In the last few weeks, my time has been spent looking, negotiating and talking to car salesmen for a much-needed vehicle, as we were forced to lay our Honda Element to rest after her eight faithful years of service to our family. Having not car shopped in almost a decade, it amazed me how much time is consumed to find and acquire a quality, lightly used and dependable automobile. In all honesty, it was exhausting. I kept singing the worship song by Covenant Worship, “I’m never going back, I’m never going back!”
Now that I have acquired the vehicle, I’m not visiting the car lots anymore; somebody say, “Thank you Jesus!” I’m not looking, negotiating or talking about buying a car. Why? Because the search, the work, the acquiring is over, it’s done. The car is in the driveway. The Lord began to show me that the devil wants us to look, negotiate and converse over that which already exists. This draining activity causes believers to become fatigued and weary. The devil tempts us to relentlessly pursue and possess provision that has already been given in Christ. It would be pointless to revisit the car lot and start over the process of purchasing the vehicle I now own. Although I’m sure the dealer would love another sale, the thought of going back to the same car lot to look and negotiate another deal on the same car that has already been purchased and is in my possession is not only ridiculous, but confusing. The salesman would ask, “So, you want another car?” I would respond, “No sir, I want the vehicle I have already purchased from you.” “Sir,” the car salesman would say, “you drove that car home last night.” “I know sir,” I would respond. “I just want to buy it again.” This process is so absurd it makes you laugh and yet it’s the conversation we have all had one time or another with the Lord concerning a variety of topics in our lives. We need to quit trying to buy what has already been purchased.
There are so many areas that the devil tries to get us to negotiate and buy what is already ours, such as righteousness, peace, healing, and safety just to name a few. I want us to dive into an area that God has been dealing with me specifically and I pray encourages you as well.
Being rich, I feel, is an area that is mostly misunderstood and rejected in the body of Christ. The erroneous teachings and error of some preachers have left many opting out and living in false humility, also known as poverty. The Lord has been speaking to me personally on this topic and encouraging me to get my thinking straightened out where it’s concerned.
In 2 Corinthians 8:9 it reads, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through His poverty might be made rich.” The NLT says, “so that by his poverty he could make you rich.” The Vines explains the word rich as, “expressing completeness with permanent results.” Wow! I like the sound of that. The same way you are made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21) you are made rich. I’m not looking to get rich, or negotiating with God to become rich, I have been made rich, with abundance and outward possessions and wealth. Jesus clearly states in John 10:10 (NLT), “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” As believers we have become confident of our spiritual salvation, and yet at the same time easily talk out of our physical prosperity. That same salvation that saved your spirit is the same salvation that produces physical abundance. It’s given richly for us to enjoy as well as funding and building the kingdom of God.
We do not need to pursue or chase the level that is called rich. We have been raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The richest level ever obtained is ours! What we need is wisdom and understanding on how to operate in what we have been made and already given. In the same manner we don’t chase righteousness, but simply live in it and conduct our lives through the revelation of it, we must do where our given provision is concerned.
Retire the responsibility of acquiring the needed resources of life and begin to use wisdom to skillfully use, if I may, what sits in your driveway. Remember: the natural, physical world is managed by the spiritual and is overseen by spiritual authority. If there’s lack in your life, it’s nothing more than a spiritual deficiency of revelation concerning Jesus Christ, that needs the light of Gods word.