The Prosperity Gospel

Here is a devotion from ACTS International for today.

"I [Jesus] have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble [tribulation]. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

A Daily Encounter reader from a much poorer country than North America asks, "Can you please write a message on prosperity teachings. [Some American preachers]…say it is a sin to be poor and when you are prosperous (have money) you are blessed."
Amazing isn't it?

If God has gifted me to be a good businessman and to make money, and I can do that honestly, then I'd say it would be my responsibility to make money … not for personal indulgences but so I would be able to give generously in supporting the Lord's work on earth.

I for one, however, don't have that gift or that calling. Neither am I a gifted fundraiser, so financing God's work for me has always been a challenge and probably will be until the day I retire or die … whichever comes first!

However, to some degree I have been gifted with an ability to communicate. Thus it is my responsibility to be trained in this area and communicate God's truth and the gospel to the best of my ability. Not to do so would be a sin for me as the Bible says, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

To claim that everybody is gifted to make money or to communicate effectively is not true—and, if claiming this to be true, could lead many to doubt God's blessing on their life. The same goes for those who are led to believe that it is God's will for every Christian to be financially prosperous.

Think of Jesus, for example. Was he prosperous? Not at all. Were the twelve disciples prosperous? Matthew, the tax collector, may have been at one time but through questionable methods. Peter and the other fishermen and disciples probably made just enough to make ends meet. True, Moses came from a well-to-do background, having grown up in Pharaoh's household, but he gave it all up to serve God and lead the people of Israel.

If, however, prosperity is God's will for everyone, then let's take this message to the poverty-stricken parts of the world where untold thousands of people are dying of malnutrition.

For the rest of us less prosperous ordinary folks, let's do the best we can with the gifts God has given to us to help make our world a better place in which to live.

To Be "In Christ Jesus"

Here is a devotion from Love Worth Finding Ministries for today.

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Romans 8:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What does it mean to be “in Christ Jesus?” First, think about what it was for Noah to be in the ark. The ark was waterproof. How do we know it was? Well, God told Noah, “put pitch on the inside and on the outside” (Genesis 6:14). The word “pitch” in the Hebrew is “kapar,” and it is exactly the same word translated as "atonement." You see, we are in Jesus as Noah was in that ark. Just as the storms of God’s wrath beat upon that ark, the storms of God’s wrath beat upon the Lord Jesus. But we are on the inside, and not one drop of judgment can come through.

The Law & the Gospel of God's Grace

Here is a devotion from Love Worth Finding Ministries for today.

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.”
Romans 4:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
There are almost six billion people on the face of this earth. If you extracted from each one the very best character traits and put those things into one man, that one man would still have to bow before God and cry out for mercy to be saved. We’ve got to quit trying to be saved by doing good things or being a moral person or by even keeping the Ten Commandments. The law says “if,” the gospel says “therefore.” The law says you must earn salvation, while the gospel says salvation is a gift. The law demands holiness. The gospel provides holiness. The law says run, but it doesn’t give us legs. The gospel says fly, and it gives us wings of grace.

Driven to the Heart of Our Lord

Here is a devotion from Love Worth Finding Ministries for today.

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
Psalm 32:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
The worst thing that could happen to sinful people would be to live in a perfect environment. If God had left Adam in the Garden of Eden, Adam would not have known that he had the fatal infection of sin, and he would not have sought the remedy for sin, which he found in the shedding of blood. Problems are designed, not to crush us, but to crowd us to Christ who provided the remedy for sin by shedding His blood on the cross. The problem of sin is real and terrible, but it brings with it the possibility that we can be forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Remembering Our Spiritual and Political Heritage

Here is a devotion from Love Worth Finding Ministries for Independence Day.

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”
Psalm 78:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
On June 8, 1845, Andrew Jackson said, “The Bible is the rock upon which our Republic rests.” Just a few years prior in 1820, another of our forefathers, Daniel Webster, said, “Let us not forget the religious character of our origin.” In the days of our founding fathers, people didn’t quibble about the Bible’s importance. Our forefathers brought hither their high veneration for the Christian religion, being journeyed in its light and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate, listen to, and infuse its influence through all their institutions: civil, political, and literary.