God's Seven Year Plan

​Love you all, praying for you. 
 
I just love God’s Word – it puts time and eternity in perspective.  Most people want what they want right now.  They want to live today – in what God could have for them tomorrow.  Most people don’t realize that the sacrifice prepares you for the blessing.  Most people sacrifice tomorrow for today.  God’s way is to sacrifice today for tomorrow.  The wise man saves for the future, the foolish man spends whatever he gets.  Go to the ant, consider it’s ways and become wise (Proverbs 6).  Some people want things that their stewardship skills cannot handle yet.  Like that quote – ‘Talent can take you where character can’t sustain you.’  Praise God, He doesn’t give us things that our character, our humility or our present level of faithfulness cannot sustain or maintain.  There is a truth as old as time.  What you do today, will determine how you live tomorrow.  Take financially for example.  Some people live today on what they will spend tomorrow, and it could be long gone by then.  That’s what debt is.  That’s why God calls it a curse.  Others save today, so they can be free tomorrow, and for the rest of their lives.  God’s Word shares an interesting number and timeline.  Seven years.  Wow, that seems so long.  Not really – it’s just a blink.  Are you 21 years old?  You’ve had three of those seven years already!  You only get ten in a lifetime – man lives til seventy, maybe eighty if he has the strength. (Ps 90:10)  Seven years is nothing…It just seems long if your focus is wrong.  If your focus is on what you don’t have, rather than what you do have, it’s a long time. Genesis 29:18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel… So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.   Wow.  When your focus is not on the time, but the love, it seems like days, not years.  Deuteronomy 15:1 – God gave a command to His people Israel…  “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.  This is how it is to be done:  Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite.  They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.  Originally mortgages were five to seven years, only later at the time of the Great Depression – and the New Deal – did they become thirty years.  God never intended his people to be in debt.  He said “You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.” (I Cor 7:23)  The honus is on you, not the lender.  I don’t know many lenders who cancel debts after seven years.  But that’s not your business.  What they do isn’t your problem, it’s what you do.  God wants you to be a lender, not a debtor.  If you are in debt (because of ignorance, and disobedience), God’s way is a seven year plan to get out.  If you will commit to it, He could accelerate it.  It happens all the time, but only for those who burn the ships.  If you are out of debt, but feel like you could never get a house or a car or whatever you want… without debt.  That is not true.  God has never depended on debt to provide for His people, ever.  His people were slaves for 400 years, and they built a temple worth over a trillion dollars (in today’s gold prices)…  & they didn’t take out a loan from 1st Palestinian Bank.  If you will make that seven year commitment – God can pay off your mortgage and better than that – a mortgage that you never took!  Because He said – ‘Don’t strike hands in pledge.’  If you can pay off a mortgage in seven years, with sacrifice and diligence (and you can! we did). Then you can save a mortgage in seven years so you never have to take out one.  And you will have cash to buy what God has for you.  Is that impossible?  Not at all.  Most people think it is, because they don’t know anyone who trusted God for it.  But for those that do… God can bring about miracles along the way.  Most people just listened to their realtor – who said 'It’s better to stretch a little bit to get the house you need.  Payments may make things tight at first, but in a few years they will get easier, as you get raises, a better job, and you’ll be glad you got the house to grow into.  Plus the way house are prices are rising, it’s better to get into one now – so you can gain the appreciation!  Rather than just saving money for a house that keeps getting more expensive.”  Wow, who said that? Not God. God’s provision is not limited by inflation. And even the world knows, what goes up must come down.   And the obvious truth is house price appreciation when you’re in debt doesn’t help you.  It doesn’t make the payments easier, it doesn’t eliminate the house improvements that will be needed, if you lose your job you could lose the house, and even if nothing bad happened, the appreciation doesn’t do you any good.  Because to make money off the appreciation, you have to sell the house – but then you have to buy another one in that same inflated house price market.  There are many people who will give you reasons why God’s plan isn’t the best, theirs is better.  But for those who commit to God’s seven year plan – God can bring about miracles along the way.  He’s already got a house for you, you want His best house, in His best time.  And if your love for God is like Jacob’s love for Rachel – and you obey His commands –  the seven years will seem like days.  When you get your mind off of now, and become who God wants to build you into becoming - through the journey - everything God wants to mature in you – you will find that those mere seven years – will change your life, your destiny, and your family tree for generations to come.  Praying that you will ask God how to limit or eliminate the housing and transportation costs now…that consume people’s income, and keep people in poverty…so you can have a house one day soon without debt, that you can share with others, and encourage them in God’s Way instead of man’s way.  Praying that you will review the Money Packet.  If you will trust God, and choose His way over what everyone else does.  Your contentment will grow – You’ll be focused on becoming, not getting… And He will prepare you so you will be already faithful for those things He will give you in His perfect time.  I’d rather have that dream when I’m ready to be faithful with it, not before…  Plus you don’t know what God could do, if you will get crazy with your obedience.  He always responds to faith… if you don’t have faith, you won’t obey – it won’t make sense.  Praying that your legacy and the legacy of your children and children’s children will be a debt-free, hilarious giving – life.  If you will just sacrifice for seven years – (Maybe not even that long!) no matter what it takes, no matter what God tells you.  No matter what the economy or ‘market’ ‘looks like.’ If you will choose God’s Way – you will see the miracles He will do.  And He will change you in the process.  If you don’t, your children won’t either.   And seven years from now – your children won’t even remember the sacrifice – all they will know is the blessing of God and the freedom He gives.  Praying that you will be on God’s Seven Year Plan, financially and spiritually, so you grow in maturity.  Why wait?  If you will fully commit, it will seem like days.  If you’re not fully committed, you’ll be constantly tossed like the waves by the wind.  God’s seven year plan works!  Praying that you will commit to it – so your life will be changed, and your choices of obedience, will result in freedom for your family - for generations to come.    
 
Love you all,
dad