We need to learn what it means to be a people who walk in the promises of God. Itís when we walk in faith that God will do what He promises that the world will see Jesus. Because as we walk in faith, He will fulfill His promises and the world will see that our loving Father is a faithful provider for His children.

 

ìAnd my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesusî (Phil.4:19). Isnít this an awesome promise? Godís promise is supply all of our NEEDS, not to supply all of our WANTS.

 

  To find contentment in Godís provision we must first accept that God moves in our lives in ëseasonsí. And God promises to provide all that we need for the particular season that we are in. Also, we must understand that God has a purpose for every season. In His love He knows what is best for us! We can think of His plan for our season as a personal ëassignmentí. And every bit of our provision comes attached to this assignment. So if we break away from the assignment we will detach from my provision. And without Godís provision weíll experience ìbarrenness.î

 

Often we tell God, like a petulant child, ìI donít want this assignment! I want someone elseís!î Perhaps your current season is to be a child, student, mom/dad, or young married spouse. And maybe during this season youíd prefer having the lifestyle of a CEO.  The Lord says, ìThatís not your season now.î Remember, He loves you and knows what is BEST. He knows the future He has planned for each one of us and is working to build a foundation in our hearts.

 

Many promises require our cooperation with God in order for His promises to be fulfilled. Much like a drowning person calling for help who must reach for the hand to be rescued, we need to cooperate with God in order to see His promises fulfilled in our lives. Perhaps you are experiencing ëbarrennessí in your life today and asking God, ìWhy arenít You providing for me?î Perhaps God is teaching us how to position ourselves to come under His provision.

How do we do this? We must firstÖ

 

  n  Understand the SEASON you are in. Then adjust, in order to be

       a good steward of His assignment.

 

Quite often God calls us to an assignment and we respond with, ìBut I need more money to do what I have to do!î He tells us ì... He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna...that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Godî (Deut.8:3).

 

You see, God doesnít want for our lives to be directed by the abundance of money or the lack of it. God wants our lives to be directed by His voice speaking to our lives and not by the economy. True financial freedom is NOT having tons of money. True financial freedom is being free from what finances drive our lives to do. We can have a little bit and we might compromise to have more. Or we can have a lot and we might compromise to indulge our sinful ëwantsí. Neither one of these is true financial freedom.

 

Regardless of our season, our loving heavenly Father tells us, ìListen to the lessons I have you to learn... focus on character, humility, and servant hood. Learn to be content with whatever you have. And once that lesson is learned I can add more. You need to attach your soul to Me and not the economy. Once youíre attached to me then you can steward the economy.î

 

FOR DISCUSSION:

1.  Do you understand the difference between wants and needs?

2.  Have you thought of your life as having ëseasonsí?

 

Because the world we live in is so focused on feeding our ëwantsí, it is easy to be pulled away from trusting Godís promise to meet all of our needs. God knows this, and has provided ëwarning signsí to show us when we donít trust His promise to provide for us. As a loving Father, He wants to teach us to discern these warnings so that we wonít compromise and get ourselves into trouble. Therefore He gives usÖ

 

 

SIGNS OF OVER EXTENTION:

 

Here are three signs to let us know when we are overextended. The first sign we often feel is the burden ofÖ

 

1. INAPPROPRIATE DEBT.

 

Now, there is some debt that is feasible. Inappropriate debt is when you have so much debt that you canít pay your bills. There is debt that is appreciating debt like a house or car, but recent debt statistics are scary! Do you know that there are 1.3 billion cards in circulation in the US? And there are only 250 million people, which include babies and children! Americans made 1.1 trillion credit card purchases last year. On average Americans carry $5,800.00 debt from month to month. Almost all of us are guilty!

 

ìDo not say to your neighbor, ëGo, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it, ë when you have it with youî (Prov.3:28). Remember, God tells us that He gives us what we need to meet all of our needs. But if we take that money and use it so that we canít meet our basic needs, thatís inappropriate debt. What often happens then isÖ

 

n                  IT (the debt) WILL CANCEL YOUR INTEGRITY.

 

 ìBut above all...let your yes be yes, and your no be noí so that you may not fall under judgmentî (James 5:12).

 

With inappropriate debt, we make a commitment to someone to pay for a service. Thus someone trusts us. Then when we donít pay because we canít, we lose integrity. God says to be careful because this is a sign that we have inappropriate debt and that we do not trust Him with the season weíre in. God knows what seasons are ahead for us and itís often in times of drought that our roots go down deep into Him. He knows that we will need depth of for upcoming seasons.

 

I encourage you to trust Him to know your season because inappropriate debt might not only cancel your integrity, itís likely thatÖ

 

n                  WORRY WILL STEAL YOUR JOY.

 

 ì...do not worry, saying, ëWhat shall we eat?í or ëWhat shall we drink?í or ëWhat shall we wear?í...your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you...î (Matt.6:31-33 NIV).

