Dear Partner,
Diligence equals fruitfulness. Laziness equals poverty. First off, I am not stating that every single person that has ever lived on planet earth and experienced poverty were due to laziness. At some point in life a believer may have experienced some level of poverty in an area due to either a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6) or just plainly being under attack of the devil. Therefore if we have been standing in FAITH……then we KEEP standing in FAITH. (Ephesians 6:13-14)
God’s WORD is final authority in our lives. So if His WORD says that being stingy or lazy can lead to poverty…..then it most certainly will if the individual does not heed the Lord’s correction and wisdom! But notice in the written WORD of God in Philippians 4:19 it says…
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Whatsoever is needed……..GOD WILL PROVIDE IT! HALLELUJAH!
So the WAY that God made for us to avoid poverty in our lives and Him supplying the need for that is us listening to Him, receiving Him and His WORD, and continually and consistently remaining diligent in our hard work and giving.
Let’s take a look at what is says in Proverbs 21:25-26 TPT…..
25 Taking the easy way out is the habit of a lazy man, and it will be his downfall.
In verse 25 I can sum it up to a phrase that we’ve all heard at some point in life which is this….
“You gotta be willing to put the work in!”
The false doctrine that religious people have sadly gravitated towards is “If God wants me to have it then He’ll give it to me.” Or “God is going to take care of it, so I don’t have to do anything!” Those are the kind of people who just sit and lay around waiting for God to just drop something into their lap! They wait and wait, wondering when is God going to do something. Yet they have missed the very keys that causes MANIFESTATION into our lives…….much love, prayer, praise, forgiveness, thanksgiving, hard work and diligence! God did not call us to only be consumers. He also called us to be producers!
Praise God that you are consuming. But the question is; What are you producing? What is your raw, authentic, organic FAITH producing in your life? I am currently 32 years old, and have been through a lot with my family and ministry, but when I look back on my life, countless stories of victory begin to come back into view from our FAITHFUL GOD……..from our raw, authentic faith in God alone as well! I could share many testimonies with you that would probably shock you from what me and my family went through in our personal lives and in ministry, yet we stood on raw, complete faith before God alone and EVERY single time, God showed himself strong in our lives. In those times, if we would have waited without using our FAITH, stopped praying, and fainted etc, then we wouldn’t have what us believers enjoy hearing……. A TESTIMONY of GOD’S FAITHFULNESS! Just sitting here thinking about some of the things we went through is already bringing back some powerful memories of HOW God brought us through……whew!
Through it all we never stopped preaching and teaching FAITH, we never stopped PRAISING GOD, we never stopped having family meetings, we never stopped sowing seed, we never stopped decreeing a thing, we never stopped walking in love, and most importantly, we never blamed God.
We just literally believed what He said, even when it hurt the MOST. We still said it is HARVEST time and continued to WORK IN FAITH knowing and believing that “GOD IS FAITHFUL!”
I had a WONDERFUL childhood but I always, deep down, knew I was different than the “friends” around me. I would always get along better with the quote “older generation” etc. It seemed they would already be where I was, mentally, spiritually etc. Often times instead of leaving and playing with friends, I would stay home and quietly watch and observe how my father practice what He preached. I watched closely how he would pray for those who persecuted him. I watched how he only spoke the WORD while in a situation he should have done what the “world” would say “lose his mind and give up.” I watched how he would go to the neighbor’s house and use their water hose to fill up our toilets with water so we could flush the toilets due to all power and utilities cut off. And then preach the following Sunday with a loud rented generator in the back of the church by the front door still ONLY preaching in FAITH and saying these exact words…..”IT’S HARVEST TIME.” I can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
One of the craziest things about it was during those times, people or friends in school or out in public would see us out somewhere and say things like “Y’all are rich, we can tell y’all got money” etc. What they saw on us was what we ALWAYS saw inside of us……..THE BLESSING OF THE LORD!
No matter what we ever faced, we continued in FAITH with hard work and diligence.
God is waiting on us to do something. And those somethings can be found in His WORD.
Things such as:
PRAY
FAST
SOW SEEDS OF MONEY, HELP OTHERS, ETC
PRAISE DANCE BEFORE THE LORD
PRAY IN THE SPIRIT UNTIL WE GET AN INWARD RELEASE OR NOTE OF VICTORY
REMEMBER HIS FAITHFULNESS
AND SO ON
Going through trials or being under an attack has caused some to get lazy. The enemy also uses an attack to distract believers from remaining diligent in what they know to do. satan hopes that you get so distracted due to an attack that you lose your hard work and diligence and instead give in to worry and become lazy in the things of God. Because satan knows “if they get lazy, it’ll lead them to poverty and destruction.”
People who are moved by fear would think thoughts like “Well why in the world would I sow seed and give money while all of this is going on? I’m under attack! The wise thing to do is to hold on to it!
We read Proverbs 21:25, well now let us take a very close look at the next scripture, Proverbs 21:26 TPT which says…..
26 All day long he thinks about all the things that he craves, for he hasn’t learned the secret that the generous man has learned: extravagant giving never leads to poverty.
Everyone can be a GENEROUS giver. I am not saying tase these exact figures as the official example of a generous giver but you’ll get the picture.
This is what generous giving looks like.
When all you have is $1,000.00 and you sow $900.00 of it.
When all you have is $500.00 and you sow $350.00 of it.
When all you have is $100.00 and you sow $75.00 of it.
When all you have is $20.00 and you sow $20.00 of it.
When all you have is $10.00 and you sow $7.00 of it.
You see where I am going? Generous giving is based upon the seed you plant from what you currently have. After all, God is looking at the heart and your faith. God turned our lives around because He is good, faithful, and we trust Him! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE BE TO GOD ALMGHTY! HE IS FOREVER FAITHFUL AND WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!
Here are a few scriptures for you to read and study that speaks on the consequences of being lazy and the benefits of being diligent, working hard and giving. (Especially read/study these scriptures in The Passion Translation and the New Living Translation)
Proverbs 13:4, Colossians 3:23, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 18:9, Proverbs 12:24, Proverbs 6:6, Proverbs 14:23-24, James 4:17, Proverbs 10:22, Philippians 2:13-14 and 4:13 and 4:19, James 1:22, Hebrews 13:16, 2 Timothy 2:15, Genesis 2:15, Proverbs 10:5, Ephesians 4:28, Mark Chapter 4
I am praying for you and your family daily!
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE IF A PERSON BELIEVES!
TERRY MINOR JR