Jeremiah 29:11 ​  

                 Prayerline

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                                                                                           "Sin of Covetousness and Greed"

The origin of my Watch began a few days ago while I was in the shower when God got my attention.  The Holy Spirit directed me to the sin of covetousness and greed.  I have been praying Psalm 51:10-11 for some time now:  God create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.  And so I believe, became more aware of the sin of covetousness, what it is, and that it can affect our body and even our spiritual world, I was amazed.   I learned that covetousness – what it is about; how it affects the heart; its condition, and its condition, and not be selfish.                  

It has to do with not being satisfied with what your God has provided us and always being discontent with what we have; demanding more and more and more possessions.  I John 2:15-17:  Do not love the world nor the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Also the third of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:17:  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.  It is only when we learn to abide in the will of God, then we will lay hold of things of ETERNAL VALUE; that will last forever. 

A danger also associated with covetousness is passive covetousness, which is a FALSE sense of contentment:  “Passive; contentment; means that we think we are contented, but in reality, we are passive, complacent, spiritually lazy, and having a wrong sense of letting go In such a state, we are not properly exercising ourselves, but instead we just accept things; and situations as they are.  We are lacking in the things of God and in working towards fulfilling God’s will and intentions for our lives.  We are, in reality, missing out on the spiritual riches God wants us to have in Christ and failing to properly work out His purposes together with Him and His people.  God wants us to have ZEAL and EARNESTNESS  and not a false sense of contentment.

The only way to live a life of true contentment is in having/establishing a relationship with God.  Get to know Him, to spend time with Him; learn to trust Him and His integrity.  Know that He will never leave you or forsake you, and will never put on you more than you can bear.  In the end, you will come out a better, stronger person; able to change your world and those around you 

RISE UP!  Don’t be complacent.  Doing the will of God will prevent any sign of boredom and discontentment.  BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED!

Dr. Daisy Osborne, who died at the age of 70, a missionary to those who DO NOT KNOW GOD, spent her life telling and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with those primarily in foreign countries, as well as in the United States.  She learned about the love of Jesus at an early age, when at the age of 18 she married T.L. Osborne.  They spent 54 years together spreading the love of Jesus throughout Africa as well as throughout the Muslim world; and to women around the world, lifting their spirits, and helping them find their station in life. There was no time for discontentment because she was busy, pursuing the will of God for her life

For me, God has given me Isaiah 43:18 and 19 to help me find my purpose in life.  These scriptures admonish or urge me: 

Verse 18:  Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Verse 19:  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

So God is telling me forget the past things that happened or didn’t happen in your life; those things that will try to torment you; to try to make you feel inadequate.  Those things do not matter.  Why?  Because HE is doing a whole new thing in my life.  When these thoughts try to surface, speak the Word of God in their place and watch how fast they will vanish.

There are NO limits with our God … as long as we have faith and believe His Word.   HE says, Sarah, BEHOLD!  This definitely gets your attention.  Some other words and phrases for BEHOLD include:   to LOOK AT, SEE!  REGARD! OBSERVE!  CONSIDER! WITNESS! WATCH!  CHECK OUT!  PERCEIVE! GAZE! EYEBALL! SCRUTNIZE! GET A LOAD OF!  Whatever the word or term you might chose, GOD WANTS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION AS TO WHAT HE IS PLANNING TO DO!  All i have to do is to be patient and COOPERATE WITH GOD AS HE DOES THIS NEW THING IN MY LIFE.   It’s bringing a new excitement into my life.

To God Be the Glory!  Amen.

Pastor Sarah