When someone we love says "No" to us.

Those who love us the most are most likely to tell us "No".

Once I was in a tight financial bind and I asked my dad about are giant loan based on my assets in my house in Colorado.  I still remember his words. "I am not interested in any property in Colorado."  In other words. "No."

I was responsible for the food and shelter of my family, my wife, my two children and myself and Thanksgiving was around the corner and I couldn't understand how my dad could say, "No."  He did tell me that he had the resources to send me some money to help buy some food for thanksgiving and for that month.

One time Jesus asked His Father in heaven for something and the answer was "No".  How could this be?  Because the larger plan was not for the comfort and convenience of Jesus, but for His fulfilling His purpose on earth which included dying on the cross.

We must be preparing to stand on our own two feet.  We are all given different resources to manage.  Whether our brains or our body or our position in life there are a wide range of differences in our backgrounds, education and family life.  We are supposed to use our resources in a productive way and gain more resources so we can use them to provide for ourselves and share them with others in need.

It is one thing to get people out of poverty, but another thing to get the poverty out of people.  Poverty of mind says, "I am weak.  I cannot make it without someone bailing me out of my financial messes."  It is good to be poor in spirit to see that we by ourselves are weak but with God's help we are strong as we need to be.

We cannot do it by ourselves, but as children of God it is allowing God to do it through us and in us.

How do you perceive God?
Psalm 100

100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
² Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
³ Know that the Lord ^[b]Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and ^[c]not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter His gates with ^[d]thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.

The reason that some people don't launch out and stand on their own is because they think that God is against them.  That is not true.  God loves His children and cannot wait to bless them in their work.  Work gives us the opportunity to bless others and ourselves. When we work we get wages for our work and these wages can provide our needs and some of our wants as well.

Often God says "No" to move us to a better "Yes."

We must be real with ourselves about life.  We cannot and should not have everything we want.  When we have jobs it takes usually a couple of weeks or even a month to get our first pay check.  It is not instant gratification.  When we plant wheat seed it takes a while to get our crop.  We must work and pray and wait and plan and store up in the winter months to make it to the harvest time.  These are the basic lessons of life.

When we use resources well and don't waste them it is common for our bosses and work and others to move more resources into our us because we can be trusted.  

Matthew 25.

²⁹ “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.  

My dad said "No" to me, but he continued to believe that later there would be a "Yes."  He kept working with me and educating me and later asked me to become a partner with him in some larger projects he was working on that showed great trust in me.  The no was a set up for a later yes.

Larry Wishard