It Comes By Holding On

This message is written by a pastor and brother in Christ and I hope the message speaks to you in a time when we need to "Hold On" and be strong in our belief. Know that we must hold on to what God has planned for us. We live in a world controled by evil and not by God, the scripture tells us that clearly and God didn't save us to fill a pew on Sunday's or whenever we find time to make it to church or turn to Him when things are going bad in our lives. He's with you when things are good too so remember to give praise and glory to Him always and he'll help you when the trials come along. God saved us to make an impact in the world and to share His Word with those of which we come in contact and that doesn't mean other brothers and sisters in Christ, no, that means those who have yet come to know Jesus. I encourage you to Hold On and to plug into the Word of God so that when you are being tried, you know what you are holding on to.

And now, here is Pastor Ron Acker.

Everyone is given a measure of faith, but our faith can grow and be stimulated to grow. It is inevitable! God is using this opportunity as an impetus challenge move us forward in faith. It is a quest to experience the fullness of God's glory in our life and minister to those hungering for what God has given to us.  Holding on to the uncertainty of what God has planned for us...."is like Jacob wrestling with the Lord". It is a key to experiencing the definite promise of the blessings of God! Jacob told his wrestling opponent... "I will not let you go until you bless me!"(Gen 32:26) I imagine that he would have held on to him for days if he had to. His determination and desire was honored by God! He had a name changing experience that has impacted the world even to this present day! Oh Yes!!! All of Jacob's sons were already born at this point in time with the exception of Benjamin, but the name change came that day when Jacob held on until he received the blessing in a supernatural encounter with God. Some say that a nation was born here because of the name change, but I believe an embracing encounter with the Living God was experienced here and the "result" was a name change and unfathomable blessings! WOW! How awesome would it be for God to tell you...I am changing your Name!...Because you have held on! It comes by holding on / over coming! Rev 2:17
God was doing something new here with this "little Stinker" Jacob! Thank God he held on! You can too!  If you listen and apply what God is telling you. You are being changed from Faith to Greater Faith....from Glory to GreaterGlory! The evidence is there my friend!  The Finger Prints of God are noticed! I know that He has been touching you, molding you, shaping, changing, re-arranging you. He is not finished with you either. Just yield to His Spirit and His Word.  Keep holding on! Philippians 1:3-6
I always pray with joy being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Be encouraged! GOD wants YOU!

Be Strong and Be Brave!

Precious Rewards

Precious Rewards

Genesis 1-3Psalm 106:3

What is most important to you? Have you lived most of your adult life striving to make money? Where is the majority of your time spent – being at work? By the way, why do you work – to make money? Would you do the work you’re doing if there was not a monetary reward awaiting you at the end of your work hours? I think we could surmise that we spend a whole lot of time, in fact, the majority of our time trading our time for money. By virtue of how much time we spend in the pursuit of money, it must be really important.

Let’s step back a bit and see if we can learn from the Bible a thing or two about what is most important. Spending a lot of time making money can actually be a good thing when we get our hearts right and go about it correctly. I’ll bet that raised some eyebrows! Don’t leave yet - read further, please.

In Genesis the first chapter, God is busy. He spends six days creating the world as we know it. His response to each aspect of creation was the refrain, “And God saw that it was good.” After God had rested on the seventh day, He noted that one thing was “not good”, and that was the fact that man was alone (2:18). And so, He created a woman to be the suitable helper for Adam.
Adam had everything – the Garden of Eden, dominion over the animals, every seed bearing plant and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. “They will be yours for food.” He also had gold - “the gold of that land is good” (2:12), aromatic resins and onyx – all things of value and pleasurable in Adam’s sight. He was master of the universe at that point in time. But without another person, the woman, he was alone. And that “being alone” condition was “not good” according to God.

You likely expect that this is a message about how bad money is, and you would be wrong. Adam’s stuff was “good”, all of it was declared “good” by God Himself – scripture is very clear about that. God gave it to Adam and mankind because He creates good things for our good. He purposely gives good things to us. But the good things are incomplete, by themselves. Our very life situations are incomplete without other people, in particular, our spouses. This is a clear message for you and me – it is “not good” to be alone.

Our greatest rewards are not stuff, but that’s not to say our things and our money are bad – not at all. No, our stuff is actually good - but “stuff” leaves us incomplete without other people in our lives.

The word, “righteousness” occurs in the Bible more than 300 times. It means “right relationships”. It also means “prosperity” and “wealth” when you understand how and why we are truly blessed. The fact is, true wealth is actually found in our relationships - the people in our lives that we treat with righteousness. We have a blessed union with others by dialoguing with them, being available to them, and sustaining the relationship throughout our lives. Our right relationships are exceedingly precious things of value in our lives.

Righteousness is vertical and horizontal. When we are right with God (the vertical), we experience true prosperity. When we are right with our fellow man (horizontal), we experience true wealth. When we serve others, we begin to understand what God really wants for us to do in life. When we give to others and help others, we create great wealth in our lives.

So, if you are working a lot of hours, you can actually experience wealth in the midst of that commitment – but not in the sense of more hours leading to more dollars. No, more dollars are good, but of much greater value is being able to serve and love our fellow man within the context of our business in the midst of our work. We can take care of one another in the marketplace. Your business is a great place to make that happen. In fact, serving others with right relationships is what business really is. And serving others is the truly rewarding aspect of all relationships.

Business is any entity that has customers. Having customers is nothing more than having relationships with others. The more genuine your service is to others, and the more customers you have, the greater the value you have placed into the world. You’ve given their lives something that they want and need to have. The money you receive from your service or products is simply a by-product of the “right relationship”. How important it is to understand that the quality of the relationship comes first! In the end, after the money and the service have long-since passed, it will be the relationship of two caring souls that is the most rewarding and memorable aspect of your knowing that person.

When children bicker and show selfish tendencies, we as parents are not impressed. It’s when our children finally treat their siblings with love and compassion that we as parents are gratified. When a child shows compassion for a sibling and goes out of their way to add value in their life - that represents a joyous milestone for us. We’re proud of them for creating a “right relationship”, rather than selfishly focusing on their own needs.

That’s what God want us to do in all our relationships. He’s already given us all the stuff we’ll ever need. He’s taken care of that aspect of our lives and will continue to do so. Believing and trusting in that fact is a large component of true “faith”. God is pleased when He sees us trusting Him, and when we’ve entered into “right relationships” with others – when we go out of our way to serve them, care for them, and show genuine love for them like He’s done for us.

Righteousness – “right relationships” with God and others is our reward. The better we get at serving others in genuine love and compassion, the more accurately we hit the mark, and experience true prosperity. The result of righteousness is fulfillment – the long-lasting kind. And yes, we can make some money along the way, a by-product of a good relationship.

God made all the stuff in the Garden. He made the gold and the money, too. It is good if He made it. But it’s not good to be alone. Let’s be sure to put our relationships first. Make them genuine. Make them long-lasting. And by doing so, true righteousness and the best kind of prosperity will be your precious rewards.

“Blessed are they who maintain judgment and treat others with righteousness constantly.” Psalm 106:3

God Bless!