I observed that there are people who were very rich at one time in their lives but after a while they seemed to lose everything. I’ve seen people who had everything going for them later lose everything - job, business, material possessions - and become poor. There are even Christians who had to run back into the world because things had become increasingly difficult for them. Why? You say, “It’s the devil!” Yes, it’s the devil, but is the devil stronger than God? The devil is not stronger than God. The reason some Christians go through such experiences is that they have not yielded themselves to the Word of God. The teaching of God’s Word is so important. Ignorance is the bane of many Christian folks and many haven’t been taught right. For example, what many have heard and taught is, “Give, so you can have a car; give, so you can have a house; give, so you can have more money...” But when you study the Scriptures you’ll discover there’s more to giving than that; you’ll begin to understand the principle behind your giving.
A well-instructed farmer wouldn’t just sow his seeds in any ground he sees. He’s acquainted with the fact that there are principles to sowing in order to have a good harvest. He knows that it’s not every soil that will produce a good harvest and that every climatic condition isn’t favourable to seed germination. So he ensures that his seeds are sown into good soil and they would do well under the prevailing climatic conditions; a smart farmer wouldn’t just sow his seeds anyhow. Only the uninstructed farmer wouldn’t consider any of these, and of course, he would blame everything and everyone but himself when the resulting harvest falls below his high expectations. That’s the way some Christians are.
Hebrews 11:10 tells us Abraham “...looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” This means that Abraham looked for a city which had principles. Remember he was a prophet of God and he recognized that the Kingdom of God operates on principles, and until you know those principles, your situation will remain the same.
