Jesus Is Not A Socialists

Acts 4:32, "And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them."

I read an article that argued Jesus was a socialist/communist. The author used Acts 4:32 in support of this. I have to laugh at his reasoning. He thinks that because scripture says the early church had the attitude nothing was their own it means they were giving it over to some form of government. On the contrary, when the early church regarded nothing as their own, they were also regarding everything as belonging to God... not government.

As a result the church cared for their own.

Today I got an e-mail of Acts 4:32 proportions. I won't go into details but to say that the relief I feel is like going from the bottom of an ocean with a giant weight strapped to your ankle to the peaceful serenity of a hot air balloon ride. From crushing weight, to lighter than air. I thank God for His faithfulness, and I thank the givers for their obedience.

It is so relieving I have a hard time with not feeling guilty or obligated. Imagine God's provision coming through the hand of another individual. Someone who worked hard, or at least took risks to have the extra. Why should I be the beneficiary? How can I not be obligated? How can I not feel inferior to their abilities to create abundance, while I create lack?

I don't understand it, but I am the beneficiary because that is how God set it up. That within the body, one part supports the other so that the whole can be well and operate completely.

Jesus is not a socialist. He is not a capitalist for that matter. He is the head of the Body. He is the brain that dispatches the Body's natural healing process. He coordinates the parts so that the whole is in good working order, as everything belongs to Him.

Be encouraged that if you are part of the body lacking, God's provision is on its way. If you are part of the body with excess, please obey in your giving because there is a part of the body in need.

611 (iii)

Luke 16:10, "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much..."

At this point, updating the 611 of my life is not really something I "want" to do, but purely an act of obedience.

It has been 2 full months since June 1st when I decided to completely surrender to God, and to trust Him as my Provider and my Provision. He continues to envelope me in His presence daily, to hug me with His arms of love, and to speak to me heart. His loving relationship to me is truly provision and all I need to exists.

As Provider I have seen Him continue to move, and to increase. In June there was $300 of miraculous provision. In July there was $2300 in miraculous provision. The running total continues to climb as my real job continues to suffer. The deficit on my arbitrary scale is down to -29. Still moving the wrong direction but again God's movement as Provider is trending upward.

Jim, my provision coach, sent me a text the other day after I told him about a $600 blessing. It said, "He who is faithful in very little things it faithful also in much." Funny as it may sound, that whole scripture changed meanings for me in the context of coming from him. I know Jim, and he was not saying to be faithful going forward. He was saying faithfulness was rewarded. I have always been taught that the faithful in the little things would be to spend the $600 appropriately. That I needed to be faithful with the money. But somehow that text was a statement that God had just paid me for my obedience in ministry. It was as if God was saying, your blog and the little act of obedience it represents has produced this. Said another way, it was the "things being added" to the seeking first the kingdom of God.

To explain this in yet another way for understanding. If Jesus is the vine and I am the branch, then this branch is budding. From budding, there will come a flowering, from the flower comes the fruit. The bud, flower, and fruit are God's riches in glory. The $300 in June and the $2400 in July are God supplying my needs according to His riches in glory.

Get it?