Become a Candidate for Increase GC 09 May Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another. Romans 13:8, The Amplified Bible

I remember back before Ken and I knew we could trust God to take care of us financially, I thought it was my job to worry about how we were going to pay our bills. I spent a great deal of my time thinking things like, What are we going to do about this or that bill? I think I felt obligated to worry! Then I found out it wasn’t God’s will for me to worry! His will is for us to believe Him to care for us. I also learned that as believers, we’re not to seek after material riches. We’re not to pursue money like people do who are without God. They have to pursue it. They don’t have a covenant with God, so if they don’t seek material goods, they won’t get them! But we’re not like those people. We’re not in the world without God and without a covenant (Ephesians 2:12-13). We have God’s promise of provision. He has assured us in His Word that He will not only meet our needs, but give us abundance. It’s important for us to remember, however, that a covenant is always between two parties. It has two sides to it. A covenant says, If you’ll do this, then I’ll do that. God’s part of the covenant is to prosper us—spirit, soul and body, as well as financially. Our part is not to seek after prosperity, but to seek first His kingdom, His way of doing and being right! Our part is to say, “Lord, I’ll do whatever You tell me to do. I’ll obey Your Word and do what is right in Your sight—even if it looks like it will cost me.” Of course, obeying God’s Word never costs in the long run. It pays! You always put yourself in a position for increase when you seek after God and do things His way. I’ll be honest with you though, there will be times when you can’t see how that increase is going to come. Ken and I know. We’ve been there. When we first read Romans 13:8, we weren’t too excited about it. At that time in our lives, it looked to us like we’d never be able to do anything financial without borrowing money. We thought, How will we ever buy a car? How will we get a home? How will we finance our ministry? We’re doomed! But we had already decided to obey God no matter what the cost, so we committed to Him to get out of debt even though we thought it would be to our disadvantage. Of course, that decision has since turned out to be one of the wisest financial decisions we’ve ever made. That’s the way it always is. Obeying God always works to your advantage in the end! So start today putting yourself in a position to increase. Give His Word first place in your life. Commit to getting out of debt and living debt free. Make the adjustments the Holy Spirit tells you to make. Make yourself a candidate for increase!2 Samuel 1-2; 1 Corinthians 15I keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love him. Romans 13:8, The Amplified Bible

Scripture Reading: Psalm 37:21-40