The Love Of Money
Somehow, I have overlooked this teaching for the last 14 years. I even checked through all of my teachings and couldnt find it. What does that tell me? It appears as if I were seriously distracted. Do you remember my teaching "How Satan Defeats Himself"? By him distracting me for such a long period of time, it tells me something that we need to know. That something is that this teaching is very, very important. Let's begin in the epistle of III John. But, before we begin, let me say that many people think that money is the root of all evil. That is not what the Word of God says. We will get to that verse shortly.
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and
be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. -- III John 2
Obviously,
it is God's Will that we prosper and also that we be in health even as our soul
prospers. The latter part of this verse
is usually misunderstood. God wants us
to be happy and to be full of joy. Many
times, if not always, our health depends on our attitude. It is a medical fact that many people
overcome an illness when they have a positive mental attitude. But the first part of this verse is where we
will be concentrating. It is not a bad
thing to have a lot of money, but the key to this whole teaching rests on one
single word in the following Scripture.
For
the love of money is the root [system]
of all evil: which while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.
I Timothy 6: 10
Can
you see which word I am referring to?
It is the word 'love'. People
who love money get involved in the root system of all evil. Can you imagine that all the evil in the
world is due to the love of money? All
the topics that I wrote about pertaining to devil spirits and their activities
are due to the love of money. When
people begin to worship money, their lives have come to an end. The enemy may lead them on for a long time
letting them think they're doing so well.
But just when they need some power to overcome an obstacle, it's not
there. This is how the god of this
world operates -- he operates by deception.
I recently completed a teaching called "A Spirit Of
Deception". Perhaps, you may want
to study that teaching.
The
love of money can affect a person in many different ways. However, one of the most common ways is
through covetousness. We need to study
what this means so, of course, we are going to turn to God's Word.
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let
it not be once named among you, as be cometh saints; -- Ephesians 5: 3
Covetousness is very similar to greed. Let's take a simple example which goes on
every single moment of every single day throughout the world. I see it in my neighborhood all of the
time. I am not susceptible to this
weakness. One person goes out and buys
a new lawn mower, so the neighbor sees this and does the same. I once had an opportunity to buy a certain
type of sports car -- very beautiful and in almost perfect condition. The neighbors, who constantly call
contractors, probably to even put light bulbs in their lamps!!, went out and
purchased two brand-new Lexus automobiles.
And if I must say so, one of them is very ugly. And when you put either one of them next to
my Corvette, they look like junk. These
people have contractors at their home sometimes every single week. The so-called man of the house does not yet
realize that God gave him hands. But
here is the point that I want to make.
I am about to put up a most beautiful mailbox and post. The mailbox was made by hand and is really a
fine work of art. What do you think is
going to happen in the neighborhood when we put up this mailbox with our own
hands? It will obviously and by far be
the nicest looking mailbox in the area in which I live. The contractor people who own the Lexus
will become influenced by Satan to do something. They will never match the beauty of this simple mailbox. But the woman, who gives the orders to the
so-called man will absolutely react.
She will do something and I am about to tell you why. She makes a ton of money on
her job.
She spends that money to try to make others appear smaller than
her. What literally kills her is that
we could have bought the house that she lives in because we bought the first
house in this development. We chose the
house we are in because we simply liked it much better and the location is the
best in the area. She has invested
approximately $50,000 into the improvement of her house inside and out. Our home still looks better than hers. Why?
Because we do what God tells us to do and not the god of this
world. It's that simple. She and her husband love money. That settles it.
Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: -- Colossians 3: 5
Did we get covetousness in there? We sure did. The word 'Mortify' literally means to blow to smithereens. Everything mentioned in the verse relates to members which are upon the earth -- fleshly desires. These are desires of the old man and not the new man. They are all the result of lust which is over desire. These are desires that get out of control and we deal with them every day. If we know the Word of God, God will show you how to overcome these desires.
