This program will help you undo financial bondage.
I used to wonder what was meant by the scripture that says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” To my human mind it seemed somewhat strange and in conflict with my wisdom. I certainly was able to take from the scripture the fact that I was not to love money because this attitude could be the start to a downward spiral spiritually and maybe financially. I also was able to understand that I was to make the pursuit of God’s will for my live my utmost desire and goal and forsake any mindset that would cause me to make earning income and creating wealth more important than devotion to my Lord and service to His people. However, I wasn’t able to grasp much more because I thought what does loving money have to do with committing fornication or adultery or cursing your neighbor or most anything other than thievery and related financial crimes.
To be sure, the “root of all evil” language stumped me for a long time until I heard a message about how satan utilized covetousness as the temptation to encourage Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Coveting can be defined as “wanting somebody else’s stuff.” Sure that sly serpent used clever words to trick them into eating the forbidden fruit; however the temptation they allowed to rule them was covetousness because they desired to be as God. They were led to believe that God was holding knowledge and power from them that they could indeed have and that it was all available via the produce of the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Satan convinced them that they too could be omnipotent, omniscient, and possibly omnipresent and all powerful because these qualities were not inherently in God. They were in fact produced by that tree. Yes, they were tricked in more ways than one but the root of it all was covetousness. All the evil we see came from satan and then Adam coveting that which could only be God’s. They wanted something that only God Almighty can possess. Only He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omni-powerful. While they could have close fellowship with Him, represent His light in the earth, and righteously manage His possessions to be very fruitful, they could never be these things. Satan tricked them with the same temptation (covetousness) that caused Him to be thrown out of heaven to the earth like a bolt of lightning; he said that he would ascend to the throne of God almighty.”
The love of money is a trunk line from this same root of covetousness that we are commanded to avoid. When we love money we desire to obtain it, hold on to it, and/or spend it on our pleasures more than we desire to please God. This shows up most often in people’s failure to recognize God as their Lord and spend time fellowshipping with Him and his church. Within church circles it shows up most often as people’s failure to tithe and give offerings to help the church spread the gospel message throughout the earth. When you’re too busy to honor and glorify God in the manner He instructed you’re making your utmost priority the pursuit of all those things that represent money and acting as though you sit upon the throne with the ability to provide for yourself and dictate how your life should be lived. Thus, you love money more than you love God and also more than you love your fellow man.
You’re headed for eternal destruction and many times financial hardship on earth when you covet anything other than a relationship with the Lord and daily fellowship with Him. Work, career aspirations, building business, wealth building, caring for family, nor any other situation or endeavor in your life is an excuse that God will accept as a reason for not honoring Him and coveting His treasures to take care of that which you think is important. He doesn’t mind you having access to His manifold treasures, but He desires that these treasures flow into your life as a benefit to you and others from relationship and deep fellowship with Him. His Word is clear, “He withholds no good thing from those who walk upright before Him.” Let His will be your will to decide how to walk out love, work, career, business, wealth building, and ministry and you will avoid being a branch that protrudes from the trunk line of covetousness and avoid the negative earthly and eternal consequences that come to those who condone and perpetuate the root of all evil.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Genesis 3, Exodus 20:17, Psalm 24:1-2, Matthew 6:19-21, 1Timothy 6:10, Revelations 4:11
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
MoneyWalk 448: You shall not bear false witness
This program will help you undo financial bondage.
Flip Wilson used to say “The devil made me do it.” Many people have the same mentality when it comes to managing their lives and money. They want to take credit for all the good things that happen to them: I earned my degree, I earned this salary, I earned this position, I earned these riches, I earned this fame, I earned this politically powerful position, etc. However, when the result is not good they blame the devil, some other person, or organization (including the government) for their woes.
There is blame that could be placed on some person or entity for some things that are perpetrated on people, however most wrecked financial situations are not a direct result of what someone else did to people, rather they are a direct result of people not following the rules that lead to fruitfulness. I’m not talking about all the things you hear from television and radio pundits about how to succeed, rather I’m talking about the biblical commands and principles that God laid out for your benefit, such as:
1) Confess with all your heart that Jesus is Savior and Lord of your life.
2) Believe and act like God owns everything, including you and your money and He has the right to direct you to use them as He sees fit and that He only does so for your ultimate benefit.
3) Allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten your daily bible study and help you walk by the Spirit instead of fulfilling the lusts (desires) of your flesh.
4) Work as unto the Lord in whatever is your legal / God honoring occupation.
5) Work daily while giving yourself one to two days rest each week.
6) Hone your mental and physical skills and abilities through your work and personal interaction with others.
7) Never think or express the idea that your current income is too little to live on and begin planning for a great future. Father God, His resources, and His ability to provide are greater than your income and your situation. Nothing is impossible for Him, not even taking care of you. Thus, nothing is impossible for you when you are in the Father’s hands.
