June 1

"COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOR"

Is Prosperity Evil?
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth."
3 John 2.
The lady we meet today attended one of my seminars and invited me to visit her home. As
she turned her luxury car into her long driveway and displayed the view of her estate, she introduced
to me the topic that was disturbing her joy in owning her lovely home. She struggled with feeling
guilty for possessing the prosperity that was hers. Would getting rid of it bring the peace she sought?
But her peace was not held hostage by her grand home, nor were her possessions permeated
with evil. Prosperity was not her enemy. Her beauties were inanimate and unable to produce nor
steal the love she sought in her family relationships. It was her lack of prosperity in these soul areas
that plagued her peace of mind and stirred her anxiety. Her material wealth mocked her poverty of
soul. The pain of the loss she incurred while she accumulated her wealth begged to be blamed on the
defenseless house.
She had learned well what she knew about material prosperity. She had no question about her
competence in earning the money she had nor did she feel overpaid for her skills. If anything she felt
cheated of the place of honor to which she felt her glowing success entitled her. She had drawn
darkness into her unfinished portrait of prosperity, not knowing how to design working partnerships
with her family that would provide a sphere in which all could gain emotional, spiritual, and mental
prosperity. Having failed in this area, she felt unworthy to own what she had. She had difficulty
believing that God would bless her efforts to use what she had to glorify God, just as He had blessed
her work that earned what she had. She had not learned that the One who gave her the talents to
gain possessions was also eager to join her in building working partnerships that could benefit from
her God-given prosperity.
This lady is joined by many who feel guilty for prospering in various ways: the grandmother
who outlives her child, the one whose health remains intact while others are stricken with illness or
injury, the well-fed person in a mostly hungry world, the career person who is promoted above
capable colleagues, the parents of large families in the presence of the childless, and many more.
Does the God who wants us to prosper want the joy of our prosperity to be stolen away by the
guilty feelings that haunt our possession of it? No. He wants us to fully prosper. He wants us to use
the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding He gives to build working partnerships in which we may
gain the fourth essential for abundant living: prosperity! Emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical
prosperity must be fully nurtured if we are to enjoy peace of mind while we deal with our pieces of
prosperity.
Lord, let me feel glad not guilty as You prosper us in our partnerships. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Have you met people who feel guilty about the prosperity they (cannot) enjoy?
Have they gained their prosperity by honest means? If yes, what then causes their guilty feelings?
Do you own things that make you feel uncomfortable? Can you pinpoint the reason for it?
Do you need such feelings? Can you remove them? Would you if you could?
Does someone you know need help in dealing with prosperity?
Does God make us feel undeserving of His love in order that He may motivate us to share His love
with others? Does He use the "feel guilty" technique to pry away from us what He has given to bring
blessing, as it's used to meet needs?
Do such views of how God's grace works in our behalf, bring glory to God?
Are we just in accusing God of forcing our possessions into His service by making us feel unfit to use
what He has placed in our hands?

170

June 2
How to Get Wealth
"But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He
may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." Deuteronomy 8:18.
The puzzled look of concentration on the 9-year-old son's face gave way to a bright idea. If he
could only convince his dad to hire him, he could earn enough money in two weeks to buy a great
Father's Day gift for him. He had in mind a new softball and bat. "Dad, I need to earn some money,"
he said, being careful to keep his reason a secret. "Will you hire me to help you? I can sweep the
driveway, water the bushes, and mow the lawn."
"I usually do those things without any need for help," Dad replied. "But I am glad you want to
help me. I'm also glad you are choosing work as the means to reach the goal you have in mind."
When our heavenly Father created this earth, He noted that His work was very good. He
intended that His people would reflect His divine image as the Creator of good work. He nurtured the
joy of work in Adam and Eve by giving them a garden to tend and an earth to superintend. Before sin
soiled the earth, they were set at work learning to function in the roles of both employee and
manager. Thus they resembled Him in the way they continued working with what God had worked to
place within their reach. Likewise today we often hear comments about how a child resembles his
father in the way he does his work.
The concept of work predates the arrival of sin in the human race. Still the word, work, sets
off alarms in people who have difficulty grasping the fact that salvation is free. They dare not use the
word, work, for fear that they'll mistakenly direct it at earning salvation. Despite the fact that we can
no more earn salvation by work than we can earn our Father who gives it to us, the hyperanxious still
fly into frustration at the very thought of relating work with anything having to do with pleasing God.
But while salvation cannot be earned by work, wealth cannot be earned honestly without work. God
has added to the gift of salvation the gift of work, the power that He gives us to get wealth, that He
may establish His covenant of prosperity with us.
After God's counsel to remember Him comes a warning. "And it shall be, if thou do at all
forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify
against you this day that ye shall surely perish." Why? "because ye would not be obedient unto the
voice of the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 8:19,20. Working for other gods is sin that brings death.
Thus, without God we work ourselves to death in vain. God delights to unite with us in covenant
partnerships to give us both power to obey and power to get wealth. If we are willing to gain
prosperity by God-ordained means and power, He is pleased to have us prosper.
Lord, please establish a working covenant with me. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Have you ever given a child money to buy a present for you?
Did the source of the child's money lessen his joy in using it to express his love to you?
Likewise as God's wealth circulates through His human family, do we, His children, put His wealth to
work for His good or for evil?
Is the idea of giving what we earn any more noble than the idea of freely giving God has freely given
to us?
If your child depends upon you for money, who must pay any debts you place against him?
Likewise, since God knows we are dependent upon Him for all things, won't any debts He might put
upon us actually be debts upon Himself?
The debt upon us, caused by breaking the law of God, has indeed been paid by Him on Calvary in our
behalf. That frees us to focus on working to place the true prosperity of abundant life within reach of
all who seek it.

June 3
Do You Value Work?
"Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us...stablish you in
every good word and work." 2 Thessalonians 2:17.
We know what good words are. We know how good words enable us to unite and agree on a
common goal toward which we can work. But what is work? It is a blessing from God. Having given
work to man before sin cursed the earth, God reaffirmed this gift after man sinned despite the sincaused difficulties that would plague it. Work is what we do that enables us to execute what we say
in order to complete tasks, fulfill plans, reach goals, or meet needs. Work, the doing of what we say
we'll do, establishes faith in our working partnerships. Our good work demonstrates that God is at
work establishing us "in every good word and work."
Some fear that work is a denial of our salvation by faith in the righteousness of Christ. Is an
infant born by his own work? No. His birth is the work of his parent. Does any work he may do after
his birth constitute a denial of his birth? No, it confirms his birth. Likewise, does a Christian's new
birth result from his own work while an unregenerate sinner? No. God through Jesus must give him a
new birth. But, having been born into God's loving family, would a loving deed by him deny that
God's love now energizes him or confirm that God's unselfish love does empower him?
Imagine a family in which the father says, "Only I shall be allowed to do loving deeds. None of
you may discover the joy of loving found in cooperating with me by doing some work to meet
someone's need. I love you so much that I only allow you to love in word, but not in deed. You may
say you love but you may do no work to put love into action. No child of mine will disclose the secret
that I can enable you to reflect me by empowering you to do what you say. If you do convey the faith
I give you to others, by doing what you say, I will not count you as a child of mine." Ridiculous? Yes.
Does it sound like an all-wise Father? No.
Since such illogic leaves many puzzled about how to relate to God and to work, they make a
separation between the two. Few are comfortable about actively including God, the Father, and His
Son Jesus Christ in their manager-employee partnerships. Most keep their religion and their work
separate, lest they jeopardize their job security by becoming labeled as a harasser in the workplace.
But God's role in our working partnerships is anything but that of harassment.
Only by
misrepresenting Him do we risk harming others.
Without Him we can do nothing. It is only because God works in our behalf that managers
can provide what their employees need, employees can produce what their job requires, and both
prosper. As both or either invite God to join them, they prosper even more.
Lord, establish me in every good word and work. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

How do you define work?

Do you think that working to meet people's needs is actually loving them?
Do you recognize that you have been loved when someone meets your need?
In what ways is work a blessing to you?
In what ways do you experience the difficulties sin has added to the joy of work?
When do you enjoy working?
Does relating with your managers or employees add to or subtract from the joy of your job? How?
What role does God have in your work world?
Do you credit God with your success in matching your work with your words?
As your deeds demonstrate the love you say you have for others, do others tend to trust you to do
what you say?
Do others know that God empowers you to do so?
Do you find joy in knowing that God works in you as you work?
Or do you pride yourself on being able to do what you say without any help from God?
What happens when we let self claim credit for God's "provide-ence" in our work world?
Are we then truly loving unselfishly in doing what we do?

June 4
Who's the Miracle Worker?
"What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered ..., This is the work of God,
that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John 6:28, 29.
In contrast to the person who says, I must avoid work lest I wreck my status of salvation by
grace, is the sensation seeker who looks for Superman under his own business suit. He believes that
as a born-again person, he should suddenly be capable of miraculous feats. After all, isn't his Father
all powerful?
The super Christian sets unrealistic standards for God's performance in his life. In his efforts
to produce superhuman results that feed his fantasies he may use fanciful interpretations of God's
words to color his stark reality. But as no miracles occur to support his claims, his faith drowns in his
disappointed expectations. He feels betrayed and forsaken by God. He cannot deal with a God that
does not conform to his idea of how God should act on demand. Sadly, his unsupportable claims
based on a skewed view of God fail to spark faith in those who watch his futile efforts to perform.
Thus the shared faith needed for building working relationships is shattered before the task has barely
begun.
This miracle mind-set is doubly dangerous when material prosperity does reward his
superhuman efforts to succeed. Favored by a daily diet of desserts, he is tempted to fasten his faith
on his figurative food that fills his life. Thus his sense of need to trust God to provide fourfold
prosperity in his life wanes. When at last God allows some nightmarish reality to confront him, he
awakes from his dreamy diet to discover that his faith had become fixed on things rather than on God.
Faith lodged in his temporal circumstances rather than His eternal Creator crumbles when he needs it
most. Whatever we have of temporal goods can be taken. We need to fasten our faith in our Father
not in our fortunes. "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2
Corinthians 4:18.
How shall we view our working union with a miraculous God? Consider a man who is a
marathon runner and the glad father of an infant just learning to walk. Would he enter his son in a
marathon race and drag him along the arduous path, simply because he himself was capable of
running the distance? No, his knowledge of the years of preparation required for running marathons
would prevent him from forcing such a task. Would he carry the child and try to convince the world
that his son was a marathon runner? No. God works in harmony with his laws, and as we join him in
doing so, we thrive and grow stronger and accomplish greater tasks as we grow.
What can we do to work the works of God? Trust God to work in us. We have a miracleworking heavenly Father. We are His miracles--miracles sent not to be God, but to obey Him.
Lord, may my faith stay focused on cooperating with You, so that Your miraculous work in and for us
may truly prosper. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Do you suppose that your status with God depends upon what miraculous deeds you can perform?
Do you feel like an inferior Christian because you lack ability to work miracles, such as healing?
Do you expect that if God counts you as His child, all you pray about should work out the way you
want it to go? Do you hesitate to exercise faith to ask for something, for fear that if God gives an
apparent "NO" it will mean that He is rejecting you?
When you teach someone a skill that you can do well and watch them err at practicing it, how do you
feel?
Would you rather step in and do the task than risk being blamed for the poor work?
Have you ever had a "helpful" guest set your company table "wrong" or wreck rather than cut the raw
vegetables?
Can you resist telling your other guests who is responsible for the way it looks?
Every time God allows Christians to botch a job He gives us, He risks being misjudged as unable to
miraculously cause His children to work well.
Is it miraculous to you that He is willing to be misunderstood while working with us rather than reject
our work as being beneath His level of excellence? He loves as we learn. Do we love as others learn?

