There is a wonderful promise found in the Bible that God knows the plans that He has for us and they are good plans, for He has designed for us a future full of hope, peace and well-being (Jeremiah 29:11).
This promise was first spoken to the Jewish people who were suffering in Babylon, God wanted to remind them that although they were a long way from the Promise Land that He had not forgotten about them. He assured them that they had a future, that their story wasn’t finished yet, and in fact there were better things to come.
Calling
September 2016 God declaring healing over my life and I also sensed Him asking me to search for the good and perfect plans that He has for me. And as I reflected upon this, I felt a stirring to pursue my lifelong passion – writing. I hoped that it could be a way that I could impact the world. I began to spend many moments pouring words out onto a page and a desire grew that those jumbled up thoughts could one day make sense to enrich, empower and encourage others. When I first started my journey I was too scared to call myself a writer, so many fears held me back. But I realised that God Called me to write and therefore I needed to trust Him to help me. But if I am to be brutally honest with you the journey has been difficult. There have been SO many times I have been tempted to just trash every word that I’ve written and simply give up. But the thing that I always keep coming back to is a little promise that God asked me to hold onto – He said that there were people out there who needed to hear my story. So dear reader if you have gotten this far in my rambling, let me say to you “thank you!”.
Honest wage
To date my hard work hasn’t produced any financial reward and I haven’t been able to work since 2014 so it has been a struggle. In fact I often feel overwhelmed by my situation, but lately I have been trying to declare Jeremiah 29:11 over my life. I try to hold fast to God’s promise and believe that one day this difficult season will simply be a chapter in my life not the all-consuming thing it is now. I have hope that God will indeed bring the promised restoration to pass, I’ll be renewed and made ready for His purposes, His divine destiny, living the good life which He has prearranged and made ready for me (Ephesians 2:10).
As I have spent time asking God to show me the way forward He has revealed the following:
We are asked to always remember that we are not to trust in riches but rather trust in the Lord, for He gives us the power, ability, gifts and talents, to generate wealth by honest means (Deuteronomy 8:18).
We are warned that it is FAR better to be honest and to walk in integrity than to be a dishonest and short-sighted rich fool (Proverbs 19:1).
Wealth obtained by fraudulent means rapidly dwindles, but those who gather gradually and by honest means will see their hard labour rewarded (Proverbs 13:11).
The wages of the righteous is a worthwhile and meaningful life. When we learn from instruction and correction, we are then able to follow the path of Life, which leads towards wisdom and blessings (Proverbs 10:16-17). We are warned that if we refuse instruction and disciple then poverty and shame will be the result, but the upright will be rewarded with prosperity (Proverbs 13:16,21).
We are told that it is better to live with little and the awe of God filling our hearts, than to have a great treasure and trouble attached to it. By profiting unlawfully we may bring suffering upon ourselves, we are also urged to hate and not participate in bribes (Proverbs 15:16, 27).
It is good to be neither rich nor poor for if we become destitute we may need to resort to stealing to survive, and if we have an abundance we may become so obsessed with our wealth that we forget to acknowledge and honour the Lord (Proverbs 30:8-9).
We are urged to remember that every good thing we receive and every perfect gift bestowed upon us is from the Father of lights, the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens, the One who is perfect and never changes (James 1:17).
If this is an area that you are struggling with I encourage you to delve deep and find verses that speak to you and your situation.
Prayer
I invite you to join with me in prayer:
Lord, I no longer want my life to be built on shaky ground, I ask You to be my solid foundation, my tower of strength, my fortified city. I ask You to empower me to live a life of righteousness and let my wage reflect the hard honest work that You enable me to do. If I reject Your rebuke I know I will wander away from You, so help me to readily receive correction and thus stay on the path of Life and live in the promised abundance. Deliver me from poverty and disgrace, grant me the ability to work hard and earn an honest wage. I ask for a teachable heart that readily accepts wise correction and an obedient spirit that keeps my feet upon the path that honours and glorifies You.
I ask for You to release to me my “daily bread”, please feed me (physically and spiritually) what I need for each and every moment. I ask You to never leave me so destitute that I have to resort to stealing in order to survive, but I also ask You to help me to be wise with what You release to me, to be a good steward, so that I never get so absorbed with wealth that I deny You. I pray that ALL I do brings You great glory and honour. I thank You for having good and perfect plans for my life and I ask You to show me each and every step forward.
God, the foundation of Hope, I ask You to FILL me with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as I trust You more and more each moment of my life. May the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround my life with His super-abundance until I radiate with His unshakable hope (Romans 15:13).
In Jesus’ beautiful and mighty name I pray. Amen.
Do you have a verse that has sustained you through a tough time?
I’d love to hear from you.
Many blessings,
Keona
