Dear Friends, �There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, mind, and the purse.� -Martin Luther
God�s Financial Best Malachi 3:7-12 7 ""From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,'' says the LORD of hosts. ""But you say, "How shall we return?' 8 ""Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, "How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. 9 ""You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! 10 ""Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,'' says the LORD of hosts, ""if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. 11 ""Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,'' says the LORD of hosts. 12 ""All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,'' says the LORD of hosts. Do you realize that in the Gospels Jesus spoke more about money than he did about heaven, hell, or prayer? How can this be? Was Jesus� teaching ministry truly more concerned with our wallets than our souls? Perhaps Jesus was revealing a deep truth that many people cannot admit: our financial state of affairs is a reflection of our devotion to God. We see this clearly in Matthew 6:24, in which Jesus declares, �You cannot serve God and wealth.� Oftentimes, people do not understand the seriousness implied here. His statement makes the issue more personal than we think. The phrase that Jesus uses, the Aramaic term mammon, indicates that He is giving money a personality. His choice of language and the message given portray mammon as an active rival god. The Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19 wanted to follow Jesus, but was unable to follow His instruction to leave his wealth behind. Richard Foster notes, �The instruction makes sense only when we see that the rich young ruler�s wealth was a rival god seeking his complete devotion.� Are you unwittingly serving two masters? Does your wealth (or lack of it) dominate your life to the point of your neglecting or withholding glory and honor from God? If so, pray for deliverance from this ungodly rival. Copyright � 2000, IN TOUCH Magazine. In Touch Ministries. All Rights Reserved. Your's in Jesus, Biji James, Bangalore Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************************