To put it as simply as I can, to covet what
someone else has simply means that you want it. It can be a result of jealousy or envy or lust, but in summary,
we can always refer to it simply as covetousness. This is one of the greatest motivators which gives place to the
love of money and we must always remember this. Covetousness is sin.
There is so much in the Word of God about
this subject that this teaching can continue for an extremely long time. Remember, I am teaching you keys to the more
than abundant life. You must apply and
act upon these keys to manifest that life.
We will now skip around to parts of the Bible to illustrate how the love
of money can utterly destroy a person's life.
Better is little with the fear [respect] of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15: 17
You have to
decide whether you're going to believe God's Word or not. That is your decision to make all by
yourself. God is saying that it is
better to have less than those who appear and do have a lot of money
and a lot of material things. Those
material things, in the verse, are referred to as treasures and they bring
trouble to those who possess them.
In my own life recently, I have gathered a
number of material things that I really enjoy.
But only recently, have I reached the point where I know that I should
stop. I have everything that I could
possibly want in this life to enjoy myself.
Much of these material things relate to music and painting along with
necessary tasks that must be done to keep a house decent and in order.
There are many ideas that may come across
your mind from the world. But again, your
choice must be to believe that God's Word is the only truth that you are going
to live by.
There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel [Word of God] of the Lord, that shall stand.
Proverbs 19: 21
Just like yourself, I have to make the same
type of decisions every day to stand by the Word of God. I take it one day at a time. I try never to think of the next day the
night before. You should always
remember that when circumstances change, revelation will change. That is why God wants you to live one day at
a time. If you decide to plan too far
ahead, you may have revelation that will change because the circumstances
changed. You may not be aware of this
and the adversary will trip you up. It
took me a long time to learn not to plan too far ahead. Try to not make this mistake. It can cause you no end of problems in your
life and in the results of your decisions.
God can change revelation on a dime.
There is another Scripture that I have put
in my heart and have used it countless times.
We all know that people who have a lot of money or great prosperity
appear to look down upon us who worship the Lord and live by His rules. I am going to give you this Scripture and it
will comfort your heart. You should
also learn it by heart.
Let them be ashamed and
confounded that seek after my soul: let
them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. Psalm 70: 2
This is what God will do for you. Remember, He allows the god of this world to
inflict people with these negatives.
The true God is all light and in Him is no darkness at all.
God wants you to know that He will protect
you as you continue to live by his statutes.
Do not let the world intimidate you with people that appear to be
powerful because they have a lot of riches.
Here is a promise that God makes to you based on the condition that you
continue to stand on His Word.
And let us not be weary in
well doing: for in due season we shall
reap, if we faint not.
Galatians 6: 9
This is another Scripture that I have
learned by heart. We're not to get
tired when we do God's Word. Because
when the time is right, we shall overcome if we faint not in our minds. You see the battlefield is between the
ears. When we get discouraged or
disgusted, it is from the god of this world.
We need to have the energy of our conviction to stand on God's Word, no
matter how much tribulation we receive.
If we do so, we will reap - we will conquer. That's what the Word says and that's what the Word means. If you want to argue about it, then argue
with God. A few years back, I did a
teaching concerning alcoholism. One
woman wrote to me and wanted to argue about it. She was insulting and incoherent concerning the teaching that I
had checked by a second person to see if her accusations were justified. The second proofreader could find nothing
wrong with the teaching at all. This
person was an accuser and that is one of the names of Satan himself. So do not think for a minute that I am not
under tribulation for teaching God's Word.
After a while, you really do get used to it. And when you get tribulation for speaking and/or teaching God's
Word, you know you are doing something right.
When the adversary is upset, it's because the rightly divided Word of
God is being taught. And he can do
nothing about it, unless you give up in your mind because you are easily
discouraged. As I've heard it said many
times and so have you, winners never
quit and quitters never win. Which
category do you want to fall into? Let's
get back to our subject matter more directly.
The following Scripture is what happens to
people who do not study or apply God's Word.
