|
The Flow of Abundance, Part 1
|
Dawn Fields
|
Jun 28, 2007 12:16 PDT
|
I can not believe it is almost July already. Is it me, or does this year
seem to be flying by too quickly?
The weather here in New Jersey has been a bit crazy lately. It was 100
degrees the other day, and yesterday we had thunderstorms so badly my
electricity was out for about 30 minutes. I'm blessed because some
people lost their electricity for hours.
Today is both my son, Eli and my father, Carnell's birthday. Big shout
outs to Daddy and Eli. My son is 8 years old today and my dad is 68
years old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
I don't know if you received my email from yesterday but I have a new
book out called, "How to Develop Faith--A Christian's Guide on How to
Walk by Faith and Not By Sight." It cost is only $14.99 AND if you order
right away you also get "God Has a Purpose for Your Life" as a bonus.
Simply go to http://www.dawnfields.com/How_to_Develop_Faith.htm
I came across an article this week that I wanted to share with you. I
thoroughly enjoyed it and believe you will too. It is written by Rob
Marshall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Flow of Abundance, Part 1 by Rob Marshall
The Dead Sea is famous for the fact that it has the highest salt
concentration of any of the world's seas. The water is so salty that
nothing can live in it, which is why it's called the "dead" sea. The
reason is that there are rivers that flow into it, but nothing goes out
of it.
When we think about abundance we need to ask if we've made our lives a
financial dead sea? Is there money flowing into our lives but not out of
them. And I know that many will be thinking that they pay a lot of bills
and that money is constantly going out. Some may even agree with Jim
Rohn's statement, "If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will
become your downfall."
But I'm not just talking about the physical flow of money in and out of
our lives, but the manner in which that money comes and goes. Are there
ways in which our attitudes are blocking the free flow of wealth out of
our lives? If there are, we may find that the flow of money into them is
not as good as it could be.
Because abundance is like a river, there are really two major pieces
that we need to be aware of. One of them is how money comes into our
lives, the fact that all wealth and blessings come from God and that we
need to recognize Him as the source of all life and abundance. There are
definitely things that we can do to improve our income, but for the sake
of this article I'll just be looking at the giving part of receiving,
how we give of our wealth.
Have you ever sat down to pay your bills and had a sense of dread,
anger, or just plain frustration? Do you feel like you just keep paying,
paying, paying and there never seems to be enough?
Especially when it comes to paying bills, debts, and maybe even just
making good on promises, some of which we may now wish we hadn't made,
it's important to check our attitudes. In Matthew 10:8 Jesus reminds us,
"Freely you have received, freely give."
Everything that we have in our lives, including money, has come to us
from God. It's important for us to acknowledge that the wealth we enjoy
in our lives is a gift from God. And even if we want to think that we
"earned" it, the fact is that it was God who gave us the abilities and
skills we have, as well as the opportunities to use them to get wealth,
so ultimately it is how He blesses us. It's all a free gift, even if we
don't feel like the gifts are smaller than we want and don't come as
often as we'd like.
2 Corinthians 9:7 tells us, "God loves a cheerful giver." Even if that
giving is to pay our expenses and liabilities, we still need to rejoice
that we have the car, electricity, running water, a house to live in,
etc. All of our bills represent services that we enjoy, and when we
rejoice in what we have and cheerfully pay people, we'll soon experience
the truth of Jesus' statement, "The measure you use, it will be measured
to you." (Matthew 7:2) We will find that people are a lot more willing
to cheerfully pay us as well.
The other area that I find I need to work on is gratitude. Not only
being grateful for the services that I enjoy as I'm paying for them, but
being grateful for all that God has given me.
In Luke 17:12-19 we read the story about ten lepers who came to Jesus
and asked Him to heal them. They were told to go show themselves to the
priests. As they went, they were all healed. One of them, a Samaritan,
saw that he was healed and went back and thanked Jesus for healing him.
At which point Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the
other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except
this foreigner?" (Luke 17:17-18)
Because the Samaritan was thankful, Jesus made him completely whole. All
the lepers were healed, but because of his gratitude for what he had
received, this leper was made whole (Luke 17:19).
Being grateful for all that we have received is an important part of
keeping the flow of abundance going in our lives. It recognizes that all
we have comes to us from God, and that God gives to us because He loves
us and has given us the ability to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18).
And even though being grateful doesn't involve spending money, it still
gives back to God the glory that He deserves.
We receive because we do two things. The first is that we ask. James 4
tells us that we don't have because we don't ask, and all of us need to
remember to ask for everything that we want. We should never get anxious
about paying our bills (see Philippians 4:6), because we ask God to
supply our needs from His riches in glory. (Philippians 4:19)
In the parable of the sower, Jesus talked about some seeds not bearing
much fruit, but being choked by the thorns. When He explained that
parable to the disciples, He told them that the seed sown among the
thorns was because of the "deceitfulness of riches." Deuteronomy 8 tells
us that riches can deceive us when we begin to believe that we have
accomplished everything in our own strength and because of our own
wisdom.
When we learn to be grateful for all that God has given us, and in every
circumstance to thank God for His provision and blessings, we remind
ourselves that God takes care of everything for us. As we do that, we
open the channels for God's blessings, including financial ones, to flow
into our lives.
Learning to be a cheerful giver at all times and being grateful for all
that we have and will receive from God is part of how we stay in the
flow of abundance.
The same faith that helped David defeat Goliath is in everyone of us. In
"Taking On Goliath - How To Unleash The David In All Of Us," author Rob
Marshall shows you how to unleash your faith, overcome any obstacle, and
live your dreams. Sign up for his newsletter and get two free chapters
from "Taking On Goliath" at: http://www.TakingOnGoliath.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's it for this week, Folks.
Have a blessed and wonderful week and I will talk with you next week.
Take care and God bless!
Dawn Fields
No God!
No Peace!
Know God!
Know Peace!
|
|
 |
|
