Wealth must not be number one in your life and if you are wealthy you must not show off but be humble and stay in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and realize that without Him you are nothing in respect of wealth
Faith in God can affect material wealth, but on the negative end, faith in material wealth will affect faith in God. There's nothing wrong with being wealthy, so long as one's motives are correct and faith is toward God in word and deed.
Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9 LEST I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or LEST I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
May i suggest sermonaudio.com, over 240 sermons on Luke 16,and at least 10 of those dealing with the section that covers verse 9.
Get to it man
One of the purposes of having wealth is to use it to win souls. Jesus teaches in Luke 16:9 "I tell you, use worldy wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings". An interesting verse, and one I am yet to hear preached.
Poor old Nicole probably wishes she had not made a comment now,but she meant well . The Lord knows her heart,and ours too.
God bless you and strengthen you in your faith and may God grant you all comfort and hope! Jesus said, where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Another verse states that if our riches increase we are not to set our hearts upon them. Jesus also said that to whom more was given, the same was given more responsibility. I have met many people who do not want to be rich, for they know that they will have more responsibility.
Psalm 62:10 Do not trust in oppression, Nor vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.
Here is an admonishment from Paul, in that those who have more are not to parade it in front of those who have less.
1 Corinthians 11:21-23 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
Psalm 72:12 For He will deliver the needy when he cries,The poor also, and him who has no helper.
Psalm 74:21 Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed!Let the poor and needy praise Your name.
Proverbs 10:15 The rich man’s wealth is his strong city; The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
Proverbs 14:21 He who despises his neighbor sins; But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.
Proverbs 14:31 He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.
Proverbs 17:5 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 19:1 Better is the poor who walks in his integrityThan one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.
Proverbs 19:4 Wealth makes many friends, But the poor is separated from his friend.
Proverbs 19:7 All the brothers of the poor hate him; How much more do his friends go far from him! He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him.
Proverbs 19:17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.
Thankyou for sharing those verses.
Proverbs 14:20 The poor man is hated even by his own neighbor, But the rich has many friends.
Proverbs 18:23 The poor man uses entreaties, But the rich answers roughly.
James 2:2-7 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
Psalm 9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.
Psalm 10:2 The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
Psalm 14:6 You shame the counsel of the poor, But the LORD is his refuge.
I think I would buy up millions of King James Bibles and distribute them all over the English speaking world. Then I would start on translating work for all the languages that have no Bible.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
QUESTION FOR ALL:
How would you feel if your God-given gifts allowed you to make circa 20 million dollars a year. You are personally clothed (well dressed even), well fed, comfortably housed, you work at what you LOVE to do, you have a wonderful relationship with our Father through Christ - and at the end of every year you give all that you do not need for self-support (under God) to those in the world who have literally... nothing? Would you do it?
Approx. forty million people die on this planet every day from hunger - most of them children.
Then there are the orphans (our particular (primary) ministry), and the widows, and those otherwise unimaginably poor.
To have the means to alleviate and oftentimes end the suffering of "THE LEAST OF THESE" is a blessing you could afford. Could you live with yourself if you chose not to do it?
"To the extent that you do it to the least of these my brethren, you do it to Me." (Matthew 25:40 - Jesus Christ. )
"Take care of orphans and widows, for this is perfect religion.) (James 1:27)
Yours, surrendering to, and trusting in Jesus - Jesse.
No offence taken,as i said ,my heart was not right,and i repent too.
All will be well, when we are at the feet of our Saviour,giving Him all the glory,and saying HE has done all things well !
In your life and mine dear sister.
In fact,i am disgusted at my own selfishness,and having this chip on my shoulder.
Bless you and Coora.really must go now !
I am sorry for my insensitive words-I was just reacting to your post which was attacking me.
Of course God doesnt love anyone more if they have money or you wont get rich if you have faith.
I was fortunate to make a lot of money in IT before the IT sector crashed 4-5 years ago. I have a wise father whom I listened to who showed me where to invest my money which then tripled.So In reality some "luck" and advice is needed along with Gods Providence.
I truly hope you dont feel so down about your situation-Im not trying to be condescending but do feel for you.
I do realise others have difficult circumstances and I must repent of my silly words.
For me,i dont think my heart is right in this matter,so i shall leave you to to it,and may God bless your walk with Him.
Nicole,if your life has been transformmed to the glory of God because of your wealth,then i rejoice,and am sorry for my selfish *poor me*attitude and comments.
I am blessed with so much work and the strength to do it,and serve my Lord through it, despite things being very hard.I would like a physically less demanding job,but do not have the brains,qualifications or breaks,so i struggle on. Bless the Lord it is so !!!!
I have great riches in Christ Jesus,and that is all that matters ultimately !
Leaving this site now.
