Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8
One of the saddest realities facing our nation is that too many Americans are in debt and have no idea how they got there. Somewhere in our youth, we were convinced to be consumers – people buying things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t even like. As a result, we have failed to provide for both ourselves and our families because we are burdened by unnecessary debt. We are unable to buy a house or to save money for when emergencies happen, and we are often lacking necessities because we incurred debt spending credit on our pleasures and desires.
While there is nothing wrong with using credit responsibly, such as to purchase a home, it is wrong to mortgage our future for the sole purpose of gratifying our current desires. The latter use of credit goes against one of the consistent themes in the Bible – the idea of planning for the future. In today’s passage, we see King Solomon take an example from the animal world to show us the importance of saving and planning. The ant collects its food during the summer, when there are crops in abundance. There are ant colonies where this food is stored and, once the winter comes, the ants are free to eat and hibernate until the warm weather returns.
Like the ant, we should learn how to handle our finances so that during our youth, when we are at our highest earning potential, we can save money for a comfortable retirement. For those of us who are disciples of Jesus Christ, we should be employing the “10-10-80 Rule” when it comes to our finances – the first 10 percent of our income belongs to the Lord, the second 10 percent should be put in savings, and we should use the 80 percent to pay for our living expenses. If we start this plan as young people, we should be able to provide for ourselves and our families in old age. And if you are older, it is never too late to speak with a financial planner about what options are available so that you can meet your needs as a senior.
Consider the following questions:
- Have you ever made a budget? If you don’t know how, are you willing to learn?
- Have you learned the difference between a “need” and a “greed?” Can you distinguish between what is necessary in your life and what is a luxury?
- Are you aware of God’s promises in Malachi 3:6-12 to those who are faithful in tithing? Would you be willing to at least sit down with a person who tithes and ask whether they have experienced those promises?
Published on Jan 28 @ 3:13 AM EDT
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Pray | Fast | Meditate
Becoming a Better You | Marlin D. Harris
Welcome to our 31-Day Corporate Fast.
In 1988, I was 15 years old, sitting on a plane flying from Oklahoma to Seoul, South Korea. I felt that I was leaving more than a country but leaving my entire concept of normalcy and certainty. I was going from the world I knew to a world that I was completely unprepared to face. My father had received military orders to move from Ft. Drum, New York, and for the next 3 years, live in Taegu, South Korea. Now, this is not uncommon. Military families travel across the globe to new duty stations all the time and often make wonderful and amazing memories and experiences while living in a foreign country. But that was precisely the problem – we were certainly not a family, and this was most definitely not promising to be an amazing memory. My stepmother was a non-functioning alcoholic, and my father was a functioning one. I was placed in their home because my home of origin had become too unstable and abusive for me to live in. I was traveling 5,000 miles away from what I had come to know as normal, with people that I had just met less than 9 months ago. I sat on that plane believing that I was leaving one disaster and heading into another one. Nothing could have convinced me that day that this one experience would have so deeply changed my life and so firmly established my faith and confidence in God.
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By Matthew Hagee, Hagee Ministries
“And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
Deuteronomy 8:18
Human beings are both blessed and burdened with short-term memory. Short-term memory allows us to forget negative experiences more easily, so we more readily try again. However, the disadvantage is it also allows us to more easily forget foundational truths that help anchor our lives in seasons of uncertainty.
Don’t let short-term memory loss cause you to forget what the Bible says about God’s ability to provide. Today’s verses provide ample evidence that God is able to fund the resources of the dream that He has planted in your heart, even during the times when financial experts say the risk is too great.
If God has given you a dream for your life, then there will be abundance because it is a good work, the kind of work He has promised in His Word to support. He may not give you the resources all at once, but He will be faithful to provide as you are faithful to believe and continue the work. What I am sure of—based upon His Word and personal experience—is that our God is able to provide.
When it comes to dreaming you must consider the words of the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28). Understand that it does not matter whether you are awake and dreaming or asleep and dreaming. What matters is that it’s a dream or vision given to you by God Almighty based on His Word and His Word alone.
Based on this verse, dreams and visions are something that occur when we have received the spirit of God in our lives. God wants to give you a glimpse of what He has in your future. He wants you to believe that He will provide the very best of things in the very worst of times. He wants you to remember that He is faithful to keep His promises even if the experts don’t agree with His position. He certainly didn’t require their permission to make the promise and He doesn’t need their help bringing it to pass.
PRAYER:
Father, because of the promises in Your word I am daring to believe that there is a brighter day in my future. I believe that You have gone before me and that You are providing for all of my needs. You have given me a bold and great dream, and I am trusting only You to bring it to pass. I thank you that Your grace, abundance, and favor are available to turn this dream into a reality. I believe that You will do what You have said, so teach me to act like it. In the name of my Strong God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Published on Jan 28 @ 12:11 AM EDT
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