When What We Have Has Our Heart | Daily Devotional 1626

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1626. Today's Devo is called When What We Have Has Our Heart.

Hey there, we're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy, the to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why every weekday we share a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast.

Good morning. I am Mary Alesi, and I am the mother to three of your wonderful podcasters on this channel: Stephanie, Gabby, and Lauren. Yes, I am their mother. And I'm also the mother-in-law to the wonderful Rochelle Alessie, the sweetest daughter-in-law in the world. I am very, very blessed to be their mom. And I have the privilege this week of sitting in and being a part of this morning daily devotional. And it excites me because we're going to be talking about James 5. And I know if you're following along, you've been blessed in this wonderful book of the Bible called James because it's where we really learn to grow our faith and kind of get to know the heart of God in the New Testament way. So I want to read James 5, 1 through 6 for you. And if you can read along. Now, this is the King James, and it's got a lot of these and thou's, which sometimes make it very hard to understand. But it is important for us sometimes to hop over to the King James in the original language to really hear what God is saying. So just follow along. Do not tune out on this day because it's all going to come together. James 5, 1 through 6. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as if it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. Ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. Well, haha, good morning to that. We might not fully understand what all that means, but it sounds pretty intense. Well, that's because these strong words that were spoken in James are about money, they're about possession, and it is about the way people are treated. So if you ever want to know what God says, how Jesus feels about how people are treated fraudulently or misused or considered servants and slaves, this is where you look because James is not saying that having money is sinful. It's not. God blesses us with finances. But throughout scripture, God blessed people like Abraham and like Job and David with great resources. He blessed great men with financial blessing. But the warning is about allowing wealth to control our hat our hearts. And so that's why the title of today's devotion is when what we have has our hearts. It's so important for us to understand that the possessions God has given us are just that. They're given to us by God. And instead of trusting the possession, we put our trust in God. And gaining or keeping wealth by mistreating others brings dishonor to God. And he says very clearly what happens to those people, that their fraudulent ways will be exposed. So here's what we need to know. When we see in the world, which we do see today, people being stolen from, mistreated, misused, God does not look kindly on those people and they will suffer a great wrath. But how does this apply to you and me today? Well, the rich people that James confronts in this passage had stored up more than what they needed, and they failed to pay the laborers what they were due. And the problem was not simply that they had a lot of money. So let's not get that twisted. God wants us blessed. But their problem was that the abundance of finances and riches had made them dishonest, it had made them cheap, and it had made them insensitive to the needs of others. So James says their riches were rotting. Their expensive clothing was being eaten by moths. He was basically saying, your gold and your silver, it's corroding. It profits you really nothing. In other words, everything that they thought would make them secure and temporary, what looked impressive on the earth did not impress heaven. Because what heaven saw was the cries of the mistreated. What heaven heard and what reached the ears of God was the people that were overlooked, the people that were not treated fairly. See, when people overlook you, and this is what we needed to take away from this, God sees you. So if you might be in a position right now where you feel like you're being taken advantage of, God knows. Maybe you feel like the compensation isn't equal to the value that you bring. Maybe you feel like you don't have the recognition you deserve or the appreciation, or you're just under the rule of man and there's no way out. Let me tell you something. You serve a God that owns the cattle in a thousand hills. He sees it, he's aware of it. Your cry is not lost. It reaches God. Now, how do we apply this to our lives today? Well, there's two ways. First, it always starts with us examining our own hearts. Do we trust God or do we put our trust in man? Are we more focused on the oppression and the one what we think might be adding difficulty to our lives or holding us back? Or do we put our trust in God? Are we fully confident that God sees us right where we are and that God is our provider? He's our Jehovah, not man. Do we thank God for every blessing, but then we hold every blessing with an open hand? Because sometimes when you feel like you're not being given what you deserve, it will cause you to hold back and shrink back what's in your hand to bless others. See, we're stewards, not owners. So just because someone else might be mistreating you does not give us a right to mistreat others. Everything that we have ultimately belongs to God. It came from him and through him to you and I. Second, examine how you treat people. This is really important. Because maybe you are a business owner, maybe you are a manager or a supervisor. How are you leading your employees, your volunteers, your family members, or a ministry team? Listen, don't use people to build what God has entrusted you to. Bless people, just like you would want to be blessed. Be fair, keep your word, express your appreciation, and pay what you owe. That's what James is telling us to do. And never allow your success to come at somebody else's expense. So today, enjoy what God has given you, but don't let it possess you. Don't let what you have possess you. Use it to bless other people. Honor God and make an eternal difference. Especially if you've been in the reverse order or you feel like somebody has had a closed fist with you and hasn't blessed you in the area that you feel like you deserve it. Trust God for those moments because God sees you. That's what this verse tells us. God knows. But then when you have an opportunity to pay it forward, pay it forward because you read God's word along with us on this My Morning Devotional, and you know better. And when you know better, you can do better. So let's pray. Father, we just thank you for every blessing that you've given to us. We know that it comes from you, not from man. So keep our hearts free from any greed or pride or selfishness that would cause us to hold back and help us handle and steward the resources that you brought into our lives with honesty. And remember that all the good things we have in our lives came from you anyway. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Here's today's declaration for you. What I have does not have me. God is my source, and I will use every blessing to honor Him and serve others. Be blessed today.

So there you have it, your five minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend. Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.