June 5
Which Path to Prosperity?
"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew
3:17.
Among the truths that Jesus knew before He began His major work was this key truth: His
father loved Him. Love superceded all considerations in their joint mission for mankind. "For God so
loved..." Furthermore, in Him God was well pleased. God's pleasure centered in the reality that Jesus
maintained essential faith in His Father. Their covenant plan, designed before this world, was on
track, and God was glad. He knew His work of grace in giving His only Son could succeed within their
shared bond of faith and love.
While no feats were demanded of Jesus to earn God's approval, Jesus' "faith which worketh by
love" Galatians 5:6, must have pleased God. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him." Hebrews 11:6. Faith is not a feat on our part; it is a gift on God's part. God performs the feat
of having what He does match what He says. As we see Him doing so, we gain faith in God's love for
us. Then we join Him in working to share His gifts of faith and love with all who need it.
As a youth, Jesus had resisted the devil and lived within the will of His Father. Their strong
Father-Son covenant bonds prepared His heart and mind for deeper faith that would withstand the
trials that would climax at Calvary. Buoyed by His loving partnership with God, He had no need to
worry about His Fathers approval of Him. Nor did He need to prove how great God was by showing
how great He himself was. Instead He "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:" Philippians 2:7. When the Spirit led Him into the
wilderness, Jesus went. There He prepared by prayer and fasting for the awesome work before Him.
There He faced new versions of the old temptations that Satan had used to cause Eve to distrust,
disbelieve, and reject God. (See pages 37-39.)
Satan's temptations were bold. In essence Satan said, If You are the obedient Son of a
miracle-working God, take orders from me, Satan, and work miracles to meet my expectations for a
son of God. Prove that You are Gods Son by misusing the faith, hope, and love He gives You to do
what I say:
1) Misuse Your faith. Trust Your own power to make stones into bread: convince the worldly to trust in
stone idols to feed and sustain them. [Distrust that God will do what He must to meet all Your needs.]
2) Misuse Your hope. If You really are superhuman, hope to God Youll survive while engaging in
deadly temple tasks to the point of killing Yourself. Teach people to believe God will save them from
death when they throw themselves into their temple-linked, but devil-inspired, presumptuous
schemes that violate God's laws of nature. [Disbelieve that Gods moral and physical laws really work,
that obedient hope in His Word means anything.]
3) Misuse Your love. Love to meet my demands. Worship me and gain the world. Then worldlings will
believe You can prosper them. Let me make Your road to worldly wealth look easy to people, and
Youll have the world bowing in acceptance of You. [Reject Gods plan to sacrifice You as being the way
to love the worlds sinners.]
Satans efforts failed because Jesus relied upon Gods Word. Matthew 4:1-11 reports what
happened. He was as secure in His divine role amidst fasting and temptation in the wilderness of
misfortune as He would be while feasting with the wealthy or while feeding the bread of life to the
multitudes. Sometimes God guides us into the wilderness, as He did Jesus, to teach us how our faith
in God's loving word can aid us in resisting evil temptations. Which works for you: faith in God's
loving word or in Satans lying logic?
Lord, guide me along Your road to true prosperity. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Our daily direction sets our lifes course: Contrast your hard options with the easy ones facing you
today.
How does knowing that God's love sustains you help avoid worldly approval traps?
Can we expect to succeed in our work if we do not conform to what the enemy demands of us?
How does freedom from having to gain the world's approval free us to focus on what we truly need to
do in life? Do the temptations Satan aimed at Jesus long ago bring to mind some actual temptations
you have faced?

Which activities done in the name of religion may have deadly consequences to God's people?
Can we truly serve God in the manager-employee roles without first letting Him give us faith in His
love for us?

June 6
Green Signals Our Need to Work
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with
whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17.
A certain radio advertisement promotes the sale of a strange gift: the privilege of naming
stars for or after specific people. The stars cannot be gift wrapped, but the names people assign to
them are sure to be officially recorded and stored in Switzerland.
"Ridiculous!" you say. How can anything we may claim about a star we cannot visit, make a
real difference in our lives? And yet "every good gift and every perfect gift" that we do have comes to
us from the Creator who made light His first gift to this earth. This same Father of lights bundled His
gift into stars and sun and moon that we might measure our time, use it wisely, not waste it. Stored
within that light is the spectrum of color that forms the rainbow. We have noted how the violet,
indigo, and blue key the partnerships of parent-child, teacher-student, and lover-friend.
Now green sets its glow upon the manager-employee partnership in which we work to win the
prosperity that places every good gift and every perfect gift at our disposal. Green is plentiful in June.
Trees wave green foliage; fields of grain imitate luxuriant lawns; and gardens sport their shoots of
hope for a bountiful harvest. In fact, the word verdure derives from a word for green. Green also
signals growth in our economy as the cash flow of U.S. greenbacks increases in our businesses.
Green gives the "Go!" sign to prosperity.
One use of green that appears to be a drawback to prosperity is but a beginning. Anyone who
has gone job hunting knows how being "green" wears like a label that licenses employers to say NO.
The big question, "Do you have experience?" dogs the steps and clouds the hope of the job seeker.
Faced as we are with the impossibility of becoming experienced without first getting a job, that first
job we get seems to be a miraculous gift of God. But not until we try to do what we have said we'd
do, do we fully realize how "green" we are or how great is our need.
In our selfish society most are very green at working covenant relations. Despite the truth of
James 1:17 above, we tackle the job, as if we can do what must be done without involving the Giver of
every good and perfect gift in this growing process. God intends that we do more than merely work
for Him. He wants to work with us, so He can provide us with every gift we need to become equipped
to co-operate with Him. He takes the time needed to build working partnerships. In Him is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning: He wants to stay on task to the finish. He wants to lead out
in the finishing of the work He calls us to do. "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." 1
Thessalonians 5:24.
Lord, You know how green I am. May green, the rainbow's central color, remind me to seek the center
of Your will, as You work with me. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

What gifts do you have that equip you to work? What gifts do you lack?
If you are a manager, are you equipped to provide what your employees need?
If an employee, what gifts do you have that equip you for the job? Which do you lack?
Have you included God in your working partnership so that He can work to provide what you need and
empower you to produce what you must?
God's light on our path of inexperience brightens, as He turns our errors into tools of learning. Our
errors need not dim our faith that God works in our behalf to empower us to finish what He calls us to
do.
When we or our partners err, do we let God manage our responses?
By whom is God bestowing His good gifts upon you?
Do they know you appreciate their work for you?
How do you minister to their needs?
What do people need that you can work to provide or produce?
Which role can you fulfill in meeting the need?

June 7
God's Covenant Promise for Workers

Thou shalt not steal. Exodus 20:15.

The plight of the managers and employees is at crisis level. The pervasion of perverted
beliefs and behaviors into the work world has engulfed our toil in turmoil and traded away prosperity
for futility. Millions daily weigh in the balances the amount of work they do with the prosperity they
gain by doing it. Some decide that keeping busy is not worth the bother. Others become too busy
balancing their work world on their shoulders to bother measuring the effects their efforts have on
fulfilling their own essential needs for abundant life. People who pant with exhaustion from needless
overwork are not inclined to ask, "What work am I neglecting in the pursuit of emotional, spiritual,
mental, and physical prosperity?" Their self-imposed sense of obligation to meet others' demands
puts them under the galling yoke of bondage. Anxiety dogs their daily steps, but guilt threatens their
well-being whenever they try to remove the yoke. They dare not explore what they could be--need to
be--doing to truly prosper in life.
None of this goes unnoticed by God, the Creator who invented work to bless His human
beings. As our supreme model for the roles of both manager and employee, He weighs us in His
divine balance and finds us wanting, but not choosing, what we need to prosper. He finds us
unequally yoked within controlling relationships that are lopsided with overwhelmingly heavy
obligations on the one hand and weightless pie-in-the-sky promises of prosperity on the other. As He
views our tug of war for profits, He offers His Commandment VIII promise to remove this abuse that
exists among us in our working roles.
He enters our human sweat shops in which we are going through the guilt cycle motions of
seeking to earn the bread of life by the sweat of our brow. He sees beyond the brow that hides our
deep inner need for His word to empower our success. Despite the "NOT WELCOME" glares He gets
from the many who know not that abundant life depends upon His action, He is not out of place. He
stops at each one's boxed-in world of work. On each box the outside of the IN FRONT door labeled
TEACH with Goals bears Commandment VIII, His covenant promise to each worker. It reads, "Thou
shalt not steal." To take by force what is not owned by one or freely given to him is stealing.
God's goal in giving this command is that we may value work--His work for us, in us, and
through us--as the path to prosperity. He wants us to love to work and to work to love, not to force
love from one another. He also wants us to value others' work and share prosperity fairly. People who
love to cooperate in doing work that benefits all who participate in it, have no need to steal. Their
managers freely and gladly give a full day's pay for their full day of work. With His covenant promise
we'll prosper, even as our souls prosper (3 John 2)... even if we're green.
Lord, thanks for promising me that, as You dwell in me, I shall not steal. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Do you weigh the amount of work you do against the benefits you gain from doing it?
In which areas of life are you gaining: emotional, spiritual, mental, physical, material, social?
Do you have a working plan to supplement the needs that your main occupation doesn't meet?
Do you know how to address your needs that are still unmet?
How do you benefit from Commandment VIII, Thou shalt not steal, which is God's work promise?
Do you share it with others? When? When they are violating it or living it? How? as a positive
assurance or as a negative reprimand? How broadly or narrowly do you define stealing in the
workplace?
Do you limit it to items or do you include whatever robs you or others of fourfold prosperity?
What's your workplace? What does it mean to you to bring Jesus into your workplace?
Do you limit Him to the times you "witness" to coworkers with Bible verses or religious beliefs?
Do you let Him speak through your diligent efforts to do as you say re your work responsibilities?
Does a need-meeting spirit of cooperation demonstrate the loving presence of Christ in you?
Would Jesus be welcome if He were represented in those ways in your workplace?
What evidence do you see that His presence is blessing the workers there?

