Dr. D's Devotional
Title: Finances 18
by Dennis Reschke
Finances 18
To prosper spiritually, a man has to be born again. To prosper
soulfully, a man's mind has to be renewed, his will must be in submission
to His will. This is done be grace, and it must be done according the ways
of God, not the traditions of men (2Tim 2:5, Matt 15:6). I have heard people
pray, "Lord break my will." This is a useless and even harmful prayer. Useless
because God doesn't run rough shod over anyone's free will. Our will always
remain in tact. God doesn't control people. If we had no will we would be
like someone in a coma, or with a lobotomy. Jesus, in the garden, didn't
relinquish His will to the Father, He simply subordinated it to Him. It
was still in tact. It is a harmful prayer in the sense that it can't be
answered. Since it isn't answered, those who pray it and those who hear
it and see that it is not answered, become discouraged. It takes a little
bit more energy and faith to overcome the next time one prays as a result
of the doubt that is incurred.
There is power in a man's will, even if he is an unbeliever. It is what
makes us like God (John 10:34). We have the power to die and go to hell
if we want to and there's nothing man or God can do about it. We can choose
our own eternal destiny. This is a God-like quality. God created man in
His own image. By this will we can choose our destiny. Deut. 30:19 "I call
heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before
you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both
you and your seed may live". WE do the choosing; God will honor our choice.
A man who is prospering in his soul is one whose will is in line with the
Word and Spirit of God. How do you do this? We cannot get in line with God's
will unless we know what it is. THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WILL OF GOD. God
doesn't say one thing and will another - that's double minded. An honest
man can't have his word and his will at odds: God is greater than a man.
So, you get your will in line with the Word, and now your in line with the
will of God.
A man who is emotionally prosperous is one who can control
his emotions. This doesn't mean emotionless, it means he doesn't allow his
emotions to contradict and supersede the Word of God. We must become Word
of God minded, or "spiritually minded" (Rom 8:6). Someone who cries about
how an old dog named Tray died and pays good money to hear about it over
and over again, is not prospering in his emotions. It's salving over some
hurt that hasn't ever been dealt with through the Word and Spirit of God.
Some people don't want to be healed emotionally (or physically) because
then they won't have anything to complain about. If they don't have anything
to complain about, they won't have anything to say, and if they don't have
anything to say, people won't hang around them, and that's intolerable.
People hung around Jesus, some for the wrong reasons, a few for the right
reasons. In his presence is the fullness of Joy. If we do what Jesus did,
people will hang around you. We have His spirit. We need to let go of our
hurts, let God fix um, and move on.
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