Lesson Eight • Laying Up Treasures in Heaven
Devotion 6: Promises of God

Pastor John Carter

Praise Jesus! It is Saturday. That means today is the completion of this very difficult topic. As we conclude this week’s devotions, hopefully we have been able to identify some areas God needed to disrupt in our lives. I want to lay out some tangible ways to rest in the promises of God. A lot of the subject this week was directed specifically to the rich or the wealthy. It was directed to those who may be putting a lot of their hope and faith in their bank account. I want to give you some Scriptures to read today that will help if you are anxious about what it feels like to be without. Maybe all this week you are sitting there saying, “It is easy to say all these things if you are not buried in bills.” You might be thinking that money matters! You cannot live without it. One of the first steps I had to walk through in my own life, was dealing with anxiety. I often quickly go to Hebrews 13:5-6, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”

I really had a hard time with the part about being content. I never considered myself as one who loved money, but man, I sure did struggle with the part about being content. The promise in this passage is that God will never leave or forsake us. Make it personal. Put your own name in this promise. “God will never leave John Carter nor will He (God) forsake John Carter.” Sometimes we need to hear it out loud. We allow doubt, fear, and anxiety to take over. The next part of the verse is just as powerful. Through my needs, God allows me to walk through difficult things so that I can only give glory to Him. I cannot claim my own victory. I do not get to say look at how well I figured it out. That is all worldly, selfish, prideful, and the desire to glory in my own abilities. The later part of the verse says, “John Carter gets to claim God as his helper! John Carter does not need to fear!” Wow! Hold on to that promise. You can put your name in there where it says to not fear, not to be anxious, and not to doubt God’s ability to care for you.

Paul gives a very similar encouragement in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Paul walks us through understanding what it means to be content. The “secret” is knowing who to rely on. It does not matter if you are reading this in your abundance or in your need. Paul says that the strength of God is what carries him through. Later on, in Philippians 4:19-20, he says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Maybe the abundant place you find yourself is exactly how God wants to provide for someone who is hungry and in need. This is the challenge for the week. Are we willing to disrupt our lives and comfort to be used by God in a way that glorifies Him?

Another promise passage I go to is Psalm 37. It is honestly one of my favorite passages. I am pretty good at masking my internal doubt and anxiety. If you know me, you may not even consider me to be one who struggles with this in my life. I do, however, for reasons I will not venture into today, struggle with doubt, fear, and anxiety. I remind myself often by reading God’s Words for me. The first 8 verses of Psalm 37 are encapsulated with the struggle of fretting, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” 

Often times our worry, stress, doubt, and fear come from not looking at what David says to look at in this Psalm. The answer is in the midst of the struggle.

  • “Trust in the Lord.”
  • “Delight yourself in the Lord.”
  • “Commit your way to the Lord.”
  • “Be still before the Lord.”
  • “Wait patiently for him [the Lord].”

Later on, in Psalm 37:25-26, David adds, “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.” Psalm 37:39-40 continues, “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.”

The whole Psalm is a very encouraging promise to grasp. This week, I hope and pray your world was disrupted. I hope you will be taught by God to take refuge in Him over the temporary things of this world. Rest in the promises of God knowing that He sees your needs and He cares for you. In my life, I have witnessed many times how God showed up when I needed Him the most! When all I could do is say, “The Lord is my Helper!” I cannot wait to see you all at our Gathering! We need each other to carry on through some of the more difficult times. We need to remind each other how much God cares for each and every one of us.

Matthew 6:19-24 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”