June 8
REPROVE Anxiety
"Let the righteous ... reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head..." Psalm
141:5.
As we approach the dilemma which managers and employees share in the boxed-in
workplace, we see no love emanating from the "box". While the front door stands ajar, none seem to
desire or to dare escape the inside track that has become standard and commonplace. The promise,
"Thou shalt not steal", decorates the front door like an anachronism serving to stir nostalgia for
bygone days when it is supposed people did not steal. It is ignored as if it were an outdated
announcement. The insiders know not how to incorporate that promise with the practices of a
workplace that is structured to reward the thief, who gets things by force. Prosperity seems to hinge
on ignoring this law that is so needed in the workplace.
As we step close to peer inside, the scene reveals little prosperity and much anxiety-laden
struggle for survival. Business within seems bogged down by the anxiety of the exhausted
employees. What system employed among them is spewing out such waste for their heavy-laden
efforts? How has this yoke of bondage gotten such a hold on them that none even try to escape
through the open door?
Steeling our ears against the screech of the rusty hinges, we press the door open to shed light
on the situation. Its OUT FRONT-labeled inner side has "___ROVE with _eas__ " written on it. The grime
of dust and dirt that had made the message unreadable gave way under the pressure of the elbow
grease applied to a handkerchief rubbed over it. We find that it reads, REPROVE with Reason, not
ROVE with ease, as it had appeared. Reprove what? Anxiety.
Who in his right mind would reprove anxiety in the workplace? you ask. Doesn't everyone
believe that a fair measure of anxiety produces a better worker? Maybe so, but believing that does
not make it so! We need to help such believers learn otherwise.. We must re-prove to those ill with
anxiety that God's promise, "Thou shalt not steal" can aid them in building working relationships that
are free from anxiety and full of prosperity. In addition, we shall need some anxiety-removing faith
that works by love. It is without a peer as a tool for replacing anxiety with courage.
Anxiety is the killer that transforms the blessing of work into a curse. While the sweat of
honest work brings its rewards with it, the sweat of anxiety stains its victims, stifles progress, and
pollutes the workplace with a stench that overpowers the sweet perfume of joy people find in working
together. What is anxiety? Is it a helpful or a harmful quality? Can it be erased or at least lessened
or alleviated? What is the reason behind it? How do our behavior patterns work to promote anxiety?
Do you need anxiety to impress others, or do you need to remove it? Let us continue to examine the
dynamics of behavior that relate to this problem.
Lord, is my behavior creating a reason for anxiety? Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Look objectively at your working relationships at work, in the family, among your friends, and in the
church.
Is the dust of anxiety in the air dulling the color of love for what you are doing?
Can you pinpoint the causes of the anxiety?
What do you think it would take to remove the anxiety from the picture you see?
Is it within your power and plan to do what you think is required to remove it?
Would your plan help or harm others affected by it?
How do you distinguish between wholesome concern and harmful anxiety in the workplace?
As you consider the conditions of your boxed-in, anxiety-ridden workplaces, how hard do you try to
escape the scene through the front door?
Did you conclude that it's futile to try to fix the mess you face, and decide to just "live" with it?
Can you fix it without God? See Matthew 19:26.

June 9
The 50-50 Yoke of Bondage
"Be ye not unequally yoked together...what concord hath Christ with Belial [worthlessness]?.."
2 Corinthians 6:14, 15.
How nice it would be if we could confine anxiety to a specific business and let the rest of
society be mostly free of it. While that is not likely, the removal of anxiety from a specific business
has a possibility of occurring. Despite the grip that anxiety has on the hearts of men, the most
common of all businesses, marriage, can become a low-anxiety haven for hearts that are equally
yoked together. Nowhere are working partnerships more important than in the home business of
marriage. We tend to focus more on marriage as being a personal partnership than a business. But
failing to also see the business aspects of marriage does not remove their reality. Merely doing what
comes naturally will naturally foster anxiety-producing problems. We shall look in on a typical
marriage.
You will recall that in the week of May 17 Les and Lena began a 50-50 partnership by uniting
their efforts to work out a system in which he would say what's right for her to do so together they
could have a working relationship of integrity. It was powered by the force of the favor. In the
manager role Les would favor her with words and she in the employee role would favor him with work.
As she did what he demanded, he'd know that she was loving him by meeting his demands. As she'd
earn his approval, he'd reward her by loving her. Wed to the 50-50 plan, they worked it.
In a 50-50 plan, supposedly each gives 50 and gets 50 in return. At that rate profit can never
accumulate: One must invest all 50 he or she gets to pay the 50 it costs to get 50 more which goes
to pay the 50 it costs to get 50 more to pay for another 50, etc. This endless cycle would stay at zero
profit (50-50 = 0), if it worked that well, but it doesn't. Let's see how well Les and Lena mind their 5050 business.
Les was good with flattering words, and Lena had high fears or expectations that her efforts to
meet his demands would be well rewarded. Ignoring needs, both focused on his demands. But Lena's
attempts to earn his approval of her work and to win his love were futile. His flattering words dropped
in value to her, as she saw that the figurative "50" he was giving was only cheap talk worth little more
than "02". The 50-50 plan, which at its best could only break even at zero, was headed for a negative
balance. When her turn came to give her "50" again, she returned only his "02" that she had received
from him. Les was offended that she had apparently devalued his "50" to "02" and had refused to
give the "50" she promised him. So he felt justified in really cutting back on his "50". Why should he
supply her need for "48" more to give him? He gave fewer flattering words to force her to work
harder to get more. Instead her love for work lessened. Only her anxiety over how to meet his
demands without resources grew. Though labeled 50-50 in theory, they find in practice they are
unequally yoked in a system of marital bondage, in which each claims to be giving more than the
other, yet neither gains.
Lord, do I claim to give more than I get from my partner? Am I trapped into a 50-50 yoke of bondage?
Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

The more Lena leans on Les for love, the less she gets. Is your partnership that way?
Do you depend upon love from the other person to sustain your inner well-being?
Do you feel anxiety over your inability to earn the other's approval and win the love you seek?
Are you being exploited by the other person who easily takes but hardly gives anything in return?
Do you find yourself trying to lessen your giving without triggering the other's disapproval?
Do you use the 50-50 plan in relating to others, matching the amount you give them to the amount
you get from them? Do you get more if you give more? How much has it prospered you?
Does your anxiety increase when people expect more of you than you can give?
How do you define "unequally yoked"? Can two work together except they be agreed on common, not
opposing, goals? Are these 2 goals-- (1) Les: I'll get my life-sustaining love from Lena. (2) Lena: I'll
get my love from Les.--common or opposing? Will they prosper or consume each other?

June
10
Constant Demands and Chronic Anxiety
"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:.." Luke 10:41.
"Be careful for nothing." Philippians 4:6.
Life does not neatly consist of countless couples carefully trading even shares of love with one
another while living in isolation from society. Reality limits how long we can ignore needs and
appease demands without wrecking life.
Les and Lena do not live in a vacuum. Besides the task of working their 50-50 marriage
partnership, both have careers. Both have their bosses' expectations that require attention. Both
have sets of parents pressing for their time. Both have groups of "old" friends that claim they're
feeling ignored. Both have people who stand in line waiting for them to meet old obligations, all of
which hang like necktie strings about their necks. Those who have done them too many stringattached favors surround them and pull their neck strings from every direction for rewards. The
resulting choking sensation of anxiety, that cannot be neurotically coughed away, overwhelms them.
They cannot "cut the mustard" and dare not cut the ties that bind and choke the joy of life from them.
With potential for drawing only 100% from his energy bank and with many people to please,
Les becomes very cautious about granting approval. He knows if he approves of any who meet his
demands, then he must reward them with love. Since he's vastly over-committed, he uses
disapproval to minimize his need to return any favors. Perhaps when his friends try harder to please
him, he will take time to catch up on his old obligations. But now he cannot even give approval to
Lena's efforts, lest he have to reward her with love he doesn't have.
Under a constant demand to win Les' approval, Lena's potential 100% energy supply actually
shrinks in exhaustion as her anxiety grows. Distrust, depression, and guilt also drain away her energy
to love. She fears running lower on "love" energy, lest she have to disapprove of the few people left
who still meet her demands. Already some, who used to try, have stopped meeting her demands and
have gone elsewhere to get the love they seek. Despite Lena's fascination with Les, she still counts
most on the one demand meeter who tries to respond to her own demands and dares not disappoint
her. That person is herself.
Lena is unaware that she herself also has limits to what she can tolerate. Her fears of losing
love from the people she counts on to sustain her, have grown from frequent to habitual. She no
longer needs a specific occasion or person to fear. Her fears have melted into a steady stream of
chronic anxiety that flows to all with whom she relates. She has changed from one who was careful
and troubled about many things to one who is full of care about everything. Lacking sufficient love to
give to all who demand it, she issues empty promises that increase her anxiety when people try to
collect on them. Just as physical hearts that fail to pump sufficient blood into miles of vessels may
speed up to rise to the occasion, Lena's figurative heart feels intense pressure to meet people's
growing demands and speeds her efforts to please. But dependent as she is on people who have no
love to give, her increased speed does nothing to supply the love she needs to get the love she seeks.
Her frantic anxiety fuels panic attacks but does not enrich partnerships.
Lord, teach me to be careful, full of care, for nothing. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Examine the anxiety level in your partnerships with your spouse, your boss, your parents, and your
friends.
Do you find that the partnerships that should WORK best have the most anxiety in them?
Does that indicate that you are expecting love from the essential people in your life more than you
are giving it?
Could the love you give really be demand-meeting favors with string-attached expectations for
gaining love? What causes of anxiety can you pinpoint in your partnerships?
Do they include expectations for love and/or fear of disapproval, rejection, and finally loss of love?
How do distrust, depression, and guilt relate to anxiety?
Would you describe true love to be more like a pie that must be cut in slivers so each person in your
life can get a taste of it, or like a tireless muscle that grows stronger with use?

June
11
What Causes Your Anxiety?
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him:...an heart that
deviseth wicked imaginations.." Proverbs 6:16, 18.
Anxiety is no stranger to us. We watch it weaken our courage to persevere at making
partnerships work. We see it signal retreat because we fear that we may fail even before our plans
have had a chance to succeed. If we learn the cause of anxiety, we can learn how to combat it. [This
book does not address medical causes.]
The first three things that God hates provide a context for understanding the cause of anxiety.
"A proud look" indicates that we lack love and use pride to increase our worth so others will love us.
"A lying tongue" exposes our habit of saying, I love you, when we really mean, I hope you will love
me. We say, I'm sorry, when we mean, I feel guilty. We need to feel sorry that we are not loving
others, rather than guilty because they are not loving us. "Hands that shed innocent blood" reproves
our violent behavior that blames others for wrecking our plans by not loving us; we need to learn to
love. God hates this list of misbehaviors that keep His love from functioning to meet needs in our
relationships.
The cause of anxiety is the fourth thing: "an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations". This
heart that "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" Jeremiah 17:9, imagines that
wickedness will cure its problems. Jeremiah's use of "wicked", derived from "to be frail, feeble",
means sick. The heart lacks the love it needs to provide the courage (heart power) it needs to love.
The "wicked" imaginations of Proverbs 6:18 reveal why the heart is weak: this "wicked" derives its
meaning from "to pant (hence to exert oneself, usually in vain; to come to naught); strictly
nothingness; trouble, vanity, wickedness; specifically an idol."
We've seen Lena exert herself in vain to earn Les' approval and win his love. As her source of
love, Les becomes her false god, her idol, whom she worships in vain because he lacks unselfish love
to give her. Selfish love exploits its lovers; it drains their feeble energy and leaves their hearts sick.
The more selfish love one gains, the more one approaches nothingness and debt. Lovesick describes
a person who is absorbed in getting love from another. Sick of love is the one who learns it was all in
vain. Both she and Les learn that depending upon others to fuel our lives with love is a wicked, vain
imagination that does not work. They cannot value God's work of grace in their relationship while
spending their energies on plans that lead to nothingness.
The sick heart faces countless options to devise more vain ways to fill its need for love.
Lacking courage to love, it indulges fantasies and seeks vicarious romance in novels, plays, TV,
movies, pornography, and sexual misbehaviors. To wickedly imagine that one can love without a
Source of love to fuel his efforts is sick indeed. This sick heart needs real fuel to love.
Lord, You know that I cannot truly love unless You fill me with Your unselfish love. I need to be filled
with love. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Mentally list things you and others have devised to compensate for the failure to gain love from
unloving partners. Did any of these items aid in rebuilding a working partnership?
Did any lead you into dependence on secondary lovers that further divides your efforts to build a
strong love partnership? Did they result in nothingness, or worse, did they injure anyone?
Are you relating with a spouse, a colleague, or a friend in a manner that is not working to benefit both
of you? Is anxiety mounting?
Is it because you are spending energy in trying to work unworkable plans you have devised?
If it is a plan designed to use selfish demand-making-meeting behaviors to produce results that will
meet your needs, will it work?
What we need and what we demand are usually very different things. We must unite to determine
needs, set goals to meet needs, and then plan and work together to meet them. In doing so, loving
will be happening, not waiting to happen.

