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Discussion Forum : News and Current Events : The Economy In My Area

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mamaluk
Member



Joined: 2006/6/12
Posts: 524


 Re: Economy in Our Own Home

Quote:
I certainly wasn't trying to be super-spiritual.



Why not? If we are in Christ and HE in us, how can we be but super-spiritual? I forgot which preacher said that Christians are "supernatural" or should be supernatural human beings,for we the supernatural Holy Spirit living in us!

I think it was Jonathan Edwards? May be not...to be asking God "to stamp eternity on our eyeballs.."? I can really use this.

Whenever I cast my eyes on the things of the world,whether good or bad, they just chisel away that bit from my spirit. In my opinion, we are entirely surrounded by all too much super-unspiritual distractions.

Several brothers were discussing on the other thread over economics,over material abundance, poverty..etc. I found a bit of unnesscessary awkardness created through some of the discussions over the I have, I don't have, you have, you don't have...you should've, I could've..!!?? How futile!?

Proverbs 23:5
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? [b]for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.[/b]

I remember when I was young mother, struggling whether to pursue a career full-time,in addition to having to live under a great deal of pressure from both sides of the non-Christian families. However, The Lord made it very clear to me not to run to the world but to stay home and raise the children, with one not-so-large income. The reproves and mockeries we received from my parents and inlaws were extremely discouraging. To make things worse, all those "Christian" books, "Christian" financial advisors...advising us, on the one hand, mothers should stay home full-time, on the other, we need to prepare for college funds, retirement funds, and x-amount of savings, debt-free...to the extent where I found myself feeling so much guilt by staying home,for a long while, I had no joy, no peace.. all because I cast my eyes out and about, but upon HIM.

By now, GOD provided [i]all[/i] of it, via that one income. ALL of it. The scholarships, the funds, the ...whole nine yard of needed earthly provisions. Praise HIM!!

Pondering a bit of how GOD used George Mueller to show us how dependable HE is of material provisions to HIS children's economy. Mueller's life was for sure one of super-spiritual.

Surely we can live faithfully by Scripture, every jot and tittle of It. Look to God for every penny!! Be content with whatever we are given and whatever we might still have to depend on Him. Look not to the right, nor to the left, day by day by day.

"And having food and raiment let us be therewith content".

Leave the economy of the world to the world.
Live the economy of our home in GOD's grace.

Cheery, brothers and sisters, the Lord is near, focus on being super-spiritual ! :)

In Christ,
Margaret


 2008/9/25 22:22Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Thankful

Thank God for rebuke, it is such a sweet often confirming, welcomed attribute. I find it here from my friends, I found it yesterday evening after work, right here within these pages.

Quote:
We are choking on sewers of information, facts, statistics, polls, and headlines, all the while as Isaiah said "truth has fallen in the streets." And the refuge from this emphasis is what makes SI so precious. If SI doesn't keep out this fretful sewage...whether as updates or even in the guise of personal prophesy, I will be saddened at the loss of a place where we can momentarily take our eyes off of the world groaning beneath the burden of it's sin.



I confess that I fell victim to this very thing and noticed the sheer distraction, the confusion, the subtle anxiousness and developing fear small as it was and maybe knowing better ...

I jumped into the fray elsewhere the other day over all that is presently happening and got caught up in it. In the days that have followed I began to re-access a great deal of it so I venture out here in a dangerous time for me, it is always dangerous to write this early in the morning - I often live to regret it later on.

But thank you all for confirming the convictions already underway -

Focus and balance seem to be the two terms permeating my conscience. It is so easy to lose focus and to drown in a sewer of information as MC alluded. Even balance itself seems that it needs to be overweighted on the side of ...

[i]But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.[/i]

I do mean all the context there, the prior context, the absence of anxiety, first things first - [i] Therefore take no thought[/i]. Ah, right there, what is it but the opposite of taking too much thought, too much information, too much ... speculation?

I have been paying ... enough attention to the goings on of Wall Street for some time now. I have a stake in it by way of my companies generosity of granting shares. Speculation is the greatest part of this system and actually of many systems and constructs. Even ourselves, our own Brethren and our very confused and perhaps sincere, well meaning ... 'prophets' - are they not but speculators in great measure? The correlations are no just uncanny, they are dead on. A little secret, but I have often been a lurker on another forum (Gasp!), a financial forum and though not a participant directly, primarily because I recognize that I know next to nothing of hedge funds, and shorting, 'puts' and 'Elliot wave' patterns - The parallels to [i]this[/i] forum ...

