Monday January 11 2016  WHAT MAKES YOU RICH?

I listened to a sermon as I was exercising this morning and the speaker asked, “WHAT MAKES YOU RICH”?  That set my mind spinning down different avenues.  I listened to the rest of the sermon and then gave some serious thought to this question of what makes me rich.

Well, winning the lottery this week, which should be upward of one billion dollars, is one sure way that might make me rich.  And that caused me to start thinking about what it would be like to be the winner of the billion dollar lottery.  How would winning, a billion plus dollars, affect me, or any recipient?  How would it change my life?  After thinking about this, my first thought was to prayer.  I prayed that if a billion dollars would rob my soul, and turn my eyes toward the world, that God would protect me from such a catastrophe.  I have read several stories about multi-million dollar lottery winners which told of the devastation in their lives after they won; prison terms, suicides, murders of the winner, and  ultimate bankruptcy a few years after winning.  There is nothing I would trade for the serenity of knowing God, and knowing that I am headed for an eternity with Him.  Not even a billion dollars.  I actually prayed for the winner(s).   I prayed that God’ hand would see that a lottery of that magnitude would be placed into the hands of good stewards that He choose, so that His kingdom would prosper.  Now if God thought that would be me, I’d be willing to give it a try, but only if God entrusted me with such a vast amount.  Realistically, can you imagine how sudden wealth like that would open a new whole can of worms in your life?  Your life would no longer be the same.  Nor would your life ever be wholly  yours again.  That is a big price to pay for the riches of the world.  In God’s view we should never “love the world” and the riches it offers:

1 John 2:15  NKJV

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

You know what is even more amazing?  I already think I am one of the richest persons living in this world!

When I started thinking about what it is that I perceive to be true riches, I came up with quite a list.  Some of the riches were discussed in the sermon, and some written about in the Scriptures.  And many are only personal to me.  The Scriptures even go so far as to tell us where we store our wealth.

Matthew 6:19

  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

 Matthew 6:20

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Below I will write a short list of my riches.

WHAT MAKES ME RICH

1. Having a personal relationship with God, knowing I am saved through grace.
2. The love of God.
3. Faith to believe.
4. Knowing that God is my protector, my provider, and my refuge.
5. Knowing that I am clothed in the righteousness of God.
6. The sun and the moon and the stars are mine to enjoy.
7. I have vision to see and ears to hear. In my family we never take that for granted.
8. I have people who love and cherish me.
9. I have people to love and cherish.

In addition to the above list, riches is awakening each morning with the the fact that I still live in a somewhat free society and  having the freedom to read my Bible.  My riches consists of God’s amazing creation, which to me is so unending, forever new, and beyond my imagination.  The richness of being able to express myself in words, and have poetry flow through my pen, is a treasure that is daily renewed.  The peace I experience daily is a richness that is unfathomable.  The joy God pours over me, in abundance, is better than gold or rubies.  Even to drive through the snow tonight, and see the snow sparkling like millions of diamonds in the car lights, adds richness to my treasure trove.  And I could go on and on.

In 2013 I began a Journal that is filled with my “THANK YOU’S” to God.  I titled it “MY BOOK OF JOY*MY STORY*GOD’S STORY”, “A JOURNAL OF TODAY’S GRATITUDE”.  Long title.  As I would be reminded of thank you’s while spending time with the Lord, I would pick up my book of joy and write my “THANK YOU” to God, dating and numbering each one.  My hope was to see if I could reach 1,000.  Not so as to impress God, or people, but to remind myself of all the riches I have been given by God, and all I’ve experienced BECAUSE OF GOD.  Some thank you’s are repeated several times.  Each thank you was pertinent to what God had recently done for me, or given me, or because of opening my eyes to new truths, and for all my answered prayers.  Thank you’s for His creation; for the tangible and the intangible.  Thank you’s for anything and everything that I was thankful for. 

I discovered there is nothing to lift your heart like a Thank You Journal.  You can go back and read all the gifts God has bestowed upon you.  Take time to pause in your busy day and reflect back over the hours of just this very day, and think of all the thank you’s that you can attribute to God. 