June
12
Fear in the Workplace
"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:"
Luke 21:26.
The times in which we live deliver one crisis after another to humanity, and our everywhere
present media leaves few of them unreported. Fear follows in the wake of these terrible tragedies.
But for many the worst fear they face is in the workplace.
We have seen how some try to earn approval and get love. What anxieties may arise when
Christians do try to give love? What robs us of courage to address real needs in the workplace?
Lena works in a pool of office employees shuffling papers. She works quickly and has time to
help others. If she were loaded with work, she'd want help, so she offers to help them. At first they
gladly hand her stacks of papers, which she easily processes. But after awhile, their attitudes change
toward her extra help. They live by the 50-50 policy that trades favors and takes no more than they
can afford to return. They can handle being slightly indebted to Lena for her help, but when it's clear
that she's always helping and they're always letting her, they begin to feel guilty for receiving but not
returning favors. Not wanting to be in debt to her, they stop letting her love them. Besides, they
hate having Lena's efficiency make them look lazy to the manager. They fear that she will advance
over them, so they begin rumors about her to bring her down to their size.
Meanwhile the manager is measuring her skill against his, and fears that the owners may
promote her to his job. He uses the rumors against Lena to have her transferred to a non-threatening
position where she works by herself. She's still fast, but now she also secretly plays computer games
to escape a boring job. Her boss forbids playing games during work time, but punishes people who
value work. She does not dare excel at her work, for fear her boss will fire her.
Les faces a task he needs help to do. The safety of his crew depends upon his job being well
done. Les fears to do the job wrong, but he also fears to tell his boss that he lacks this skill. His boss,
who cannot provide the needed help, hates to expose his own ignorance for the crew to ridicule. Les
fears that his boss will fire him as incompetent rather than admit that he lacks the skill to provide
what Les needs to produce his assigned work. Both company and crew suffer from fear on the job.
It's not easy to prize "Thou shalt not steal" or to value conscientious work when doing it
brings risk of losing jobs. Love that meets needs, not demands, is rare. People fear to give more love
than recipients can return. Since many can return none, fear bids us to "mind our own business" and
give none. We need more courage.
Lord, I need courage to meet needs, not demands. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Does someone you love face anxiety in the workplace?

Is it related to trying to do the job well or trying to escape duties?
Is it caused by ignoring a need or pursuing a need?
What needs to happen to alleviate that anxiety?
What causes your anxiety at your job?
Are you perpetuating it by relating to it in a way that will not work?
What do you need to do to solve it?
Whom do you need to help you?
How can you address the problem in a workable manner?
Will assuming someone else's responsibility help or hinder?
Can you find ways to be helpful without threatening co-workers' well-being or managers' positions?
Could your group come together to agree on how to revise job descriptions to better meet needs?
What is the distinct role of each person involved?
How can each one help you?
How can you help each one to solve the problem?
No one benefits from perpetuating relationship problems that intensify anxiety in the workplace.

June
13
The Golden Guilty Rule
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Luke 6:31.
People of varied beliefs hold the Golden Rule in high regard, and rightly so. On May 20 we
showed how this beginner's guide to love aids in restoring power to the broken will. But all of truth is
not comprehended in one rule. Used outside God's Ten Commandment law of truth, this rule aids in
devising vain "wicked imaginations" that lead to greater anxiety. Misuse turns it from the Golden Rule
into the guilty rule.
Les belongs to a work crew. He takes orders from his foreman, thinking that if he himself were
boss, he would want his demands met. (Misuse of Golden Rule.) When Les does what he's told, he
pleases his demand-making foreman. But neither see the trouble ahead. The same demand-makingmeeting principle upon which Les bases his yes to his boss will also trap him into saying yes to others
who make demands upon him.
Les "wickedly" imagines that he can get love by loving others (which, in his mind, means
meeting their demands). He tries, even if he has no love to empower him to do so. He banks on his
own ability (plus his hope in others) to provide the unlimited power, time, and resources to actually
carry out all their demands. If he can be the "nice guy" who meets everyone's demands, he supposes
they'll raise him to a demand-making position in which they'll return his favors and meet his demands
for resources to keep going.
His fellow workers soon catch on that Les says Yes to whatever they demand him to do for
them. Before long they have time for extended breaks at the expense of Les, whose breaks are
occupied with trying to do all that he promised them and still do the work his boss demands of him.
Anxiously he races the clock to see if he'll finish his job before his job finishes him. His exhausting
workload and harried schedule lead him to make more errors for which he is blamed.
Despite his efforts to be the "nice guy" who pleases every one, he becomes the target of
ridicule. Unwilling to take turns at trading roles with him, they use his mistakes to devalue his favors,
so they will owe him nothing. They make him feel guilty for letting them down by not doing the good
job that he promised. He enters an endless cycle of trying to regain their good will by DOING
something right, so he can BE right and then hopefully require them to return his favors. But he
cannot please his many little bosses, each of whom demand 100%, by splitting his 100% among
them. Nor can he escape the guilt he feels for not doing so.
How can a good Golden Rule wreck work relations? The Golden Rule works without regard to
good or evil; we can use or misuse it. To make the evil demand-making way "legal" for ourselves to
use, we must view it as legal when others use it on us, so we'll be "right" when we use it. We
blindly conform without considering the consequences--many little bosses making selfish demands
upon us. The Golden Rule works, yes, but it works to enslave us in bondage; it works to destroy
working partnerships. The simple fact is that if we sow evil behavior, we'll reap evil results. We need
a moral law that defines good behavior to guide us in gaining good results.
Lord, let Your moral law define how I treat others. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Mentally scan the working relationships you have with people, especially your spouse and your fellow
employees. Have you ever tried to help them only to watch them escape to relax while you fulfill
their job responsibilities?
Does it seem that instead of making friendly headway with them, they only head away from you?
Have the people you tried to help ever blamed you for their errors?
Who are your little bosses? How are you relating to them?
Are you overly committed to tasks that you lack the time and resources to do?
Did you get into that position because you didn't want to be disliked?
What reason do you have for cooperating with your boss or your spouse?
Is it because you are simply doing what they demanded?
Or is it because you are both united in working toward an agreed-upon goal that you share?
Is it because you both agree on the plan you both made to reach the goal?

June
14
Fear of God Quells Fear of Men
"Be not afraid of sudden fear...For the Lord shall be thy confidence..." Proverbs 3:25.
One driving force of the enemy is fear--fear that we will do something wrong or something will
go wrong that will lead to the loss of love we depend upon to survive. For an enemy who is limited by
God in what he is actually allowed to do, the fear of what he MIGHT do becomes his mighty tool for
creating anxiety in our hearts and intensifying our desires to "devise wicked imaginations".
To fear, in a neutral sense, is to anticipate what may happen to you at the hand of whom or
what you fear. We shape our fears from our knowledge of the people or things we fear. Our view of
their power to help us or harm us determines whether we anticipate (fear) good or evil at their hand.
When we don't know otherwise, we assume our enemies will treat us as we would treat them. Since
we reject and withhold affection from people who refuse to meet our demands, we automatically
expect others to do likewise. This accent on the negative makes us very vulnerable to the fearengendering wiles of our chief enemy.
The enemy rounds up all the objects, animate and inanimate, that we imagine could do us
harm, and he scatters them like targets before us. Then he figuratively stands behind us, points over
our shoulder to direct our attention to the nearest target. He triggers a fear of it in our hearts, and
statics our minds with anxiety over dealing with it. The target we fear may be a divorce, an accident,
terminal illness, a death, or a mere fear of having one of our many "little bosses" disapprove of us,
reject us, and refuse to love us.
In fear of what the targeted object may do to harm us, we gear up to defend ourselves from it.
Fears, imaginary or real, sidetrack us from our business of meeting needs (loving). While we are
caught up in the anxiety of fearing the enemy's targets, the actual fear motivating our battle with the
target, escapes unnoticed. The enemy coaching our cringing behavior roars with laughter over his
success at crippling our love offense with fear. Again! Fear erodes our courage to obey God and to
love one another; it wastes the resources we need to do what we must to prosper. Worst of all, the
enemy tricks us into believing that God, not he, puts the fear in us, so we won't sin. God can
empower us to stop sinning, but the fear and guilty feelings spawned by the enemy cannot do so.
As our Big Boss, God uses fear to erase fear. He silences earth's little bosses who shout, "Fear
me!", by commanding us to fear Him. He provides our reason for refusing to fear anything else in
place of Him. We study His character and anticipate what is likely to happen to us at the hand of this
loving, longsuffering, merciful, forgiving God. We fear, anticipate, His perfect love pouring into our
life. We learn, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment."
I John 4:18. God removes the fear that torments us. Why not dare to fear God?
Lord, I choose to fear You and Your perfect love, so I can love. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

The problem is the enemy who triggers fear, not the targets upon which he focuses our fear.
What do you know about fear?
How has it sidetracked you from succeeding in life?
How can the fear of God free you from the enemy-triggered fear of men and misfortune?
How does anxiety affect your efficiency?
Since anxiety impairs it, you can know that God is not motivating negative fear in you. God values
the gift of work He gives you. He does not plot against your success when you are doing the work He
has given you to do.
Do you have a lot of little bosses demanding you to go in conflicting directions?
Why not tell them, "Sorry, my big Boss has commanded me to fear Him, to anticipate His plan for
bringing me
prosperity and love." and then invite them to join you in doing so?
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2
Timothy 1:7.

