CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 850

“Relying on God – Two Masters”

LUKE 16:11-13 (ESV)  If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? …No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

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To rely means to lean upon.  The visual imagery is clear–you cannot lean against something that you are distant from.  In order to rely on God, we must remain close to Him.  To remain near Him we must guard our hearts from the things of this world that would separate us from fellowship with God.

The ones that fell among the thorn bushes are the people who listen, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries, wealth, and pleasures of life, and their fruit doesn’t mature. – Luke 8:14 (ISV)

There is a danger of relying on worldly riches as a substitute for our reliance upon God.  This is idolatry.  The Old Testament records how Asa used his wealth and the gold and silver from the temple to buy a treaty with his enemy.  He relied first on his worldly wealth instead of God and he was admonished for it by God through His prophet. (2 Chr 16:1-9)

Jesus taught his disciples saying how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  This is not because worldly wealth is evil.  It is difficult because we, like Asa, begin to rely on the power that wealth can purchase and rely less and less on God, who is the source of real power for living.  This reliance on riches causes us to become more distant from God where we become spiritually weakened and easy prey for the enemy.

Worldly possessions are addictive to our flesh and the indiscriminate use of credit to give the illusion of wealth places us in bondage.  Our possessions become our master as we work to service an ever-increasing debt load.  The truth of God’s Word is that we cannot serve two masters.  If we are not careful in our attitude toward worldly wealth, the master of materialism will take over our lives to the exclusion of a close relationship with God.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender. – Proverbs 22:7

Material wealth and possessions are also fickle and fleeting.  They can disappear overnight leaving us high and dry and spiritually bankrupt.  Only Jesus Christ is our ever-present Rock upon which to stand.  The Holy Spirit is the only true, never-ending power source upon which we should rely.

Our intense desire–our heart attitude, must be to remain close to Jesus and to rely on Him at all times.  We must be totally abandoned to Him and not rely on any substitutes such as the false idol of material wealth.  Pray that your heart’s desire be for the Lord and for the Holy Spirit to show you the idols and sin in your life that have come between you and a close walk with your Father in heaven.  Cast aside all that hinders your relationship with Christ and His promise is that when you draw near to Him He will draw near to you. (James 4:8)