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Gain: To obtain by industry or the employment of capital; to get as profit or advantage; to acquire. Any industrious person may gain a good living in America; but it is less difficult to gain property than it is to use it with prudence. Money at interest may gain five, six, or seven per cent.
Greek: diapragmateuomai [dee-ap-rag-mat-yoo’-oom-ahee]: gain by trading [1]. to earn in business: - gain by trading. Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. signifies "to gain by trading," Luke 19:15 (from dia, "through," used intensively, and pragmateuomai, "to busy oneself, to be engaged in business"). Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.
Are you a good investor? Can it be said of you that you do a good job with the stock market or other investments that you have made? How do you know, you may ask? Do you have more now than when you first started, does your account grow on a yearly basis to the point that you are ahead of inflation and the initial investment. Some circles call this profit; others just call it gain. The key point in this scripture is: did the king find his subjects of whom he entrusted with ten minas which was about two and a half years of wages [approximately $150,000] increasing what he had entrusted to them?
I was having a conversation with a group of men the other day and we were talking about the idea of using our money to keep it increasing and how is the best way to accomplish that in a world of uncertainty and stock market fluctuation and I believe manipulation. I asked one of the gentlemen if he had any kind of debt. He explained that he owed on his house, but the payment was not extra-large or a burden. I asked if he knew the amount of interest on the loan and he felt it was in the 4 to 5 percent range. Do you have a 401k or some other form of bank or stock market investing, I asked him? He explained that he did and my advice to him was to take the money out of the investment and place it on your house mortgage. In his case he had enough put aside to pay off the mortgage. I then said to continue your house payment to yourself, and you are making 5% on your investing with no loss of capital or fluctuation in the market and no risk, not to mention you have paid off a debt.
There is always hesitation in pulling funds out of your 401k etc., for we are burdened with the idea that if the stock market rallies, we will miss out. Don’t forget that the opposite is always lurking around the corner. But when you can make a reasonable investment on the money and is secure, it makes good sense. Remember, money gained little by little maketh it grow.
Many years ago I lost a large amount of money in the stock market and through this event, the Lord taught me one simple rule: always do what you are good at and invest in yourself and you will have control of your money and it will not be in the hands of some other group of people who are not attached to the hard work and effort and often steps of faith that was involved with the getting of your funds. Do what you do best and don’t forget about the bank of heaven where the return is 30, 60 and 100-fold, [that’s 3000, 6000 and 10,000 %] where moth and rust can’t touch it and the return is guaranteed, if we ONLY believe.
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