They are subject to other devilish influences and one of those
influences is called envy. This verse
also refers to the prosperity of wicked people as being foolish. This subject matter covered in this short
verse is most important and should be studied by every student of the
Bible. If it's one thing we are
susceptible to, it is to have what other people possess. I myself, at one point in my life, had this
personality trait. Many of you who are
reading this teaching may also have, what should be called, a weakness
concerning covetousness and envy and just plain old selfishness. By adhering to God's Word, we acquire wisdom
and that wisdom is from above. It is
not earthly, sensual, and devilish.
For I was envious at the
foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Psalm 73:3
The prosperity
of the wicked is very tempting and anything that tempts you is not of God. It is from the god of this world who is the
devil or Satan. As I said in a previous
teaching, we need to addict ourselves to the Word of God. Then and only then can we resist the devil
and he will flee from you. He will run
away because he cannot stand the light of God's Word. You must remember that this is the only thing that will defeat
your personal adversary. You can go to
church five times a day -- you can pray until your face turns blue -- you can
do a ton of good works. But nothing
will defeat your personal adversary except the rightly divided Word of
God. As I said before, this teaching
can go on forever because there are so many examples in the Word of God
regarding the love of money. As I
already stated, anything that relates to evil, relates to the love of
money. Most people never give this a
thought. They think that evil comes
because a person wants to do bad. They
think that evil comes from our political system or our legal system. Indirectly, mostly all of these things are
the effect of one single cause and by now, you know what is that cause. You see, this teaching is so simple that it
can be stated in one sentence. But we
need to pound things into our head and learn them by examples. I have stated the following again and again. Sometimes these principles are so simple
that we can miss them for years. Let me
give you a most simple example. I took
a driver's test not too long ago because I had a few too many points on my
license. Now you see, it doesn't matter
that I'm driving about 40 years without an accident. I still had to take this test.
One of the questions was so obvious that I did not pick the extremely
obvious answer. It was so simple that I
missed it and this was the only question I missed on the exam. That may sound like a strange example, but
I'm sure it's one that you can relate to.
You can miss a most important principle in God's Word for years and
years for one reason -- it is so simple.
I would like to
draw to a conclusion beginning with the following facts and principles.
The love of
money almost always results in the purchase of material things above your
need. Logically, having an excess of
money and worshiping that money will result in over-desires which, in the
Bible, is called lust. So, by loving
money, which is the root of all evil, you also give way to a spirit of lust.
Let's see what
the gospel of Matthew has to say about material things and how they can affect
your thoughts. These three verses are
often misunderstood so I will also give you a clear literal translation of the
following verses.
Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break
through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal: For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also. --
Matthew 6: 19 21
Literal translation according to usage: "Let not your thoughts be centered in material
things where fears and worries breed defeat and frustration, and where doubts
break through and steal your thoughts:
But let your thoughts be centered in the Spirit [the Word of God], where neither fear nor worry breeds defeat and
frustration, and where doubts do not break through and steal your
thoughts. For where your thoughts are,
there will your heart be also." -- Matthew 6: 19 21
From the literal translation, we can see that if your
thoughts concentrate on material things, you will experience fear and worry and
this will result in defeat and frustration.
Doubt will come into your mind and control your thoughts. However, if you think about God and His
Word, fear and worry will not control and influence your thinking. Because where you're thinking and where your
thoughts are, your heart will be there also.
In other words, if you're thinking about God and His Word you will not
have doubt and fear -- you will not have defeat and frustration. You will have joy and all the positives that
encompass the more than abundant life.
So when you shop, buy your needs and not your
greeds. A good key to help you in this
area is the following: If you are ever
tempted to buy anything, it is wrong.
It's that simple. If you are loaded
down with material things that you do not need, sell them or give them away --
just get rid of them and travel light.
Just last night, we gave away a very nice recliner chair for nothing. The person was very blessed and we were
happy to get rid of it because it was just in the way. It was something we did not need and hardly
ever used. That chair bothered me and
brought some frustration into my life.
By getting rid of it, that frustration is of course, completely
gone. Does this sound unimportant to
you? Well, then you need to go through
it and let's hope you don't. Some
people only learn by experience. I hope
for your sake that you are not one of them.