June
15
Behold Your Mother!
"Behold thy mother!" John 19:27.
For a week we have stood at the OUT FRONT door of REPROVE with Reason discussing the
problems of anxiety in the workplace. The light that has entered through the open door has exposed
the dark boxed-in evil we have indulged and endured. Now truth's light penetrates beyond our need
to the solution of the cross outlined on the inner side of the back door. This side of the door labeled
OUT BACK invites us to CORRECT with Obedience the anxiety that pervades our working relations.
As the scene on the cross takes shape before our eyes, we are swept back through time to the
crucifixion. We remember our Lord's last words, "Woman, behold thy son!" Now we hear Him finish
forming this working relationship as He says, "Behold thy mother!" The roles they were enjoined to
fulfill would repair any old mistakes that John had been taught by a demand-making, position-oriented
mother. This son of thunder would now gain the influence of this mother who had overseen the
training of this longsuffering, gentle, hard-working Son of God. This mother would not accept his
responsibilities or groom him to exalt himself. Instead she'd encourage him to deny himself and take
up his cross and follow His beloved Master in doing the work that awaited his unique talents.
She would not do it by nagging him, but by pointing him to the words of life from the Son of
God. She'd remind John of what he heard her say at the wedding of Cana: "Whatsoever He saith unto
you, do it." John 2:5. She would affirm that their relationship was based not upon their ability to
make and meet demands, but upon Jesus' words: "My mother and my brethren are these which hear
the word of God, and do it." Luke 8:21. She'd remind John of the words of Jesus not only by word but
by her loving obedience to Him. She would help him grow beyond seeing himself as the "disciple
Jesus loved" to seeing himself as one who is recognized as Jesus' disciple by "having love one to
another." John 13:35. From one who would call down fire upon those who refuse Jesus (Luke 9:54), he
would grow to say, "And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his
brother also." I John 4:21.
Behold your mother! Don't just listen to her, but behold her. Watch what she does. You will
observe in her behavior whatsoever I have commanded her and see how God's love empowers her to
love. Watch how her years with the Son of God have purged her life of selfish behaviors. Watch how
she feeds her faith with the fuel of the Word of God. Watch how she has learned to withstand the
greatest evil by standing in the strength of the Lord, not her own. Watch how she kept working for
God's church despite what the official church leaders did to her beloved Son. Let her help you undo
the mistakes that were woven into your childhood training. This mother eats the living Word: join her
at the Lord's table.
Lord, let me be related to you by hearing the word of God and doing it. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

How did your mother teach you to build relations with others?
Did she teach you to seek the exalted seat for yourself or to take the hard place in the line of duty to
God?
Did she teach you to let others bear your responsibilities or to shoulder what your strength permits
you to carry? Did
you learn that the strong ought to help the weak, not exploit them?
Can you invite your working partners to join you at Jesus cross to study how to fulfill the roles that
unite you?
Take time to list some things your mother taught you that have blessed (or burdened) your life.
We can learn much about what to do and what not to do by beholding how others relate to life.

June
16
Hungry for Love or Lust?
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matthew

5:6.
Still OUT BACK where Christ can correct us in confidentiality, we turn our thoughts to His
Sermon on the Mount. "Jesus, we know how you built a working relationship for Mary and John. We
need your help to remove the anxiety that prevents our manager-employee roles from working
efficiently. We know that our deceitful hearts try to imagine that we can meet needs without a source
of love to empower us to do so. We know that whatever we devise to fill our weak hearts with love
fails to do so. Nothing the world has works.
"We are like the famine-stricken prodigal son working at the pig farm, who would fain have
filled his belly on the husks the pigs ate. While the pigs grew to be bigger pigs on their pig food diet,
he could not even quiet his hunger with the husks they ate. Likewise, as we feed our hunger for love
with lust, we grow to be bigger lusters: our cravings for lust greatly intensify, but never satisfy, our
need for love. We grow weaker waiting for the love of the world to empower us to love. Can you cure
our anxiety?"
Jesus responds, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they
shall be filled." Righteousness is active, unselfish love. This "do-love" correction collides with our
"get-love" direction. We know that hunger for lust leaves us empty. Now we see that craving for
human lust can be cured by hungering for righteousness. Only covenant love relationships with God
through Jesus generate righteousness, anciently known as rightwiseness. In a world of partners who
suffer from crosswise relations that hinder their progress toward prosperity, Jesus offers rightwiseness
as His divine cure.
Hunger for good things is only a blessing when we have a chance of obtaining them. We are
no more able to practice divine righteousness than a leopard is able to change his spots. We know
nothing of it. All our righteousness is as smelly and tattered as the prodigal son's clothes. Still, in our
world of futile, wicked imaginations the goal draws us as if it were a glistening garment. With
hesitation born of past rejections, we imagine ourselves donned in Jesus' shimmering robe of
righteousness before the throne of God. But a rush of reality snatches us rudely from His righteous
realm. Though lovely indeed, the white robe is so out of character with ours that all would think we
had stolen it. Imagining that seems more vain than thinking lust.
"Righteousness sounds lovely," we reply to Jesus, "but we could never pay the cost nor
deserve to wear such kingly robes." Even so, something in our heart refuses to return to business as
usual. At least we need not work so hard at the wrong thing.
Lord, do You show us our need to mock us and shock us or to frock us in Your righteous provision for
our poverty? Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Consider your relationships with your significant partners.

Are you crosswise or at odds with them?
Do you desire to set things rightwise but see no possible way to change your painful reality?
Have you found that the more you claim to be right the more crosswise things become?
And worse, that consenting to be wrong only increases the oppression you must endure? Is there no
cure?
How can becoming Calvary "cross-wise" regarding Jesus' atonement bring you into rightwise
relationship again? How can seeing each other as wrapped in God's forgiveness lessen the anxiety
you feel?
Do you ever window shop at Fantasy Fashions and just try on elegant garments just to taste the
glamorous transformation, as you imagine yourself wearing them?
Or do you visit Dreamland Car Sales and take the driver's seat in the luxury models and dream of the
prestige of owning one?
Elegance exists: does that give you hope of obtaining it or sharpen its contrast with your reality?
How can the dream of wearing Christ's righteousness become reality for you?

June
17
Head for Bread
"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned..." Luke 15:18.
Like a mustard seed the faith we invest in Jesus' Beatitude promise springs into a tree and
calls us to risk going out on a limb to trust in His righteousness for us. New courage nudges us away
from tending the swine to traveling toward our Father.
We draft our speech. "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." Luke 15:18, 19. Our debt comes
to mind, so we include, "Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." Matthew 18:26. We try
to look capable as we add, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal li
Matthew 19:16. We like the touch of humanness that admits, "it is hard..to kick against the pricks."
Acts 9:5.
But our human patchwork of art does not pass muster. It sounds like a tinkling cymbal. As we
stop to look back at our sin-stained tracks, we smell the stench ascending from our rags and see that
we have only been tramping around in circles and going nowhere. The fear that we may perish
overrides the hope that we may prosper. "Oh Jesus," we cry from our empty hearts, "You have called
us to work for You, but without You we can do nothing. Without You we are nothing. We have no love
to give to the dying. In fact, we are the dying."
Our dying words do not go unnoticed by Jesus, who died for us. He knew our dilemma all
along. Now He knows that we know it also. He says, "pray ye: Our Father...Give us this day our daily
bread."
Bread? Must we begin each day by begging God to give us enough bread for one day? But
didn't the Psalm 37:25 boast that David had "not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread."? It's a small comfort that the seed need not beg bread if the parent must. Suddenly we feel
deceived and confused. We hear, "You shall not steal", but live one day away from starvation.
Anxiety harms, but live wondering when bread will arrive. "Every good gift...cometh down from the
Father.." James 1:17. But your allotment is one gift per day. "I wish above all things that thou mayest
prosper" 3 John 2. But your one wish must be a day's ration of bread. "Value work." But behave like
children who depend upon your Father's work to be fed.
Such negatives don't produce the glowing pictures we have of prosperity. What does it matter
that we righteous aren't forsaken, if our plans to prosper must be? We begin to lose our reason --our
reason to pray and obey, that is. We feel our old leaven of pride rising in our sin-infested loaf of life.
Why should we arise and go to the Father? Yes, why should we? Do we need His pride-free, sinless
bread of life as it is in Jesus?
Father, do I value what I'm working to get more than I value the work You have done to make it
possible to give us daily bread? Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Are you involved in a working partnership that is not working for you?
What disturbs you about your position in the partnership?
Just what about it is not working?
Can it work without looking to God for the energy-producing bread you need to make it work?
Can you arise and go to the Father to get a different perspective (His) on your lifework?
Are you working outside of His will that promises prosperity?
Are you too proud to ask for what God offers because you feel you have already earned it and
shouldn't have to beg for it?
Are you suffering burnout from trying to draw your rewards from bankrupt partners in business or
marriage?
Are you pre-occupied with preparing your speech for people you want to appease and neglecting to
let the Word speak to your needs and prosper your partnerships?
Are you caught between believing love must be earned and seeing how impossible it is to earn it?
Do you sense injustice in the notion that the love we need in order to love is only given after we have
earned it by loving? Obviously, conflict resides in this mistaken notion re God's love.

June
18
The Word Is Bread for Life
"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11.
How often have we stated an emphatic "I will go and do!" in our determination to meet a
challenge and reach a goal, only to discover that we do not know the way to go or the how to do
it? Does faith in the value of a goal cancel the need to engage the process that makes it happen?
Does simply believing that it can occur remove the need to relate in the way that makes it occur?
John 14 reports a discussion about Jesus' plan to go to the Father. Jesus said, "..whither I go
ye know, and the way ye know." Thomas replied, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can
we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by Me." Philip added that seeing the Father would suffice. But it will not. We must see
the Father in the life of Jesus, the one and only uniting link between us and Him. "For there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. God has chosen
Jesus to bring life and all that enriches it to mankind.
How then shall we exercise our determination to arise and go to the Father? Jesus' way is that
we trust our Father's goodness. Jesus' truth calls us to believe in Him as the Revelation of God's
Word. Jesus' life of loving obedience to God gives Him authority to save with His love all who accept
His righteousness by faith. That means no distrust, no disbelief, no rejection.
Since the process is encompassed in having Jesus' way, truth, and life become ours, how do
we approach God to gain Jesus? This Father need not be appeased, but He is pleased as we come to
Him in faith, believing "that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
Hebrews 11:6. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32. But before "all things" comes the one thing
God must give us.
We learn more of it from Jesus: "He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that
bread of life...living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live
for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ...He that
eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent
Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. ...It is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life." John 6:47-63.
This word made flesh to dwell among us can dwell within us to give us life. As we eat the
word, we eat the bread of life, the flesh of God's Son, given to us that we might have eternal life. Are
you hungry for His righteousness to fill your life?
Father, "Give us this day our daily bread." Give us Jesus, the Word. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Have you ever been called to go and do a task that seemed impossible to accomplish?
It's easy to envision how the absence of problems promotes peace, but reality tends to herald not
hide the problems and absent the "how-to-do-it" solutions from our view.
Do you worry that God measures the work you've done without Him, to decide if you deserve His gifts,
before He'll give you any "daily bread" to empower you to work?
Is that a reasonable way for an all-wise God to relate to our needs?
Do you see why He calls us to bring faith, not works, with our requests for His gifts that equip us to
work?
He gives what we need according to His riches in Jesus, not our works or our self-worth.
How do we treat our partners?
Do we give to equip them to work with us, or do we reject them because they are not equipped to
work with us? Do we fret about unfinished tasks, or join with willing workers in giving what we can to
finish the tasks?

