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THE FINE LINE BETWEEN INHERITANCE AND ENTITLEMENT (AND IT’S NOT JUST AFFECTING MILLENNIALS)
Kris Vallotton
October 14, 2017
Have you ever been to a Christian conference
and experienced the high of swimming in God’s presence, then gone back home and not been able to replicate that in your own life? I see people come into our culture here at Bethel
and when they get here they’re very successful. However, sometimes when they leave us and go on to change the world
beyond our church, they often have trouble reproducing the same fruit. What they don’t realize is their success here was coming from the outside in, instead of the inside out.
The reason they were successful is because there was a watering system that sustained them here; a system they don’t know how to reproduce for themselves outside of being under our covering. This is what happens when we obtain something we can’t sustain.
How does that happen? I think it all begins with the posture and attitude of the heart. Humility produces inheritance, while entitlement produces fading riches that can never be sustained.
WHAT’S WEALTH GOT TO DO WITH IT?
When someone hands you something without you learning how to sustain it, you’ll typically end up losing it or tearing down the very thing you needed to sustain it. This is the difference between someone imparting wealth
(whether that be financial, spiritual anointing, favor) and someone imparting mere riches. Wealth
comes with an understanding of how to sustain and grow something, whereas riches gets you the good without the wisdom to manage it. Today I want to challenge you to partner with a wealth mentality
in every area of your life so that you can sustain the good things that God wants to give you! Check out more on today’s Monday Motivation video:
In a nutshell:
• There’s a fine line between inheritance and entitlement, and the line is called attitude.
• The prodigal son didn’t get an inheritance, not because the father didn’t want to give it, but because the son asked with entitlement. He said “give the money!” which he thought should just be handed to him. He missed out on the business savvy that the father could’ve given him to sustain and grow it. The son got riches, he didn’t get wealth.
• If you need money, don’t ask for money. Instead, ask why you need money. If you’re always out of money, then there’s a problem with the ecosystem (thoughts, beliefs etc) that you’re cultivating inside of you and therefore producing outside of you. Again, this is not just true about money, but about any resource that you’re lacking in life.
• Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” What I see in this scripture is that if you’re willing to sacrifice today, you’ll be able to shout with joy tomorrow!
• I see a problem with our culture today with so many people living off of credit cards and drowning in debt…but it’s not just about money! We’ve become okay living on someone else’s resources, because we have no idea how to create the sustainability within us. We do the same thing with the anointing, with favor etc.. The big problem here is we have to keep borrowing it from someone else because we have no idea how to cultivate that on our own.
• When you can’t build sustainability, you steal someone else’s, and then get opportunities you can’t sustain yourself… this is because you obtained the opportunities with riches instead of wealth!
• You can’t produce sustainability when you’re always living for today.
SUSTAINABILITY COMES WITH PERSEVERANCE
I want to encourage you with Galatians 6:7-9 as it says (emphasis added): “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
That scripture says that at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
The previous generation understood that perseverance
and waiting is a part of life. It’s also a part of growing and building something that will last!
ACTIVATION FOR THE WEEK
This week I want to encourage you to start sewing into one resource that you feel you need in life. If you want peaches, you can’t plant apples and pray they’ll become peaches. So in the same way, If you want friendship, you have to sow friendship. If you want to know God deeper, you have to sow into that relationship. If you want money, you have to sow with money. It may sound simple but whatever you’re lacking today I want to encourage you to sow into that very thing! Today pray about what ecosystem in your heart needs some work, humble yourself and repent from any entitlement (there’s no shame in this for you, but repentance leads to freedom and life!), then begin to ask God how you can sow into abundance this week! What resource are you going to be going after? I’d love if you’d tell me about it in the comments! I’d also love to hear how last week’s activation went for you!
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