Do you feel rich today?

Don’t forget to pray. Ask God for insight and an understanding of his
Word. This insight or enlightenment is a work of grace and a ministry
of the Holy Spirit. Pray you will have eyes to see and ears to hear
the marvelous ways that God is showing his love to all his creation
but especially to his family of believers.

Scripture:    2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV) For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he
became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Note: Do you feel rich today? If you do you can thank Jesus Christ for
his willingness to become poor. “He became poor” because he saw your
need. He not only saw your need but he also knew that he was the only
one able to meet your need. Your need, my need, the need of all people
everywhere is the same. We need to have a right relationship with God.
So Jesus put aside his heavenly glory and became a man, a man not to
be served, but One who came to serve others. Before his life was over,
his willingness to serve mankind cost him everything. Think of this
astonishing statement: “He became poor…so that we might become rich.”

Obviously we’re not talking about earthly riches. Earthly riches are
about having great wealth and possessing great power and influence.
This way of thinking is the opposite of the spiritual riches that are
available to those who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
In fact the greatest riches we have are in Jesus Christ our Savior and
Lord, and in serving Him.  Hear it again, He is our richest blessing!
The amazing thing about our becoming rich is that we had nothing to do
with it. We didn’t work for it. It was given to us as a gift. The
richness of our relationship is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. As
we grow and mature in our faith we are able to see how rich we are in
love, forgiveness, salvation, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are
rich because we have been given the wisdom of God, the peace of God
and enriched by the loving presence of our Savior and Lord. We are
rich beyond measure! We have a heavenly estate in a place with streets
of gold, a place of perfect health. We are rich because all of the
righteous of God will be there, family and friends and millions we
have never met. How rich we are as a result of Jesus coming to the
Earth. His coming resulted in our being made rich toward God on earth
and the blessing of His eternal riches throughout time and eternity.

I hope and pray that today you have eyes that enable you to see the
wonderful way in which you have been enriched by the coming of Jesus
Christ.

Have you ever heard the story of the greatest mining strike in US
history? If not here is a brief article that gives us a little history
about it.

“In the 1860s, the Comstock Lode in western Nevada became one of the
most lucrative mining strikes in American history, yielding hundreds
of millions of dollars in gold and silver. But, amazingly, many who
mined this site missed these riches.
Sparked by the California gold rush in 1848, earlier prospectors had
searched western Nevada, focusing on the quest for gold. But, as
Ronald James points out in his book, The Roar and the Silence, because
of their obsession with gold, the first miners did not realize they
were “digging into one of the wealthiest silver lodes in the
world…Miners ignored the mineral-bearing black rock and pursued the
precious metal they knew best.”
Eventually, it was realized that these rocks were rich in silver, and
the Comstock boom began. But countless miners had failed to realize
that their hands were touching great riches. They had lost a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, because they were not discerning
enough to examine the rocks that were before them.” [Unknown source]

How many times in our lives have we had something similar to this
happen in our journey of faith? We have many opportunities to grow
closer to the Lord, our homes have numerous Bibles, our communities
have numerous churches, Bible studies abound and we are too busy with
the things of the world to get involved. We let the various
opportunities that would have enable us to grow in the knowledge of
Christ slip through our fingers. His precious presence is seen as
“black rocks” and not worth mining so we continue our search for
significance and meaning to life never knowing we had it in our hands
and let it slip away. Today I pray the prayer the apostle Paul prayed
in behalf of the Ephesians believers. I pray that God will open the
eyes of your hearts and that your hearts will be enlightened in order
that they may know the hope to which God had called you, “the riches
of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably
great power for us who believe.” [Eph 1:18b-19 (NIV)]

Dear friends, I have a favor to ask. Will you ask God to open your
eyes and my eyes allowing us to see the riches of his blessings all
around us? Will you pray that we will never settle for anything less
than God’s best? Ask him to allow us to receive the richness of his
blessings that enables us to be a strong in the faith. Ask in behalf
of all of us for the richness of God the Holy Spirit’s power. Ask him
for the ability to discern the truth and for opportunities to be used
as a blessing in the lives of others to his praise and glory. I will
pray these things for you and pray that you will never limit your
expectations of God’s riches by thinking small thoughts. I pray that
you will think big thoughts for our God is an awesome God. When you
read this, can I get a witness? That means you can shout an Amen and
Amen if so led.

Word from the Lord: “Beloved, you are surrounded by a great cloud of
witnesses. They are cheering you on and every time you gain a victory
over sin they praise God for your faithfulness. Continue to daily run
the race of faith. Run with perseverance and stay on the path I have
it marked out for you. My Spirit will always lead you toward the
finish line and will help you finish and finish well. Perseverance
requires you to keep your eyes on Jesus for he is the perfecter of
your faith. The race may not always be easy but the strength you need
will be supplied.”


Did the Lord speak to you today?  Why not write it down and claim it
for His Glory.

Prayer:  What do you need to pray to the Lord today? Listen to your
heart. He loves you!