Do a “think tank session”, and see how many things you can come up with.  I would often do so and found it to be an excellent way to be reminded of all we have to be thankful for.  I hear people say to me quite often that they can never think of anything to write about.  Well, we can all come up with something to thank God for.  Then, all you need to do is have a pen and journal and write it down.  And there you go!  You have just thought of something to write about!  You never know where it might lead you.  And another thing, God loves to hear our thanks.  I have found that the more I thank God, the more He fulfills the desires of my heart.  And this next statement is totally unrelated to the thank you session, but the more you give to others, the more God showers down on you.  Then you have even more to be thankful for.  You cannot out-give God, nor can you give God too many thanks.  God loves a thankful heart.  And remember, thanks and praise are not one and the same.  I thank God for what He has done, what He has bestowed upon me, for prayers answered, that sort of thing.  I PRAISE GOD FOR WHO HE IS!  And that could be another entire journal!

If you try this exercise I believe you may see God in a new light.  Your eyes may be opened to see your world in a new light.  You may realize that you have so many more things to be thankful for than you ever thought possible.  As for me, it opened my eyes to see the world with more clarity.  I am so content with what I have, rather than always wanting something more.  I realize too, that the beauty of God’s creation is always waiting for me to partake of it.  I now see the details in a tiny flower.  I hear the buzzing of bees.  I smell the lilacs as I pass.  I stop and really listen to what the bird is singing.  I realize that God gives us the gift of a new, and unique sunrise each morning, and then blesses us with a sunset each evening.  Stop and take time to enjoy the riches that surround you each and every day. 

I did not write in my thank you journal last year.  When I picked it up today I realized I had 1,250 thank you’s in it, from October 6, 2013 through December 5, 2014.  The journal is three quarters full.  My hope to fill the journal up this year!  Almost every day there is something new to thank God for, and if there is not something new, I will thank Him once again for something I have already written.  My memory doesn’t even remember all the topics I have written, so to me, it will be new again.  And I don’t think God even minds.

 

THANK YOU FATHER

By Kathleen Martens

January 11, 2016

 

THANK YOU Lord for all You give,

THANK YOU for the life I live.

There is never an end to what I can say

In THANKS to You throughout each day.

 

I give You THANKS for my very breath

And Your plan of relinquishing death.

THANK YOU for the flowers of spring,

The tiniest bud that makes my heart sing.

 

THANK YOU for trees, and sky and sea,

And THANK YOU God for looking out for me.

THANK YOU for the light of early dawn,

And oh how beautiful are the spots of a fawn.

 

THANK YOU for Your intimacy which You share

And THANK YOU for always just being “there”.

THANK YOU that my words You always hear,

And that close to me You are always near.

 

THANK YOU for your love that you lavish over me,

And the astounding beauty of Your creation I see.

THANK YOU for the pen with which I write,

And for my eyes that give me sight.

 

And Lord, special THANKS for filling me with wonder

And THANK YOU for forgiving me all my blunders.

THANK YOU Father for the song of the bird,

And THANK YOU Lord that to me they are heard.

 

And for all the poems You place in my heart

THANK YOU that Your gift does not part.

THANK YOU for tears that cleanse my soul,

And filling me with Your love, that makes me whole.

 

THANK YOU for wrinkles upon my face,

They speak of long life by Your grace.

THANK YOU for wisdom that comes from You

And my white hair, a crown of glory too.

 

THANK YOU for my fingers even when cold,

And what they can still do now that I’m old.

THANK YOU for feet that walk your path

And special THANKS that You give me no wrath.

 

THANK YOU for music that delights my heart,

And for food with which each day I start.

THANK YOU for Your Spirit that draws me close,

THANK YOU that it is in You that I can boast.

 

THANK YOU Father for wealth beyond measure

All from You, that which I treasure.

Your riches are what makes me content,

Because You’ve made a way for me to repent.

 

Gratitude overwhelms me from within

With THANKS to You, for forgiveness of sin.

THANK YOU Father that you are

Not only God, but the best Father, by far.

 

I realized that all those thank you’s in my journal translated into just how rich I really am!

No billion dollar lottery could ever replace what I already have!

Good night and God bless you.