WHAT IS CONTENTMENT?

Yesterday morning’s verse of the day was Hebrews 13:5. “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have.” For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

At first glance, I immediately became disappointed because I am believing God for some things. Telling me to be content with such things as I have, is to take away my hope for the things I’m believing God for. I want to remain somewhat dissatisfied with the status quo so that I will be motivated to pray often about it. I thought this directive to be content must have some other meaning because I don’t want to give up on the things I’m asking God for and I will not be content to never see them come to pass. God made promises and they will manifest because His word shall not return to Him void, but they shall accomplish what He pleases and prosper in the thing for which He sent it (Isa. 55:11).

I don’t believe our Heavenly Father expects us to be content suffering continuously from lack, with a sincere desire for life improvement strumming in our hearts. Would you tell a slave that is being horribly mistreated to be content with such things? I think not. Scripture supports that He is able to do super abundantly, far over and above all that we dare to ask or think (Eph. 3:20). For me to suffer from need without necessary provisions is like forcing the child of a very wealthy king to live contentedly as a pauper, while the royal king himself lives abundantly. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

God’s love for us has no limits nor restrictions. He loves us even if we’re prodigals, or hard-headed, or carnal-minded, or wayward, or bashful, or high-minded, or gutter-minded. We are loved! God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

And God is able to make all His grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work (2Corin. 9:8).

He came that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Money and resources are necessary components of life and can be properly used and enjoyed without an increase in greed and sin consciousness. I believe the contentment spoken of in the verse of the day is in regard to greed and a misuse of God’s resources.

An unhealthy desire for wealth has led to the ruin of many lives. An unhealthy obsession with money is closely related to discontentment. He who loves abundance will not be satisfied with increase. Enough won’t ever be enough for them. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity [a vain life] (Eccl. 5:10).

Better is the sight of the eyes [contentment] than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind (Eccl. 6:9).

The apostle Paul said that God had taught him how to live abased, and how to live aboundingly. He had learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound in one area and to suffer need in another (Phil 4:12). However, though Paul suffered need for a period of time, it is not inappropriate to believe that God will improve our situations when we need Him to.

Brian Courtney Wilson sings a song that says, “Teach me how to receive every blessing.” We don’t have to be afraid that we might not act right when we come into blessings because God will teach us how to walk in it. His grace is sufficient, and His strength and power is made perfect in our weaknesses and frailties (2Corin 12:9).

The psalmist David said, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want [or suffer lack] (Psalm 23:1).

Contentment is more than just a state of acceptance and satisfaction. Contentment is simply not falling into greediness, and covetousness, and carnality, and the love of money which is the root of all kinds of evil (1Tim. 3:3). Just because Heavenly Father is able to bless abundantly does not mean we have to live extravagantly. However, we don’t have to live as paupers either.

We should be thankful for what we do have, and full of hope that the perfect will of God, and His desire for us will be made manifest in our lives. Express thankfulness to God for His daily bread (provision), and remember that He is not offended because we ask Him for things.

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart (Psalm 37:4 Amplified Bible).

To God be the glory.

Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove

RE-ENERGIZED

Human instinct when feeling under appreciated is to quietly quit trying, or take the heart out of our efforts. We may not verbally say anything, or formally resign, we just quit trying to do our best.

What could be more miserable than to live as a Christian, with a promise that God gives us the victory, but live far beneath the reality of that promise on a regular basis?

If I read the biblical promises that Christians are supposed to have, and never see them manifested in my life, how am I to establish in the faith that my life is any better than an unbeliever's who have no promises for victory.

How is it that we pray over and over… and over for healing, and sometimes the condition actually gets worse instead of better? Where is the victory in "by His stripes we are healed"?

Feeling under appreciated by the Lord may sometimes cause us to pull away from God and maybe our relationship with Him will not flourish as a result.

The prophet Elijah had given up and prayed that he might die. He said, “I’ve had enough Lord, please take my life.” He felt he had done God’s will when others had not, and now Jezebel was trying to have him killed. Elijah experienced the depths of despair. To lead him out of depression, God first let Elijah rest. He sent an angel to feed him. Then He supernaturally strengthened Elijah to travel over 200 miles on one meal, where God confronted Elijah with the need to return to his mission, which he did.

The apostle Paul said that he was confident that the One who has begun a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’s return. Sometimes we may feel like giving up but God is our keeper, and strength giver. The prophet Isaiah said, “They shall walk and not faint,” just as Elijah did for 200 miles on the strength of one meal. And he said, "They shall run and not be weary," just as Elijah did when the hand of the Lord came upon him and he ran ahead of King Ahab and his chariot of horses to the entrance of Jezreel.

The apostle Paul said, “I know the One in whom I believe and I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

There was a season when I went through a time of feeling unappreciated by the Lord and He renewed my faith with many, many still small voice experiences. I was inundated with God moments that I knew was Him telling me, “I’m with you daughter.” God has a way of making you feel like His favorite child. God let Elijah rest and re-energized him anew for ministry, and Elijah went on his way.

God is saying to me and you, “I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

Isaiah 40:31 NKJV But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

What about those who have given up waiting because it never seems to manifest? Is their strength renewed too? Yes, it is renewed and re-energized! And all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God. They will come to pass.

So if you're not feeling victorious today, and need a miracle manifestation from God for anything, just lift your eyes toward heaven right now and say, "Lord, please help me."

To God be the glory.

Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove

DON'T GIVE UP

Luke 18:1-8 (NKJV) Then He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'" Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.

Don't give up. Let God be wearied by our continual coming.

To God be the glory.

Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove

I WAS WRONG

CONFESSION:

Revelation 4:11 in the King James Version says, “For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” This verse has offended me on several occasions because to me it seems kind of selfish to create all things just FOR HIS PLEASURE. We humans are down here struggling with life because God wanted all this FOR HIS PLEASURE. If you look at the condition of the world, I don’t see how He’s getting any pleasure out of it because I can barely watch the news without shaking my head, and He sees more than we do.

This morning I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw it again... "for his pleasure". Then I went and looked up the verse in the New King James Version and got a completely different revelation. It says, "You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." OMG, not for His selfish pleasure, but by His sovereign will they were created. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3 NKJV). It was wrong of me to accuse God of being selfish.

The prophet Isaiah says God created the heavens and formed the earth. He made it... formed it... and established it to be inhabited. He did not create it in vain. He made man in His image and likeness. He gave life... and breath... and spirit to the people on the earth, and determined the pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings (Acts 17:26). In Him we live and move and have our being. God told the prophet Jeremiah that before He formed him in his mother's womb, He knew him... and sanctified him... and ordained him to be a prophet to the nations. In God's book, all our lives were recorded and every moment laid out before we had lived a single day (Ps 139:16).

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God ordained Himself to come down and suffer the cross to redeem us from the curse. By no means is this a selfish God. He endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12:2).

Forgive me Lord for being offended. I was wrong.

Genesis 1:31 (NKJV) Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

And He rested on the seventh.

To God be the glory.
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove