Words Of Encouragement For Your Day ( Monday 01/14/2013

Invest Wisely

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 Amplified Bible (AMP)

11 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.² Give a portion to seven, yes, even [divide it] to eight, for you know not what evil may come upon the earth.³ If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.⁴ He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.⁵ As you know not what is the way of the wind, or how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman, even so you know not the work of God, Who does all.⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hands, for you know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

            A part of mine and my husband’s preparing for what God is doing in our lives is studying.  We are investing time studying the Word of God with more vigor and we are studying the talents, gifts and the callings that we are called to more enthusiastically.  We are studying up on fitness, nutrition and preparing for the future by reading up on investments, and money management.  We are learning to invest our time, efforts and talents more wisely and not to waste time, but to spend it doing something to enhance the kingdom, our lives and the lives of others.  We are finding ourselves challenged but still at peace and excited about what God is doing.

            This morning as I began to think about investing from a natural standpoint, I began to hear so clearly, about investing wisely.  I truly believe that this prompting was twofold, but I believe God was saying to me that many times our investments although okay to do, are not wise.  We often will invest in things and in people that are not wise, and they do not fit into the plan and purpose of God for our lives.  But as I read Ecclesiastes, it became clearer that God’s design is about us investing in Him first and foremost before we invest in anything else.  Our wisest investment is into the things of God; it is into the will of God not only for our lives, but into the lives of those God directs us to and bonds us to in ministry and purpose.  The time for wasting time has come to an end.  If we expect God to prosper us, move us, use us, give us revelation and knowledge; if we expect transformation, we have to invest our time in the Word of God, in fellowship with God and in prayer, fasting and intercession.  Investing wisely means that we have the ability to recognize the difference between our seed, harvest and what God deems our investment.  Often God wants us to sow what He invest in us, and do it with generosity and with gladness and it is after we have sown that our harvest will come.  Many times we will eat or consume what is meant to be a seed mistaking it as harvest and invest what is meant to be a seed.  We can only learn the difference and how God wants us to handle it, when we have invested time and effort in Him first.  Many of us expect that because we have tithed and sown into a man or woman of God that this is all that God has required, but God wants us to know how to get all that He has for us and He wants us to be fully invest in Him and the mandate on our lives.

            What are you investing your time, money, talents and gifts into and what are your motives for investing into those things and people?  If you took time to really inspect these areas you may be surprised what you find is in your heart, mind and your spirit.  Be a wise investor; invest first in knowing God and in your relationship with Him; get to know His Word and who He truly is.  Gain knowledge as to what He has given you as a seed, an investment and a harvest. Be informed, an informed and wise investor, know what God is asking you to sow into, give into, invest in and what He requires of you.  Don’t think that just because you have sowed in one area that that is all there is, God wants your investment in Him first, the Kingdom and in the things that He has called you to, for you never know what direction your harvest is coming from.