#63 - The Finer Things in Life

Good morning! It is good to be back! We spent the weekend in Pigeon Forge, TN and got home late last night. We stayed at the Christmas Inn. It was pretty neat! Very festive! We even saw Santa & sang Christmas songs! Wow! Quite an experience for September! Well.... I feel like I have a full day of catching up, so let's get started...


Today's Scheduled Reading: Proverbs 31:10-31, Proverbs 7, Psalms 7, 37, 67, 97, 127

Proverbs 31:21-22 - She fears not the snow for her family, for all her household are doubly clothed in scarlet. She makes for herself coverlets, cushions, and rugs of tapestry. Her clothing is of linen, pure and fine, and of purple [such as that of which the clothing of the priests and the hallowed cloths of the temple were made].

Psalms 37:4-5 - Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.

Well... I'm pretty excited about today's topic. I pray that it makes sense to you and that you are able to grasp what is available for you. That you are able to enjoy the "good things in life" without it being accompanied by guilt. I would say, this is a topic that Satan often tries to use in order to separate the body of Christ. This morning, I pray that we will help unite the body as we dig in to what the Word says on the subject. Abundance. Wealth. And, the Finer things in Life. 


Our Proverbs 31 woman wasn't shopping at GoodWill. Today, she would have been shopping at Saks 5th Avenue or St. John (http://www.sjk.com/en-us/shoponline/couture/). Our Proverbs friend was wearing fine clothes. One website tells it best, "Purple became a symbol of royalty and riches due to the scarcity of its dye.*" You guys, our Proverbs 31 woman DRESSED WELL! She dressed to the 9's! She did not and was not poor! She wore the best there was to wear! HER CLOTHING WAS FINE! 


It seems that sometimes when people get saved, they get this feeling that it means that they then have to change and "be poor" or "look poor" in order to be "holy". They have to do away with the fine things in life because it's not "Christian" or "religious" to have those things. Or... we hear the phrase, "I should do away with my fine things so I can give to the poor. I don't need it. I could use that to help the poor." Do you all realize that the Proverbs 31 woman DID BOTH!!!! She not only dressed well, with class in clothes that were EXPENSIVE... but she ALSO STILL gave to the poor. (Proverbs 31:20) And.... do you know what??? Get ready for this... this is exciting! GOD HAS ENOUGH MONEY SO THAT YOU CAN DO BOTH!!!!!  If you are walking in the revelation that YOUR FATHER really is the Owner of it all, he owns the cattle on 1,000 hills, he is Jehovah Jirah, El Shadai, He is the GOD of ABUNDANCE and with HIM there is NO lack! IF you walk in that revelation, you will KNOW that there is enough, God has enough that, like the Proverbs 31 woman, you can enjoy the fine things in life, while still blessing and helping the poor. 


When you are "delighting" yourself in the Lord, it says in Psalms 37 that He WILL give you the DESIRES of your heart! Even the SECRET PETITIONS, those things that you have had in your head, or deep down in your heart that you would really like to have. Maybe it's a "Tag" watch.... but at $6,000 you can't ever imagine owning something so nice. Maybe you have always wanted a white, fully loaded, with black tinted windows, new BMW. Infiniti QX56, Mercedes.... or a new house with a huge kitchen and top of the line appliances. Whatever your petition is....be it spoken or be it secret, do you realize that NOTHING is a stretch for God! The biggest stretch is probably getting to the point that you know that YOU are worth it! The God can give it to you in the snap of His fingers. That He would give it to you AND meet the needs of the poor at the same time! If you are a parent, just like how you get pleasure out of blessing your kids or grandkids... helping to meet their needs... or better yet, surprising them with something you know they have wanted but wouldn't buy for themselves..... GOD GETS PLEASURE IN BLESSING YOU TOO! God is YOUR FATHER! He wants to give you the desires of your heart!! 


If you live in a country with nothing, you are not more "religious" or "spiritual." The key to it ALL is not letting any of those "things" become an "idol" in your life. That they would not become more important than your God! Like the story of the Rich Man in the Matthew 19:16-27, the Rich man wanted to go to heaven, but went away sad, UNWILLING to give up those things. He HELD his POSSESSIONS in HIGHER ESTEEM then a relationship with God. I believe you can HAVE possession, nice things and in abundance as long as those possessions don't HAVE YOU! I also believe that it is important not to go into debt to "have" those secret petitions. God can do it WITHOUT debt!! 


And just to throw in a quick clarification.... when talking about wealth, a lot of un-knowing people are quick to quote the verse in Matthew 19:23, "...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." We are not talking about the impossible here. It is not talking about the eye of a SEWING needle. The "eye of a needle" was the entrance to a city. It was the door into the city. In order for a man to get his camel into the city, since the door was not tall enough for the camel to walk in, the camel had to get on his knees and scoot in, ducking his head under the door frame. It was not "impossible", and it was done frequently. Just because someone is rich it does not make them "less religious"... but what it can do, is it can allow them to help more people. Where a lot of people are focusing JUST on themselves and their own family.... "How are we going to pay our bills? How are we going to have enough money to buy Christmas gifts for our family? How am I going to make my car payment? My morgage payment?" While a lot of people are thinking ONLY of themselves and meeting their OWN needs.... those people with money, with wealth are able to get past the "Me Me Me - My Problems, My bills, My Debt", people who have wealth and are born again CHRISTIANS are able to not even have to THINK about how they are going to meet their own needs, those needs are MET (Totally Biblical if you read PHIL. 4:19), but they are able to say, "How can I meet the needs of others? How much money can I give away this month to go towards helping others. Feeding the hungry, supplying Bibles to other countries, supporting missionaries." Yes... while their PAID for Mercedes may sit in their 4 car garage, they are still giving away more money than a lot of people who are worrying about just meeting their own needs. 


