maybe your priorities are not focused on God. Jesus calls upon us to establish God and His Kingdom as the head of all our Priorities.

"Absolute Honesty" Judges 17:6

All of us have to make decisions every day whether or not we will be honest. This decision becomes even more difficult as everyone around us seems to be dishonest, especially in areas involving money. Employee theft in the work world today is fast approaching $1 billion a week. Corporate scandals and political scandals are in the news almost nightly. In Scripture we find that God demands absolute honesty. Prov. 12:22 "Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight." Lev.19"11 "Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another." What we are really saying when violate this command is: "God is incapable of discovering my honest, and if He does He will not punish me anyways. I can get away with it." If you really believed that God would judge your dishonest behavior you would be fearful of speaking only half truths. Honesty is really and issue of faith. Do I really believe God sees this and I will be judged for this. A person who is weak in the faith will tend to deny the existence of God and act as if he has to take matters in his own hands. God will not supply the money so I have to be dishonest on my income tax to get the extra tax refund. Those who practice dishonest and trust in themselves hate God, Prov. 14:2 "He that walketh in his uprightness fearth the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him." A person may to pacify his dishonesty with comments like, " Its only the government." "I deserve it anyways" "My employer would have said yes if I asked him anyways" "No one will ever know." "They owed it to me anyways." "I'm not hurting anyone, that why insurance companies are set for anyways." Whatever you reasoning it is still nothing more the skin of a reason stuffed with a fat lie that you are telling yourself. Even the smallest "little white lie" can have everlasting consequences. Not giving all the information (because they didn't ask) on a credit application in order to get a loan could lead to bankruptcy and loss of your testimony. A single "little white lie" often leads to other acts of dishonesty to cover the first lie. Luke 16:10 "He 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." Abraham said unto the king of Sodom, "I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine...." He said this because he did not want to be associated with anything that was dishonest although he could have profited materially. Make a covenant with God today that you will not steal a stamp, or a phone call, or anything else from your employer or anyone else.
God's people must be honest in even the smallest inconsequential matters if they desire God to bless them with true riches.

"Success God's Way" Luke 10:25-37

One of the greatest deceptions today is that we need more money.. To say that we need more is to find fault with the sovereignty of God. What we really need is not more money, but greater character and discipline. In 1918 David Mc Conaughy wrote a book, Money, the Acid Test. He said, "Money involves uncommon and eternal consequences. Even though it may be done quite unconsciously, money molds people. Depending upon how it is handled, it proves a blessing or a curse to its possessor; either the person becomes the master of the money, or the money becomes master of the person." Money is an exact index of ones character. Where you spend the money God gives you reveals where your heart is and what you deem most important in life. Money is amoral, but someone who sees the pattern of your spending can fairly well discern the moral direction of your life. Money is not a measure of your success!!!! Your success is not a measure of what you have, but rather it is a measure of what you are. The way to measure a man's true success is to strip him of everything he has and observe what he is in character after he loses everything he has. Worldly wealth has nothing to do with success, but becoming the person God wants you to be and achieving the goals He sets for your life have everything to do with success. Most of our financial problems are not an issue of how much we have, but rather of how we have let worldly success and money squeeze our character. People who are driven by money and materialism are especially vulnerable to the vices of money and worldly success. Guard against the perils of deceitful riches; i.e. a false sense of security (Prov.18:11), a false sense of superiority (Prov.28:11), a false sense of success (Dt. 8:17-18). If you are enthralled with wealth and success at amassing it, its easy to feel self-sufficient, smug, and superior to those who have less than you do. Guard against the perils of uncertain riches; i.e being taken by get-rich quick schemes (Prov.28:22), being taken by a love for wine and luxury, (Prov.21:17), and being taken by strange women (Prov. 5:8-10). Guard against building your life around financial goals rather than Godly goals. Do not allow worldly success to cause you to build your life on a fleeting, unstable foundation. Guard against allowing money and worldly success to cause you to drift away from God. I Tim. 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: while some coveted after, they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." The person who loves money will trust in it rather than God. His satisfaction is his bulging bank accounts. He is willing to sin to acquire more or to keep as much as he may have. He will lie on his tax return or steal from his employer just acquire vain possessions. If you can't be trusted to be a good steward of God's money, how can you expect the Lord to trust your character.. What does your use of money say about your Character?
You are not successful because you have a lot of money to spend on yourself. Godly character is the measure of your success.

"Faithful in the Least" Luke 16:10-13

There is a direct correlation between the blessings of God and the handling of our stewardship. God never gives us the much to test us. He gives us the least. The barometer that God uses is the 'least', not the much. The way we conserve our stewardship will get God's attention. If we have been faithful with the least he will bless us with the much. God makes it very plain that the man who can not control the least certainly can not be trusted with the much. In the parable of the talents (Mt.25:14-30), out Lord gave a steward only one talent. Some may cry that it is not fair, but we are all accountable for only that which we have received. It may be that he only received one talent because the Master had some business dealing with him before and knew he could not be trusted with the much. He says, "I knew thee... Mt.25:24." "Small things are small things," Hudson Taylor, the missionary statesman, said, "but faithfulness with a small thing is a big thing." We are charged in scripture to be faithful in handling 100 percent, not just 10 percent. Unfortunately, too many have not even concentrated on the 10 percent and have allowed the world's philosophy to control the remaining other 90% as well. Because we have not been faithful with all of our resources many Christians have wrong attitudes about possessions and have made wrong financial decisions that have lead to painful consequences. "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6" We must be faithful regardless of how much we have. We may not all have equal talents, but we do have equal responsibility for what our Lord has given us. When the master returned, he held each slave accountable for managing his possessions faithfully. The master commended the faithful steward and put him in charge of many things because he was faithful with the few things. Someone once said, "Its not what I would do if one million dollars were my lot; its what am I doing with the ten dollars I've got." How faithful you are with another's possessions, will in some measure, determine the amount with which you are entrusted. Are you faithful with another's possessions? Are you faithful with the possessions that God have entrusted you. Are you faith to tithe? Are you living within the means that God have given you and staying out of debt? Are you faithful with your employers office supplies? Are you punctual with the time God have give you. When you use something that belongs to another are you faithful to return it in good shape? Because too many Christians not be faithful in the least they have not been able to give more.
When we invest the 'more' God will trust us with 'much,' all of which starts with the 'least.' Can God trust you with the 'LEAST?' A faithful steward will be a content steward.
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