Foreword:

Ever wonder what God might have to say to YOU today? Here are things to ponder, and things to receive into your heart. If you have a question, put it in the comments. I respond as much as I can.

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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

How much is enough?

A man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.
A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. — Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble along with it. — Godliness with contentment is great gain. Having food and clothing, let us be content with those.
Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny you, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. — Give us this day our daily bread.
Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? — When I sent you without a purse, money, and shoes, did you lack anything? And they said, Nothing. — Let your lifestyle be without covetousness: and be content with such things as you have: for He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

One of my friends said to me, "Wherever you go, the Lord has gone there first." That is especially true about money.  Sometimes it's tough to get enough money together just to live, even if you're working hard--but God has promised, "I'll care for you." "I have been young, and now am old, but I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or his children begging bread," say the Psalms. It's true, sometimes people DO fall into great difficulty, and have little--but God is the One who multiplies the little into "enough." He is the one who supplies work when there is no money, a new direction when a job disappears, a new career when the old one fails, a new life when everything comes crashing down.  God does not just love us "in the abstract." He loves us with everlasting love, in our lives today.  It is He who gives us "fruitful seasons," who feeds the young lions their food,who provides us with work so that we may live, who showers us with good things.  James said, "Every good and perfect gift comes from [God], with whom there is no variation..." the point is that God always loves us, always cares for us, never leaves us, and always holds us in His hands and His heart. He cannot forget us, cannot leave us, cannot deny us...we are, as Scripture says, "graven on the palms of His hands."  
Don't be afraid of the future.  He's already there.  To Him it's the present, and he's waiting for you there.

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