FRIDAY OCTOBER 9, 2020.
SUBJECT: CERTAIN HABITS LEAD TO POVERTY!
Memory verse: "They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; it shall never produce meal. If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up.” (Hosea 8 vs 7.)
READ: Proverbs 20 vs 17 & 21; 23 vs 21; 24 vs 33 - 34:
20:17: Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
20:21: An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.
23:21: For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
24:33: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest;
24:34: So shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.
INTIMATION:
There are habits, according to Scriptures, that eventually leads poverty, among other consequences. Laziness, drunkenness, gluttony, dishonesty among others, are the sins that eventually leads to poverty. Just as God gives us more than we give Him in the way of tithes and offerings when we do good, when we do evil God takes from us more than we profited by one sin.
According to our memory verse, people who do evil, "have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind." Crop yield is the result of the type of seed sowed. A seed planted in good soil and given the proper proportion of sunlight, moisture, and fertilizer will yield bountifully. For such seeds, a single seed can produce multiple fruit in good conditions.
The Scripture, in Proverbs 13 vs 11, says, “Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase.” There is every dignity in labor. Ill-gotten gains or wealth usually grow wings and fly away. Therefore, it’s like sowing in the wind, that is, investing in activities without substance. Like the wind that comes and goes, ill-gotten wealth offers no real prosperity, but will always lead to sad end.
Evil can prevail for a while, but justice prevails forever.
In our society today, numerous instances of the end of those involved in evil practices to get rich. Some the law has caught up with them, and are in ruin, some have died untimely, and their families left behind scattered the wealth. This is because such riches are not from the Lord, consequently, it brings sorrow along with it. While “the blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10 vs 22). If a person acquires his or her food by fraud, the food may satisfy his or her immediate hunger, but in reality it is eating gravel.
Drunks and gluttons will always end up in lavishing their resources on drinks and food. Their appetite for food and drink becomes their bane, eventually their resources are filtered away on their insatiable appetite on these things. If one can not control his or her intake of wine nor his or her eating of food, such person has revealed a flaw in character; lack of self-control. Such lack of discipline will lead such persons to poverty. At a time, their health will start experiencing unfavorable challenges resulting from drunkenness and overfeeding. The devourer will come with sicknesses of all manner to filter away their resources.
The lazy person is unwilling to work hard and do His or her best on any given assignments to him or her. The easy way to life is such people’s attraction. Consequently, they are not zealous, hardworking, and eventually end up with little or nothing. As a thief unexpectedly comes upon his or her victim, so poverty will seize the possessions of the lazy. The impatient child who hastily wants his or her inheritance is focusing on the wealth, and thus seeks to consume it in his or her lusts. He will take the inheritance, but end up in the pig pen like the prodigal son.
Quick, sudden, and ungodly riches are ‘come easy, go easy.’ Their effects are short-lived, and their end usually destructive. Because they are ungodly, they separate you from God. And life outside of your Creator is useless, purposeless, meaningless, and leads to eternal damnation.
Prayer: Abba Father, whatever You cannot give me let me never have it. May I never have the provision that will lead me to excessive eating and drinking. Endue me with the spirit of best practices in every endeavor I engage in, in Jesus’ Name I prayed, Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