 

God is telling us to seek first His Kingdom and He promises to provide. So many marriages break up because of finances. Sixty-five percent of marriages struggle with finances and 54% of marriages that end in divorce say financial problems are a major factor in the breakup. There is no joy!

 

Another key warning sign that weíre overextended is anÖ

 

n                  INABILITY TO TITHE.

 

Often the reason we canít tithe is because we have nothing left to give! God tells us that He provides ìseed for the sowerî, giving us the funds to give... but if we eat the seed weíve been given to sow what will happen to tomorrowís harvest? Weíll be in deep weeds! God says, ìI didnít give you that seed to eat I gave it for you to sow and if itís not there to sow then youíre misappropriating what Iíve given.î Remember His promise and consider His words which say,

 

ìBring the whole tithe into the storehouse...and test Me now in this...if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast itís grapes,í says the LORD of hostsî (Mal.3:10-11).

 

Donít forget, we have an enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. God tells us in this scripture that if we are faithful to our season that He will rebuke the devourer for us and we can have confidence that God is protecting us. We might not have as much as someone else but God will supply our needs. We can find many excuses not to tithe and many of them seem valid.  However, Godís loving heart calls us to focus on eternity and one way He has provided for us to stay focused is by calling us to tithe.

 

FOR DISCUSSION:

3.  Have I ever considered these (inappropriate debt, worry over finances, and inability to tithe) as a ëwarning signí from my loving Father that I am not trusting Him to provide for me?

 

God, in His love for us, has provided another warning sign to help us know the season we are in and thatís aÖ

 

2. FALSE DISCOURAGEMENT.

 

Remember the Israelites who were led by the cloud and fire, provided with water out of a rock, quail in abundance to eat? Their shoes and clothes didnít even wear out, and they walked a long way in the desert!  Well the Bible tells us that ì... the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled...î (Num.11:1).

 

Were they in adversity?? No! They just complained because they werenít satisfied with how God was providing for them. The Israelites were not in a season of abundance, they were in a season of obedience, humility, trust, and contentment.

 

I have seen young couples who have not discerned the season and who coveted the life of a CEO and after several years Iíve seen their marriages fail. They didnít want what God provided for them they wanted something different. They didnít discern the season, missed the lessons, and lost something more precious than money could ever buy. Accept that your yearnings will always be greater than your earnings.

 

My wife and I began our life together in a small home. And now that we have a home 3 times the size of our first, but weíre not 3 times as happy! Weíve learned that itís our heart that determines how satisfied we are in our seasons. 

 

FOR DISCUSSION:

4. This oneís tough because most of us are guilty! Can you take time now to ask God to forgive you for grumbling as though Heís not a good Father who knows how to provide for His children? 

 

If we donít discern the season we will feel like weíre in adversity when we really arenít. Is it possible to connive, cut corners, and make a lot of money? Oh, yes! We can crave for many things, and we can compromise our heart. And so God, who loves us, gives us another warning sign because often when we work to get more than what God provides for us in our season, we will discover that we haveÖ

 

3. A SHALLOW SOUL.

 

Do you know that one of the most dangerous emotions is CRAVING? When you start hearing yourself say, ìIíve gotta have.....î beware! Use all of your self-control to forgo whatever you crave so that you get your heart dis-attached. Thatís because once you start to crave something you come under itís ìspellî and often youíll compromise anything to get what you crave. The Israelites did this: ì... craved intensely in the wilderness...So He gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease among them.î (Ps.106:14-15) ì...[HE] sent leanness into their soul.î(KJV)

 

So God gave them what they craved but their souls became shallow. Someone once said, ìThere are two sorrows in life. One is to NOT get what you crave, and the other is to get it.î Your soul shallows out because you have to rationalize to justify your craving. Iíve done this before... wanted something so badly and then 3 months later itís sitting on the shelf.  Craving catches us.... so whenever you feel this KILL IT! This is especially important when it has to do with a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend.

 

Remember this: If something doesnít come from Godís hand then you donít want to touch it! ìEvery plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.î (Matt.15:13). What God doesnít plant it in your life will be uprooted! Craving has stolen many years out of my life.

 

FOR DISCUSSION:

5. This oneís even harder!  Who wants to be considered ìshallowî?  Can you think of something that youíve craved that later; you were sorry you ëboughtí?

 

Howard Hughes once said he needed ìjust a little bit moreî money to make him happy. On the opposite end of the spectrum of wealth is Mother Teresa. She once said, ìI have often found rich people to be much poorer than poor people. Theyíre often much lonelier on the inside because theyíre never satisfied. Iím not saying everyone is like this...but that the hunger for love is more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.î

 

In His wisdom God lovingly gives each of us a ëseasoní and tells us that His desire is to deepen our heart.  He knows the season and promises to provide. We can trust that when He sees that weíve learned what we need to know Heíll be faithful to ëgraduateí us to the next season.