Hope I can put this truthfully and without wrong, misplaced intention or equivocating; After awhile you get a feel for who knows what they are talking about and who is just blowing off steam, who is ranting and raving all the time - Conduct issues over substance, cordiality and it's absence, the up and coming hotshots over the older, wiser and precious wisdom of the same. An just as wonderfully, a few believers thrown into the mix. It brings the recollection back to the revival that was sparked out of Wall Street some years ago ...

But the corollaries do end at some point and ... where in the world was I going with all this? Speculation. I have had my fill of this and am practically sick in the soul of the prophetic, (so called), gibberish that is all about us. The old Bible Answer Man used to use the terminology of "Newspaper Theology" quite a bit and where I may have some issues with Hank nowadays I do believe he is correct in his statement. I do think that the whole thing has gone way over the rails, is far from Biblical, New Testament grasp and is conspicuously missing from it's pages, this form of speculating every circumstantial, present moment experience that is before us. Sparks noted that we often get our wires crossed and experience itself bares this out in my own.

Let me get off that rabbit trail.

Found a great deal of irony yesterday evening coming to his post. Had just got home and still being somewhere in the middle of this convicting that was upon me .. flipped on the old idiot box and clicked on the news, wondering what the latest was on this bailout business. Simultaneously perusing this discussion my local channel did a piece on the new Catholic church that was being ... celebrated, it's grand opening along with all the pomp of Bishops and the regalia of ... whatever they are terming these guy's in their silly looking outfits. An impressive structure, depending on ones taste (not mine), smooth lines and great sweeping glass panels, a marvel of modern architecture. They interviewed the architect who answered the question with a giggle, "Do you think you will get some extra points in heaven for this?" Responded "I hope so, I can use all I can get." It's an off hand mention ... The cost of this 1,300 seat replacement for some other church damaged by the earthquake some years back?

180 million dollars. I gasped ... and my thought's straight away thought, "If this had been a Mormon or even a Protestant church it would make no difference at all." In fact it brought to mind the super-mega churches of our ilk.

The next piece, right on it's very heels ... A food bank that had run out of food to feed the homeless due to all the cutbacks people are making, due to the economy. Did they do this on purpose? Was it coincidental? Should I [i]speculate[/i] one way or the other? To me it seemed so incredibly ironic - whatever the motivation, but thought ... "Will this just be completely lost on people?" Just slip on by? It seemed even the producers themselves just happened to run them in sequence 'accidentally' it was all so seamless and matter of fact ...

This is our present world - Asleep ...

I appreciate the course corrections so much, their is a vortex that can suck you right down into it with too much preoccupation and yet I also appreciate that we can still discuss and commiserate, share our burdens with each other here. We do live in these times and these times do affect us in a variety of ways, [i]both[/i] are equally valid - the warnings on the one hand and the real practical things that affect us. A right balance with that extra weight ... I am being redundant.

It is a difficult season here, a lot of work, extra work and that which stems from some cutbacks and redistribution of responsibilities. Personally I was at first ... murmuring under my breath a great deal at the seeming ridiculousness, the sheer impossibility of it all - In essence doing two full time jobs ... But perspective and pondering, having those wonderful rebukes be it from the Holy Spirit in that inestimable way, from your own Brethren or the combination of the two has made me change my mind and recognize better just how thankful I am to have a job in these pressing times. I may be often exhausted and fatigued and that is where an extra amount of diligence is needed for the coward of our souls loves that point of entry, but I am so thoroughly thankful, to the Lord, to you all.


_________________
Mike Balog

 2008/9/26 9:32Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

Quote:
An impressive structure, depending on ones taste (not mine), smooth lines and great sweeping glass panels, a marvel of modern architecture.



Going off on a rabbit trail, for sure here, but this statement reminded me of one a preacher told us one time.

They have a brother in their church who is an excellent carpenter, does fine work. When he walks into a fine house, he will look around carefully and say, "Yup, this will all burn up someday!" This observation had ministered tremendously to me when I see fine things or have a desire for it.

ginnyrose


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2008/9/28 22:55Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re:

Quote:
They have a brother in their church who is an excellent carpenter, does fine work. When he walks into a fine house, he will look around carefully and say, "Yup, this will all burn up someday!"



:-) Spoken just like the Great Carpenter ...


_________________
Mike Balog

 2008/9/28 23:03Profile





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