Greetings in the name of Jesus!

Thanks for looking into Prosperous Life Newsletter today. We've prayed that this article will edify you with the TRUTH of God's Word and cause your FAITH to grow stronger (Romans 10:17).

If you've been studying along with us then you know that this current series has been discussing the development of a LIFESTYLE OF LOVE as the principal way to achieve VICTORY in life which by biblical-definition includes VICTORY in the area of our finances. As we said in the previous issue, over our 14-year history it's always been our intention to be a Bible-based financial newsletter. Indeed, the subject in the Bible that's mentioned the most often is the subject of finances and there're more than 2,300 scriptural references to it which is about triple the number of the next most popular topic. Jesus talked about finances and material stewardship extensively and fully two-thirds of His Parables are about money, property or financial stewardship in one form or another. Now in this series we're working on connecting the subject of finances to the New Testament quality of (agape) LOVE from several different perspectives because under the New Covenant there is indeed an inter-dependent relationship between LOVE and financial victory that's often overlooked.

Now to appreciate what we have under the New Covenant we need to look first at where we came from. Under the Old Testament Law, financial victory could result from obeying God's commandments. If a person obeyed he/she would be BLESSED; if His commandments were disobeyed then the curses would come. You can see this system summarized in Chapter 28 in the Book of Deuteronomy: verses 1-14 covered all the blessings that came from obedience and verses 15-68 the curses. Obviously there were a lot more curses than blessings and they covered every possible defeat in life one can imagine. Victory in the financial areas of life was specifically mentioned in the list of BLESSINGS that came from obeying God's commandments

The commandments the Israelites were supposed to obey started with the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on the stone tablets (Exodus 20:1-17) and were rapidly expanded from those original Ten to more than 600 specific legal regulations. It didn't take them too long to figure out that it was impossible to keep even the first Ten much less the hundreds of others that came later. Folks tried to keep all those commandments but they just couldn't do it. What they didn't realize until later was that in one's own strength it was indeed IMPOSSIBLE to keep the Law, that its purpose was to show them they were sinners and that they needed a Savior who would deliver them from their guilt and shame and defeat and hypocrisy. Fortunately Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of that Covenant (Galatians 3:13) by replacing the old system with a New Covenant that contained better promises (Hebrews 7:18-22, 8:6).  

The Covenant of Love

The New Covenant of Jesus Christ is based on "Agape" LOVE and we're commanded by Jesus Himself to LOVE God with all our hearts and to LOVE one another (Matthew 22:37-39). Two commandments replaced all those others from the Old Covenant that the people were never able to keep. But BELIEVERS are able to keep the two LOVE commandments of the New Covenant by faith and with the help of the Holy Spirit. We don't do it perfectly but we can focus on just 2 commandments instead of the old 600+ and we can learn to gradually improve our love walk with practice and by drawing on our increasing knowledge of the Word as time goes on. The Word of God EMPOWERS us to LOVE!

Now when this New Covenant went into effect, the GRACE of God was totally and fully released on the earth. GRACE is defined as the undeserved favor and empowerment of God and it's received by FAITH (Ephesians 2:8). Included in His GRACE are all of the blessings of God that under the Old Testament were only available to folks when they were obedient. Under the New Covenant GRACE has nothing to do with obedience but everything to do with FAITH. We can't earn God's GRACE. It's already been released and it's available to everyone. All the blessings and favor and empowerment of God have ALREADY been released. It's up to each of us to learn how to receive by FAITH what God has ALREADY provided. We don't receive more of God's GRACE because we obey God's commandments. There's no work we can do to earn more GRACE; if there were, it wouldn't be GRACE because GRACE is undeserved.   

Does that mean there's no place for obedience in the New Covenant? Certainly not! Anything that Jesus told us we should do we're supposed to try to obey. In fact, whatever the Word of God says we should do we ought to try to keep. Indeed we should want our lives to line up with the Word in every way because we LOVE God and we want to honor Him with our obedience. How can we say we say we LOVE God if we're not willing to obey His commandments? It isn't possible to LOVE Him with New Testament agape (self-sacrificing) LOVE while simultaneously disobeying any of the commandments of Christ. In fact, Jesus confirmed this point clearly: "if you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

Connecting to Our Finances

Now let's connect this to our finances. As already noted, the financial blessings of God are ALL included in His GRACE; an important part of our inheritance is ALREADY available. BUT, those blessings have to be received by FAITH and FAITH works by LOVE (1 Corinthians 13:2 and Galatians 5:6). When we don't walk in LOVE we can't receive the financial GRACE God has for us because our FAITH won't work to full capacity. When we walk in disobedience we're not walking in LOVE and it will impede our ability to live life in financial victory.

Moreover and here's the real sticking point for so many Christians: how can anyone fulfill the commandment to LOVE God with all their heart and simultaneously put so many of life's chores and activities ahead of becoming knowledgeable about the WORD of God? Since Jesus IS the WORD (John 1:1-3) and wants to disclose Himself through it to each of us (John 14:22-23), it is the most available way to get to know Him. Shouldn't we want to get to know the ones we've been called to LOVE? But the truth is most Believers don't take time to study and meditate on the Word to find out what the commandments of Jesus really are or who Jesus really is because they're too busy with other stuff and wind up relying on what other folks tell them about the Person they're supposed to be in LOVE with. That's why so many of us are weak in important areas of life including our finances and in addition since FAITH comes by "hearing" the WORD (Romans 10:17) our FAITH is weak to start with. It's all linked together.

Here's what Jesus said about this point: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word...He who does not love Me does not keep My words..." (John 14:23-24). Jesus has such a wonderful ability to speak directly to a point and make it so clear in just a few words. And friend, this should be clear to you today: your love for Jesus is demonstrated by the amount of attention you give to the Word not because I say so but because the Word itself says so. And our success in life flows out of our LOVE for Christ. His LOVE for you and me has already been demonstrated; we just need to receive it and enter into the intimacy with Christ that's been made available. Real LOVE abounds in intimacy and an intimate relationship comes from giving attention to each other. Jesus already released His LOVE when He gave up His life for mankind. Now it's our turn to return that LOVE so that an intimate relationship can be developed. Out of that intimate relationship will flow every success and victory in life you could possible imagine because the WORD of God says so.

Thanks for dropping by today and we hope this article has blessed you in a special way. We'll be looking for you again in three weeks on May 20. In the meantime ask the Lord to help you with your ongoing pursuit of a LOVING LIFESTYLE. If you LOVE the Lord you can have what you ask for (John 14:13).

Sinners' Prayer

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

Prayer Requests

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. God bless you.

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx

About Prosperous Life Newsletter

PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries located in Miami, Florida. It is in its 14th continuous year of publication and has been published faithfully every third Friday since January 1998. It's an e-publication primarily about finances in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of members. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you.