God gives us richly all things to enjoy.

[justbyfaith]

Mar 10:17, And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mar 10:18, And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19, Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Mar 10:20, And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Mar 10:21, Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Mar 10:22, And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Mar 10:23, And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Mar 10:24, And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
Mar 10:25, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Mar 10:26, And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?
Mar 10:27, And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

This is not saying that having possessions will keep a man out of the kingdom of God...what it is saying is that if your possessions possess you, this will keep you out of the kingdom of heaven; because you are not trusting in the Lord for your provision but are trusting in riches: and ye cannot serve God and mammon. Those who serve mammon open their hearts up to a plethora of evils; and it should be clear that those who have been blessed financially apart from the Lord have given testimony to the fact that their lives have been empty. There is a God-shaped void in the heart of every man that only the Lord can fill. Those who try to fill this void with riches are not relying on the only source that can truly fulfill: the living water that will flow from your heart if you will only believe in Jesus Christ; which satisfies every thirst.

That being said, I want to say, in response to In Front of A Studio Audience, as it was aired tonight, that the Lord does not forbid a man to have riches if those riches do not have him. As a matter of fact, there is a prayer in Psalm 118 that tells me that the Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant; and there is also a verse in scripture that says that very thing:

Psa 118:25, Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

Psa 35:27, Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Now if you are of one camp in the church, you may be saying right now, that is prosperity doctrine and it is heresy: but I want you to recognize something. The first scripture passage in this post is often misconstrued by people outside the body of Christ to be saying that they cannot be wealthy and also be a believer going to heaven.

However, the balance of the whole of scripture would tell us that this is not the case. Also the devil would love to keep people out of the kingdom of heaven by telling them that if they are going to pursue Christ, they have to give up all their worldly possessions. Again, simply not the case:

1Ti 6:17, Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
1Ti 6:18, That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
1Ti 6:19, Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

All that the Lord truly requires of the wealthy is that they might have a genuine concern for the poor; also there is a principle in scripture that love is unselfish by nature and that if anyone wants to be worthy of Jesus, let them deny themselves, and take up their crosses daily, and follow Him. This is the daily attitude of those who have been filled with the love of Christ.

 

[justbyfaith]

The reality is, The love of money is the root of all evil...not money.

The devil throws out that misquote because he is aiming at a cashless society so that he can control the world with the mark number and name of the beast...you will see this if you read and understand the book of Revelation.

I know that I am probably going to be pegged as a WOF teacher by these posts...but I feel that I have been instigated by the television program in question to speak about the truth of these matters for the sake of those souls that hang in the balance...and also to slow the momentum of the antichrist agenda in this world.

I may even be pegged as some sort of lunatic in that I am speaking of these matters that are most often ranted and raved about by people who are considered to be lunatics...and of course my background contains evidence that I may even be a lunatic who is ranting and raving about these issues. But I assure you that I am not; and that much of what I am speaking of is from the Bible.

This program tonight is very much an attack on the Bible and they sought to discredit the Bible by initially quoting the first passage in this thread in order to discourage people from reading it and pursuing everlasting life through it.

I have news for them:

Jde 1:11, Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jde 1:12, These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jde 1:13, Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Jde 1:14, And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jde 1:15, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

 

[justbyfaith]

It makes me wonder if the prosperity teaching might have originally developed as a result of the episodes of All in the Family and the Jeffersons that were portrayed tonight.

 

[justbyfaith]

I think that the devil and those who humanly serve him created the Archie Bunker character in order to paint with a broad brush all those who believe like him; portraying us all as characters like him, who mistreat their wives and who are angry at every little thing.

I have to admit that my own heart is grieved by some of what I saw in tonight's show, and that therefore I might even fit into the portrayal in that.

I think that if anyone saw tonight's show and their heart was not grieved, then their heart is not right with the Lord, in that they are not grieved by what grieves Him; they do not love what He loves and hate what He hates.

I am not talking about prejudicial issues concerning black and white (for that is one thing that they got right, except in that they did not disparage prejudice on both sides of the fence); but of righteousness issues concerning sexual orientation (effeminacy); of biblical issues concerning the role of women (see Isaiah 3:12), and of issues concerning whether the Bible is to be trusted by the majority of people.

 

[marks]

Hi JBF,

I didn't see the show. I don't see any shows, since we stopped broadcast media some years ago, my wife and I. I only mention it to say what a good thing it has been.

Just the same . . . To the pure, all things are pure. If money is a temptation to do evil, let that be a message to me to choose good, and past the test. And coming to a pure heart towards God and money, whether I have much or little is of no consequence, only that I understand what He wants me to do. And even then, I think He mostly guides through circumstance, at least with me. I just follow the bouncing ball.

I look at the difference between trusting in the provision and trusting in the Provider.

It's easy to want to look at the provision and try to measure whether it will be enough. If we look to God, and assume He will provide everything, then it doesn't matter what our estimate is.

The reality is, The love of money is the root of all evil...not money.

I think the question is, where do we give our love? To money? Or where we should?

I wonder, why do people feel the need to "declare", "I declare freedom from cancer", "I declare this debt repaid", you know what some do, right? Why do you think that is?

Much love!

 

[101G]

Addressing the OP only, Good topic. you hit it on the head in you title. we're to enjoy what God gives us, but we must alway never forget our brothers and sisters. hence the root of all Good, the LOVE for, not of, but the LOVE "for" money is the root, (with the right heart), to help someone else.
Ecclesiastes 10:19 "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all [things]. many need to read that again.

it's what we do with our blessing in money. that's the whole reason for the parble of covetousness, as in "the parable of the rich man who set up greater barns". and the parable of "the rich man and Lazarus the beggar".

covetousness is the root or the LOVE of Money. a heart condition. let it be known, there are some who have their heart in the right place and the world never knows, but God do.

with riches comes common sense. hence the wise. not all are poor, but many are. that's why farmers was to leave some produce on the edge of the farms to be gleam by the poor. for the poor we have with us always.

so with riches comes responsibility, and wisdom to handle the blessing God has given us in a rightious way.

and riches is not always in money. but as Ecclesiastes 10:19b states, "but money answereth all [things]".

PICJAG.