June
19
How to Build Hunger
"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth
not?"
Isaiah 55:2.
How far have we come in the process of correcting the cause of our anxiety, the heart that
devises wicked imaginations? First, we love God with all our heart by trusting His beatitude promise
that all who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled with righteousness, not anxiety.
Next, we love God with all our soul as we pray in hope, Give us this day our daily bread. But it is not
enough to trust and to ask. Now we need to love God with all our minds and choose to let Him give
us what He's promised us. Two choice promises await us now: The Beatitude 4 BEING promise and the
DOING promise of commandment VIII, Thou shalt not steal.
The mind and heart are closely allied. The emotional heart can do little to correct itself
without the conscious intervention of the mind. Faced with the choice to hunger and thirst after
righteousness rather than to let my emotional heart keep devising wicked imaginations, I ask, Why
am I not hungry and thirsty now? What must I do to create hunger and thirst, so I'll choose it?
Just as physical hunger can be turned off by eating empty-calorie junk foods, so also hunger
for righteousness that comes only from God's love at work in us, can be silenced by indulging
demand-making-meeting behaviors with the hope of earning love from others. We have already seen
how empty-calorie, even debt-inducing, these behaviors are. But just as people do not hunger for
money when they spend credit as though it were money, people do not hunger for God's righteous
love when they imagine they are winning the love they want without it. Not until unwise eating
threatens life or unwise spending threatens bankruptcy or unwise relating creates intense anxiety do
people face their need to choose something better.
What then must be done to create the hunger for nutritious food, cash to spend, or
righteousness (unselfish God-given love)? We must use our will power to choose to stop eating junk
food, to clip up the credit cards, or to resist making and meeting demands. When we decide not to eat
until we have nutritious food, not to spend without cash, or not to relate without loving, our desires to
eat and spend and relate will build our hunger for that "bread" (whether food, cash, or Jesus our
righteousness). When we have what we need, we can eat, spend, relate in ways that prosper us. If
our minds don't choose to hunger thus, any bread used to try to fuel our demand-related actions will
worsen our dilemmas. We wickedly imagine that we can live without God's life-sustaining love to
empower us to resist evil and obey His law. Nor can we turn God's power to our selfish purposes.
God's power, and nothing but God's power, will only do God's work. How intensely do we want living
bread of righteousness to give us power to love, power to stop trying to take by force (steal) love that
people don't freely give?
Lord, help me chew this food for thought and choose Jesus, the bread of life, to be my source of
righteousness. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

What logic would lead us to try to steal what can be freely obtained from a loving Manager?
Is our problem the fact that we cannot gain God's love without letting God reign in us?
Has our experience with people who deny us the love we need until we earn it, fashioned a God that
we don't want to reign over us?
Do we prefer to choose self as god, so we can try to get our own love without having to wait until we
can earn it from God by getting our behavior "right"?
Is it easier to "get it right" while trying to please the god of self than to please our Creator?
Do we confuse faith in God's Word with faith in man's work as needed for claiming His promises?
Do we still think we can substitute junk food for bread, credit cards for cash, and selfish deeds for
Christ's righteousness, and gain prosperity?
Do the cookies of the world look sweeter than the bread of heaven? Do we hesitate to choose God
because the self-righteousness we have already creates more anxiety than it removes? If so, is it
because we offer our selfish works for God's approval rather than let His righteousness empower us
to love?

June
20
Wanted: Integrity in the Workplace
"Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and
eat: yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isaiah 55:1.
How do we build integrity into our manager-employee roles? God calls us to agree on a
working covenant. The deal is: buy His righteousness. Relate with Jesus who fulfills His BEING
promise that provides righteousness for doing loving deeds, as He fulfills His DOING promise (Thou
shalt not steal). Righteousness received from Him will be seen in our behavior toward others.
Integrity grows as God's righteousness in us empowers our DOING to match what we say about our
BEING.
We listen to count the costs and see if we can afford what we want to buy. Our 50-50
mentality forces us to pay a fair price for what we get, so we won't feel guilty. We know He must
provide His righteousness so we can produce righteous deeds, so we offer our options: 1) Pay cash?
He says, No, it's priceless. 2) Work to earn it? He says, No, the work for it has been done on Calvary.
3) Must I steal it? He says, You can't. It's free for the taking. He promises, "You shall not steal" when
you take hold of My righteousness. 4) We say, If I can neither buy nor earn gifts, I feel endlessly
obligated to the strings that I suppose givers attach to their gifts. If I can't fulfill that obligation, I add
guilty feelings to the strings on the gifts. I find no joy in using any gift that triggers feelings of guilt
over an obligation which I cannot fulfill. How can I trust I have righteousness, if it makes me feel
guilty to claim it?
How indeed! The gift and the Giver are one. Christ is our righteousness. When we have Him,
we have it. Must an employee have to buy supplies when he has a Manager who provides them free?
Must he pay the Manager's costs of hiring him to be an employee? Does he have a Manager? Yes.
But does he own Him in the sense that obligates him to be responsible for his Manager's deeds? No.
He accepts no duty to pay for what materials the boss supplies for his use. Must he feel guilty
because his work requires more costly equipment than he could buy or work off? Why not? They and
he are all contributing to the big picture of prosperity, not debt.
He need not self-impose debt for what the Manager freely provides so he can produce.
Jesus is our Manager. He provides the righteousness we, His employees, need to prosper in
our work of relating righteously with our fellowmen. He unites us in loving bonds that none but we
can sever. He puts us on His payroll. As He prospers us, we have no need to steal love from the very
people we're sent to love in His name. Having plenty of His righteousness, we need not fake our own
by claiming, "I'm right, so do as I say." in order to get love. Using love first yields love that lasts. As
Jesus' righteousness nourishes us, love flourishes, we prosper, and God is glorified.
Lord, Your offer for righteousness fits my zero finances. Work in me to fulfill Your BEING and DOING
promises, so I can work with You to love others. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Consider how you relate with your spouse on these work issues.
Do you begin with loving attitudes to do loving things that will net loving results?
Or do you detest the work you have to do alone or again or better in order to earn approval and love?
On the other hand, do you ever redo someone else's work to prove you are superior to that person or
to maintain a position of "I'm right (I just proved it) and you're wrong." in order to justify your
demand-making behaviors?
Do husbands usually provide money and muscle to at-home wives to reward them for their work or to
enable their wives to join them in working effectively at fulfilling the roles they each have in the
home?
Do spouses see themselves as earning an income from each other or as jointly owning all?
To withhold (or dole out) money and use it manipulate is to create a non-working partnership. Freelygiven first love is essential: Well-funded partnerships can do what must be done to prosper. The
prospering partnership that results is its own best reward.

June
21
Two Are Better; Three Are Best.
"Two are better than one: because they have a good reward for their labor." Ecclesiastes 4:9.
Promises shine in my memory of June 21, 1958, our wedding day. Some variation of "...in
sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, for as long as you both shall live"
reminded us that marriage is serious business. Lloyd and I began our marriage, as many do, with
expectations of love ignited, but ignorant of what our vows truly say about loving.
Romance
adorned our days and nights, but unselfish love
was more difficult to practice than either of us had supposed. Priding myself as loving, I went to great
pains to work to GET love from the very one I claimed to love. I followed bpride's recipes for making
and meeting demands in my efforts to "get it right", earn the approval, and win the love he promised
to give me. Why did I think that by trying to get priceless love by pricey work or to take it by force
(stealing), I'd be earning the love I gained? Gradually my unloving behaviors sparked blame and
spawned anxiety.
Marriage is life's school to learn that love cannot be forced from another, it can only be freely
given. None can give love they do not have. Love flows not because we feed or starve stomachs or
wash or wreck clothes. It flows when God gives it to us to share. We grew to realize that our Creator,
before whom we made our wedding vows, had an endless, abundant supply of love to give us to fuel
our united efforts to meet our own and others' many needs. As we let Him, He equipped us with gifts
so we could do what we had promised in 1958. Love woven into our labors yielded loving results.
Two are better than one, but three are best!
We do not naturally love God's freely given love until we find that we need it. Deceitful hearts
spurn love which they did not try to get as "unearned" love, and demand the love they do try to get as
if they've earned it by their efforts to steal it. Unearned love does nothing for people who want to
view love they earn as worship given to recognize their godlike superiority. When love can be earned
by what they do, their own works can produce their own love supply. Since they "deserve" the love
they get, they feel no gratitude to those who love them. They view others' love not as freely given,
only earned. They in turn give nothing toward making any unselfish endeavor work. They offer the
fruit of their labor to solicit worship, not to meet needs. They listen to hear how good they are, not
how needy their worshipers are. They do not love to meet needs, nor need to love. They do love to
control others by getting them to meet their demands. They say, "If you loved me, you'd meet my
demands." As self-made gods, they waste life trying to get love by convincing others that they are
able (albeit not willing) to love them. Shall we choose God's BEING and DOING promises as long as we
three shall live, or demand love "until death do us part"?
Lord, cause me to worship You as our Source of love, and to stop seeking worship when I share Your
love with others. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Can you recall when you did something special for your partner, expecting your efforts to be
rewarded with love?
Did you feel that the response you got matched the amount of work you did to "earn" it?
Did your deed increase the prosperity of your partnership or did you feel that the others deficient
response diminished the value of your partnership for you?
Did your unfulfilled expectation for reward lessen the actual value of the work you did?
Would your joy over the results of your work have lasted longer if you had not expected an added
reward from your partner for it?
Do you need to focus more on the actual values you both share in your partnership whether or not
they are noticed by your partner?
Could you find ways to share your gratitude for these things to increase your partner's awareness of
God's blessings to both of you?

June
22
Jewel under Fire
"What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Mark 10:9.
A myth asserts that God joins people together by delegating authority to one partner to
demand that the other indulge his or her selfish demands happily ever after. Since this plan does not
build loving character or unity, we know God did not design it, and any who do it will put asunder
their own partnerships. See James 1:13, 14. Our strength lies in God, not in our power to make or
meet demands. Partnerships that last must put God first in heart, soul, mind, and strength. Given
permission, God's Spirit writes in us His promise VIII, "Thou shalt not steal." He wants none to take by
force what's not freely given. Our need is love, and love cannot be forced, so why try to exist on less?
Aware of our lack of power to keep our vows, He uses the strength of His righteousness to join us
together. As we hunger and thirst for it, He fills us with His perfect love. He walks between us to
unite us, lest trials and crises divide us from each other and tear us from Him. He chooses our
partnerships to portray how God's love for us is like the love between a husband and wife, a manager
and employee, a teacher and student, a parent and child. He succeeds by creating loving unity while
preserving our God-given individuality.
God's task is as easy and as difficult as boiling water without losing it. Water heated at
atmospheric pressure boils at 100 degrees centigrade; it may dissolve some impurities but lacks
power to melt stony hearts. The more intense the pressure and heat on the water, the hotter is the
steam it produces. Saturated steam can reach a critical pressure and temperature at which steam
and water are so wholly blended they cannot be distinguished from one another. As God works
toward a solution for partners that will remove self's unloving behaviors, He increases the intensity of
the pressure and heat on us to turn us from Self's will to God's will, just as water turns to steam. Trial
by trial He raises our boiling point as we learn to bubble with hotter sin-defeating love at each new
stage until finally His will wholly blends with ours as one.
Today God's jewel under fire lives this process. Trials that require God's refining strength to
endure are her daily diet. From childhood she has fought to overcome the anxiety-producing
pressures of people who have threatened to put asunder every precious relationship she has ever
known. Talented and delightful, she battles for survival by working nonstop to meet their needs while
resisting their control of her turf. She has carved her home into a creative fortress against their calls
to conformity. Like a quiet battlefield it absorbs the controversies of her life, protects her treasures,
and provides her enemies excuses for not loving her. Meanwhile she lavishes love on her family,
serves the needy, and reminds all by her dauntless humor that, while she serves them selflessly, they
can neither run nor ruin her. God gives her a love offense that leaves no time to sit as a frog in their
deadly water of persecution, hoping for warmth from the flames they kindle against her while
croaking (dying) for the lack of their love. God-given inner strength has protected her from being
crushed by demands of the well-meaning but misguided. Someday her creative pen will write her
story of Love that works in a manner that none can put asunder.
Lord, may Your promises and presence make us "strong in the Lord." Ephesians 6:10. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Does your faith in God escape you during refining trials, as water evaporates when boiled openly?
What role does the pressure of trials serve to keep your faith in God intact under fire?
Does knowing you are God's jewel assure you that being in hot water won't hurt you?
Have you ever given permission for one to help you and then had that person fail to do so?
Do you view God as one who does or does not follow through to do what He says?
Since faith is our God-given link with His promises, man can untie with his tongue what God has
joined together in covenant by speaking doubts of God's power to perform in us.
Does your doubt erase faith before or after you "fail"? Do you declare failure before God's done?
Examine the strength of your God-given power to work. Does your dependence upon others for
approval or acceptance drain your energy for the work God wants to do in, through, and for you?
Do you mistakenly assume that you have a right to control people who meet your needs?
Why do you think people meet your needs: You deserve it? God moves them to love you? Other?

