Using our Resources.
Jesus instructed us to “ Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things ( food ,raiment, the necessities of life) shall be added unto you.”When we have our mind set on our needs, our resources never seem to be enough. In the light of the word of God however it is apparent that our Heavenly Father is able to take the least significant thing that we have to do mighty things for his glory. For example when Jesus saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two smallfishes: but what are they among so many? John 6:5-9 I believe you will remember that he took this small boys lunch and fed five thousand people. Then they found there were twelve baskets left over. The multitude was fed and they had twelve times more food than before. Consider Noah, who was told to build the Ark, what an enormous undertaking, his resources were his family, the trees and some pitch, a few tools,(he purchased on sale at the local hardware storeJ) and our Fathers instruction. He was one hundred years in building it, one board at a time. We need to thank God that he didn’t say, I don’t have the resources to build it. Another great example was a widow woman; Elijah was sent by the Lord to her house during the time of the drought and when he spoke to her about giving him a little morsel of bread. “She said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 1 Ki.17:12,13 She obeyed and gave the man of God her hand full of meal and the Lord blessed her and the barrel of meal never wasted nor the cruse of oil never failed through out the time of the drought. What is in your hand? It doesn’t matter how insignificant it may seem, if you give it to God he will use it. When the Lord God appeared unto Moses at the burning bush and was commissioning him to go and lead the children of Israel out of bondage, Moses said, “They will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice.”And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.” What ever it is that our Heavenly Father asks us to give him, no matter how strange it may seem or how hard it is to give up, by the grace of God let us do so. Remember Abraham who was told to give his promised son Isaac whom he loved very much. He got up early the very next day and went out in obedience to the Lord. Abraham offered up Isaac and God blessed his seed unto a nation that cannot be numbered. We should never despise the day of small things. See Zec.4:10 The smallest seed can bring the greatest abundance, when God gives the increase. Plant that small bag of seed no matter how foolish it seems, or that avocado, or put the eggs under the hen. Don’t wait until you have a big bag of seed or a lot of avocados to plant, or wait until you have a lot of chickens; by all means use what you have. Discontentment with what we have is a terrible disease and it only brings sorrow and destroys faith. In 1 Ti.6:6 we read that Godliness with contentment is great gain. The person who keeps heaping up things, believes he is blessed because he has gathered up much but one dollar blessed by God will do much more than thousands of dollars laid up in store. When we give for the kingdom of God we can be assured that God will never forget us. What good is it to have beenblessed with riches if we never use the resources for the kingdom of God? For this world and all that is in it will melt with a fervent heat, and all the mountains of treasures gathered up by men will be lost. But the widows mite or handful of meal or the five barley loaves and two small fishes will be remembered by God. I think its better to walk around in the desert with just a staff in your hand (that is being blessed by God) is much better than dwelling in the court of the Pharaoh with all the treasures of Egypt. See Heb.11:24-26 Don’t say you are poor, what one Christian has in Christ Jesus is much greater than all the riches of the world. We are told in Ef.1:4 that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Sometimes we get nervous when we find our resources dwindling down to nothing but we must remember that the greatest resource of all is Christ in you your hope of glory. Our Father said to Abraham; “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” In Jesus,James Lucas
His Vision Mission 