Pastor Lawson calls it “Name it claim it blab it grab it”. It’s an affront to true disciples. God doesn’t form the mind of Christ in us by prospering us according to the world’s definition of prosperity, in fact He uses austere circumstances, struggle and difficulty to carve, chip, mould and shape us into the image of Christ.
When our kids were just babies, it was hard. Like so many people, hubby and I both took a good decade of floundering in early adult life before God brought us together when we were 30 and 31. When you are groomed to believe you are the master of your own destiny, that leaves a wide open world of options to figure out and can easily lead to wasting ones best, most productive years of potential “doing”, on instead, well, choosing between all of that “everything” that is out there. The devil loves when we are pursuing vague maybes instead of practical realities
Once we did meet, marry and start a family, we had periods of unemployment, periods of debt, he and I both had sickness, mine long, his acute but potentially deadly (cancer).
Our boys were raised in an age of excess but were not privy to that excess, not by my husband’s and my wisdom, but by God’s. For one, we live in a blue-collar “factory town”. So they weren’t rubbing shoulders every day with any majority of other kids who had excess either, however, they are the early fruits of the internet age of ubiquitous social media where they could vicariously taste of the lives of peers in their generation who did live excessively. That allowed them to compare our family’s standard of living to that of a larger variety of others in the world, both those with more disposable income and with less. I knew we had instilled a sense of stewardship when one day our youngest son’s girlfriend said to him : “everything in ya’lls house is so old!” and our son, not skipping a beat said: “that’s because when something breaks, we fix it, instead of running right out and buying a new one.”
We taught them, not in words but by our actions and choices, life is not about stuff, it’s about people. I don’t mean that in the trivial shallow way, of being chatty and necessarily even “personable”, but in that as you go through life and encounter someone who has a need, you help them. If you have it to give, give it. Don’t hoard unto yourself. We taught them to be “noticers” and “doers” and quiet “leaders by example” and again, not in so many words, but by our choices and actions, we conscientiously strove to always do the right thing even when no one is looking. Indeed meeting a need of another anonymously is the most rewarding way. None of this is in praise of our parenting. The whole point is this: had God been all about this business of prospering us (again, by the worlds definition) those two boys would not be the humble, wise, responsible young men they are today with heads “screwed on right” as we say down south.
How many parents have had their kids say, “Dad, Mom, I really appreciate how you raised me” before they reached the age of 22? Both of them have. I never went in for the “reach for the stars” mentality. That’s not Bible. The Bible says be humble. Be a servant. Be satisfied with such things as ye have. Be able to be content in whatever circumstance you find yourself. I could go on in this vain all day, but I will bring it in for a landing so you can get on to the article. Counting blessings is more satisfying than counting dollars, whether you have lots if dollars, or just enough, or even, at times, seemingly not enough. God has always met our needs. Needs, not wants. If you are a Christian and unhappy, envious, feeling underprivileged, you are comparing yourself to the wrong portion of the population. Take your eyes off the 5 % who “have it all” and turn around and view the 85% or more who don’t even have it as good as you. Quit wanting “stuff”. It is possible to do this! You have control of your own thoughts. Thats another thing we impressed repeatedly with the boys. I had to learn it, was still learning it when they were born, really. I was brought up with a “learned sense of powerlessness” that was costly for me and had to get over it. Nothing is wrong with the philosophy that says you must “play the hand you are dealt”. Only in a worldview that embraces a sovereign God, does that make sense. “Accepting what is” is not settling for less, but it does settle that nagging insatiable hunger always for more, more, more which is the trap of the “prosperity gospel! –End STL commentary.
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Word of Faith false teacher Jesse Duplantis says he determines who long he will live and can speak what he wants into being, this is called New Age manifestation and it is wicked. Sometimes when I talk about the Charismatic Church, I don’t always make a distinction between that church and a sect known as […]
Serve Him in the Waiting 