The Power To Get Wealth Is Good Grace
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (11/16/2013)
“And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (St. John 1:16, King James Version [The testimony of John]).
Greetings in the Name of Jesus,
My brothers and sisters, I hear the words of a friend constantly saying that she never saw the children of the righteous begging bread and kindly mentioned that my parents were, indeed, among the righteous that walked this earth. In Psalms 37:25, a prayer for confidence in God, David stated, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”. I thank her each time for the testimony of my parents' righteous life. It is right for her to give testimony of my mother's righteousness and my father's righteousness. Today, many of the righteous living in times of death and destruction, find themselves cut off and not justified (Deuteronomy 25:1, KJV [“...they shall justify the righteous”].
Where were the righteous cut off? “Remember, I pray thee, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same” (Job 4:7-8, KJV [Job complaineth of life]). It's not everyday of your life that you might need someone to speak of the righteousness of your works but when the righteous are tested, it was far better than not for those who witnessed the righteousness to speak.
Let us ponder when we, each of us, ourselves answered the calling for a holy existence in righteousness. It is right to think on righteous living, for the righteous are not forsaken. “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18, KJV [Rebellions of Israel]). Prophetic words spoke out from the pages of a letter I received to remind me that no one received except through someone else, for to get wealth for yourself denied God's rightful ownership of all that you received in the one body as inheritance with Christ Jesus. For if the wealth you received did not come through another person for you to receive, then where did it come from?
My brothers and sisters, even the fish who delivered the silver coin for tribute obviously received the silver coin from another person but the silver coin had to go from the person to the fish for Peter to receive the silver he needed to pay tribute for himself and Jesus. How else did the fish get the silver coin? Did the fish make the silver like pearls? Praise God!
The testimony of St. Matthew 17:24-27 stated:
“And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute
money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He
saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him,
saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth
take custom or tribute?
Of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of
strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and
cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou
hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and
give unto them for me and thee.”
How much more proof do you need to know God takes care of you? According to St. John 1:16, “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye
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better than the fowls?” God made a way to deliver the piece of money to pay tribute for Jesus and Peter, he fed Israel manna, he even feeds the fowls; consider the ravens. Do you question who the earth and the fulness of the earth belongs to?
Or, is it more questionable, that you belong to the one body of Christ, to receive from another, not trying to get for yourself? Paul the Apostle stated, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth” (I Corinthians 10:24, KJV [wealth]). In praising charity, Paul said, “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;” (I Corinthians 13:5-6, KJV [The praises of charity]). I know, it was not a stretch of your thinking to reflect on those members of the one body who looked at all the wealth given through the power of God as belonging to them, even charity and took from the one body. So, we say to you, to get wealth---that does not mean the wealth of the one body is your wealth; personal for you only.
The problem is no one wants to seek another man's wealth for the one body of Christ, they want to seek personal wealth, instead of seeking fish, little and big, for Christ, they seek to be the big fish. However, you feel disadvantaged to ever become a big fish in your lifetime so those members' in the body of Christ seek your wealth instead you---yourself just being caught up in lack, personally in need, seeking big fish for Christ. You must know that the big fish, themselves also must seek fish, little and big, for the one body of Christ. How is your faith?
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification” (Romans 15:1-2, KJV [We must imitate Christ]). Do you remember when everyday life included getting in the good graces of our elders and mothers; our parents, our neighbors, in order to receive what we prayed for? Nowadays, theft and covetousness mocks in darkness instead of letting the light of good graces fall upon us to receive. Job received great personal wealth and lost it all only to end up restored double-fold when he prayed for his friends and God blessed Job to live to the age of 140 years, to see four generations of his seven sons and three daughters (Job 42:10-17).
What does it matter to receive great personal wealth when your heart is in unbelief of another's love for God, even your children? What kind of a shell of existence are you, when you doubt the love God receives from his family even your children in flesh? Do you fully understand God's kind of love, forgiving love so why question the value of the love God receives in fulness to be merely cast down faith? (“...every man also gave Job a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold” (verse 11) [Job submitteth himself to God]). What do you understand from your cast down love in your cast down faith, your feelings of a cursed existence? Did not Paul say for everyone to please his neighbor for his good to edification? (Romans 15:1-2 [We must imitate Christ]). So, of what good is great personal wealth to a cast down heart, in cast down love and cast down faith, cursed?
Yet, it is God who giveth us the power to get wealth. We must imitate Christ and help each other to make it through the afflictions of the heart. May God bless you all. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, KJV [Faith in the fathers of old]).
Therefore, faith, the substance, the evidence, the grounds, the confidence, of things hoped for, is not seen.
Let me get closer to your heart and remind you of what Apostle Paul said, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for” (Romans 8:24, KJV [The efficacy of divine grace]). Let us all get happy and ponder also “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”(II Corinthians 4:18, KJV [Hope of immortal glory]). My eldest son told me when we discussed “things not seen”, “It is there.” May God let you see the manifestations of your blessings. My youngest son said when we discussed hard times, “Why do you
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feel that your back is against the wall when you are blessed?” Amen.
