Page 55 - The Mark of the Beast

measure up to the example of the early saints and the example of Christ and the apostles?
Does it reflect a mind that is set upon the will of God above all things?
Suppose God wants to send you and your family to another place to minister. Would
you be free to go, or are you tied down to your possessions? Would you reason, “I cannot
go for I have a nice home and a good job and a comfortable life where I am at?” If your
thinking reflects such ideas then you are not living as though you possessed nothing.
Neither are you living purely for the will of God. Your attitude reflects that you are living
partly for God and partly for self, and when these two interests collide you will have to
choose which one you will serve. This is why Christ said:

Luke 16:11-13
"Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will
entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that
which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve
two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be
devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

The phrase, “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth,
who will entrust the true riches to you?” were words that the Spirit used to get my attention
and call me to repentance. I understood from these words that if I could not act faithfully
with that which the KJV Scriptures call “unrighteous mammon,” then how could God
entrust to me true spiritual riches. If I would not obey Him by giving up coveting, and
independent spending, and by fleeing from the bondage of financial debt, then how could
God entrust me with any great anointing, or open to me the mysteries of His word? The
principle found in Scripture is that those who are faithful in small things will be given
greater things.
Have you ever complained that the Scriptures were not as open and revelatory to you
as they are to some other people? Have you ever wondered why some people seem to have
a greater anointing to minister the life of Christ to others than yourself? The reason could
well be that you have not proven yourself faithful with small things in order that God might
entrust greater things to you. It may be that you have not embraced the cross in the area of
your money management and spending habits and in your acquisition of things of this
world, and because you have not been faithful in things that are “unrighteous” God cannot
entrust to you those things that are holy.
The Spirit convicted me that this was the case in my own life some years back, and for
this reason I invited Him to bring me to a place of death to those areas of my life where I
was not submitting to Him. This led to a painful process of delivery where my flesh was laid
upon a cross and my selfish desires and willful spending habits were crucified. At the same
time that I began entering into faithfulness in the use of money and in my attitude toward
worldly goods, the Spirit began giving me insight into spiritual things that had formerly
been hidden.
Saints, we must consider that in our coveting things of this world that we are trading
away true spiritual riches. I would rather be a poor and wise man than a rich and foolish
man. I would prefer to have riches that are eternal and unfading than to amass a vast
fortune in those things that are corruptible and passing away.
The cross is an amazing instrument. On the cross we die to the lower nature with its
affections and desires, but we enter into heavenly realms and become partakers of awesome