Content Yet Still Wanting - Lesson 2 - Poverty

Philippians 4:12, ‘I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.’

How well do you balance being content and still desiring more?
Have you ever really gone without?
Do you trust Him to provide all your wants?
All of your needs?
All that you deserve?

Let’s search the scriptures together as God teaches us
To bear prosperity with meekness,
And adversity with contentment.

This week we will be reviewing poverty.

Testimony of poverty?

Bend in the road, what fruit has become evident.




Psalm 37:7, ‘Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.’

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this way.
No one seems to agree with me when I see others appearing to prosper.
I have to admit they do make me fret.

Can you help me with this one…





Proverbs 14:30, ‘A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.’

Looking at that verse if we have the opposite of envy we should have a sound heart.
What would the opposite of envy be?

What practical advice do you have for us?
And don’t say just don’t have envy.





Was anyone saved in his or her best days?
Everything was perfect in your life then you knew you needed the Lord?
Can you truly be thankful if you have ever gone without?

If we are in physical poverty is there a lesson not yet learned keeping us there?
If we are in spiritual poverty, I know the answer to that question.
What about if we are truly without physical needs?

Is it possible the Lord is asking us to trust Him?
We say we do with our lips,
Then the next words out of our mouth is ‘but…’

Anyone want to comment here?





Proverbs 15:15-17, ‘All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.’

I believe we are too focused on the negative that we overlook the good.
I have been in the homes of more than one Christian man
that has left his house in the evening without kissing his wife goodbye.

I have also been in the home of more than one Christian man
that has not kissed his children goodnight and prayed with them before bed.
We take way too much for granted.

Can you help us get back on track if we have wavered?





Ecclesiastes 4:6, ‘Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.’

Your thoughts…





Philippians 4:11, ‘Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’

‘I have learned…’
It is a process,
Where are you on this scale?





1Timothy 6:6-8, ‘But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.’

We may have godliness
And we may have contentment
Where are we with both?

Where are you with both?





Proverbs 30:8-9, ‘Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.’

That is a bold prayer.
It is my desire that we grow stronger in our Christian lives.
Stronger in our walk and stronger in our prayer lives.

Would you be able to pray a prayer like that?
If so help us to be like that.
If not, what steps are you prepared to take.





Ecclesiastes 2:24, ‘There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.’

I know I rest better when I did all I could in one day.
Rather than fret and not be able to sleep over all I for got
Or review the list of all the things I should have done differently.

Possibly we take too much credit for the good in our lives?

Your thoughts…





Ecclesiastes 5:12, ‘The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.’

Your thoughts…





Proverbs 14:14, ‘The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.’

To slide back you must have been further along.
A baby Christian is a baby Christian, they are growing.
We are a little further along now.

And here it says a backslider in heart,
Not a backslider in actions.
Possibly serving in a ministry our actions are still there
But our heart has left the building.

Are we serving because others are watching?
Do we come to church because we want to
or because someone is keeping attendance?

Can you help us with this verse?





Is it up to our children to make us love them?
Do we perform to make the Lord love us?
Are we trying to maintain our salvation?

1Samuel 2:7, ‘The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.’

If only I…
If only my wife…
If only my husband…

Your thoughts here…





Conclusion

We did not save ourselves.
We cannot maintain our salvation.
We cannot make the Lord love us more.

We can however do what He asks us to do.
We can also do what He tells us to do.

We need to do what is required of us to do.
We need to do more for Him today than we did yesterday.
We need to trust Him more today than we did yesterday.

There are blessings all around us.
Every moment of every day.

Yes there is bad.
I can point out every flaw in everyone.
As can you.

I can nit pick and criticize everything I see.
I can also choose to see the good.
Choose to see the opportunity.

You can choose to trust Him.
You can choose to be content.
You can choose to trust Him more today than you did yesterday.

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