Wednesday, October 1, 2008

God or Mammon?

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

(Matthew 6:22-24 - TNIV)

12 comments:

tracy said...

Let's just say that when you are at the end of your rope money is not going to bring you comfort. When you are sick it is not going to heal you. My bank doesn't have every tear bottled nor does it love me unconditionally. And you are right- we do serve a jealous God and sometimes He puts us in a position to decide which is more important----HE WINS, hands down. And a side note welcome home family- we missed you, but thanks for going in our stead. I can tell already you took your great individual gifts and brought us back a better version of yourselves. Sounds like Uganda and you all will never be the same. Thank you and I meant that.

Son of Zadok said...

One vote for God here...

dgm2007 said...

always a good subject to bring up.. since it has to do with motivation. if you work hard everyday and feel like your not seeing results its probably linked to what frivolous work your devoting all your energy toward.. I'm a tad random so yeah.. but a good friend of mine told me that whenever i feel like I'm going crazy or have lost it to focus on my breathing.. and boy is that a good piece of advice.. life is nuts but sometimes you just have to remember that your here in the moment and you can choose to go off in your mind to this far off place and worry yourself silly but were just here.. right now and how awesome is this place.. :) so glad your back everyone i dunno if they all read this but it feels great to know your back.. weds was good btw. the guest minister was really good.. everything happens for a reason..
peace and love

Anonymous said...

This morning for my Devotional time I read this from: My UTMOST for His HIGHEST. And I thought that I shared it with you, and the Bloggers.

The Sphere of Exaltation: “Jesus leadeth them into a high mountain apart by themselves.” Mark 9:2

We have all had all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God’s standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawn and aesthetic affinities; those are for moments of inspiration that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.
We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz, into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking- What is the use of it? In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain tops are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

By OSWALD CHAMBERS.

Son of Zadok said...

“Don't tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what they are.”

~James W. Frick

"I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending their lives doing things they detest, to make money they don't want, to buy things they don't need, to impress people they dislike."

~Emile Henry Gauvreay

"Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man."

~Kahlil Gibran

"Make money your god and it will plague you like the devil."

~Henry Fielding

"If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life."

~Billy Graham

"More people are bribed by their own money than anybody else's."

~Jonathan Daniels

"God gave me my money. I believe the power to make money is a gift from God . . . to be developed & used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money & still more money & to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience."

~John D. Rockefeller

"For I don't care too much for money, For money can't buy me love."

~The Beatles

The Cloud of Unknowing said...

The Place of Christ continued...

From the above it is very clear that entering the cloud does not mean abandoning Christ. Jesus is present: he is the divine center to which Mary's love is directed. But she has no regard for clear cut images of his beautiful mortal body, no ears for the sweetness of his human voice. She has gone beyond all this to a deeper knowledge, a deeper love and a deeper beauty. Here in practice is the paradox of a contemplation that is at once Christocentric and imageless.
Examples of this imageless approach to the man Christ abound in the English author: nor is it necessary here to quote his reference in Privy Counseling to Christ who is at once the porter and the door. Or his interesting interpretation of the ascension of Christ, who has to go ("It is expedient for you that I go") lest the disciples become so attached to his historical body that they cannot love his glorified body. As I have said, our word "cosmic" is not there; but the idea is inescapably present.

Anonymous said...

I hate money, but I sure do love it when I got me some.

Anonymous said...

Too cool! I logged on to the service late tonight for reasons I won’t get into. But bless God there it was....not in the middle as I had expected....but from the beginning even though I was late. I don’t know what you did but it is great for tardy people like me.

The service was very insightful hearing all the different views of the trip. It is awesome how different personalities will pick up on different things. we are truly a kaleidoscope of spiritual and physical beings. God is using CITN and NOW ministries in His Kingdom in big ways in the world and I think we are just seeing the very beginning of the awesome things He has prepared for this ministry in the ushering in of the next eon that is dawning now in the hearts of men and women all over the world.

I am proud and honored to be a part of it.

Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

> THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
> Wednesday, October 1, 2008
>
> Still to come
> +++++++++++++++++++
> Be thankful for what is. And be thankful also for what has
> not yet come to you.
>
> For that is where the possibilities are. And those
> possibilities have no limit.
>
> Value what you already know, and also value the countless
> things you don't yet know. For in what you do not know,
> there is the joy of learning and discoveries to come.
>
> Find peace in the thought that you cannot ever have it all
> or know it all. For if you did, there would be nothing more
> to experience.
>
> The best is yet to come. For you have the opportunity to
> choose it all from the boundless field of possibilities.
>
> There is great value in where you have been, in what you
> have done, and in all that you now have. And always, so very
> much more is still to come.
>
> By Ralph Marston
LOVE & PEACE

Anonymous said...

