You have an account in heaven (Part 1)
Verse of the day: Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus”
Most of Christians know the verse of the day by heart because it is very encouraging and it gives hope to everyone who is in a material need. It tells us about God who’s ready to provide to all our needs according to His riches. We all take it as a promise and we confess it without cease by faith but the problem is that sometime our needs are not provided despite of our good confession.
I’m afraid to disappoint you but this promise only concerned the church of Philip and those who are like them because of their generosity for the work of God. While writing this letter to the Philippians, Paul praises them above in comparing them to other churches which did nothing for him when he was with them and only Philippians assisted him even when he was in other towns like Thessalonica. We can wonder why Thessalonians didn’t assist him financially while he was working in their territory and he had to expect gifts from Philippians?
It has been a while that I learned that every biblical promise is followed by a condition…there is always an “if”. Let us see what Philippians did to merit such a good promise: Paul writes that since he set out his ministry from Macedonia, not one church shared with him in the matter of giving and receiving, except Philippians (Phil 4:15). It is clear that churches were receiving money but ignored the apostle Paul despite the fact that he was serving the Lord for them and his support had to come from Philippians as he said: “For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need” (Phil 4:16)
On verse 17 he says: “Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account”. In this teaching, I will talk about that account. Every child of God has an account in heaven and the riches that Paul talks about in the verse of the day is according to everyone’s account. Some have a credit account while others have unfortunately a debit account.
In the second part, we will see why we need to supply our heavenly accounts so that we could be rescued in our needs.
In the middle of the teaching, I will not only talk about money but we will understand that everything we do here on earth is accounted in heaven and God often acts according to our actions because he respects the principle that he has established himself.
Chris Ndikumana
You have an account in heaven (part 2)
Verse of the day: Luke 16:9 “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings”
Today’s meditation is based on the parable of the manager who was fired but had to do the account of his management to his master before leaving the job. Knowing that he has already lost his job, he decided to give favor to his master’s debtors so that they would remember him when he will be jobless. When his master discovered his strategies, instead of being angry, he praised him for having acting shrewdly (Luke 16:8).
I am one of those who believe that we should act right with no hidden agenda and every good action should be done by love. However, we cannot ignore the evidence revealed by Jesus through the verse of the day (Luke 16:9). From the example of the shrewd manager, Jesus tries to show us that every time we have material possessions, we should act with prudence and think that one day we may lose it. It’s actually when we lose it that God ordains to the angels to withdraw some financial resources from our heavenly account which is supposed to be a credit account.
Therefore, it’s obvious that by the verse of the day, Jesus was talking about being generous toward poor, widows and all those who are in need because the word says that whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done (Prov 19:17). A poor person cannot rescue you when you will be in need, but his master (God) will take care of it but always according to your deed.
Whenever we are in need and we ask for the Lord’s rescue, He ordains his angels according to our prayers. Angels run to withdraw financial resources from our heavenly accounts. They are often blocked by a debit account which means that the owner didn’t supply it by sowing for the Lord and since the bible reprimands those who do not do the good they ought to do (James 4:17), a debit account will simply get empty.
Some people think they can deceive God by promising Him to do this or that when they will be rich while they do nothing for Him with the little they have. That is why Jesus said: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10)
In the third part, I will talk about the recompense of our acts of generosity
Chris Ndikumana
You have an account in heaven (Part 3)
Verse of the day: Matthew 10:41 “Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward”
Like I said yesterday, anyone who’s kind to the poor lends to the Lord (Prov 19:17) or supplies his heavenly account.
Since the heavenly account is a spiritual account, its supply must be spiritual according to God’s rule. The account is not only supplied by giving to the poor but it is the way you give to them that matters. If we give to the poor without love, our offering is not accounted in heaven.
The word of God says: “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:3)
The verse of the day shows how God is sensitive when someone cares for His servants. When someone financially or materially assists a servant or a work of God, he supplies his heavenly account and it allows him to share the reward. For example if you assists an evangelist who comes in your area for a crusade, you host him, you financially support the crusade and two hundred people give their lives to Jesus, you (you and the evangelist) will share the crown attached to that specific work even though you didn’t do anything spiritually (or didn’t go to preach). John wrote: “We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth” (3 John 8).
Nothing is more important to God’s eyes than when a sinner repents from his sins and becomes his child. Everyone is not evangelist or does not have the gift to lead souls to the Lord but you may not have the gift or the calling but you have financial means to support those who are called to do it.
There is a group of Christians who need someone to suggest them to contribute while there is another group who understood that the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent people have been raiding it (Matthew 11:12). Through that scripture, I understood that heavenly blessings require a certain violence or aggressiveness. When we see a problem or a need in God’s work and we have necessary means to bring the solution, we shouldn’t hesitate to jump on it after being convicted (in prayer) because it’s really the right thing to do. It does not mean that sometime we may go to the wrong people thinking we are serving the Lord.
In the fourth part, I will talk about the law of sowing and reaping
Chris Ndikumana
You have an account in heaven (part 4)
Verse of the day: Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”
Today we will discover that the law of sowing and reaping applies in all areas of life and not only for money.
