Set our hope in God who Richly Supplies all Things and being willing to share our Surplus

As believers in Christ, we need to have God’s view concerning the material riches, not setting our hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God, who richly supplies all things for our enjoyment; we need to do good, be rich in good works, be ready to distribute, and be willing to share so that we may lay hold on that which is really life. Amen!

Our treasure is not here on earth but in heaven; we should not store up treasures here on earth, where the both and rust consumes them, but in heaven, where our real treasures are stored.

Before we were saved, our system of values was that we trusted the material riches on earth, and we desired to accumulate them and get more wealth and money.

However, after being saved by the Lord, after we enjoy Him for a while and experience His joy, His peace, and His lovingkindness, we realize that our real treasure is not on this earth but in heaven.

We are human beings who need to work and take care of our needs, but our focus is not accumulating things nor increasing our wealth but sending our treasures to heaven.

On earth, there is the moth and the rust that consumes our money and riches, and there are thieves who, no matter how much you earnestly work to earn your money, steal these from you.

May the Lord save us from trying to store up treasures for ourselves here on earth; may He deliver us from the love of riches and of money, and may we serve Him with an undivided heart, a single heart.

The people in the world are anxious about eating, drinking, shelter, covering, and many other things, but we kingdom people learn to cast all our cares upon the Lord and trust in His care.

Our heavenly Father knows what we need; He richly provides for us, even when it seems that we have a lack – He is in control, He cares, and He arranges all things for our good.

As long as we seek His kingdom first, as long as we seek Him, His kingdom, and His righteousness, He will add all other things to us.

As we study in school or university, as we work on a job, as we are at home caring for our family full-time, as we do this and that, our seeking is first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness; outwardly we do many things, but inwardly we seek Him first.

And if there’s anything that we need, we can bring it to Him in prayer and, in fellowship with Him, He will take care of all our needs.

Our trust is not in the deceitfulness of riches but in our heavenly Father who richly provides for us; our trust is not in our labor or what we can do but in God, who richly provides for us. Amen!

God richly Supplies all things for our Enjoyment for us to Serve God and set our Hope in God

If we look around us in the world we can clearly see that, due to the fall of man, he loves and worships material riches instead of loving and worshipping God.

Because man left God, he fell into darkness and acknowledges only the material riches and not God; man allows the material riches and money to replace God.

It is actually Satan, the enemy of God, who hides behind the idols of money, wealth, and riches, to supplant man’s worship; instead of man worshipping God as he should, man now worships material riches and mammon.

The enemy of God exploited the fallen condition of men and deceive men to worship idols such as the god of wealth, for riches and gain.

In this way, he supplants man’s worship and service which are due to God.

This is why the Lord said in Matt. 6:24 that man cannot serve God and mammon, for he either serves one and hates the other, or he clings to one and stays away from the other.

Satan utilizes material riches to seduce men to worship him, and he enslaves man with material riches.

Thank the Lord for saving us; thank Him for bringing salvation into our being and into our home!

He has delivered us from the authority of darkness and brought us into His light, and He delivered us from the authority of Satan and turned us to God (Acts 26:18).

As believers in Christ, we now treasure the Lord and love Him, and we love to spend time enjoying Him in His word and with the saints.

However, what should our attitude be toward material riches, which Satan used in the past to delude us and all the world?

We need to see what the Bible says concerning these material riches and be saved from the old manner of living before we were saved.

We need to have a change regarding our material riches according to the salvation which delivered us from Satan’s authority and turned us to God.

Satan has the plot to delude us; he deceives all men by apparently giving them material things and enjoyment in their living, but the Bible shows us in 1 Tim. 6:17 that all these come from God’s giving.

God richly supplies all things for our enjoyment; it is not our hard work on the job that we earn us our salary, neither is it our ability to do our job that brings in our revenue.

It is God who richly supplies all things to us, and we must not set our hope on deceitful and uncertain material riches but on the very God who gives us all things richly for our enjoyment.

God gives us richly all things we need for our enjoyment, and even when it seems that we have a lack, God is the One who richly provides for us.

Our hope needs to be set in God and not in the uncertainty of riches, the unrighteous mammon. Yes, we do endeavour to work, take care of business, and labor and toil as needed, but it is God who blesses us.

Without God’s blessing, all our labors and endeavours yield very little; without God’s blessing, all our painstaking enterprises are futile.

God richly supplies all that we need for our enjoyment, and we should not trust in our own abilities but learn to set our hope in God.

He is our provider, our supplier, and our rich source, and He is faithful to provide for all our needs.

All that we have, all that we earn, and all that we are given actually comes from God’s giving; God richly supplies us with all that we need so that we can serve Him.

May we not put our trust or set our hope in the uncertainty of riches, in the unrighteous mammon, or in the material riches, but in God, for He is the One who richly supplies us with all that we need.