Well, since I don't have any real money in the natural, I guess it would be God. In this season I have learned how to do so much with so little, that it has to be the Lord who is adding the increase. The Lord is teaching me to say I walk in "Divine Wealth" because we have to call those things that are not as though they are.

One of my very good friends, asked me a couple of years ago, "what would I do if money wasn't in the equation?"

That's a real question and something to think about, for most of us. Well, the question still stands, what would you do? Well today I can honestly say, money is not in the equation and I still choose God. I just absolutley think about Him all of the time, and if I am not thinking about Him or would He be pleased by my actions or what would He want today, I am serving Him in another way, probably by serving His people. So some would say that I have been apprehended. I live to worship Him. Worshipping him makes my life worthwhile.

So, I would say I work for Him because I want to and that is the only thing that brings me joy (happiness from the inside out) and even if I get paid mammon or if I don't, He still takes care of me, He still shelters me, He still makes sure I have a car and yes even gas. So I guess He is just God and because I draw nigh to him (who else?), He draws nigh to me. I really can't explain this but I promise you, sometimes I have to get back in the boat and watch Him so I can rest from following Him. He is amazing but somehow He manages to bless me in the most unexpected ways.

Larry Young sang on Sunday, God's favor is "UNSTOPPABLE" and I don't leave home without it.

One other thing, with all of the business (news) about the banks, the only security we have is in being independently wealthy, that is our dependencies in Him. We live in Him!

Everything else is wood, hay and stubble and it is being shaken!

"Got God"?????????

Water Walker!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Bishop, for inspiring us to consider the difference between the economy of God and that of the mammon (the world’s system of money power or the fear caused by the lack thereof). All things will pass away but the Word of God is established forever.

Speaking from the confirmation of the testimonies from the Uganda team yesterday, it is clear to me that the source of God’s economy is in the human heart.

Erik set the tone for this revelation by stating the Spirit is the same to the Ugandans as that resident in our own hearts.

Iris spoke of the simplicity of life she observed there and how time was not as important to Ugandans as enjoying what is happening in the now. What a pearl of great value it is to enjoy those you are interacting with and not be under pressure to perform toward the time table set by other people. There is a waste in the waiting for those who get caught up in the deadline pressure to accomplish something that only pleases a temporal power god.

Pastor Avery mentioned the team coming back with ships full of cargo to share. Their ships are their hearts and they will always be full to overflowing from this experience. There will be moments when the team speaks from its memory of this without even making direct reference to it that will bless others for as long as they are on this earth. The team has been made rich in ways that are of the most value to them and others.

Peacemaker expressed his recognition of childlikeness in the spirits of children and adults alike in their inter communication with each other and the team alike as though the Ugandans had accepted them as a fellow child. He also mentioned Bishop’s prophetic declaration to the church there. Not of knowledge concerning that declaration it is only by the Spirit that I know the declaration to be relative to fulfillment of the heart’s desire. The truly outstanding part of Bishop’s gift to the Ugandans is the inclusion of them by us and us by them. As stated before, Bishop gives credit to the Holy Ghost for bringing this together. It must be acknowledged that it also take the obedient heart of those called to make something of this magnitude happen. CITN will profit from the action of its prophets who followed in obedience the prophet over this house.

Larry Usher coined a phrase, waiting on the edge of their hearts to hear the next phrase, which is central to the wholeness of this revelation. In the economy of the heart we all are on the edge just waiting to hear what will be revealed from the heart of another and also looking for an opportunity to give from the wealth of our own heart.

Pastor Ernie said that CITN now has a powerful presence on the other side of the world and his language was clear that his heart was enriched with power of unity that only comes from oneness of hearts committed to a task. It is also note worthy that Uganda has a powerful presence in the hearts of the team members and that will be a deposit that will continue to grow giving them a place here in Conyers, Georgia; USA.

A final note to Rosette Nadiope, we at CITN will be waiting on the edge of our hearts to share more of the true wealth that is resident in us all. Your contributions to this blog are cherished and our hearts will be in desire of hearing from Uganda with delightful anticipation of the enjoyment to come when that desire is fulfilled.

Thank you to all for enriching me with your genuine actions of Godly love.

JB

Anonymous said...

AS CONFIRMATION

About a year ago the Pew Research Center published a report which said that in poorer nations, religion remains central to the lives of individuals, while secular perspectives are more common in richer nations. In the poorest African countries, with little regard for mammon the peopled look to God. UGANDA!! In the wealthy European countries, the pursuit is of mammon and there is not time for God.

The US and Kuwait were off the curve exceptions – high in both

Ya gotta love how God speaks!
– even through the Pew Report.

And yet we continue to pursue mammon
I BELIEVE - HELP MY UNBELIEF