Things

by

Deuteronomy 10:14 The True Owner

To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Deuteronomy 10:14

Ownership is something that most people take great pride in and seek. There is a deep desire to own things or even more things in most people. The more one owns the greater is one’s pride and feeling of self-accomplishment.

Jealousy often sets in when one person has a lot more or even a little more than someone else. Fighting comes as a result of the selfish pride or jealousy when forgetting Who actually owns everything.

Moses told the people that it is God to whom everything belongs in the heavens and on the earth.

Even though God has complete ownership of everything, He allows people to use what He owns, not selfishly holding on to all things. The earth was given on interest free loan by God to mankind to maintain and use to live on. It was to be used for His purpose and His glory.

Knowing that God owns it all and has temporarily allowed a person to use some things should change the heart of a person against self-pride, jealousy and greed.

Believers can easily fall into the same pride, jealousy and greed that the world lives in. They want more and more things for self-pleasure, rather than to be used to build God’s kingdom. God is put on the shelf and forgotten as one seeks and fights to gain more things.

Releasing everything to God’s hands brings about a relief of pressure to gain more or how to manage it all. Allowing God to be the true owner of all things gives Him control of everything in the life of a believer. It allows God to use things to build His kingdom, rather than allowing those things to control the life of a believer.

God has blessed you with the things you have. Hold on to the things you have loosely and allow God to use them to build you up in Christ Jesus and to build His kingdom. Seeking to get more and more will only lead to dissatisfaction, disappointment and selfish greed.

Remember that God owns it all and loves you enough that He will provide you abundantly with all that you will ever need in times of need. He has all you need both physically and spiritually.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will know that God owns all things; that you will know that God is generous in what He owns; that you will trust God to meet all of your needs; and that you will use what God has blessed you with to build His kingdom.

by

Exodus 20:17 Do Not Covet Anything

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:17

Everywhere a person goes he will usually see someone with something that he does not have. Or he will hear of people talking about things that they have that he does not have. Then he will see and hear advertisements stating that he needs all of these things.

Desires to have all these different things will rise in his heart and mind. Then disappoint will set in when he cannot have these things.

God is giving the core basics of how the Israelites are to live. One of these are that they are not to covet anything of their neighbors.

Coveting is a term that is not commonly used but is seen and pushed nearly everywhere. No matter where a person goes, or what he watches or listens to, there are ads telling him that there is something that he is missing out on that everyone else has.

Often the intense desire for what someone else has will create discontentment, ungratefulness, bitterness and making bad choices in one’s heart and life. One will become discontent and ungrateful for what God has blessed him with. He may become bitter because he cannot have certain things. Then he may make bad choices to get what he does not have.

Believers are to not live like the world and get caught up in the trap of coveting what others have. Rather than coveting those things, one should be glad that God has allowed their neighbor to have those things. Then their focus should be on what God has blessed them with and allowing those things to be used by God to meet all of their neighbor’s needs.

You will have things in your life that your neighbor does not have. Your neighbor will also have things in his life that you do not have.

Do not allow the deceitfulness of greed to enter your heart and mind to desire what others have. Stand back and take a look at how God has already blessed you richly and met all of your needs according to His grace and power.

God promised to meet all of your needs. Do not covet what God has not given you, but trust in His provision for your needs.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will see the blessings God has given you; that you will be grateful for what God has given you; that God will strengthen you to remove any coveting desire you have in your heart; and that you will praise God for what your neighbor has been blessed with.

by

Genesis 35:2 Get Rid Of All Foreign gods

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you and purify yourselves and change your clothes.” Genesis 35:2

Around the world there are groups of people who worship physical statues that are idols of their gods. Often this is thought of just groups of native and primitive people from third world nations.

Yet throughout every nation there are people who worship idols of various forms every day. Many will not call these idols gods, as some do, but they are their gods.

After being told by God to go and build an altar, Jacob told his family and people with him to get rid of all foreign gods, purify themselves and change their clothes. He was preparing to go and guild that altar.

The gods that many people worship, but refuse to call a ‘god’, are the things that people place above everything else in their lives.

It is very easy for things to gain importance in one’s life. These things can cost a lot of money or time to purchase and so one wants to take care of it and treasure them. In the process of taking care of these things, other people and God gets left out of the picture.

As God is left out of the picture, their clothes are soiled by stepping into sinful practices and ignoring God’s commands. This does not often occur quickly, but slowly over time, allowing the world to have a foothold in one’s life, pulling him away from God.

Rather than allow these idols in one’s life, every believer needs to cast out these foreign idols and turn to God. He must allow Jesus to purify him from all sin, changing his clothing so that he is wearing robes of Christ’s righteousness and can build an altar to God.

Take time to examine your life and determine if you have allowed any foreign idols in your life. Is there anything in your life that takes your focus away from God? That thing is a foreign idol.

You are no longer a member of the world, if you believe in Jesus, but are a member of God’s family. Cast out those idols and allow Jesus to be the Master of your life. Jesus is waiting to purify you and cloth you in righteousness and holiness.

Allow God to be the only god in your life.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that God will reveal any idols in your life; that God will strengthen you to get rid of any idols in your life; that you will allow Jesus to purify you of all sin and cloth you in His righteousness; and that God will be your only god.