I Hate Money

I Hate Money 

I hate money. I hate what is does to people. I hate what it turns people into. I hate how people will kill over money. I hate how money turn people against each other... friends, family, business partners, and more. 

I hate how money stresses me out. You know the feeling... the rent is due and I do not have the money right now to pay it. Or the car is getting old and starting to break down and we do not have the money to fix it. I could go on and on how I get all stressed out about the bills that need to be paid and how we do not have the money.

But on the flip side I Love money. I like having the new car, the big screen TV, the designer jeans... it just make me feel good.... for a moment... then the visa bill comes and I hate money again. UGH!

When am I going to learn that all I really need is JESUS. I mean I like all those cool toys, but I have to work my butt off to pay for them, but if I refocused my thinking I would want less "stuff", more Jesus, and have more time to spend with Him, family, and things that REALLY matter in His  Kingdom, then trust that He will provide for my needs.

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Jesus tells us this in His Word not to store up treasures here on earth but in Heaven: 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

Ouch, that one hurt.

He also tells us that we cannot.... notice how He uses the word CANNOT? Not maybe, or if you try hard enough.... serve money and God:

"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Matthew 6:24

Am I trying to serving money and not God?

Jesus finally tells us that if we redirect our thinking He WILL take care of us!

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26

So do any of you feel like I do? Frustrated? Trapped? Want to break these bonds and live a life on the edge for Jesus, having faith that can move a mountain?

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Would You Be Happy With 25 Tons of Gold?

Jesus Christ is the only one that can satisfy us and fill us up until we are overflowing.

Insight Into Scripture - 1 Kings 9-11

Yesterday we left off with King Solomon dedicating the Temple to God. In today's chapter God comes to King Solomon, tells him of the blessing that will come to him for keeping HIS commandment, and the curse for not keeping them. We are then told of King Solomon's amazing wealth, then sadly we are left off with King Solomon's disobedience and death to have his son; Rehoboam to succeed him as king.

King Solomon had 700 wives (11:3) the fact that he had so many wives was not looked down upon. Marriage was a tool of diplomacy throughout the ancient Near East. The fact that these women turned him away from The LORD is looked down upon.

Aqaba

This is a picture of modern day Aqaba. In biblical times, there were two cities in this area: Elath and Ezion Geber. King Solomon establishes a port in this area. (9:26-28) King Solomon had his ships sail to Ophir and return back with Gold. The picture was taken from Bibleplaces.com.

Scripture Reading

Solomon Turns from the LORD Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

The LORD Raises Adversaries

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. - I Kings 11:1-11 ESV

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Think n Grow

God had given Solomon amazing wealth during his reign. If you read today's chapters it points out some of King Solomon's possessions. In verse 10:14 it tells how Solomon received 666 Talents of Gold yearly. That equates to 25 TONS of gold a year! Silver was used so much it had no value (10:21) he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses (10:26) The Bible tells us that King Solomon was greater in riches than all the other kings on earth. (10:23) He had women at his call, 700 wives and 300 concubines (11:3) Yes, King Solomon had it ALL!!

Here is the sad part, with all his riches, women, and fame that the LORD had given him, Solomon still wanted more. Even with ALL his wisdom, he disobeyed God and had his kingdom torn away from him. (11:11)

There is a Self Storage Association that monitors self storage units in the US. The self storage business is a 22.6 billion dollar business. As a country we own 1.9 billion sq. feet of storage space outside of our homes. There are 51,223 storage facilities in the US. 1 out of every 10 homes rents a storage unit. Now here is the interesting part, the average sq. footage of a home in 1973 was 1,400 sq. ft., in the year 2004 it was 2,400 sq. ft. So even with the increase in the size of our homes, we still can't fit all of our stuff into our homes.

We need to take a lesson from King Solomon, even if GOD gave you all the riches of Solomon, they would leave you wanting more and feeling empty. Jesus Christ is the only one that can satisfy us and fill us up until we are overflowing.

Closing Prayer

Dear Jesus

Father please fill me up today. Let me feel Your overflowing love fill the depths of my emptiness. Father I pray then that I will use that overflowing of peace, joy and happiness and love others around me and be happy with all the blessings You have given me. Father I pray that I can do a little house cleaning this week and clear out all of the junk I have stored, in my garage and in my heart.

I love You and I pray,

Amen.

