| Heart to Heart:
“MASTER” From the heart of God in response to your hearts’ cry for help, A teaching letter to minister’s around the world By the Ministry of Love Gifts Ministries International Pastor C.D. Davenport, President and Founder “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world”. Judging from the amount of prayer requests I receive on the subject of finances; it seems good to me to address this age old subject of money. This is a serious topic spiritually because God’s Word states that “the love of money is the root of all evil”. This is the reason why there are such wide array of doctrines, opinions, deceptions and theories concerning money. If ultimately money is behind every attack from the devil, then obviously the devil will focus his attention to spreading tremendous lies about money. Let’s prepare our hearts to receive the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit Who we are assured, is leading and guiding us into all truths concerning money. “Father, we come to You as Your little children. We come needing knowledge on this subject, to keep us from perishing. We ask for Your protection over our hearts as we open ourselves up to learn truths from Your Word, by Your Spirit. We ask that You forgive us from wrong thinking concerning money, that You deliver us from all evil concerning money, that we are free from any fears concerning money and that we are teachable. In Jesus precious Name, Amen” A good starting point in any lesson, especially one where we might feel that we already have all the answers, is to honestly ask and answer the question “has my present day belief in this subject produced the expected results”? If not, then out of justice to your own needs, be willing for God to adjust your way of thinking and believing. We all need money. Money is not evil. Money is a necessary tool to accomplish just about everything in life that we are involved in, whether it’s schooling, food, clothing, running a business or a ministry. As a gardener, I recognize the value of a spade or shovel. This is a garden tool that makes digging much easier. The spade is not in charge – I am. I take the spade into my hand and I make it do what it was designed to do. Sometimes I may dig with the spade, sometimes I might use it to separate roots of a plant, and sometimes it is used to build up an area of my garden with dirt. No matter what I need it for, it is still only a tool in my hand. Money is a tool that we use in life. We are to take money into our hands and make it do whatever it is that we need it to do. Money is not in charge. We are. Yet, when you go to the market place, most people will consult with their money and ask PERMISSION to spend it. They will look at an item and money will say “put that down, you cannot afford it!” or perhaps money will speak up and tell them “you cannot afford that, after all, next week you might need to spend it on something else”. Money talks to us all the time, if we let it. It tells a missionary where they can go or can’t go. It tells a pastor if he or she can help a church member with a special need. Money tells a man how much food he can buy for his hungry family and money tells a young mother that she cannot enroll her child in a school because there is not enough money to pay for it. We are all guilty of asking our billfolds too many questions! We are all guilty of letting money tell us what to do, where to go and what we can spend it on. God says that we are to follow Him, listening to Him and obeying everything He tells us to do. If God tells you to go to a nearby city, will you go without questions or will you ask your bank account for permission? What if your bank account says “no!” … will you obey God or your bank account? Who is really in charge over the decisions that you make? God or money? God’s Word says that man cannot serve both money and God. They are enemies to each other. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Be honest with yourself. Who is the master in your life? As you read the gospels you will find that Jesus never consulted money before He obeyed God. Jesus did what the Father told Him to do. The Father was the Master over Jesus’ comings and goings. Jesus knew there were no limits on God’s ability to meet His needs. Jesus knew that whatever it was that God asked Him to do, God had already made provision for every need to be met. When the people in Jesus’ meetings got hungry, Jesus fed them. One of Jesus’ disciples, Phillip, once remarked that it would take “8 months worth of man’s wages” to buy enough food to feed the people one meal. Consider this in your own life. What are your monthly wages? Multiply that by 8 and consider the magnitude of what Jesus gave to these people for this one meal. And Jesus said that we are to be doing these same miracles and even greater miracles than these, because He has gone to the Father. Most Christians have trouble paying for their own family to go out to a restaurant for a meal because it may cost them a lot of money. What if, in your compassion for hungry people, you took 5000 people out for a good dinner? Unless you are very affluent, it just isn’t possible in the natural way of thinking. BUT in God’s supernatural way of thinking, He wants us to increase our faith to believe Him for greater and greater and greater miracles! Next time God asks you to go minister somewhere else, be quick to say “Yes Lord!” rather than take a peek in your pocket to see if you have enough money to do it. Next time the Lord puts someone on your heart, with the idea of contributing to their support, don’t look in your bank account to see if you can afford it – obey God, not money. Serve God alone and change your way of thinking to keep money in its rightful place. Serving your needs. Whatever we put our faith in is what becomes our master. If our faith is in a paycheck, a support check, a job or the money in our pockets, then we are guilty of having another god before God. Who will you serve this day? You cannot serve God and money. Love God and keep money in its subservient place as a tool in your hands to do the will of God. Don’t ever hold a business meeting and allow money to be the spokesman. Don’t ever make church decisions and give money a right to vote. Most people have lived their lives in subconscious service to money. It’s time to be rescued from the darkness of your former way of thinking and to come out into the light. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free! This new freedom will bring you into your divine inheritance as long as you don’t place any limits on the power of God that resides on the inside of you. This truth will release you to new places of growth and expansion, as you receive it and allow God to purge you from your old way of thinking. God will not fail you. He said that we are His sheep of His pasture. He promised that His sheep know His voice, no other voice will they follow. The only voice we need to be consulting is that of God Himself. He leads and guides us into all truth, complete and whole truths. And the truth shall set you free! He who is free is free indeed! Glorious liberty! Emancipation from all bondage. It’s a new day of restoration and God’s people must start behaving differently when it comes to money and finances. God wants to pour money into our lives and ministries so we might expand and grow and change the world. But He needs people who are free from the love of and obedience to the voice of money. This is the first step in your freedom. Be on guard whenever you are dealing with finances, because I guarantee you, money will be talking real loud to you, in an effort to overpower this word of truth. Tell it you are not going to give it a voice in your decisions ever again and set the record straight about its role. It is a servant, period. There is nothing glorious or beautiful about it. You do not love it nor serve it any longer. It is under your dominion and authority. You tell it where to go and you tell it what to buy. Deny money the right to ever influence your decisions again! May you take these words to heart and meditate on them, searching the scriptures to judge the truths herein, allowing the Holy Spirit to work truth in you, to the renewing of your mind. Find rest for your soul. Have a light and easy week as you accomplish great things for His Kingdom! In His Great Name and Wonderful Love, Pastor Carole Offerings are joyfully accepted according to Galatians 6:6! Send with your prayer requests to: Love Gifts Ministries International PO Box 2173 Hamilton Montana 59840 USA or write us at www.lovegiftsministries.org "Healing For a Broken World, One Life At a Time" Copyright 2003 Love Gifts Ministries International This message may be preached and taught without credit to its author. This message may be copied and circulated without profit. However, the name and copyright must be included in the text. Love Gifts Ministries International assumes no responsibility for any mailing to any party. 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