I am the first one to admit that we serve a God who is nothng but abundant in all that He does. Simply read through all that went into the building of the Tabernacle in Exodus and you will see what I mean. The gold alone used to create all the material goods in the tabernacle, based on today's spot prices, is somewhere around $15 million US. In fact it tells us that they used a 75lb brick of gold just to create the lampstand!

I could just imagine the screams of "Shame, Shame, Shame" that would arise today if it was announced that a local church was going to spend $15 million in furnishing it's new building!

Unfortunately people will look at sections of Scripture like this and use it for all sorts of warped ideas around wealth and Christianity--including spending untold millions on facilities that sit empty most of the week--but at least they feed someone's ego!

In North America we have turned Christianity into nothing much more than some success cult where the Bible is nothing more than Aladdin's magic lamp and if we rub it the right way, say a few magic words, voila! God has to go to work for us.

However, Jesus had a different take on what God would and wouldn't do for us. In Matthew 7:7 in the Message says www.jordansretro12obsidian.com, "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need." That's pretty clear and dry. It's too bad that a lot of Christians seem to miss out on this as well. Yes God is more than willing to give us what we need and we are not to fret about it.

In fact Jesus gets pretty serious when he reminds the group to not doubt God--my goodness, if we, as humans know how to look after our children, don't you think that the God of the universe can do the same for us--obviously it becomes an issue of trust.

Well if all I have to do is ask God, isn't that a great recipe for success? Doesn't that mean that God is at my beckon call?

However Jordan retro 12, a little further down Jesus says, "The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff Jordan 12 obsidian, even though crowds of people do. 14 The way to life--to God!-is vigorous and requires total attention."

15 "Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character."

Doesn't this sound like much of the church today. Just show up and we will give you an easy little formula that you can then live your life by. In fact, you don't even have to bring your Bible. Better yet, you can have all of this for only 7 minutes a day. And boy do the crowds fall for it.

Yet Jesus very quickly tells us that the life that leads to God is vigorous and requir