害怕死去的麦子
甚么是金钱上的神迹?

经文
玛拉基书三1-12
1万军之耶和华说:我要差遣我的使者在我前面预备道路。你们所寻求的主必忽然进入他的殿;立约的使者,就是你们所仰慕的,快要来到。
2他来的日子,谁能当得起呢?他显现的时候,谁能立得住呢?因为他如炼金之人的火,如漂布之人的碱。
3他必坐下如炼净银子的,必洁净利未人,熬炼他们像金银一样;他们就凭公义献供物给耶和华。
4那时,犹大和耶路撒冷所献的供物必蒙耶和华悦纳,仿佛古时之日、上古之年。
5万军之耶和华说:我必临近你们,施行审判。我必速速作见证,警戒行邪术的、犯奸淫的、起假誓的、亏负人之工价的、欺压寡妇孤儿的、屈枉寄居的,和不敬畏我的。
6因我─耶和华是不改变的,所以你们雅各之子没有灭亡。
7万军之耶和华说:从你们列祖的日子以来,你们常常偏离我的典章而不遵守。现在你们要转向我,我就转向你们。你们却问说:我们如何才是转向呢?
8人岂可夺取神之物呢?你们竟夺取我的供物。你们却说:我们在何事上夺取你的供物呢?就是你们在当纳的十分之一和当献的供物上。
9因你们通国的人都夺取我的供物,咒诅就临到你们身上。
10万军之耶和华说:你们要将当纳的十分之一全然送入仓库,使我家有粮,以此试试我,是否为你们敞开天上的窗户,倾福与你们,甚至无处可容。
11万军之耶和华说:我必为你们斥责蝗虫(原文是吞噬者),不容他毁坏你们的土产。你们田间的葡萄树在未熟之先也不掉果子。
12万军之耶和华说:万国必称你们为有福的,因你们的地必成为喜乐之地。
信息分享
我们前几天已思想了神设置金钱的三个目的,今天要思想第四个目的,就是显示祂神圣的大能。神是超自然的神,很多基督徒常常忘记这一个要点。神乐意向祂的子民显示祂的真实和能力,而其中一个方法就是使用金钱供应的神迹。
金钱上的神迹是甚么意思呢?那是一种超自然的事情,神借着给祂的儿女提供所需的金钱来满足他们一些经济上的需要。这种神迹经常是非常及时的出现,以显明是神的直接介入。比如说:当一名基督徒在为金钱上的需要迫切的祈求时,神差遣了一位对那需要毫不知情的人意外地给他送来一份完全恰当的礼物,这就是神在其中一种超自然能力的显示。
在以利亚的日子,以色列国同时敬拜真神和事奉巴力。以利亚知道这种罪行一定会带来神的审判,因此他提出一个简单的试验──建造两座坛,一座为神,一座为巴力,哪一位神能以超自然的能力来回应便会受到敬拜。巴力的先知整天向他们那不存在的神呼喊,但是得不到任何结果,后来以利亚开始祷告,神回应了他的祷告,从天上把火降了下来。
当今这个时代其中一个最大的假神就是金钱,它成了众人的偶像,因为大家都期望金钱能够给人带来只有神才能够给予的东西──真正的保障。事实上,当世人都在渴求金钱的时候,神要向那些寻求祂的人证明,他们是不会有所缺乏的。
「神给人提供了金钱所不能提供的保障」
进深研究
林后九1-15;申三十9;诗一三二15
1. 神爱甚么?
2. 我们可以丰富地收割甚么?
祈祷
天父,求您帮助我看到自己是在所事奉的神的形象中成长,我不要好像金钱一样的坚硬和冰冷,我要像您一样仁爱和恩慈。求您帮助我只注目于您。奉耶稣的名祈求,阿们。
The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die
What is a financial miracle?

Bible reading:
Malachi 3:1-12
1 "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,
4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 "So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me," says the Lord Almighty.
6 "I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?'
8 "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the Lord Almighty.
12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.
Message
We look now at God's fourth purpose for money: to show His divine power. God is a supernatural God - something Christians seem to forget - and He delights to demonstrate His reality and power among His people. One means through which God has chosen to do this is through His miraculous provision of money.
What is a financial miracle? It is a supernatural event whereby God provides one of His children with the money required to meet a financial need - and usually it involves such precise timing that it cannot fail to point to the Lord's direct intervention. When a Christian prays about a financial need, for example, and an unexpected gift is given to him by someone who knows nothing about the need, the supernatural power of God is demonstrated.
In the days of Elijah, the nation of Israel tried to worship God and serve Baal at the same time. Elijah knew that this would inevitably lead to God's judgment, so he proposed a simple test. The test involved building two altars, one for God and one for Baal, and whichever answered by a display of supernatural power was the one whom they would worship. The prophets of Baal cried out to their non-existent deity all day, but nothing happened. Then Elijah prayed, and in response to his prayer God sent fire from heaven.
One of the biggest of the false gods of this age is money. It has become an idol because people expect from it what only God can give - true security. As the world hankers after money, God wants to prove to those who seek Him that they will not lack any good thing.
"God offers the security money cannot provide"
Prayer
O Father, help me to see that I grow into the image of the god that I serve. I don't want to be like money - hard and metallic; I want to be like You - gracious and beneficent. Help me to keep my focus only on You. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
Further study
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Deuteronomy 30:9
Psalm 132:15
1.What does God love?
2. How can we reap bountifully?
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