Lord Jesus, we open to You concerning the material riches we have, the income we earn, and all that we have. Renew our mind and cause us to have the divine concept when dealing with material riches. Save us from worshipping mammon; save us from serving mammon and inadvertently rejecting God. Oh Lord, we put our trust in You, for it is God who richly supplies us with everything we need. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to endeavour in our business, study hard in school, work on the job, and do all the things that we need to do, and we look to You for Your blessing! Amen, Lord, we want to have Your blessing in all things. We don’t trust in our abilities and our labor – we put our trust in You and we set our hope in God, who richly supplies us all things!

Being Ready to Distribute the Surplus of our Material Riches with the needy ones to Lay hold of that which is Really Life

In 1 Tim. 6:17-19 Paul charges those who are rich in the present age not to be high-minded, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God, who affords us all things richly for our enjoyment.

Furthermore, those who are rich need to do good, be rich in good works, be ready to distribute, and be ones willing to share, for in this way they will lay away for themselves a good foundation as a treasure for the future, that they may lay hold on that which is really life. Amen!

To do good refers to the distributing of material things readily to those who are in need, and also to the sharing of riches willingly with these ones.

To be rich in good works means that those who are rich shouldn’t just be rich in material things but rich in good works according to God’s pleasure (Eph. 2:10).

Instead of setting our hope and putting our trust in their riches in this age, we should lay away for ourselves a good foundation for the future by giving and sharing our material riches.

We want to lay a good foundation in the present age as a treasure for us to enjoy in the future; our hope is not in the material riches but in God who richly supplies us with all things that we need.

Material riches are for the human natural life in this age, which is a temporal and not real life; the real life, however, is the divine life.

If we do good, are rich in good works, and are ready to distribute and are willing to share the material things we have in this age, we will accomplish something for the real life – the eternal life.

In this way, we lay away a treasure for our enjoyment in the eternal life in the next age.

This requires that we lay hold on God’s eternal life, which is the real life; we live by this eternal life, we enjoy this life, and we allow this life to be lived out in us.

May we be those who care more for the eternal life than for the natural life, realizing that the divine life is a factor that is crucial and vital to our Christian life.

Paul’s charge in 1 Tim. 6:17-19 is the Lord’s charge to us; we may not be rich outwardly, but we may have things in excess, for we may have things that are in surplus to what we need.

The Lord richly supplies us with everything we need, and there is a surplus, an excess; we need to do good and be rich in good works by distributing our surplus to the needy ones.

In this way, we lay up a treasure in heaven as a good foundation for the future.

If we save up the surplus of riches from our living on the earth, we lay hold on and make use of our natural life; however, if we save up our riches in heaven and spend it on God, we will lay hold on and employ the eternal life of God.

When we spend our surplus on God, when we are willing to share our material riches with others for the Lord’s sake, we are laying away as a treasure a good foundation for the future.

But when we save up our surplus in this age for ourselves, we invest and care for a life that is not real, for the real life is the eternal life.

May the Lord have a way to shine on us and make us willing to do good, be rich in good works, be ready to distribute, and be ones willing to share of the surplus of what the Lord richly supplied us with, thus laying away for ourselves a good foundation as a treasure for the future.

Lord Jesus, save us from being high-minded regarding the material riches that we have. Save us from setting our hope on the uncertainty of riches; we want to set our hope in God, who affords us all things richly for our enjoyment! Amen, Lord, we want to be those who do good and are rich in good works, being ready to distribute to the needy ones from the surplus of what we have. Make us those who are willing to share from what You have given to us so that we may lay away for ourselves a good foundation as a treasure for the future. Amen, Lord, may our living be in and by the divine life so that we may lay hold of that which is really life! Hallelujah, our treasure is in heaven, in Christ and with Christ, and we want to lay hold of that which is really life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, and portions from, Life Lessons, lsn. 24 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Material offerings and the Lord’s Move Today, week 5, entitled, Principles of Material Offerings (3).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – There is always something over, / When we share in all His love; / Unplumbed depths still lie beneath us, / Unscaled heights rise far above. / Human lips can never utter / All His wondrous tenderness. / We can only praise and wonder / And His Name forever bless, / We can only praise and wonder / And His Name forever bless. (Hymns #595)
  – Each time when of heavenly blessings I think, / O let my heart long to be raptured to Thee; / My only hope here is Thy coming again, / My only joy there, Lord, Thy presence will be. (Hymns #389)
  – One’ Lord in all, and all one in His Spirit, / Heavenly fellowship earth has not known; / Faith sees the riches we shall yet inherit, / Glorious treasure laid up for His own. / All in the bounds of earth and sea and heaven, / Creation’s wonders and Thy grace are stored: / Praise to Thee, Christ, for all the wealth Thou’st given! / Poor in myself, but wealthy in my Lord! (Hymns #596)