So... I may have sounded like I was on a soap box... I probably was. I just want to portray that it is OK to have the finer things in life. The Proverbs 31 woman did and so can you! 

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* http://www.ridingthebeast.com/articles/colors/

#11 - The Road that Leads to Life

God continues to amaze me. Another beautiful morning. I'm out on the porch...screened in away from bugs, in the open enough to be enjoying the shade of the nearby tree, the light breeze & the playful talking of the birds nearby. I cut some purple & blue hydrangea flowers from some of our bushes yesterday, so they sit in a vase here at my table. A special date, just me and my Bible. Can this time just continue forever? It's also a "HORRAY" morning! Our Kahve coffee has arrived, so no more "Black Tiger" and I cut up some melon yesterday, so that has been yummy too! While I sit here, the baby monitor has an occasional dancing of "red lights".... when I turn the volume up, I can hear my boy talking in his bed. It makes me laugh to just listen to it. He is so cute & funny! Then... when I do go and get him up, as I walk into his room, his little face will just turn my way and immediately light up! The big smile, the twinkling eyes & his adorable little dimples.... the boy is simply hard to resist sometimes!!

Well, I have a full day, so lets get rolling!

Proverbs 7:16 - I have spread my couch with rugs and cushions of tapestry, with striped sheets of fine linen of Egypt.

Proverbs 31:22 - She makes for herself coverlets, cushions, and rugs of tapestry. Her clothing is of linen, pure and fine, and of purple [such as that of which the clothing of the priests and the hallowed cloths of the temple were made]

Hum.... sound similar? It sure does.


Let me set the stage.... when you read the preceding 15 verses in Proverbs 7, you know that this woman mirrors the opposite our Proverbs 31 friend. Further down in the amplified of Proverbs 7:22, it talks about how the Proverbs 7, loose woman is leading men like a dog enticed by food to the muzzle. 


When we look at our main verses Proverbs 7:16 and 31:22, the rewards look the same. The rewards of the loose woman (or man), seem the same of the faithful, blessed, virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. They both have the trappings of what looks like success....in that day it was: fine cushions, rugs & tapestries, fine linen. Today it may be the clothes, car, house, jewelry, eating at the fine restaurants. From the outset, it appears that whatever path you choose, the blessings remain the same! UNTRUE! The last verse in Proverbs 7 tells us where the loose woman's house is, Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. (KJV)


The gifts, the blessings, the possessions look the same, but the life is completely a different one. 


I rewind in my life and think to a time where I was at a crossroads. I was a Christian, but had been led astray by a Proverbs 7 person.... a man in my case....someone not following the Lord, not after God's own heart. I remember being at a crossroads... I had traveled so far down this road that I got to the point of decision. I stood overlooking a lake, his white truck in the distance..... and their I stood with God & my Christian life in one hand and in the other hand the choice of giving up what I had held on to for so long, the last straw that I held of my purity. If I chose this guy, I would choose the way of the world, I would give up my beliefs and I would run with reckless abandon into sin & what it offered. It would be a world of sex, obsession, partying... I would finally be "All-In" in this relationship. It was such a battle, such a hard decision. I know my husband must have been praying for his wife, the woman whom he hadn't even met yet. I chose the way of my God. I drove away, I didn't look back. But I saw how close I was to a life far from God. 


Avoid that road! Proverbs 7:7-8 say, "...I perceived among the youths a young man void of good sense, sauntering through the street near the (loose woman's) corner...." I had many opportunities to avoid getting to that pivotal decision. I could've avoided the danger of almost forsaking my faith by NOT EVEN TRAVELING THAT ROAD, not even visiting that "Corner"! When temptation started to arise in my friendship with this person, I should've began to set boundries. When my guard started going down, when ties & the heart strings in this "unequally-yoked" relationship started happening..... I should have and could have seen the flags along the way and NOT EVEN TRAVELED THAT ROAD! I have seen a visual demonstration of this take place...a person standing on a chair & a person standing on the ground. It was much easier for the person on the ground to pull the person down from the chair and almost impossible for the person standing on the chair to pull the person from the ground up to their level. Same with life. If you are in a relationship or associating with people who are inluencing your life in negative ways, there is a good chance they will pull you down to their level. 


What areas in your life are you beginning to establish habits that aren't good? Is it spending too much time surfing the internet, playing games, spending hours on your Facebook.... are you wasting time on the unimportant, neglecting the important??? Where have you taken the first step on the wrong path? The first step down the road of hard decisions? 


I guaranty it is easier and less painful to make changes now before you get to the point where you have to make a choice...do you forsake your faith for this "addiction" or for  this ungodly relationship? 


Today....take an inventory of your life. In all areas of your life, are you traveling the road that leads to life?