- 1 Cor. 16:14
We are living in interesting times. Some people call it a Recession, others call it a Depression, while still others say it is a combination of both. It all depends upon what day you read the newspaper and which TV station you listen to. One day the stock market is up, the next day it is down. One day the unemployment rate is up, the next day the unemployment rate is down.
The only thing that remains constant is Jesus.
Hebrews 13:8 says: Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.
While you may lose your job, be forced to take a furlough day or take a cut in salary, the one thing that remains constant is that God is your provider. There are many names of God and one of them is Jehovah Jireh – which means “The Lord God your Provider.” So, your job is not the source of your income; it never was. God is the source of your income; He always was.
The current economic times we are living in came as no surprise to God. He did not turn on CNN and say, “Wow, I had no idea the economy was going to collapse in 2008. Gee, that came out of left field -- Caught me by surprise.” People will say that, but not God. The Lord knew this season was coming before we did, and yet the biggest victory party for His remnant is still to come.
We are living in the greatest time in history. This is the season that Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, often talked about – these are the “last days.” To those of us that know what our destiny is; however, we call these days the “best days” because we know we are the very people that God wants to use to make a change in His church, in His people, in His world. All of the tools and resources necessary to complete our assignments are already here. I am telling you this so that you do not panic and hide your head in the sand like an ostrich and miss what is going on around you.
God has saved the best for last – and you are God’s best. We are going to accomplish wonderful things. The miracles, signs and wonders that people have been talking about for generations are going to come through us!
You may be thinking, “Why did I lose my job, and not my co-worker sitting in the cubicle next to me? Why am I being attacked in the area of my health? I lost my job, and my health insurance, and now I just broke my leg. Why would God allow me to get sick knowing I have no finances? I am a faithful tither; I give 10% of my income to the church.” Do you think Job was thinking the same thing when God allowed Satan to tamper with Job’s life? God was not angry with Job. In fact, God told Satan that Job was a blameless and upright man, a man who feared God and shunned evil. God was not punishing Job, and God is not punishing you, either. God was merely using Job as an example of a man that loves God for God, and not for the tangible things God gives Job.
Job 1:6-12 states:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
Now step back into the 21st Century and into the Modern Version of Job’s life and see that God is, yet again, proving to Satan that we truly love God for who He is and not for the material possessions He gives us. Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, can’t Jesus use some of us as a Modern Day Job to bring God glory?
Job 1:9-12 goes on to say:
So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
It is easy to be happy and full of joy when we are surrounded by all of our toys and material possessions, but when God starts to take away from us the things that make us comfortable do we remain in a constant state of joy? What if God wanted to move you out of your comfort zone so that you are forced to stretch your faith and grow in your patience? Remember that one of the fruits of the Spirit is longsuffering. We are in a season now where God needs to build endurance in us, for the last days are the best days, but they are also going to be days where we need to hang tough. We need to wait for God to move us, instead of us jumping in there and doing good works instead of God’s will. Too many churches are running “programs” and not moving with the flow of the Holy Spirit. God is training us to move by His Holy Spirit, not by our emotions.
In this season, God is also helping to shed from us the “prosperity” message that was poured into us for most of the last decade. God is warning us that material possessions are not the most important thing in this life. No, it is not the Christian with the most material possessions at the end of the game that is declared the winner. The winner at the end of this era will be the one that has clean hands and a pure heart. It will be the one who gave alms to the poor in secret without broadcasting it to the whole world. It will be the person who God turns to and says, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
God knew that the ownership of material possessions would come to be a problem with His people. Note for instance in Hebrews 13: 5-6; that not only does God warn us about coveting too much stuff, but He also gives a hint to the fact that He knows we will covet too much stuff by telling us in the same sentence He will never leave us nor forsake us. God is telling us that He knows we are about to choke on too much stuff, and that He will be there to catch us when we fall into the trap of owning stuff we cannot afford.
Hebrews 13:5-6 reads:
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say:
“The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
The above scripture is also telling us not to fear our surroundings during this economic downturn: (1) God will not leave us nor forsake us, and (2) We have nothing to fear, for God will help us.
I understand that some of us have lost our jobs, and henceforth our finances. This has caused some of us to be unable to make our mortgage payments, but it will be all right. God promises not to forsake us. We are truly living by faith, i.e., we are living one day at a time not knowing what tomorrow will bring, literally.
When you have a 9 to 5 job, you know exactly where you are going to be from Monday to Friday. You know that Monday morning you will get up, get dressed, drive to work, work, drive home, eat dinner and go to bed. Then in the morning you will get up, get dressed, drive to work, work, drive home, eat dinner and go to bed. Now, when God has closed the door on your “routine,” you are forced to move by faith. You must pray each morning, and ask for God’s direction. Where do I go? Where do I walk? Who am I supposed to meet with? Now with each passing day, you start to draw closer and closer and closer to your Creator. They start out as baby steps, but pretty soon you will be running with the “big boys.”
In Hebrews 11:8, it says:
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Can you imagine? No Starbucks to stop at and ask for directions?
One last thing, please listen to God’s still small voice, and not to your well-meaning friends who will say stupid things to you like, “It is your fault you lost your job.” “Your resume was not strong enough.” “You must have been a bad employee,” etc. etc. The bible says that what door God opens, no man can close, so when God opened the door for you to have that job in the first place; it is only God who can close it. So, know that God closed the door because He wants to take you on a walk – a faith walk. Become like Abraham. Just keep going forward like Abraham and before you know it, God will have you standing on the exact spot of where your inheritance is.
If one morning you wake up and the first scripture God leads you to is the Book of Job, Chapter 1, Verse 6 will you allow God to take things away from you, so that He can allow you to fall into His loving arms, or will you close your bible and say, “Gee, that couldn’t have been the scripture God had for me today?”
Will you let God remove things from your life, so that He can use you as an example to your neighbors and your former co-workers of a person that truly trusts God and has the faith to believe that God will get you through and get you where you need to be?
Will you let God take everything away from you – your loved ones, your source of income, your health insurance and your health, so that you have nothing left, but God?
And if God does take everything away from you, will you still love Him?
Cross Creek Bridge Ministries
P.O. Box 572391
Tarzana, CA 91357
Tel: (818) 881-2009
Toll-Free: (877) 303-CCBM (2009)
Cross Creek Bridge Ministries is a qualified IRS Section 501(c)(3) Organization