Give Me Courage

Earlier today I saw a post on Facebook that I had a negative reaction to. However, I was afraid of offending someone with my thoughts so I didn’t say anything. The post was a picture of Joel Osteen and said something to the effect that someone whose church makes $40,000,000 is not a pastor but a business con man.

When did the Lord say he would limit how much we should make? In fact does it not say in the Bible that whoever loves Him and follows His commandments will prosper? Yes, it does. In fact over 31 times God tells us He will prosper us. There are 62 verses about Him blessing us.

Never once does he say that we have a limit. He says things like “abundant prosperity”; “Give and it shall be given to you; shaken down, pressed together, and overflowing”; “When you delight in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart”; “Anything you desire from me will I do”; “Nations on earth will be blessed”.

I believe that America has been blessed because we are a Christian nation. Now, that Christianity is under attack. We are seeing more and more problems as our country turns from God.

In my life, I have been blessed many times over. I have also had heartache and pain. There has always been a lesson I needed to learn from the pain. I have physical blessings, material blessings, spiritual blessings, and financial blessings.

When did it become wrong to have material blessings? In this world we live in we need money. We need money to do the things we need and want. Money is not bad. Money is a tool you can use to help yourself and others. I know this to be true.

When Laurence and I give 10% back to God and His storehouses, we are always blessed. I truly enjoy blessing people with what I have. I enjoy passing along some of what God has given to me and my family. It brings me pleasure to give. That is one of the most incredible compensations in life. You can’t help someone else without helping yourself.

When I feel bad, I make myself of service. God is my partner. He is my business partner. He is my life partner. I consult Him when I make a decision and every morning I give Him thanks and ask for help and strength. AND He blesses me and my family.

When I first started having God as my partner, when I became an adult, it took a while for the blessings to start showing up in my life. As a child, it was so natural to speak to Him all the time. I would go for horseback rides with Him and talk to Him. He was in my life all the time. Then I grew up and allowed the Devil to put a block between God and me.

Part of the block was a belief that I should never want more. That rich people were bad. That people who had money would NOT make it to heaven. Then I went through a phase of, it’s bad to give and receive. The only reason you are giving is so you can receive.

The Devil is so sneaky. He knows the right things to use to stop us from doing what God wants if we let him. I thought the more I struggled financially the more holy I was. That is NOT true at all.

As we follow God and His promptings, He WILL bless us and it is perfect. If you are not currently giving 10% of your income back to God, I invite you to start. The more you are blessed, the more you can give.

I remember when I started giving it was a few hundred dollars a year. I was blessed and so were others. Now, it is tens of thousands of dollars and we are still blessed. I look forward to the day when is it millions.

I believe we need more people living to their full potential. Stop playing small. Stop letting others and yourself limit you. God has put unlimited potential in you. Start using it to bless others. Start growing your gifts and you will be blessed.

Think about how it feels to bless your children or friends with what they want. Well, I believe God feels it tenfold. It hurts Him to see us living below our potential just like it hurts you to see others not living up to theirs.

I invite you to go out and be of service. I invite you to bless others. I invite you to heal some of the pain in this world. Together let’s stop the cycle of “hurt” people hurting people. Join me won’t you? Pay your blessings forward. You will be pleased with the results. It’s guaranteed.