The Rich and the Poor and Love.

I am guilty of this as well. I am not perfect. Nor do i use my posessions as wisely as i could. I still have clothes sitting in my closet ready to go to the Wheeler Mission drop box and i have not taken them yet. They are corroding from unuse in my closet and i need to and will get rid of them soon. Have a read. Don't be afraid to let the Spirit or your heart convict you. We are all rich in love and many of us are rich in money and don't even realize it, because we are surrounded by people who look 'richer' than ourselves. This is false. We are rich. With that, we have responsibility. To be humble and to use our money well and in a way that honors God. Everything in life ties together. Your finances affect your heart. Don't listen to the lie that how you spend your money has no relevance to how much you love and submit to God. If God doesn't have a hold of your checkbook, you're holding out on Him, and He's waiting for you to submit it all to Him (not just what you're comfortable with). Money is a man made thing, but God controls the universe, and God has power to do whatever he likes with your money (whether you 'give' it to him or not). So let's just make it easier and let our hearts heal by giving up the financial fight with God and letting Him control our accounts. He has all the abundance in the world and He knows it. But He still wants us to acknowledge in our hearts that he is in control. Have a read.

James 5

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion [a sign that the wealth was not put to good use and just sat their] will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self0indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you."

The rich don't need money. The rich need love. The rich should give their money to the poor, and the poor should share their love with the rich. The thing is, though: the poor do not have money but they also have in most cases found that they don't absolutely need it either. Love is found to be sufficient and life-sustaining.God is sustaining despite how much money we do or don't have. But we are all commanded to give to the poor.

You see, i think we've got this all wrong. Money that sits and corrodes is corrupted and it will corrupt your life. Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is. It's when we start replacing love with money that things get stick. So. Don't love your money. Love people. And God will tell you what to do with your money.

The Self Image Epidemic and Loving Your Neighbor

This thought was inspired by God through the book Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. If you ever need a book to read, i highly suggest it!

God says to love your neighbor as yourself. So the problem with having a bad self image and the reason why self image problems cause selfishness is this: if you don't love yourself, then how can you know what it is to love others? If you don't value how God made you, how can you learn to value others and teach them how to value themselves enough to love others as well? Do you love yourself in a healthy way? Then if yes. Good. Now go love others. If no: God loves you. Just because. You don't have to earn it. He loves you. Remind yourself that daily. Pray that you would love yourself as well as loving others daily. In the way that God loves you.
Satan is a liar. Your are created in the image of God. God gives faith, love, and the holy spirit without limit.

Fearless Missions

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

" ⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. ¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
¹³It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."^a]">[a]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. ¹⁵All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

These Verses gold the key to how missionaries can go the dangerous, nearly-death places to serve and tell about Jesus. They realize that their power is worthless and that God's is the mightiest. Greater than any danger. They rest assured that they will be hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, Because God is with them. They may become perplexed, but their God has all the answers and will restore their joy and peace and assurance. They may be physically and spiritually persecuted, but their God will never abandon them. Never will he leave them or forsake them. I can go anywhere and rest assured that my God will be with me. they may be struck down, but they will never be completely destroyed. Because God has already secured their life in heaven. They realize that their costly investment in the present will save them from a bankrupt eternity. Therefore if death knocks at their door (or they knock at his), they will not be afraid. Because Jesus died and rose again and will raise them up one day as well. They fight to the death for the lives of others because they know that if they themselves die physically, they'll have an eternity secured in heaven. They realize that if they do not die to themselves daily, they risk someone else's eternity with Christ. Therefor they go to crazy dangerous places, fearless, for the name of the Lord. They are the messengers. Clay bearing treasure.