June
23
TRAIN in Righteousness

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for... training in righteousness; that the man of God
may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 NASB.
For days we have listened in the OUT BACK stillness to see a way out of the fourfold poverty
that boxed in our partnerships from the prosperity we need. We heard Jesus' plan to CORRECT with
Obedience the anxious heart that devises wicked imaginations: hunger and thirst for righteousness,
pray for daily bread, choose His promises, and let His Spirit write His law and work His plan. We love
His perfect plan, but we know that only His power can open the Door to freedom to put it to work.
Now we move on from hungering to have righteousness, to gaining training in righteousness.
Jesus, Himself the Door, swings open to us the freedom we need to step out of our boxed-in poverty
and TRAIN with Work to gain the level of courage we need to face the toughest obstacles to fourfold
prosperity. Like infants on wobbly legs we look for a mother to lean upon and see her pointing us to
the BACK IN message on the outside of that back door. Through Jesus we're swung BACK IN to loving
partnership with God for our training in righteousness. The guidance on this Door stating TRAIN with
Work on the outside, now stands between us and our boxed-in behaviors. Now we need not slide back
into their worldly reality.
We see that we shall prosper and be in health only as our soul prospers. So we study God's
rainbow family circle that now has four of its colored concentric circles gleaming their gladness on the
back door. The new manager-employee partnership circle is in green. On it we clearly see that the
manager's work is to provide what the employee needs in order to produce, so that, yoked with
Christ, both can prosper. We weigh the value of God's work of grace encompassed in Commandment
VIII's promise, You shall not steal, positioned at the circle's base. We value its God-given power to
stabilize our working relations and keep us from oppressing or undermining each other's roles.
We see diagramed before us how God's providence can place us in any of eight roles we can
now fill as His grace works out His love through us. He can empower us to guide and decide wisely,
to teach and learn, to commit and submit, and now to provide and produce, as our partnership needs
require.
With no limit to our usefulness in Christ blocking our horizons, the unlimited potential for
work expands before us. This time our energies--not anxieties--rise to meet the challenge, as Christ
gives us courage. We value God's work of grace in us. We trust Him to shed love abroad in our
hearts. We know that He can do what He says in us. We can unite with Him in loving without forcing
or stealing love from those who need to be loved.
Lord, be the center of my working partnerships, so You can provide Your love to empower Your work of
grace in us. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

What is happening in the partnerships you want to work? Do they work for you or worry you?
Do you feel boxed-in by the demands of others or by your own fears and inhibitions and defects?
What are you doing to work on removing them from control over you?
Is your own obsession with getting love from partners rather than giving love to them keeping you
boxed-in?
Where is Jesus positioned in these relationships?
Is He hidden behind you or behind your partner or is He in the center between you?
How can you tell?
Check if you're viewing your partner according to the Calvary value Christ places on each person.
Check to see if you are focused on meeting needs as God reveals them instead of making selfish
demands or meeting demands your partner dictates.
Ask yourself if you are willing to train in righteousness to love to meet needs?
Are you willing to count on God to give you the love you need to do so?
As you feed on His freely-given love, you'll become free to love.

June
24
Your Need Is My Business
"..the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," Galatians 5:22.
The road to a prosperous future is paved with questions. The questions may spawn courage
or anxiety, depending on whether faith that works by love is present or absent. God pulls the shades
on tomorrow to teach us that prosperity depends less on what's out there than on what's in here--here
in the soul who has agreed in mind and heart to do what God commands and empowers him to do.
Faith is indeed the substance of things hoped for, the raw material and the result of prosperity. God
first gives us faith, which occurs as He demonstrates that He does what He says. We assimilate faith,
as we trust Him to supply all our needs. Step by step He treks the road with us and loves us into
turning from the world to allowing Him to do what He says. As Provider of all the love we need, He
promises, "You shall not steal." No longer need we force (steal) love from others to be able to love
them. His work of grace provides unlimited love to empower us to do the loving that we say we do.
How? The Holy Spirit uses God's Commandment VIII written in mind and heart to develop His
next fruit, faith, in us. Now we see the sequence: God offers the seed of faith; we let it spring to life
and blossom in our walk with God. We watch its green fruit struggle through the droughts of human
love, as faith sinks its "heats-on" summer roots deep into the Rock from which God's love flows. Then
the ripe fruit of faith, which results from God's work in causing us to truly do the loving we say we do,
attracts those who hunger and thirst for love. As they see faith in action, our doing = our saying,
faith seeds drop into the soil of their hearts.
They want to prosper with us. How shall we build a working relationship with them? Shall we
give them the business? No. The business is not ours to give. We're only manager and employee
both working for our divine Owner. Shall we sell them the supplies that God has provided to meet the
needs of our business? No. We need what belongs to the business to keep operating. Shall we
betray our partners and displace them with attractive newcomers? No.
We ask ourselves just what business do we have with those attracted to us? They are
customers, clients, consumers. If their needs are not our business, we have no business. But what
do we have to sell to them? Let's see: we started with faith that led to loving in word and deed,
which has yielded the fruit of faith. Our product we now have to promote is faith that works by love.
So we say to our client, "Of what value may I be to you? Take stock of the benefits I've gained that
can meet your needs. You've seen that in Christ I do what I say. Will you trust me to use the love I
have in stock to love you? Love has two steps: (1) seeing the need and (2) meeting the need. Will
you let me see your need?"
Lord, as we tend to our business, teach me to mind mine and let You mind Yours, and to know which
is which. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

The business basics hold true for every working partnership we have. Apply the concepts to your
marriage, your job, your children, or your school experience. Who are your partners, what business
do you have going with them, as you work together? What results are you expecting?
What people are knocking at the doors of these partnerships with needs that you can meet: neighbor
kids? in-laws? old friends? business colleagues or clients? etc.
Which of their needs are your business? Do you help them see their needs or turn them away?
Are they ready to carry responsibility as partners, or are they customers or clients only?
If so, do you need to open to them the internal affairs of your business?
What do you do to minimize injuring them or being injured by them while you seek to help them?
Do you make or imply promises to them that you personally cannot keep?
Do you try to sell them on things they don't need, so you can profit unjustly from their lack of
knowledge or their need for love?
Do you sell faith? If yes, in what sense? How do people become sold on trusting God?
How can you help them not only taste faith but also learn how it can be developed in them?

June
25
What Portrays Prosperity?
"I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread." Psalm 37:25.
How does a child portray family prosperity? While he may be heir to the family fortune, the
well-disciplined child does not usually have the option to freely spend from his parents' wealth. Thus
one cannot judge the wealth of his parents by how much money he lavishes on himself or his friends.
In fact, prodigal displays of children lead people to question the wealth of wisdom that their parents
have. Better indicators of family prosperity can be found in the child's clothing, behavior, and health.
But we must beware of how we read or interpret all these messages.
The prodigal son of Luke 15 had a wise father. But he chose to use his life's wealth to finance
his trip to and his life in the far country. His wasteful extravagance signaled prosperity to the worldly
dwellers of that land: "He must have a lot of money if he spends it so carelessly." Drawn by his
generosity, people gladly sat on his lap of luxury until the flow of funds stopped. No doubt he knew
many scriptures he could use to point them to God, but none stayed to listen. His false witness of
what God's work of grace leads one to do, had portrayed to them a God that leads us to move
foolishly from prosperity to poverty. None saw that God continued to discipline him after his funds
failed. As he worked to stave off hunger, he saw how selfishness makes pigs grow and people gaunt.
Undaunted by rags reeking with the stench of selfish swine, he headed for servanthood, not sonship,
in his father's house.
When the son reached home, his father had his robe wrapped about him to cover the rags, his
ring placed upon him to celebrate their family bond, his shoes fastened in place to protect his feet.
New garments of righteousness spoke prosperity to others, but his own hunger and thirst threatened
his life. Righteousness involves both dress and diet. Although he was fed up with sin, he hadn't yet
feasted on what the father feeds us to fuel righteousness. No mere outward appearance of prosperity
can sustain our inner lives.
The well-dressed child who is malnourished and sickly and the well-fed, healthy child who is
clad in filthy rags are equally pitiful. Since both children can misrepresent good parents, we must not
be quick to judge parents as poor because their children insist on behaving as paupers. Likewise,
God's children can refuse to eat the words of life or refuse to let Him remove their smelly rags of
selfishness and wrap His robes of righteous behavior about them. But He does not aid us in
pretending that self is rich. God in love dares to let us tend the swine until we see our need for His
robe of faith, ring of hope, and shoes of love. It's futile to dress in robes of righteousness but try to
exist on the husks of lust. We need to feast wholly on Jesus for power to live righteously. Only then
can we prosper inside and outside.
Lord, train me in righteousness both on the inside and outside. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

How do you measure prosperity?

Does a cash-flashing wage earner seem to have more prosperity than a penniless, obedient son of a
prosperous father?
Read Luke 15:25-30: How did the brother of the prodigal son measure his prosperity?
Balance is essential in training in righteousness. We measure both external and internal factors.
What does is mean to be properly or prosperously dressed?
How do things like weather, occasion, task, affect our decisions?
What aspects of the robe of righteousness are unchanging? Which must change to adapt to life?
Do we ever have to change our tasks due to the robe of righteousness God wraps around us? Give an
example. What types of food should children eat to prosper?
Is it more important to eat what promotes strength or to eat what makes them look rich in the world's
eyes?
Why do we want to look prosperous? So we can gain the world's approval, or so we can persuade the
world of our Father's ability to minister to their needs? What will it take to persuade them?