I found out that in Christian churches they only talk about sowing and reaping when it’s about money (tithes and offerings) but it is a principle established by God in all areas of life.
I think that this is the reason why the verse starts by “Do not be deceived…” because many deceive themselves (consciously or unconsciously) with wrong thinking just to console themselves or to cover (sometime to justify) their wrong actions. That is why the verse continues in saying: “God cannot be mocked…”. Even if we try to justify our wrong actions, they won’t change their nature. If we release a phone in the air, it will definitely fall whether we like it or not because it is affected by the law of gravity which causes objects to fall toward the centre of the earth.
Likewise, God has established a principle from which we reap what we sow. Talking about principles and laws, I should precise that God has given us all commandments for our goodness and not His. We have all passed through the time when we used to struggle to get a better and godly life in order to please God while in reality He recommends it to us for our own goodness.
If someone does wrong in sinning, he must expect to face consequences attached to that action and there is no way to escape it.
Even when we ask for forgiveness to God, we are promptly forgiven but the consequences are still there and we will face it. Sometime we see it immediately but we often do not notice it and we deceive ourselves in thinking that everything was passed unseen. God desires to avoid us those consequences when He warns us through His word. Whether we sin or not, God remains God and He won’t change anything to His own nature.
Concerning the heavenly account, we should supply it with our material possessions and our finances in order to be rescued when we will be in need and more, we will inherit our crown in heaven
To be continued in the fifth part
Chris Ndikumana
You have an account in heaven (part 5)
Verse of the day: Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”
The fundamental principle is still the same: “We reap what we sow”. Paradoxically, many people want to reap what they did not sow. Everybody naturally wants to have a peaceful and joyful life where all doors get open in his favor and there is nothing wrong in desiring good things. The only mistake to avoid is to desire fruits while there was no seed planted. We cannot ask the avocado tree to produce mangos simply because we need mangoes. The avocado tree will only produce avocados and the mango tree will produce mangos.
The verse of the day (Matthew 7:12) has transformed my Christian life. It says that we should do to others what we would have them to do for us. And many people neglect the most important part of the verse where it says: “for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”. We cannot take this verse seriously as long as we do not understand that it is a law or a principle established by God Himself.
If you want to be understood by people, you need to sow understanding in trying to understand them because if you close all the doors in sticking on your own ideas without trying to understand others, one day you will find yourself in a situation where you will need to be understood and you will be frustrated to find out that nobody wants to understand you.
If you sow compassion toward those who are in need by helping them to sort out their problems, the day you will be in the same situation, God will send to you people (who are not necessary those you have helped) who will have the same compassion for you and will help you out.
When you do what is right to somebody, you should not expect to reap from that very person but the seed you sowed in him by doing good was recorded somewhere in the spiritual world and you will reap at the proper time if you do not give up as it is written in Galatians 6:9.
The teaching of sowing in finances has become a taboo topic in certain churches because Christians do not want to hear money spoken in church. Some go even far in saying that Jesus did not use money in His ministry but if that was the case, He would not need a treasurer for Judas was (John 13:29).
In the sixth part, we will see how Jesus used to manage money and who were supporting Him.
Chris Ndikumana
You have an account in heaven (part 6)
Verse of the day: Luke 8:3 “Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means”
Today we finish this teaching and I would like to talk about how we can sanctify our own means.
Like I have said it yesterday, some Christians believe that Jesus never used money. The Bible clearly shows us that Jesus had a cashbox to manage for buying different needs or to assist the poor (John 13:29). Not only He used money to do what was good, but He also paid taxes like everybody. I think this may be surprising to some of you to realize that Jesus was assisting the poor with money! Here is the big question: Where was that money from?
Sometime it happened that there was an urgent need and the money was not available and then Jesus relied on a miracle like the day where He sent Peter to fish and inside the fish was the necessary money to pay taxes (Matt 17:27).
In general, Jesus was financially assisted by different believers like Joanna the wife of Chuza according to the verse of the day (Luke 8:3). Joanna was definitely a rich woman because Chuza was the manager of Herod’s household. The verse of the day also quotes Susanna and many others who were helping to support him out of their own means.
Someone would tell me that Jesus is no longer on earth today but I have to remind you that he is no longer physically present but spiritually he is and he will always be with us until the end of the world according to his promise (Matthew 28:20). He also told his disciples that anyone who welcomes them welcomes him (Matt 10:40). If we assist a servant of God, it’s like assisting Jesus himself (according to the verse).
The goal of this teaching is to encourage Christians to sow the good seed by putting faith in the Lord because we always end up reaping at the proper time. The heavenly account does not only cover money but also contains all the deeds (good and bad) that we do here on earth. God in His justice and faithfulness to His principles often respects ours choices even though they are bad most of the time. In his great mercy he sends to us his Holy-Spirit to bring us back to the right way.
The heavenly account is only operational for those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and King. If you want to repent and to invite Jesus with a sincere heart, write to me.
I wish this teaching will transform your life like it was the case for me.
Chris Ndikumana
