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The Secret of Being an Abundance Person

May 9, 2016

Matthew 6:28-30

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

CONSIDER THIS

Yesterday, I said there were only two kinds of people: scarcity people and abundance people. Scarcity is always a matter of fear. Abundance is always a matter of faith. These warring forces constantly battle. The more we try to focus on faith the more fear seems to rise. (It’s like focusing on your golf swing instead of trusting it).

So what’s the solution? How do I become an abundance person? We don’t fight fear with faith. How many times have you heard people say in the deepest, anxious fearful situation, “And suddenly a wave of faith came over me?” No! They speak of a wave of “peace.” They don’t talk about faith, but about peace.

Abundance people don’t fight fear with faith. In fact, the more we fight fear the more we fan the flames. We must not fight fear. Nor do we need focus on having “more faith.” Abundance people seek Peace and pursue it. Peace is the definitive sign of the Presence of God. Peace, in fact, is the gift of God’s Presence.

Remember Paul’s admonition to us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition and with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God and THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

Jesus is over and over and over and over again trying to reveal to us the nature of God, Our Father. Anytime he makes an analogy to something about God, he always completes it by saying “how much more?” The sheer abundant goodness of God is beyond even our ability to imagine. Hear Wesley on this.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven” (is cut down, burned up, and seen no more), “shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” you, whom he made to endure for ever and ever, to be pictures of his own eternity! You are indeed of little faith; otherwise you could not doubt of his love and care; no, not for a moment. p.195.

Don’t you love that– he has made us to be “pictures of his own eternity.” That picture is an unimaginable scene of abundance. The secret of abundance is to be a person of unsurpassable peace.

Daily Text MATTHEW 05-09-16

THE QUESTIONS

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being hardly detectable and 10 being off the charts, answer the following three questions.

  1. What is the stress level in your life right now? (Note: Think of stress objectively rather than a subjective feeling. In other words, objectively look at your life and identify the cumulative stress from what you are facing. Write them down i.e. health challenges, financial burdens, family discord, unemployment, etc. Now assign an objective aggregate value between 1 and 10.

2. What is the anxiety level in your life right now? (Note: Anxiety is a normal human response to stress. It can be emotional, psychological, physical, spiritual, etc.  It is often the subjective, felt reality we experience in response to stress. It can be helpful to write this down or talk it out. Now assign an objective value between 1 and 10. 10 would be debilitating.

3. What is the Peace level in your life right now? (Note: Capital P Peace is the felt supernatural presence of God in your present experience. It is felt but also beyond mere feelings. It often cannot be explained.) Now assign an objective value between 1 and 10. 10 would be, “I have a deep abiding assurance that God’s got this and God’s got me.”

Do the math. Take your Peace level number and subtract the anxiety level number and you have your peace quotient. (i.e. If I have a 7 peace and a 9 anxiety then I have a negative 2 peace quotient).
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J.D. Walt, is a Bond Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.  jd.walt@seedbed.com.

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

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