Jun
02
Before you begin meditation in the Word, you must commit
yourself to the absolute truth of John 10:10. “The thief cometh
not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Whenever I read something that seems contradictory to this, I
immediately stop and straighten out my thinking. The truth is
hidden in some way, and I rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal it to
me. God is not our problem. He does not steal from us. He is
the giver of all good things! When you commit yourself to this
basic truth, you block Satan and deal a deadly blow to deception.
As long as you are open to it, Satan will prove that God
wants you to live in poverty and in sickness to teach you
humility. He will try to convince you that the rich young ruler
couldn’t receive eternal life because he had money, but Satan is
a liar and the father of lies!
Here is how the Lord revealed the truth to me: As I read
Mark 10:20, “And he answered and said unto him, Master, all
these have I observed FROM MY YOUTH,” the Lord spoke to me
and said, “See, this is why he was rich.” Then He pointed me to
Deuteronomy 8:18 about the Lord giving power to get wealth
in order to establish His covenant. This young man was evidently
walking in this part of the covenant. The Lord said, “Do
you think I would ask something from him that I hadn’t given
him in the first place?” You must realize these two facts: (1)
God is the only reason you have anything, and (2) He will
never ask you to give up something without giving you something
better in return.
Verse 21 says, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him.” Now
some people think that God doesn’t like people with money,
but this says that when Jesus looked at the young man, He
loved him…before He said anything about giving away his possessions.
You see, He loved him and what He said was to the
man’s advantage.
May
26
There is another area that I want to share with you about
God’s financial system. In Mark 10:17-23, we find the story of
the rich young ruler. This is one of the most misunderstood
incidents in the whole Bible. We have read this in the light of
the world’s traditional system, thinking God wanted to break
that young man but this is not so. We have misunderstood it
for the same reason that the rich young ruler missed God—
ignorance of the Word of God. He did not know what the covenant
said. He knew “the Law” and the Ten Commandments,
but the Abrahamic Covenant covered much more than these.
God made an agreement with Abraham and promised to do certain
things if he would obey the Word; then the prophets were
raised up to add to this covenant and record it for Israel to use.
Let’s read Mark’s account of this conversation.
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came
one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest
the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not
kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud
not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered
and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed
from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him,
and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way,
sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up
the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying,
and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples,
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into
the kingdom of God!
May
19
One time I was meditating about Peter catching the fish
with the money in its mouth. I realized this was a financial
operation, so I decided to find out what God had to say. I must
have read that story 50 times and ran into a blank wall each
time! I could see that Peter needed tax money and Jesus told
him to go fishing. He caught the fish and got the money out
of its mouth. I would run that through my thinking, sometimes
for hours, then get up and say, “Well, Lord, I know it’s here
somewhere, and by faith, I claim the revelation on it!” Finally,
in prayer one day I picked up my Bible, flipped it open to that
passage, and read it once more. Then I saw something I had
read over and over again. Jesus said, “Get the money out of the
mouth of the first fish.” Peter was going to catch a mess of fish!
Then the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “Daughter, don’t bind Me
to finances. I can handle the fish just as I can the money.” I saw
what I had been missing! I had been centering on the one fish.
Now if I had been in Peter’s place, I would have jerked the
money out of the fish’s mouth, run down to pay the taxes, and
then realized that I didn’t have anything to eat. I would have
been so shortsighted that I would have thrown the fish back
and missed out on the rest of the catch. If there was a first fish,
there had to be a second and so on. Peter was a commercial
fisherman and knew how to market those fish. Jesus obviously
loaded his boat again. I would have spent part of the money on
something to eat and still couldn’t have paid my taxes. I thought,
“I have been believing for the money to buy an automobile when
I should have been believing God for the automobile itself!” The
Lord said, “That’s right. You have had Me bound to that little
channel of money.” Then He said something I’ll never forget,
“Son, if I send you a cow with a bag of money around her neck,
for goodness’ sake, milk her before you send her home!” The
Lord has a tremendous sense of humor, but I didn’t know it until
I began to fellowship with Him and meditate in His Word.
May
12
The first and most important rule for you to follow in operating
in the power of God and living by faith is this: 100 percent
committal to the Word of God and its authority in your
life. As God told Joshua, the best way to prosper is by meditation
in the Word. Don’t just study it; there is a difference
between meditation and study. Study involves digging in the
Word, running references in a concordance, and so forth; but
meditation many times covers only two or three verses of scripture.
Read a verse several times. Roll it over in your mind; be
quiet and listen to God for 20 or 30 minutes. This has been the
way I have learned many things about the Word and about
Jesus’ ministry. The Spirit of God can say enough in one sentence
to last you a month! He was sent here to teach us the
deep things of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
Let me give you an example from my own experience. Some
time ago, I decided to find out how to operate financially
according to the Word of God. I believed that God had a financial
system that most Christians did not know. This was evident
in my dad’s life. My parents decided when they married that
they would tithe their income for the rest of their lives. They
knew very little about believing God for finances. My dad relied
on his ability to work. He was an excellent sales representative
and God blessed his business. When I entered the ministry and
started studying the Word of God, I read where God said to
bring the tithes into the storehouse and He would open the windows
of heaven (see Malachi 3:10). Well, I could look at my dad
and see that this wasn’t working in his life. He made more than
a good living, but he worked for every dime he got! So I began
to study this and question the Lord about it.
One thing that He showed me was the pride element in
most businessmen, especially the ones who worked hard like
Dad. You couldn’t give my dad anything; he was the giver! If
God wanted to give him something, He had to channel it
through the business or Dad would actually get uncomfortable
and embarrassed if someone tried to give to him. This is wrong.
God showed me that most businessmen don’t know how to
receive simply because of their pride.
May
05
It is the responsibility of every member of the Body of
Christ to believe God for the abundance He provides. When
one of us falls short in this responsibility, the whole Body of
Christ suffers because of that one cell. (You may not use your
little finger very much, but if it is sore, your whole hand suffers.)
As believers, we have a responsibility to provide for the
needs of our brothers and sisters around the world. If we lack,
they will suffer for it.
Now you can see that the basic reason for the operation of
faith is to meet the needs of mankind. You may not need much
money to be happy and successful in your own life, but people
are starving and dying throughout the world. Someone must
provide for them. They don’t know how to get it for themselves.
There are even preachers going hungry! The biggest complaint
from people is that all the preachers are wanting money. Do you
know the best way to stop that complaint? Give to them! Don’t
get into strife with them; bless them with your giving and pray
for them.
The covenant is yours. The wisdom of God is yours. It
resides within you. Bring it to the surface by meditating in the
Word of God and giving God the opportunity to share His system
with you. When you let Him be your source of supply, you
can live independently from the world’s system. The Word
states so plainly in 2 Corinthians that without aid or support
you can continue to be generous in every good work. This is
the attitude God is looking for. This man is unlimited in the
things of the Lord. Praise God!
When we began plans for our first television series, people
said that we couldn’t do it because of the tremendous cost of
such an operation. One man offered us, at half price, an estimate
of $750 per finished minute. For a 60-minute program,
the total production cost would have been $45,000. The
thought of financing a weekly series for one year at that price
was overwhelming! For a series of five programs, they quoted
us $350,000. Then the Lord said, “Why don’t you give Me a
chance? You’ve asked the experts about it; now let Me in on it!”
So I did. God moved—and we filmed the five-part series for
$3,750! The Apostle Paul said, “…the world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14).
