All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Trying to gain understanding...
I keep questioning a lot of things I read and hear these days. The below devotional was one I read yesterday off my YouVersion Bible App plan "From Faith to Faith". This lines up with the teaching of my own Pentecostal church. Yet as I read this, I didn't get the same message they're giving. I wonder if I'm wrong in my thinking or if they are or if it's all a matter of God meeting each of us where we are or what. My comments come below the devotional:
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Tithe With Joy
by Kenneth Copeland
“And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance…that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth...and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there.” Deuteronomy 26:1-2
Tithing. Most Christians aren’t very excited about it. But they should be―and they would be if they understood how to do it properly.
Scriptural tithing stirs up faith. It activates the power of God in our lives when we do it in gratitude and joy, expecting our needs to be met abundantly.
In Deuteronomy 26:8-9, God told the Israelites exactly what to say when they brought their tithes. He instructed them to acknowledge the fact that He had brought them out of the bondage of Egypt and to say:
“The Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.”
What does that have to do with you and me? God has done the same thing for us! He’s brought us out of a life of bondage and poverty into a life that flows with the abundance of God.
So when you bring your tithe to the Lord, follow the example set by the Israelites. Make it a time of rejoicing. Make it a time of realizing anew the glorious things Jesus Christ has done for you.
Thank Him for delivering you from a land of darkness and scarcity and bringing you into His promised land of plenty. Thank Him that it is a land of mercy, a land of joy, a land of peace and a land of prosperity.
Tithe in faith, expecting the rich blessings of that land to be multiplied to you. You may soon find it to be one of the most exciting things you can do.
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So Copeland is saying that we should thank God for bringing us out of darkness and into His promised land of plenty...whether we've actually reached a land of plenty. And my thoughts on this are, God did not tell the Israelites to offer the firstfruits when they left Egypt, but to do so when they received those fruits, when they entered the promised land.
Now don't get me wrong, I thank God daily for those things He's teaching me, for the bonus I received, the bracelet and message from a friend, for my son, home, job, car, etc. But to me, thanking Him for something I haven't yet received? I know that God's Word is truth, and yet isn't thanking God for something I don't have the same as lying? I thank Him for what I know He's GOING to do in my life and for what He IS doing, but I don't say Lord thank You for prospering me financially when I'm financially struggling. My church however teaches that this is the way to prosper financially, to first believe that we already have and then receive it. And it's like the other day, I felt God said to me....who was believing He was going to create the world and man before He did so? It seems like it's this WOF type teaching, that we have to believe we already have it in order to get it and frankly...well...I don't get it.
Can someone give me some thoughts on this? And if we're truly supposed to speak as if we already have something, how does one reconcile with something they feel so strongly is a lie. If I'm not happy, I will NOT go around saying that I am...although that too is something my church says. I can say that I feel awful today, but I'm praying God lifts me up and I know He'll help me get through it. But to say, "Oh I'm great! I feel fine!" when I do not...it makes me cringe. And to say God has prospered me, rather than I know God WILL prosper me, or I know God promises I will prosper as my soul prospers and all in His time, etc....the first makes me feel as if I'm lying, and secondly like I'm trying to force God into doing something or like I'M in charge of what I get instead of God. And it somehow all seems wrong to me.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on
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Let me start by saying that Kenneth Copeland, who I have heard for over a decade, is not a healthy bible teacher or someone I would recommend any of us listen to. Only God knows the mind and heart, but that man is not healthy in doctrine.
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Permalink Reply by Seek on
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Ok, but aside from his teachings LOL....any comment on this speaking things that are not as though they "already" are? Why does it make me feel like I'm lying to say something has already happened that has not?
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Char,
hahaha come on girl... hehe I am trying to be nice here and not dog the brother. Copeland is one of the main teachers of the prosperity gospel. One of the pioneers and main propagators of it.
This is a difficult and extensive topic because there is truth that speaking positively, instead of negatively, has its profits. I am led by the Spirit of God to rebuke infirmities or negative things at times, but I am not led by God's word or his Spirit, to deal with negative situations in such a manner always.
I am to speak life, but that doesn't mean I speak life to every dead thing or person. I am to be led by the Spirit God as to when and how.
:) You are right to question these things and if you are feeling like you are lying than... you know the answer, don't be lying then girl - hahaha
Love and blessings to you sista.
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Well I've been reading a list of affirmations and I don't feel any problem with reading that list as things that are in the word that I'm speaking aloud that I know God will ultimately provide/prevail. But when I feel like I'm being told to say I have more than enough income (when I financially struggle)....it feels somehow wrong. Instead, I say...I know God will bring me to a better financial season in His time. And I rather thank Him for what He is GOING to do and what He HAS done, than what I say He's done that He hasn't yet. LOL
I found his devotional though to be completely weird in the face of how he spun it. He was saying to thank God for things you haven't received yet as if you'd already received them, and using scripture showing God asking for offering and thanks AFTER they received as his basis to make his point.
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Listen to the nonsense the prosperity preachers teach:
I do not agree with all that Hank teaches, but he is sound for the most.
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Permalink Reply by Mary O on
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Hi Seek, God bless you!
I don't agree with everything K. Copeland teaches. Mr. Copeland aside, something that grabbed my attention in Romans 4:17. That chapter is about Abraham and how he believed he would be the father of many nations despite the fact both Abraham and Sarah were very old at the time. Sarah's womb was dead. She had passed child-bearing age.
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17)
Sometimes I have prayed and thanked God for hearing my prayers before the answers become real. I act as if He's already answered my prayers. But then that makes it important to know things that God has promised. My prayers are not limited to thanksgiving. I think giving God the glory and praise is important.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Romans 4 says that Abraham did not stagger at the promises of God. He was strong in faith and gave glory to God.
Love,
Mary
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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Oh my word. This is sooooo long. I must admit the name Kenneth Copeland turned me off right away so not sure I'm going to give it the time of day.
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Permalink Reply by JB on
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Do we throw out the whole book of Ro. Just because it uses the “WOF” the (Word of Faith?) KJV.
Ro.10:8. But what saith it? The WORD is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, “THE WORD OF FAITH”, (WOF) which we preach?
If I bought a peck of apples and found one with a little rotten spot on it, should I throw out the whole peck? Or should I just cut off the little rotten spot and use the rest to bake my pie.?
Of course I know if I leave the rotten spot in with the rest of them, they will all become contaminated. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor; if a man would therefore purge himself from these, he would become a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 2Tim.2:20-21.
Though I am not a big fan of anyone that preaches things I don’t yet understand, I don’t condemn them to hell. I just use the parts I do understand and let the rest be filtered through my sifter “The Word”
I can listen to most of the others, easier than I can Hank.
Sorry, this is all I have time for this morning. And everyone says “Amen”?
JB
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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JB,
Maybe you are mature enough to be able to sort through false teaching mixed in with what the Bible really says. Most are not there yet, and especially the new born child of God. It is dangerous for them to be influenced by false teachings that sound good, but are not biblical. A little yeast affects the whole batch.
You know the difference between what the Bible calls word of faith and what the term means to describe the teaching of a group of "teachers" out there today. Please do not try and mix them as if they are the same. That will surely mislead people, and I know that you would not ever want to have that on your hands.
It is also fair to point out that as you dislike Hank, and you have pointed that out numerous times in the past, there are those of us who stand against the Word of Faith movement and what they teach as a combined teaching.
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Permalink Reply by ribbon on
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I wouldn't want to be taught by a person who teaches truth mixed with false either. I agree with LT about some are mature enough to know and others are not
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