June
26
To Clothe or Not to Clothe
"Then shall the King say, For I was...naked, and ye clothed me: ...naked, and ye clothed me not."
Matthew 25:34-36, 43.
The well-fed, well-dressed participant in the prosperity that the King of heaven provides to
men has a task that awaits him. He's glad that the Holy Spirit empowers him to do the loving he says
he does, glad that the Spirit-developed fruit of faith appears in his life. He remembers that God
provided faith as a gift when he had nothing to pay for it. He had only to hunger and thirst for
righteousness to qualify for the freely given Bread of life and the robe of righteousness by faith. He
got it merely because he needed it, because his heart needed to be cured from devising wicked
imaginations, because he could not prosper by doing what he says without it. Despite his miraculous
story of success, he is surprised by what happens next.
The King comes to visit him. He wants this man to practice what he has learned about the
business of sharing his faith that works by love. After all, faith that doesn't work is dead, and faith
that gets no exercise dies. Not wanting to be overlooked as a man of wealth with no needs, the king
strips away his royal robes, his jeweled crown, his threatening weapon-laden bodyguards, and his
scepter of power. Everything that could serve to intimidate the man from sharing his faith is set
aside. The King wants no mistake to be made in this major test of the man's newly-developed faith.
He appears before him with nothing.
Naked as a newborn, he stands in obvious need of clothing. But sad to say, he goes
unrecognized. Without the worldly language of popularity, pulchritude, position, pride or power
speaking in his behalf he stands as a nonperson in the man's eyes. The language of love is silent
before his obvious need. He feels invisible before his newly blessed man of faith. Suddenly the man's
face lights up as he grabs his robe and heads straight for him. But alas, he charges on past, as the
King barely escapes being trampled by him. Curious as to his rush, the King turns to see the man
slap his new robe of righteousness in the mud to make a way for the feet of an oppressor to arrive
unsoiled at his destination.
Naked children of our prosperous Father are seldom recognized for who they are without their
trappings. They are people with potential to prosper when they are met like the prodigal son and
wrapped in the robe of faith, given the ring of hope, and placed in the father's shoes of love where
they are treated as treasured sons and daughters of God's royal family. What better reason could we
have for walking on the King's highway than to share with others the joy of being wrapped about by
God-given robes of righteousness, being given the ring of hope, and being placed in our heavenly
father's shoes of love to walk in the path to fourfold prosperity?
"Then shall the King say, I was naked and ye clothed me.....not?"
Lord, help me to cover the naked with love not lies. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

How well do you really know the people you say you love?
Do you know them by their physical and social trappings that suggest they have great potential to
prosper you? Or do you know them by their need?
Have you ever turned someone aside whom you later learned could have been a blessing to you?
As you inventory the blessings you have gained in life, have they tended to come more from the
apparently prosperous or from the truly prosperous?
Which of these groups cost you more per blessing?
Do the blessings you have counted tend to come more from what you do unto others than from what
they do unto you? Are you grateful that God has prospered you enough to equip you to meet needs?
Do you know what it means to be naked?
Are you glad God has chosen you to be the one to clothe the naked rather than to be the naked?
As a professional lover, what would you do if someone totally naked walked past the people in your
waiting room and entered your office uninvited? Would you explode, exploit, exit, or exercise your
God-given faith that works by love to meet the need you see?

June
27
Clothes As Spiritual Symbols
"..He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness.." "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.." Isaiah 61:10; 64:6.
Royal robes, nakedness, and filthy rags are easy to identify when fabric is the substance in
question. But how can we identify our spiritual state of being with these analogies? Awareness of our
nakedness involves a private admission of our true condition with no beauty aids or clever disguises.
We are sinners in deed and in thought, and in the privacy of our dressing rooms we cannot escape the
stark naked truth of it. We feel guilty, but we do not seek God's garments of salvation.
Instead we turn from God to cover ourselves in worldly-approved apparel. "Woe to the
rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering,
but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin." Isaiah 30:1. This covering is a clever fabrication of
good deeds. It looks good but it cannot withstand the wear and tear of life. As we drape its clean
folds about us it rubs against the filthiness of the sins we seek to hide. Soon the acidy sweat of sin
soaks through our self-righteous covering and stains our religious cloak. Fewer believe our "I'm right
and more ignore our Do as I say." As reality riddles our pretentious cloak with holes, the sin beneath
it gains greater exposure. Our covering of elegant fabric we paid the world to provide for us rots
away until it looks like torn and tangled fish net.
Discerning eyes see those who seek to disguise their sins beneath their claims of goodness
and good deeds as dressed in self-righteous rags. The naked are those who swim the sea of guilt,
draped in the seaweed of remorse, and surface with their sins to expose them to any who might pity
their hopeless plight. We hear those clothed in robes of righteousness, as they raise their joyous
praise to God for His forgiving love while they press on their way to pointing another heavy-laden
sister or brother to the cross of Christ. All need help to deal with the deep distresses they face. But
we shall focus on clothing the naked. What does it mean?
The naked are those who bare the sins of their souls to us. They see our faith, our do
matching our say, and they trust us to meet their needs. But the real test of faith comes after we
have heard their recitals of sin. We see their poverty. We know they can do nothing for us. We know
that God commissions us to love them by meeting their needs. We pass the test when, despite their
sins, we choose to trust that by grace God can forgive and free them to love, just as He did the same
for us. We put our trust to work when we regard them as clothed in God's robe of righteousness and
treat them as though they had never done the sins they told us. They trust us to do what we say, to
forgive them and to love them, as we ourselves are loved by Jesus.
Lord, as I help the naked to see themselves as wrapped in Your righteous robes of forgiveness, I am
clothing You. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

Have you met the self-righteous, the naked, or the forgiven followers of Jesus who are training in
righteousness? With whom do you feel most comfortable? In which category are you?
Does God wrap His robe around our self-righteous filthy rags? Does it merely cover or actually
cleanse us of sin? Does it cleanse at God's pace or our own pace after it's in place?
When does He expose our nakedness to us, cause us to hate sin, and let us submit to be washed
clean of sin--before or after He wraps His robe about us? How does righteousness deal with dirt?
Have people exposed their sins to you? Did they want to be forgiven or joined in self-pity? What did
you offer? Is it easy to trust God's love to forgive them and bury their sins in the past?
Are you glad God chose you to be the one to give them new chances to show they are trustworthy?
Do you need Spirit-given faith to act like you believe God's righteous robe covers their old sins?
Does forgiveness cancel the need for new Christians (old thieves, liars) to TRAIN in righteousness?
Does the fruit of faith (do = say) require you to put unwise trust in the confessor or does it merely
require you to love him as you say you do by meeting his needs, not demands?
How can you measure the size of the tasks you trust him to do, to match the growing degree of
authority (practiced know-how) he gains from his training in righteousness?

June
28
Meet the Master Manager
"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." Matthew 19:21.
As we climax this chapter on the manager-employee partnership, we shall turn to the
Greatest Manager of working relationships that walked this earth. We find Him in Matthew 19:16
facing a young, rich ruler who faces life's ultimate question: "What good thing shall I do, that I may
have eternal life?" Note that this man is not here to beg mercy. He is here offering to enter the
employ of Jesus, to explore partnership with Him. He has great potential: he holds youth and wealth
and power in his grasp. He already has the best the world can offer, but he lacks life's ultimate
answer.
Jesus answers, "..if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." The life that prospers
is the life that recognizes the treasures in God's commandment promises and keeps them Spiritwritten in his mind and heart. There he can bring them to mind when temptations threaten. There
the Holy Spirit can empower both the promises and the person and cause him to courageously obey
God. See Ezekiel 36:27.
These God-given commandment promises are the currency of the kingdom of God. We store
treasure in heaven when we invest our faith in trusting that God will do what He says in us. Contrast
this currency with the U.S. dollar. As citizens invest their trust in the dollar and pass it from one to
another, they buy and sell goods and services that meet the needs for life that they have. Over time
dollars inflate and more are required to buy less. Unlike inflated dollars, God's promises increase in
value with every use. He intends that every need of life shall be met via claiming and cooperating
with His covenant promises. His kingdom surely has a far more reliable form of government and a
stronger currency than do the covetous greedy who govern this world.
In reply to "keep the commandments", the ruler asked, "Which?" From among the many laws
they had, Jesus pointed to God's Ten Commandments, the law of love by which He governs the
universe He created and sustains. "All these things I have kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"
he asked Jesus, the Commandment Giver.
Good News! The ruler has kept intact the treasured covenant promises that are the tools for
loving. Jesus can empower him to join Him in the business of loving. "..go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor.." He says, in essence, Join Me in promoting, selling, the promises of the law of
life. Sell the poor on the need to keep them. Give to them what they most need--faith in God's loving
power to prosper them. Let Me teach you how you can use your wealth to enrich life for all. Enjoy life
with Me forever. "Come and follow Me." Jesus watched, as the ruler, feeling burdened rather than
prospered by the ten great promises he possessed, went away sorrowful rather than successful.
Lord, I'm sorry rulers don't get it, but I'll come with you gladly. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

The business of decision-making does not get easier with the passing years. But each of us opts for
sorrow or for success. How about you? What are you choosing?
Are you sold on the truth that God can cause us to love? Who else needs to be sold on it?
Who of your partners suffer the greatest poverty of all--the lack of unselfish love?
Am I willing to let Jesus empower me to do what I know is good for them?
Is my behavior His business?
Have I made it my business to join Him as a partner in His business?
Does my possession of His law weigh me down like a sorrowful burden on my back?
Or do the laws I keep in my mind and heart guide me in accessing His power to grow in grace?
Who is accountable for the business decisions I make?
What would I like to do with Jesus? Merely play or develop a partnership with Him that works?
What would you really like to do in company with this business-venturous, loving Partner?
Read Joshua 1:3-9 to encourage you to begin your adventure.

June
30
Poor Boy's Plea
"And He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured
to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given." Mark 4:24.
Poor Boy's Plea
Dad, Dad, will you love me?
Someday I must a lover be.
I'll love you, Son,
When A's are won.

Preacher, Preacher, rescue me...

From sins prison set me free.
Learn to sit still without squirmin
While you listen to my sermon.

Teacher, Teacher, give me A's.

I need love from my dad today.
Boy, Boy, study and learn
If for those big A's you yearn.

God, oh God. I'm locked in sin.

If only I had love, I'd win.
Where are you, God? If you love me,
Help me out and set me free.

Lover, Lover, be my buddy.

I need you to help me study.
Boy, oh boy, sure I'll help you
If you pay me for what I do.

God's been in heaven through it all.

On each authority He called.
He tried to let His love shine through,
But all had something else to do.

Boss, Boss, hire me now.

I need to earn some cash somehow.
Sorry, Boy, you just won't do.
I can't pay for training you.

Parent, teacher, lover, boss,

Each by negligence did toss
The boy now man from loss to loss
Until as thief he views the cross.

Neighbor, Neighbor, I'm in jail.

I stole some cash. I need some bail.
I paid so you could go to school.
Why should I support a fool?

Now paradise is in his reach,

This should be the end of speech....
But what purpose will his birth
Serve to help the lost on earth?

Governor, Governor, use your clout

To pardon me and get me out.

Unless our "do" can match our "say",

More like this boy will waste
away,
And earth will these souls poorer be.
Who'll show response ability?

Boy, there's nothing I can do.

My voters hate the likes of you.

by Norma Timm
Lord, who needs my help now? Empower me to make it my business to give it. Amen.
How do today's concepts relate to you?

In which roles can you make a difference to people by making their needs your business? How can
God equip you to relate in ways to help them prosper? How hard have you worked to sell someone on
the need to buy the bread of life? Have you exercised liberality to demonstrate how prosperous your
Father in heaven is and how willing and able He is to meet their needs? "There is that scattereth, and
yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal
soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn,
the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." Proverbs
11:24-26.