Real Wealth Investments

One major upheaval in America today is the poor condition of the stock market. So many people places all of their faith in money. When the money ran out, they lost their hope. I'm not saying that having money or physical wealth is bad, I'm saying our attitude about that wealth can be. Over and over again, the bible teaches us not to put our faith in anything but God himself and His things. We see Jesus trying to teach this very thing in the following verses.

Matthew 19:16-22 (NIV)
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?""Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.""Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied,"Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,'and 'love your neighbor as yourself." "All these I have kept,"the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

I've always thought this passage only had to do with this guy's greed for physical money, but as I was meditating on it this evening, it occurred to me that Jesus might have been trying to teach a much bigger lesson. I think He was trying to re-shape the man's thinking and realization on what true wealth was and how to properly invest it.

By Jesus telling the man to get rid of all He had, He was telling him to take his eyes off of worldly things and to focus on Godly things. He told him to get rid of the worldly wealth (possessions) and the hollow way of investing (appreciating assets, stocks, bonds, etc) and to transform it to Godly wealth (giving), investing it in a Godly way (giving to those in need).

What does this mean to us? Well, we could be just like this guy and not even realize it. We could be "good Christians", going to church, being an active part of one or more of the ministries, tithing, praying, and even studying the bible. But just like this man, if we don't have a heart for investing wealth in a godly way, we could be just as empty as he was. Just because we can show up and unlock the church doors every week doesn't mean we have provided shelter for someone in need. Just because we can quote several verses of scripture, doesn't mean we've fed a person that desperately needs it. Just because we pay our tithes, doesn't mean we are clothing real people.

Where are you investing your wealth? 401K or For the One King?

Prayer Life Conservation

When we notice a species of animal in danger of going extinct, we pass laws, we make boundaries and we place them in protected areas so that they will have time to live, grow and multiply. We take active steps to save them.

Because dark spiritual forces are always on the hunt, our personal prayer time can be in danger of extinction too. The personal prayer life of a Christian is the most important ingredient in our relationship with God, along with personal bible study and involvement in a church community.

It's vital that we put up signs of our own, make real boundaries and actively work to make sure our personal prayer time stays alive. We won't just find them time to pray, we have to make it happen. We have to carve time out of our schedules.

Our prayer life is vitally important. Do you have your own personal pray-life conservatory? If not, make a commitment of time that you will pray each day. Make it known to your family and be diligent about making it happen daily. So many other things will pop up to stop you from praying, that's because the hunter is working very hard to make sure you don't.

Build your prayer-life conservatory today, your prayer life is counting on it.

Jail Cell

John 8:34-36 (NIV)
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Upon taking a quick glance at Christianity, you hear some of the rules and some the ways Jesus asks us to live and you can almost picture Jesus standing at the door of a jail cell wanting you to go in and be locked up. “Thou shall” and “Thou shall not” can seem like a death sentence to any fun you may ever possibly want to have. But that is simply not the truth. As a matter of fact, it’s radically not the truth. Living the life of a Christian is more freeing than you could ever imagine.

It’s easy to just look at the Christian faith as a bunch of rules meant to suck all the fun out of our lives. As a matter of fact, some Christians treat Christianity this way too. This is not what God wants. Yes, there is a moral code God has given us and expects us to live by, but these aren’t just rules that God made up because He’s mean and wants to take all the fun out of life. God loves us. As a matter of fact I want you to personalize this: God loves you. Say that out loud “God loves me”. He does love you deeply. He wants the best for you, not only in the afterlife, but in this life as well.

The things God tells us to do and the way He wants us to live is for a reason. That reason is that God wants the best for us and He can’t give us the best when we aren’t around. We have an enemy who is actively trying to hurt us at every turn. Satan will take any weakness you have and use it to his advantage. Through God’s word, prayer and His people, Jesus will free us from every weakness we have if we will allow Him in.

I used to think of Jesus just being a jailer, trying to make me do His bidding. But when I started walking closer and closer to Him and that jail cell door, I started to understand that He really does have my best interests at heart. He has your best interest at heart in everything He says and does. When you finally close your eyes and take that last step through that jail cell door to stand beside Him, He smiles greatly and says “welcome to freedom, my friend”. Then as you look back you will realize that Jesus wasn’t trying to lead you in to a jail cell, He was trying to get you to come out of one. Walking beside Jesus is not a jail term; it’s a death row pardon. Keep walking with Jesus, the view just keeps getting better and better the further away from the prison you get.

Blogs

I have had a lot of people asking to start writing blogs...so...here you go. I hope you enjoy. It's my prayer that you will be blessed by reading them.

PAST OR PASSION?

Philippians 3:13-15 (NIV)

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Have you ever wanted to make a difference in someone else’s life or wanted to straighten up something in your own life but then thought to yourself “I just can’t do it, I always mess it up.” Or “I’ve been this way for a long time, I can’t change now.” You are not alone. The good news about this is that it’s not true. These thoughts are an attack from the evil one himself. The truth is that you can change, as a matter of fact the bible promises that change to us.

Being a person that has a rather “questionable” past, I am prone to thinking that I can never shake it or really make a difference. I can go to church, or read the bible, or read an inspiring book, or see a “Hallmark” commercial (just kidding about the commercial) and get inspired to make a positive change. When I get inspired like that, I think to myself “I want to do that, I want to make a difference.” Then all of a sudden, the next thought that comes rushing in to my head is the memory of my past failures. Since I’ve been a Christian for a while my past holds both successes and failures, but usually the failures are more predominant. Why is that? Because Satan knows that if he reminds me of them, I may listen to him and not make the change I want to make.

Every time I get into a predicament like this I have a choice. I can choose to let my past failures hold me down or I can let the passion for change spur me on to reach the goal. Since God is the one who gave me the passion for the change in the first place what do you think He wants me to do? The events that follow are determined by the choice I make. If I choose to let my past hold me down then I have one more failure to add to my long list. If I choose to follow my passion, no matter what Satan tells me, God blesses me. If God asked me to do something and I do it, He WILL bless me. He will do the same for you too.

God wants to bless us, Jesus said that He came so that we could have life and have it to the full. Do you think God wants us laying around worried about our past? Does that sound like “living life to the full” to you? It doesn’t to me either. God is calling us to change and grow in Him each and every day. He wants us to make the decision to move in Him. He gives us a passion to change for Him. What did you do with the passion God gave you today? What are you going to do with the passion He gives you tomorrow? Will you choose to let your past hold you down or your passion to spur you on? I know what God is rooting for. No matter what Satan tells you, God is rooting for you to press on. If you are in Him, you will be blessed.