Financial Anxiety
Financial anxiety?
Many times in my life what feels like the trials and testing turn out to be the very things that were preparing me for what was next. I hear the Lord saying that right now, many are feeling a very specific financial pressure...financial anxiety. Maybe you have all you need for today, but when you start to look ahead, anxiety sets in about whether what you have will last. The Lord says definitively "No, it won't. Let me tell you how to get ready"
What?! Tom! Where is the encouragement? The faith? The pat Christian answer that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and if he needs to sell one to pay your rent, He will?!
Listen friends, we live in a very important season called the "day of the Lord". Specific tests are associated with "that day." God works all things for the good of those who love Him. All things. Right now, God is using financial pressure to prepare many for a very intense reality: global manipulation using a new global currency.
It is very important in this hour to break every heart tie to money...every one. If you don't take this seriously, you will feel IMMENSE pressure to participate with a new global currency when it is imposed on the people of the earth. This will cause many in the church to fall away:
Luke 8:13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.
A new global currency designed by satan to make you fall away is coming, for sure. No one knows for sure when, but I believe it is a few years away, max. Either way, being ready now will leave you more ready then. Not getting ready now will leave you more vulnerable then. It is that simple. This is what is coming for sure:
Revelation 13:16-17 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
In order to get his dream of fundamental world change, the antichrist will use a global financial emergency in order to institute a "fix"...a global financial currency.
Remember 2008? When Lehman Brothers started to collapse, suddenly, overnight, Washington and Wall Street said "if we don't fix this tonight the whole system will collapse." Nearly a trillion dollars was given to banks to keep them from collapsing. No one outside of Wall Street and Washington knew if it was true, we were simply along for the ride. It may or may not have been necessary, but none of us really got a say. An emergency makes stuff happen really quickly, and the Bible says that this currency solution, called the mark of the beast, is coming. Right now, just listening to the news, global currency is clearly on the horizon. It is a matter of when, and not if.
According to the Bible, participating in a new currency that requires any sort of mark (tattoo, rfid chip, bar code...any identifier on your hand or head) is considered "participating" with the antichrist system by God. You have to choose who you trust in: the antichrist or invisible Jesus. You don't get to go along with the antichrist and "in your heart" secretly stay loyal to Jesus. It doesn't work like that. Taking the currency means quitting Jesus and falling away. You cannot be saved:
Revelation 14:9-10 Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.
You might think "no big deal...I will never take the mark."
Great! But you need to be ready for that reality in your heart. It is easy to say that when you had a latte this am, and the kids have lunch money, and the car payment is made, and you have a few bucks for the rest of the month...but there is coming a time when an actual decision will be made: do I give up all my wealth, my physical ability to work, my physical ability to clothe and feed and house my kids...just to stay loyal to invisible Jesus? this is the question every Christian will have to answer, I believe in a few years.
Jesus is INTENTIONALLY orchestrating a choice between Him or your ability to keep living in the world's economy. He REALLY is. This is happening in very practical ways for believers in Iraq and Syria right now...today. If they stay loyal to Jesus they lose all their wealth. Believers in the middle east were ready. Making Jesus your savior in that part of the world is choosing to be impoverished, give up inheritance, and be an outcast. They already chose to live for another age. You can't kill what is already dead. Therefore, the financial threats don't work that great on them. They are doing it well, but this trial is going to spread to parts of Jesus' body that are completely unready! The western church is mostly unready for this reality. This end time passage describes this reality hitting unready people:
Ezekiel 7:12-19 The time has come, The day draws near. ‘Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude. For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity. ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude. The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him. ‘Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity. Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads. ‘They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord ; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
This passage is describing God's people not being ready..even though they are hearing the warnings...the trumpet was blown, but no one was getting ready to deal with the unique battles coming. One of the unique battles is primarily about money. Every "battle" allowed to test the people of the earth is found in the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, every part of the Sermon on the Mount: money, prayer, fasting, true to your word, humility, forgiving enemies, resisting offense, having a right life vision/goal...these will all be tested in full by the storm that is coming. Money is a primary target for the enemy to manipulate people through, because our hearts so easily slip into trusting tangible security.
