ABASED AND ABOUND


 

“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:10-13

Paul says I know how to be content in all things, whatsoever state I am in to be to content. Both how to be abased and how to abound. I know how to suffer need and I know how to have. I know how to be full and to be hungry. Either way, I am content.

Paul knew how to not let his suffering affect Him. He knew how to be content in both states. He knew how to be stable. He knew how to stand. When he was abased, when he was in a low place, a needy place, when he was going through tough times, through rough times, He knew how to have strength over it. He knew how to still have joy, peace, and righteousness.

Whether we are in a good place or a bad place, we need to be in a stable place. Many of us are dictated by the place or state we are in. Whether it has to do with our finances, family, job, and so on. We constantly let what we have or don’t have to dictate us. Even in the spiritual realm. We let things that we feel or don’t feel, good or bad, dictate us. 

The only thing that should dictate us is God. God is not unstable. He pulls all the strings in the universe. Now we sit with Him in heavenly places. We now are taking part in dominion and authority with Him over the earth.

Yet why do we who are co-heirs with His dominion, fret in time of trouble? Why do we let our joy be dictated by what’s in our bank account? The Bible tells us to ask according to His riches and glory that your joy may be full.

Yet notice that it says “be full.” It didn’t say that God would provide so that you would have joy. It said that He would provide to complete your joy, that it would be full. We should already have joy, and the blessing should increase our joy. Yet the real blessing is Him. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

What do I have need of when all I need is Him? What is there to want, when all I want is Him? The Bible says we are only tempted when we are drawn away by our own lust. What is lust? Covetousness! What is covetousness? Desire. When my desires just consist of things heavenly, the things that are earthly, whether I have them or not, cannot dictate me. How can I be tempted when the thing the devil tempts me with is not even something I want? 

And then it becomes a Solomon situation because Solomon sought wisdom instead of riches and he got both. That was the blessing of Solomon – seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness. All else was added unto Him! 

That’s the promise of the Kingdom, that if our eyes would stay on the Kingdom, we would be endowed with it. Everything we need comes when we put our worries and cares on Him. When we care for what He cares about, He will care for what we care about. When we fulfill His need, He provides for ours. Same with desire. 

Read James 1:4-8.

James says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So, the reason we are so wavering and unstable has nothing to do with the storm. Yet it has everything to do with our minds. A storm may come, but it only affects us to the measure we let our mind think on it. Jesus was so stable that when He was on a boat with twelve scared men, in the middle of a storm, in the middle of the ocean, He was sleeping. 

Jesus slept through the storm and we are the ones freaking out like the disciples. This is great faith when tribulation and trials come and we barely even realize what’s happening because we’re so dead. We’re asleep to the cares of this life. Then when our brother tries to get us in fear, we will just stop the storm with the power of our tongue and say, “O ye of little faith.”

Fear dictated the disciples, yet it wasn’t just fear itself that dictated them. It was the thoughts of fear. When the storm came, their mind focused on it. When Jesus told Peter to come to Him, Peter’s mind got focused off of Jesus and onto the water. What we need to do is not take any thought. 

You see, we’re always trying to push away that feeling of fear and worry but the Bible says take no thought! 

Read Matthew 6:25-34.

It’s not fear and worry that we have to cast down, it’s the thoughts. The more we start to think, the more we start to worry, and the more we start to worry, the more we start to fear. We need to kill fear at its root and cast down every thought and imagination that is not of faith. Every thought that is not from the throne room. 

Or else we are entertaining what could happen, what might happen, what should happen. Meanwhile, God knows exactly what’s going to happen and we need to trust Him that He has us in His shadow. In the secret place, in the protection of the Most High. He even says in Matthew6, don’t take thought for what you should eat or drink. What you should wear. The basic things of life.

The things we do from birth until death, He says take no thought of it. You see, this is high-level faith, that even in the simplest of things we trust. That we wouldn’t even think about it, knowing that He will do it. The disciples were always taking thought about what they should eat and drink. Or how they would feed the multitudes with only five loaves. Yet Jesus said bring it to me! 

God is saying to you, “Cast your cares on me. Bring it to me. Let me handle it.” How would the disciples have ever fed the multitudes if they didn’t give it to Jesus? If they kept trying to figure it out, thousands would have gone hungry. 

This is how we stand stable – we get our mind off of it, and give it to Him. He said don’t you know that I take care of the birds of the air, the animals and the flowers? And how much greater are you than they are! The animals take no thought about what they should eat and drink, and they are always provided for. 

The only way that God ceases to provide for us is when we try to provide for ourselves. It says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways and can receive NOTHING from God. Fear is control. When I fear, it’s because I’m trying to figure it out. I’m trying to protect something, prevent something. I’m trying to take control of what happens in my life. We’re saying Jesus, “Take the wheel,” but really He hasn’t taken the wheel yet because you won’t keep your eyes off the road, off the situation. 

Let God worry about the road and you be His co-pilot to assist Him. Take on the easy yoke and the light burden. He’s going to do it. We need to rest and let Him steer as we submit. This is how Paul got through everything, through shipwreck, jails, prisons, starvation, beatings, good times, bad times – He kept His mind on God. 

Paul and Silas were singing praises to God when they were bound in chains. Paul got bit by a snake and still kept preaching as if it didn’t happen. Those who keep their mind on the Lord will be stable in all their ways. They will be kept in perfect peace. 

Our mind is not right because our focus isn’t right. Then we have a double mind because we have a double focus. We’re focusing on God and then we’re focusing on our problems. At the end of the day, until we die, we’re always going to have problems. There’s always going to be trials and tribulations. With that being said, we have to stop trying to prevent these things. 

We’re always trying to stop problems from happening but we can’t! What we need to do is not let our problems be a problem. When we have problems, the biggest problem is when we let it dictate us, when we waver because of them. Whether we are abased or whether we are abounding, we need to be content. We need to be stable. Our joy, peace, and righteousness should still be there because the Kingdom is still there.

The Kingdom cannot be shaken, and the only reason why we are shaken is because we are standing on another Kingdom. Jesus said I am the rock. A rock is stable, it cannot be moved. Yet anything else will be tossed, and you are tossed because you are tossed with it. 

Therefore, whether I am in need or not, I cannot waver because I know that He’s all I need. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It was the mouth of God that commanded the ravens to feed Elijah when Elijah was in the land of famine. 

It was the mouth of God that commanded the seas to open and the manna and quail to rain from heaven, and it will be the mouth of God that saves you in this day. Everywhere and in all things, whatsoever state you are in, Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” All things! In all things He will provide, He will fulfill, and He will sustain. 

This is where my stability comes from in all things, He said, “I am.”  Everything you want, everything you desire. Everything you hoped and dreamed for, I am. It’s me, not all the other things. It’s me and only me that can fill the void. 

And whether I am abased or I am abounding, He is “I am,” and He will take thought for me as I take thought for Him. 

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 

By Joe Pinto

Full Message: https://youtu.be/YH_wFy2qX3M 


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