SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 07-28-03
My
Worship Time Focus: Stay away from the
love of money
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Hebrews 13:5
1. Message of the verse: “5 Let your conduct be without covetousness;
be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never
leave you nor forsake you.’ 6 So we may
boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to
me?’”(NKJV) “Stay away from the love of
money; be satisfied with what you have.
For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.’ That is why we can say with confidence, ‘The
Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?’”
(NLT)
The word
for covetousness means love of money; “1) not loving money, not avaricious.”
Avaricious means greedy, and the opposite of it is generous, so this verse is
saying that a believer should not fall in love with his money or his things,
but should be generous with what the Lord has given to him. It also says that we should be content with
what the Lord has blessed us with, and the reason for that is because the Lord
has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us. These ten cross references are found for this
section of the verse; “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “#Ge 28:15 De 31:6,8 Jos 1:5 1Sa 12:22 1Ch
28:20 Ps 37:25,28 #Isa 41:10,17.” I want
to focus in on the word translated for “never” for it has a deeper meaning in
the Greek; “1) never, certainly not, not at all, by no means.” This shows how strong the word is.
The writer goes on to
add to these thoughts in verse six, and does it by quoting Psalm 118:6. This is a Messianic Psalm and thus it applies
to the life of those who have trusted the Messiah as Savior and Lord. It is interesting that Warren Wiersbe has
name his book on the study of Hebrews, “Be Confident” for this is what this
verse gives to believers, for this is a wonderful truth to grab hold of and to
stand on, and to live by, because “the Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
2. Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is a lot of things in these two verses
that apply to my life at this time of my life, considering the circumstance
that I find myself in with my investments with Andrew Lech. There are things in this verse that directly
apply to my life such as not trying to help the Lord out by taking a loan out
on our house and getting more interest so that I can give more money to
Christian charities. God has made it
clear to me that this was indeed wrong and that HE does not need my help, for
as verse six says He is our helper, and not the other way around. This verse speaks about the love of money,
and I believe to some extent that I am guilty of that too. I have learned from this circumstance that
the Lord has lead me into that we can live on a lot less money, and if the Lord
would ever bless us with more then we could give more of it back to Him. We have a desire to live on a fixed budget
and if we are blessed with more then the excess will be use where the Lord
directs us to use it.
The Word of God has challenged me, it has convicted me, and
it was refreshing to me too.
My
Steps of Faith Today: Not
to have a love of money, and believe that the Lord will never forsake me, nor
leave me. To believe that He is my
helper, and that man can do nothing to me that is not filtered through the
loving hands of the Lord.
Memory verses for the week:
Psalm 121:1-6
1.
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall
my help come?
2.
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
3.
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will
not slumber.
4.
Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5.
The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your
right hand.
6.
The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by
night.
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