But either way, it is God's Will for you to learn these simple, but very
important principles from the Word of God.
Many times the enemy will deceive you in the smallest ways. You need to be sharp spiritually to be able
to see behind the scenes as to what is really going on.
Now, we not only want to teach about the love of money
and the negative implications that it brings into a person's life, we want to
talk about HOW TO OVERCOME THE LOVE OF MONEY. There are countless principles in the Word of God on how to
accomplish this. For the sake of
clarity and of course, the length of this teaching, we are going to cover four
of these principles from the Word of God.
This should give you a strong background to counter this massive form of
idolatry.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust
of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these [desires] are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye
would. -- Galatians 5: 16, 17
These two
Scriptures are immense as far as our understanding is concerned. Simply stated, if you walk by the Spirit of
God, which is to walk by the Word of God, you will not fulfill the lusts/over
desires of the flesh. One of those over
desires is clearly the love of money.
God goes on to expound that these desires are contrary and in conflict
the one to the other. This causes no
end of confusion for a person because they really are unsure of doing the
things that they would rather do. You
can understand that the fleshly desires are pulling a person one way and the
Spirit of God and His knowledge is pulling you another way. That is why the renewed mind is so
important. The more that you renew your
mind to God's Word, the less strength fleshly desires will have upon your
life. I think the Scriptures above are
a work of art. God says clearly that if
you walk by His Word, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Again, and I can't help but say it, it is
that simple. The major factor involved
here is that we have free will and we will always have that free will to do as
we please. We can listen to God and
what He tells us or we can listen to the world. One is life and the other is death. Tough decision, isn't it?
Let's move on.
This next verse
is very similar to the verses we have just reviewed in Galatians, but we need
to hear something about seven times before it sinks in. Let me just quote the verse and then move on.
Remember, these are ways to overcome the temptation and effects of the
love of money.
Submit
[addict] yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you. James
4: 7
The next principle again is very simple, but do we really
apply it? All of these principles will
lead to the final Scripture in this teaching.
All that we need to do is one thing and one thing alone. Let's save the surprise for last even though
it is most obvious.
Set your affection [thinking] on things above [His
Word], not on things on the earth. Colossians 3: 2
You see the key to understanding this verse is to
understand the old English meaning of the word 'affection'. This means your 'thinking' -- it is not
referring to only things that you have an affection for. This is why you need to study God's Word. You need to purchase Bullinger's lexicon to
understand what words really mean in the Bible in the New Testament. It's really interesting and exciting and it
doesn't cost that much money. Actually,
when my assistant and myself have a chance to extend our research library with
important materials, money is no object.
God Almighty is your Father and He is rolling in it. God will always bless you when you go out on
a limb for Him. He will always make
sure that you have, not enough, but more of the resources that you need to
learn about Him.
In
conclusion, we will discuss what all of us Christians are supposed to be doing
every single day. This is THE MAJOR KEY
to manifesting the more than abundant life.
We need to ask ourselves "Are we doing this"? So here is a concluding Scripture that you
have heard many times. And, once again,
remember what I have taught you -- some things are so simple that we miss them
for years.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6: 33
Although this may require a lot of things for you to do, you just take it one step at a time. First, you simply read the Bible whether you understand it or not. Then, you get some study materials such as a lexicon and concordance and start to work different Scriptures. God will work with you to see that you understand what you are reading. Then, and most importantly, you learn by your own free will to apply God's written Word to your everyday life. Then, you slowly acquire discipline to think about things above -- to think about God and His Word. Overall, you will be seeking God first and you'll be able to overcome not only the love of money, but every worldly influence that you experience.
It has been my honor to teach you God's Word. I want many of you to know that because of some extremely evil e-mails that I have received, I have taken that privilege away from my readers. When God opens that door again and gives me a green light, you will be able to contact me with questions once again. In the meantime, there are enough teachings to keep you going and learning for a very long time so that you can easily seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. God bless you. You're the best.
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