Sermon # 3 - The Secrets To Overcoming Want Series

We continue our meditation on 2 Corinthians 9:8, “Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.” (ISV)

There is power in the word of God, and we must allow God’s word to be actualized in our lives. David said it this way in Psalm 23:5, “My cup overflows.” This should be our experience, and our testimony too. In order to receive it, we must pray for it, and sincerely seek after it.

In this message we will take some time to understand the reasons why there is lack in many areas of our lives. If God is able to do more than we ask or imagine, if He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and has assured us that He will supply all of our needs, why is there want is our lives?

The prodigal son was in want

We read in Luke 15:14, and he having spent all, there came a mighty famine on that country, and himself began to be in want; (YLT)

In Luke 15:11-32 there is recorded the Parable of the Prodigal Son. A father had two sons, and the younger one asked his father to divide his property, and give him the share that was due to him. The father obliges, and the son stays on with his father for a while, and then goes off to a far off country. The young man squanders his share of the wealth in riotous living, and squanders everything he has. At that time the country he lives in is struck with famine, and this young man is penniless, and unable to make ends meet, he takes up a job to tend pigs. His predicament was such that he did not have any food to eat, and he literally longed to feed himself with the pods that were meant for the pigs.

The reason for his lack

1. He left his father’s house

Maybe the younger son did not like some of the rules and regulations that were imposed on him by his father. When the young son began to think that his father’s house was not a place of happiness, and did not understand the love his father had for him, that very moment he began to be in want.

When we don’t stay in the place that God has ordained for us, and our feet are not firmly set in that place, but keeps wandering away from the will of God we will end up with want in our lives. Have you noticed how children will not like being told to wake up on time, to keep their things in order, or to eat their meals on time, and will often misinterpret this as troubles inflicted on them. Many young people think that their homes are like prison, only because they have not experienced what the world outside is like. The moment we walk away from the Heavenly Father and the place He has ordained for us, we will begin to experience this life of want.

2. He lived a sinful life

The next thing the younger son did was to go away to live a life of sinful living. Sadly the young man’s mind was warped, and he could not think straight.

If you want the lack in your life, and in your situations to change, we need to take closely examine ourselves to see how we are in the sight of God.

We read in Luke 15:17, At last he came to his senses and said, 'All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! (GNB)

Only when the younger son came to his senses did he realize that the hired workers who were just daily wage workers in his father’s house, had more food to eat than he had. The luxury that he enjoyed in his father’s house was appreciated only when he sat tending pigs, and could not even eat the pods that the pigs ate.

Sometimes I counsel young people who have fallen in love with someone who is unsuitable or irresponsible. When their emotions are high, their mind is so confused that they will not be able to accept any good counsel because they cannot see what the future holds for them. Their wrong choices will finally cause them much pain, but this will also create much heartache to their parents.

Pray for a clear mind

We really need to pray for a clear mind because the word of God reminds us from 2 Timothy 1:7 ‘God has not given to us a Spirit of fear but of power, of love and a sound mind.’ Many people have looked back when much older, and have regretted the decisions they made in their youth, but sadly there is no way these things can be undone. There is no point is having a clear mind after all the mistakes are done, because unfortunately many of these mistakes cannot be altered. While we are still in the Father’s house we should pray for a clear mind, and not have it after we have messed up, and gone far away from the safety of the Lord’s care.