In won't just be a matter of you, in a vacuum, deciding to participate with the new global credit system. Many unbelieving friends and family will pressure you to take the mark. Those who resist it will be called evil or stupid, accused of child abuse, recklessness, insanity...because to refuse it will mean refusing normal life! this will create great division in families:
Luke 12:51-53 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
The family and societal pressure to go along with the world will be immense. You really MUST be ready for this.
Right now, God is orchestrating many lives to get ready for this reality. He doesn't get you ready by giving you more money to hunker down with! He gets you ready by pressing you in the area of money. If God is allowing financial pressure to press you right now, THANK GOD... He is getting you ready. we don't rest in the pressure, we use it as a "workout routine" to exercise our faith muscle. We do what James said:
1. Submit to God
2. Resist the enemy (spiritual AND our flesh)
3. Use the pressure as incentive to draw near to God. Let it push you to lean hard against Him.
James 4:7-8 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
You want to be very deliberate in how you look at financial pressure in this hour. James was highlighting the basic principles of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6, and 7). This is the end time living instruction manual.
Sermon on the Mount living is what will get you ready to deal with money issues in the end times. The Sermon on the Mount is the answer to the Tribulation. It gets you ready for the storm coming...in fact, the waves of this storm are already lashing the shore of our lives.
Jesus ended the famous sermon with this end time statement...in its context, Chapter 7 of Matthew is an end time chapter:
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
So, what will get me ready to deal with the pressure to give in to the new world currency when it threatens to take all my money, government aid, and ability to work if I don't agree with it?
This is the answer: Look at my heart now as God touches my finances and honestly evaluate how much anxiety I feel about money.
You need victory over financial anxiety in order to be free of the heart ties of money. You get free of financial anxiety by operating in the opposite spirit.
1. You resist worry in spiritual warfare. Take authority over anxiety and be thankful for the history you have of God providing...do both of these out loud so you can exercise your dominion over these demons:
Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
2. Deal with your flesh, by drawing near to God. You "give your way" out of fear. Nothing will kill financial anxiety more quickly than giving extravagantly to others who have more need than you. If you look around, there is always someone in more need than you. Usually, it doesn't even take much looking to find them. Giving to them helps you get free of your own anxieties. Denying the flesh kills it. Do it secretly, just for obedience sake, but do it intentionally, to get free of the love of money. You can love money even if you don't have much of it:
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
3. You need to be generous enough to actually be taking a risk with your money in order to free your heart. Giving out of abundance will not work your faith muscle. You literally need to give, secretly, until you feel the pain of it if you want it to free you:
Mark 12:41-44 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
This process takes time. If Jesus tells you to sell it all, you should. But mostly He doesn't say that. Daily obedience in normal life is MUCH harder than extreme decisions. It takes time to buy the oil...get the private experience with Jesus that will grow your faith for the time you will need it:
Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘ No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
You really want to start buying the oil asap...like today. Selling all you have and giving it away in one fell swoop won't really grow your heart. It takes time to get free. It is the daily choice to resist fear of running out of money by spiritual warfare (binding fear and anxiety and loosing peace and faith), thanksgiving (this will do wonders, simply speaking out loud what you have instead of what you don't), and denying the flesh by extravagant and risky giving to others that grows your heart. This is the only way to "buy the oil" that will carry you through the tribulation pressures.
Right now, if the idea of actually doing these things makes you uneasy, you are clearly not ready for the return of Jesus. The "mark of the beast test" is a clear part of His return. If you can't be generous and war in the spirit now, when it is easy, how will you resist the pressure of the ultimate test?
The discomfort of obeying the simple truths of the Gospel in a practical way is a pre-test to whether or not you are ready for the final exam. You don't want to cram for the time of testing. If you are faithful now, it will protect you through the test:
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Those who learn freedom from money and generosity now will live free, like the first disciples did. Trusting God now...praying through your lack, contending for the multiplication of resources supernaturally, rather than limiting your peace to physical possessions, will flourish through the tribulation.
Acts 4:32-35 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would be "one" with these guys. That means that in the last generation, we are going to live united, like they did. Supernaturally multiplying resources, but also denying our flesh and living generously. Seven divided churches go into the tribulation. One pure and spotless Bride comes out of the trouble.
The tribulation is a test to find in one generation a pure and spotless Bride. She will become pure and spotless by responding to the events Jesus is allowing to happen in FAITH.
Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
Many times in my life what feels like the trials and testing turn out to be the very things that were preparing me for what was next. I hear the Lord saying that right now, many are feeling a very specific financial pressure...financial anxiety. Maybe you have all you need for today, but when you start to look ahead, anxiety sets in about whether what you have will last. The Lord says definitively "No, it won't. Let me tell you how to get ready"
What?! Tom! Where is the encouragement? The faith? The pat Christian answer that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and if he needs to sell one to pay your rent, He will?!
Listen friends, we live in a very important season called the "day of the Lord". Specific tests are associated with "that day." God works all things for the good of those who love Him. All things. Right now, God is using financial pressure to prepare many for a very intense reality: global manipulation using a new global currency.
It is very important in this hour to break every heart tie to money...every one. If you don't take this seriously, you will feel IMMENSE pressure to participate with a new global currency when it is imposed on the people of the earth. This will cause many in the church to fall away:
Luke 8:13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.
A new global currency designed by satan to make you fall away is coming, for sure. No one knows for sure when, but I believe it is a few years away, max. Either way, being ready now will leave you more ready then. Not getting ready now will leave you more vulnerable then. It is that simple. This is what is coming for sure:
Revelation 13:16-17 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
In order to get his dream of fundamental world change, the antichrist will use a global financial emergency in order to institute a "fix"...a global financial currency.
Remember 2008? When Lehman Brothers started to collapse, suddenly, overnight, Washington and Wall Street said "if we don't fix this tonight the whole system will collapse." Nearly a trillion dollars was given to banks to keep them from collapsing. No one outside of Wall Street and Washington knew if it was true, we were simply along for the ride. It may or may not have been necessary, but none of us really got a say. An emergency makes stuff happen really quickly, and the Bible says that this currency solution, called the mark of the beast, is coming. Right now, just listening to the news, global currency is clearly on the horizon. It is a matter of when, and not if.
According to the Bible, participating in a new currency that requires any sort of mark (tattoo, rfid chip, bar code...any identifier on your hand or head) is considered "participating" with the antichrist system by God. You have to choose who you trust in: the antichrist or invisible Jesus. You don't get to go along with the antichrist and "in your heart" secretly stay loyal to Jesus. It doesn't work like that. Taking the currency means quitting Jesus and falling away. You cannot be saved:
Revelation 14:9-10 Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.
You might think "no big deal...I will never take the mark."
Great! But you need to be ready for that reality in your heart. It is easy to say that when you had a latte this am, and the kids have lunch money, and the car payment is made, and you have a few bucks for the rest of the month...but there is coming a time when an actual decision will be made: do I give up all my wealth, my physical ability to work, my physical ability to clothe and feed and house my kids...just to stay loyal to invisible Jesus? this is the question every Christian will have to answer, I believe in a few years.
Jesus is INTENTIONALLY orchestrating a choice between Him or your ability to keep living in the world's economy. He REALLY is. This is happening in very practical ways for believers in Iraq and Syria right now...today. If they stay loyal to Jesus they lose all their wealth. Believers in the middle east were ready. Making Jesus your savior in that part of the world is choosing to be impoverished, give up inheritance, and be an outcast. They already chose to live for another age. You can't kill what is already dead. Therefore, the financial threats don't work that great on them. They are doing it well, but this trial is going to spread to parts of Jesus' body that are completely unready! The western church is mostly unready for this reality. This end time passage describes this reality hitting unready people:
Ezekiel 7:12-19 The time has come, The day draws near. ‘Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude. For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity. ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude. The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him. ‘Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity. Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads. ‘They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord ; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
This passage is describing God's people not being ready..even though they are hearing the warnings...the trumpet was blown, but no one was getting ready to deal with the unique battles coming. One of the unique battles is primarily about money. Every "battle" allowed to test the people of the earth is found in the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, every part of the Sermon on the Mount: money, prayer, fasting, true to your word, humility, forgiving enemies, resisting offense, having a right life vision/goal...these will all be tested in full by the storm that is coming. Money is a primary target for the enemy to manipulate people through, because our hearts so easily slip into trusting tangible security.
