Spirit of competition .
Some people are moved by the desire to prove to others what they can do. Those that are moved by this spirit can’t be still if they see someone else doing better than them. These people continually try to prove something to others, because they compare themselves to others all the time. They live according to someone else’s schedule since they do not have their own. The word of God said this is a wrong attitude:
You should understand there is nothing that belongs to you. Your life itself is not yours, it’s a trust God has shown to you. Understanding this truth changes the way you respond to what is going on around you.
You do not live for yourself; you did not appear on this Earth by your own act of will or for your own personal purpose. God has given life to you as a sign of His trust for you. You are entrusted with life from God and the day will come when you will have to give account to God for the life He given to you, – for all your deeds and words while living in your body.
The souls of the people that have repented and come back to God.
Every person that has come back to God is like a fruit. Every repented soul is the product of someone’s fruit that before God. God wants to see as many people as possible meeting Jesus and making Him the Lord of their lives through you. When we help people to meet Jesus and accept His lordship, we bear fruit that glorify God.
If we really want to bring more fruit to God, He will help us in doing that. I believe the time has come for every one of us to stop and ask ourselves a serious question as to what fruit we are bearing for God. What are the fruit of my life? Do I strive to bear more and more fruit for God?
God did so much for Joseph. He saved his life when his brothers wanted to kill him. God showed him favor when he was sold into slavery. God abundantly blessed the work of his hands that his master placed him over his whole property. Joseph never forgot these blessings from the Lord. The realizations of God’s mercy filled Joseph’s heart with gratitude toward God and his master.
Someone might say, «I still do not have a job, even though I have prayed and the church has prayed for me». Or he might say, «Thank You, Lord, for the daily bread You give me». Do you see a difference? In the first case we hear murmuring, in the second – thanksgiving. Is it really necessary to thank God for the daily bread? Absolutely, since many people are forced to go hungry from day to day.
How many times did you call out to God this week? What about this month, this year? You called out to Him and He answered. Do not repeat the mistake of these 9 Israelites that were healed from leprosy but forgot to thank God for it! Give thanks to God for all things!
«Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, but he who regards a rebuke will be honoured» (Proverbs, 13:18).
We can see once again that financial difficulties in the lives of these people were not sent by God; they were the result of them rejecting the teaching and instruction of the Lord.
1. God uses His Word, the Bible to discipline us.
Do you have some separate time to read and personally study God’s Word? Do you study the Word together with other believers? Do you listen regularly to the preaching of the Word? All these issues are very important, since it is the Holy Scripture that God uses to speak to us. Through the Word God corrects us and gives us important instruction concerning the way we should live. God sees and know how we live. God knows all of our hidden desires and thoughts, and He wants to correct us through His Word.
§ To provide for us assurance and safety. Through discipline God desires to give His children exhortation: «And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons…» (Hebrews, 12:5).
