Not Content?

Why do we spend so much on cars & homes that are more luxurious than we need?

Be content with basics, after all they’re what God promises to provide (Matt 6).

Contentment

Contentment

 

      Are you really content? Are you content whether you have a paycheck this week or not? That is a hard question. However, we have a promise that our Lord will provide for your needs (Matt 6). Now, that does not mean that we should be lazy for if a man does not work he shall not eat, but if he cannot find work is another matter entirely. No matter what your circumstances, you can learn contentment. Paul said:

 

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Phil 4:11-13 (KJV)

 

1 Timothy 6:8-9

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

 

    Let us be content, dear ones, with food and clothing. For our basic needs are warmth and protection for our bodies and food to nourish them. For these things our Lord provides (Matt 6). We are more important than the grass of the field and the animals of the earth!

 

9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

 

    Those that will, that desire, that strive to simply be rich fall into a temptation and a snare. Their souls will find no true peace or pleasure in the ladder to it and once it is attained, they will not be able to sleep for fear of losing it and happiness will flee despite the mounds of gold and houses full of treasures they may obtain. Truly the pursuit of riches leads to foolish and hurtful lusts that drown their masters into destruction and perdition. Let us be content with the basics and joyfully thankful with anything the Lord entrusts us with above that.

1 Tim 6:8-9 (KJV)

Be Still

Be Still

    Being Still is a hard thing to do many times and it definitely won’t happen unless we intentionally take time for it. God foretold that it would be hectic in the last days—that people would be running to and fro (Daniel 12:4). Practicing time alone with the Lord is one of our first duties. Jesus, after performing the miracle of feeding the 5,000 and preaching and teaching for 3 days straight, got away from everyone—even his disciples—to be with His Father. Jesus sent the crowds away who were still ecstatic about the miracle and walked away from it all because He knew what was important. Similarly, when Martha was running around serving and telling the Lord that He should make Mary get up and help, Jesus said that only one thing was needful and Mary had found it and it would not be taken from her. The principle is that sitting at Jesus feet is important and when we do, it cannot be taken away from us.

     All the laws and prophets hand on two commandments #1 Love God  and #2 love others. Sadly, I think that we focus on loving others many times more than loving God first and as a result we struggle and strive to truly love but can’t. We can only love others with the Love that God puts into our hearts. Therefore, it is essential that we cultivate our time with the Lord first and foremost. The condition of our spiritual walk is of more importance than anything else. How foolish we are when we attempt to repair all our relationships with man before we maintain our union with the Lord. Jesus said Abide in me and you’ll have all that you need (John 15). How do we abide—by staying, by being still, by being quiet, by being silent; by meditating on the Word—just thinking about it. In my own walk, I have found that many times, when I am being still that I will say nothing and just sit and listen to the Lord as I read His Word and as His Spirit occasionally brings things to mind—I jot them down.  I have found that this is a place of prayerfulness and rest as well as rejuvenation and transformation. I’m praying, but I’m not saying anything, I’m simply there in the Secret Place with God and listening. Isn’t is significant that Jesus told us to go into the Secret Place to pray? It isn’t about being in a big room with people and finding our corner or sticking our head between our knees, it is a Secret Place of fellowship that we pray. It isn’t about our many words or the length of our prayers, but our dependency, our reliance on, our confidence in, our abiding, our stillness and peace in Christ.

     Beloved of Christ, remember that you are loved by the Lord and spend time with Him. O that we would see men and women who once again put God first and foremost, loving Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength!

…..Practice being still in the Secret Place.

With God all things are Possible

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Matt 19:26 (KJV)

     You can do anything that God wants you to. It is important that we believe this in our hearts and let the peace of Christ rule in our minds (Phil 4), because our thought life can build walls that hinder us from following God. One’s thought life is very, very important.

     I remember a car ride home with my Father and Brother where my Dad was teaching my little brother the importance of how powerful our thoughts are. He started off telling how the son of our Self-Defense Teacher was going to break a board that night and said before he hit it that he wasn’t good at this and didn’t break it. Then my Dad said something that stuck to my mind and heart, “You can do a lot more than you think you can….but Satan wants you defeated because then you’re [useless].” Does the vision God has given you seem too large? Too hard? Too out of your skill set? Not your personality? None of that matters. God can do the impossible; yea, He can do anything through us!

      Think of Noah, Joseph, Daniel, Samson, John the Baptist, Nehemiah, David, Ruth, and the many others we find in Scripture—they did extraordinary things because of God! If they would have just given up because it was hard or too big, they would have disobeyed God and the people of God may have been destroyed. Pause for a moment or two and contemplate how important your thought life is.

Thought 226: Contentment from Ryan's devotional book series Thougths

Thought 226

Contentment

  We need to be content. Christ emphasizes the need contentment when He refers to the Pharisee’s as a generation of vipers who don’t know that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34). The problem of discontentment is in our heart, it is a lack of trust in God.

Take some time to examine your heart before God. If their discontentment in your life, what wrong passion of the heart had not been dealt with? The Holy Spirit is your teacher, He will show you.

Thought 218: Scripture from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 218

Scripture

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 (NIV1984)

Thought 188: Contentment from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 188

  Contentment

     Time is rolling away and we need to do our best to stay content, fruitful, obedient, and, most importantly learning from who should be our most intimate Friend—the Lord.

I describe that Friend as the one who pulls me through. How do you describe Him?

     Contentment seems to come in a very simple way. The best way that I can describe it is taking life minute by minute with peace. Yes, planning things can be good; but when my life becomes a series of events or ministry involvements without contentment, I feel that my personal ministry loses power and I lose closeness in my relationship with the lover and Savior of my soul, the Author and Finisher of my faith, Jesus Christ; and I know that I need to slow down. Jesus truly has changed my life! and by taking life step by step with Him I believe that all of our lives will be following His leading. Amen? If we aren’t practicing stillness; resting and being content in the Lord’s presence, it is very hard to be encouraged and rejuvenated, especially when serving in ministry.

         Without rejuvenation, we “ministers” take the sole responsibility of leading and taking care of a flock of souls, but the problem is that we do so in our own strength. This is very stressful! But what did Jesus say about all this? His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Could it be that when we step out of contentment we start pulling away from His yoke? Paul mentions that he has peace in all situations (Philippians 4:11-13). The best way to follow His hand, that I know, is to commit everything to Him: my future, beautiful wife; my family; my job; my ministry; my rest; my mentorship; my growth; everything!