In won't just be a matter of you, in a vacuum, deciding to participate with the new global credit system. Many unbelieving friends and family will pressure you to take the mark. Those who resist it will be called evil or stupid, accused of child abuse, recklessness, insanity...because to refuse it will mean refusing normal life! this will create great division in families:
Luke 12:51-53 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
The family and societal pressure to go along with the world will be immense. You really MUST be ready for this.
Right now, God is orchestrating many lives to get ready for this reality. He doesn't get you ready by giving you more money to hunker down with! He gets you ready by pressing you in the area of money. If God is allowing financial pressure to press you right now, THANK GOD... He is getting you ready. we don't rest in the pressure, we use it as a "workout routine" to exercise our faith muscle. We do what James said:
1. Submit to God
2. Resist the enemy (spiritual AND our flesh)
3. Use the pressure as incentive to draw near to God. Let it push you to lean hard against Him.
James 4:7-8 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
You want to be very deliberate in how you look at financial pressure in this hour. James was highlighting the basic principles of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6, and 7). This is the end time living instruction manual.
Sermon on the Mount living is what will get you ready to deal with money issues in the end times. The Sermon on the Mount is the answer to the Tribulation. It gets you ready for the storm coming...in fact, the waves of this storm are already lashing the shore of our lives.
Jesus ended the famous sermon with this end time statement...in its context, Chapter 7 of Matthew is an end time chapter:
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
So, what will get me ready to deal with the pressure to give in to the new world currency when it threatens to take all my money, government aid, and ability to work if I don't agree with it?
This is the answer: Look at my heart now as God touches my finances and honestly evaluate how much anxiety I feel about money.
You need victory over financial anxiety in order to be free of the heart ties of money. You get free of financial anxiety by operating in the opposite spirit.
1. You resist worry in spiritual warfare. Take authority over anxiety and be thankful for the history you have of God providing...do both of these out loud so you can exercise your dominion over these demons:
Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
2. Deal with your flesh, by drawing near to God. You "give your way" out of fear. Nothing will kill financial anxiety more quickly than giving extravagantly to others who have more need than you. If you look around, there is always someone in more need than you. Usually, it doesn't even take much looking to find them. Giving to them helps you get free of your own anxieties. Denying the flesh kills it. Do it secretly, just for obedience sake, but do it intentionally, to get free of the love of money. You can love money even if you don't have much of it:
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
3. You need to be generous enough to actually be taking a risk with your money in order to free your heart. Giving out of abundance will not work your faith muscle. You literally need to give, secretly, until you feel the pain of it if you want it to free you:
Mark 12:41-44 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
This process takes time. If Jesus tells you to sell it all, you should. But mostly He doesn't say that. Daily obedience in normal life is MUCH harder than extreme decisions. It takes time to buy the oil...get the private experience with Jesus that will grow your faith for the time you will need it:
Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘ No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
You really want to start buying the oil asap...like today. Selling all you have and giving it away in one fell swoop won't really grow your heart. It takes time to get free. It is the daily choice to resist fear of running out of money by spiritual warfare (binding fear and anxiety and loosing peace and faith), thanksgiving (this will do wonders, simply speaking out loud what you have instead of what you don't), and denying the flesh by extravagant and risky giving to others that grows your heart. This is the only way to "buy the oil" that will carry you through the tribulation pressures.
Right now, if the idea of actually doing these things makes you uneasy, you are clearly not ready for the return of Jesus. The "mark of the beast test" is a clear part of His return. If you can't be generous and war in the spirit now, when it is easy, how will you resist the pressure of the ultimate test?
The discomfort of obeying the simple truths of the Gospel in a practical way is a pre-test to whether or not you are ready for the final exam. You don't want to cram for the time of testing. If you are faithful now, it will protect you through the test:
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Those who learn freedom from money and generosity now will live free, like the first disciples did. Trusting God now...praying through your lack, contending for the multiplication of resources supernaturally, rather than limiting your peace to physical possessions, will flourish through the tribulation.
Acts 4:32-35 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would be "one" with these guys. That means that in the last generation, we are going to live united, like they did. Supernaturally multiplying resources, but also denying our flesh and living generously. Seven divided churches go into the tribulation. One pure and spotless Bride comes out of the trouble.
The tribulation is a test to find in one generation a pure and spotless Bride. She will become pure and spotless by responding to the events Jesus is allowing to happen in FAITH.
Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
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