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Life Lessons From Moses

Insight into Scripture - Deut. 32-34

When they speak of honey in the Bible, most of the time they are referring to syrup from the date palm.The main source of oil in the Bible comes from Olive tress, they were grown in rocky soil and they require minimal amounts of water.

Today we finish up with the book of Deuteronomy and say goodbye to an amazing servant of the Lord; Moses. If we were to reflect back on Deuteronomy there are two key themes that God has given us.We were shown time and time again, God's unconditional love for us.God keeps His promises, even though we are disobedient and sin against Him, He remains faithful.

Scripture Reading

10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. - Deuteronomy 34:10-12

Thought for the Day

As I am reading the Bible, I tend to place all the Biblical characters on a pedestal. What they did and accomplished is amazing. But when I read more about them, I see that they were just as human as you and I. So if God can use these Biblical characters, He surely can use me too. Today, I was going to take a look at some life lessons from Moses.

In life God has amazing things planned for our lives. It is rightfully ours. Some of those blessings we will never receive. It is not God that changed His mind, we altered our destinies. God had planned for Moses to enter the promised land, God did not change His mind about Moses entering into the land of milk and honey, Moses did. Moses disobeyed God in Meribath Kadesh in striking the rock for waters. (Numbers 20:1ff)

God wants us to wait upon Him. He wants us to need Him, He wants to be our provider. Do not be quick to act, step back, wait upon the Lord for the right decision. When Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he looked to the left and then to the right, then he acted and killed the Egyptian. Moses made one mistake, he did not look up and see how God wanted him to handle the situation. Where did this land Moses? In a 40 year desert. (Exodus 2:11ff)

God uses the weak and frail. Have you ever thought, how could God use a person like me? I am not good with people, or maybe you might say "I am too shy and do not like speaking in front of others", or maybe you might say to yourself "I do not know the Bible that well." You are just what God is looking for. No matter your weakness or strengths, God loves people that can be molded and shaped. Just look at Moses when we first met him. Moses spent almost 2 chapters making excuses to God, Moses even finally said "Please send someone else to do it." After all those excuses did you ever think Moses would accomplish what God intended him to do? (Exodus 3, 4) God will use your weakness for strength, never close your heart towards God's plans. If you want to have the most amazing adventure in your life; keep your heart open to whatever God asks.

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Is Jesus a Priority In Your Life?

Insight Into the Scriptures Leviticus 7-8

When making sacrifices, the fat part they are speaking about in the Bible is the layer of fat around the internal organs, it could be easily peeled off and is inedible.The ephod was the most important of Aaron's priestly garments. It was either a linen robe covering the upper body or a frontal piece attached to the shoulders and sashed to the waist.

Aaron and his sons could not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meetings for seven days. This was to protect them from any uncleanness that they might encounter by leaving.

Think & Grow

Today, I thought that I would share with you something that just recently happened to me. My wife runs a little business and God was blessing her work. She was becoming busier and busier. As this was happening, guess what she started to do? Her "Jesus time" started to become less and less, She kept putting priority on her work (Which He actually was blessing) and spending less and less time with Jesus. Finally, after a couple of weeks she was feeling very disconnected with Christ, and I was wondering why?

Right away, she made time for Jesus whether she felt that she had it or not. There were some days that she did not think everything was going to get done, but it did. And, actually our little business continued to be blessed by God. One interesting point was that as soon as she started to make time for Him again, her feeling of being close to Him did not improve right away, it took maybe a week or so.

Jesus has to take priority in your life. It is not easy to do with "Life" coming at you every day and sometimes every hour. It is something that you are going to have to work on. If you start your day and tell yourself that I will spend time with Jesus later on in the day, chances are it will never happen, plus you have the enemy that will throw anything in your path to distract you. Make an appointment for Jesus, just as you would any other person, and stick to it. If you are on a wonderful routine, fight hard to never let anything come in between that time, Jesus will honor your commitment!

Closing Prayer

My Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the awesome time I have everyday to spend with. To breath in every breath and think of You, is so wonderful and forfilling. I pray Father that I can keep my appointment with You everyday. Help me to stop and remember how good it feels to spend that one on one time with You. Father I ray for all of those who are lost and seeking. I pray I hear the right words from You and know the moments that You are giving me. I love You!!

In Your Name I pray,

Amen

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