WEEKLY MESSAGE
SUN, 15/03/26 - SAT, 21/03/26
ON THE MESSAGE THIS WEEK: BEFORE YOU BORROW...
KEY VERSE: “GIVE ME NEITHER POVERTY NOR RICHES! GIVE ME JUST ENOUGH TO SATISFY MY NEEDS” (PROVERBS 30:8)
When you think about it, you can be rich in one of two ways: either in how much you have, or in how little you want.
Much of the recent debt crisis we see all around is caused by our failure to be satisfied with enough. In a brilliant section of Proverbs penned by the mysterious Agur, we find this prayer: ‘O God, I beg two favours from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy Name”’ (vs 7-9).
Having read that, always try to observe these six rules when it comes to borrowing. Debt is wrong...
1) When it’s beyond your ability to repay it on a timely basis
2) When it prevents you from giving God what’s rightfully His
3) When the burden of debt is so heavy that you can’t save for the future
4) When it’s used to pay for the luxuries of life
5) When you put others at risk by having them guarantee a loan (see Proverbs 6:1-6)
6) When it puts your marriage under financial pressure
Financial expert Larry Burkett said credit is the motivating factor for perhaps 80% of all divorces. That’s not to say being rich guarantees you’ll never have family problems. It’s simply saying that putting money first and your family second can make you nothing more than a wealthy failure. So before you borrow, pray and ask God for wisdom.
Yet the goal is not to avoid prosperity altogether, but to seek the greater blessing of having both God and His provision in our lives. True success is not choosing between riches and faithfulness, but keeping God at the center whether we have much or little.
The Apostle Paul expressed this beautifully when he wrote in his epistle to the Philippians that he had learned to be content in every circumstance whether living in plenty or in need. His secret was not the amount he possessed, but the strength he found in God. When our hearts stay close to the Lord, wealth will never master us, and lack will never break us. We too, like Paul, would continue to find our strength in God.
Have a blessed week in Jesus' Name, Amen.
(Article/ extract from ucb,wordfortoday)
_____________
Did you know: There are almost 20 different passages in the Bible where it is mentioned that we are God's people.
Ref: Jeremiah 32:38 / Ezekiel 14:11 / Zechariah 8:8 / 2 Corinthians 6:16 / Hebrews 8:10 / Ezekiel 11:20 / Ezekiel 37:23 / Jeremiah 7:23 / Jeremiah 31:33 / Ezekiel 37:27 / Jeremiah 31:1 / Revelation 21:3 / Exodus 6:7 / Leviticus 26:12 / Jeremiah 11:4 / Jeremiah 30:22 / Ezekiel 36:28.