8) Begin to surround yourself with at least a few savvy friends (Christian brothers and sisters, etc.) who are good stewards (money managers) of the incomes and resources God has given them. There is God honoring safety in the advice of godly counselors.
9) Honor God through your local church fellowship with the tithe and an offering before you give to or pay any other source.
10) Save at least an equal portion in an emergency fund to help cover emergencies: payment of monthly expense during job loss, medical situations, etc.
11) Live within your means by budgeting your income to cover necessities first (food, shelter, clothing, and transportation) and trust God to provide what you really can’t. Then, cover as many other minimum bill payments as possible. If money is left over, then pay it toward either the account with the highest interest rate or the lowest balance account. Mathematically, the first method helps you pay off debts faster and pay less interest overall whereas the second method may give you a psychological boost because you get to see an early victory of paying off an account or two.
12) Work toward totally eliminating debt and living debt free where you don’t purchase anything you do not already have the cash to pay for. If you utilize credit make sure the loan is for an appreciating asset and that your money is earning a higher rate of interest than you’re paying on the loan.
13) Continue to employ these giving, saving, budgeting (disciplined spending) habits and you will reach a point when you are saving so much money each month that you will not have a choice but to invest. So, right now begin learning how the markets work, about the various types of investments available (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed interest investments, etc.), and the lingo used in financial markets and concerning the economy overall. In this way when the time comes, you’ll be prepared to make good investment choices.
One of the great things about this approach to stewardship is that everything that happens to you and for you works out for your good because you love God and are called for His purpose. Therefore, you don’t need to blame anyone for your condition or the world’s condition because you just might be bearing false witness against your neighbor instead of being guided by the Holy Spirit and spending the time necessary to utilize the spiritual and practical principles above to make your life as fruitful as it can be.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 22:7, Galatians 5:1-2 and 16-17, Jude 5:9
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Flip Wilson used to say “The devil made me do it.” Many people have the same mentality when it comes to managing their lives and money. They want to take credit for all the good things that happen to them: I earned my degree, I earned this salary, I earned this position, I earned these riches, I earned this fame, I earned this politically powerful position, etc. However, when the result is not good they blame the devil, some other person, or organization (including the government) for their woes.
There is blame that could be placed on some person or entity for some things that are perpetrated on people, however most wrecked financial situations are not a direct result of what someone else did to people, rather they are a direct result of people not following the rules that lead to fruitfulness. I’m not talking about all the things you hear from television and radio pundits about how to succeed, rather I’m talking about the biblical commands and principles that God laid out for your benefit, such as:
1) Confess with all your heart that Jesus is Savior and Lord of your life.
2) Believe and act like God owns everything, including you and your money and He has the right to direct you to use them as He sees fit and that He only does so for your ultimate benefit.
3) Allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten your daily bible study and help you walk by the Spirit instead of fulfilling the lusts (desires) of your flesh.
4) Work as unto the Lord in whatever is your legal / God honoring occupation.
5) Work daily while giving yourself one to two days rest each week.
6) Hone your mental and physical skills and abilities through your work and personal interaction with others.
7) Never think or express the idea that your current income is too little to live on and begin planning for a great future. Father God, His resources, and His ability to provide are greater than your income and your situation. Nothing is impossible for Him, not even taking care of you. Thus, nothing is impossible for you when you are in the Father’s hands.
8) Begin to surround yourself with at least a few savvy friends (Christian brothers and sisters, etc.) who are good stewards (money managers) of the incomes and resources God has given them. There is God honoring safety in the advice of godly counselors.
9) Honor God through your local church fellowship with the tithe and an offering before you give to or pay any other source.
10) Save at least an equal portion in an emergency fund to help cover emergencies: payment of monthly expense during job loss, medical situations, etc.
11) Live within your means by budgeting your income to cover necessities first (food, shelter, clothing, and transportation) and trust God to provide what you really can’t. Then, cover as many other minimum bill payments as possible. If money is left over, then pay it toward either the account with the highest interest rate or the lowest balance account. Mathematically, the first method helps you pay off debts faster and pay less interest overall whereas the second method may give you a psychological boost because you get to see an early victory of paying off an account or two.
12) Work toward totally eliminating debt and living debt free where you don’t purchase anything you do not already have the cash to pay for. If you utilize credit make sure the loan is for an appreciating asset and that your money is earning a higher rate of interest than you’re paying on the loan.
13) Continue to employ these giving, saving, budgeting (disciplined spending) habits and you will reach a point when you are saving so much money each month that you will not have a choice but to invest. So, right now begin learning how the markets work, about the various types of investments available (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed interest investments, etc.), and the lingo used in financial markets and concerning the economy overall. In this way when the time comes, you’ll be prepared to make good investment choices.
One of the great things about this approach to stewardship is that everything that happens to you and for you works out for your good because you love God and are called for His purpose. Therefore, you don’t need to blame anyone for your condition or the world’s condition because you just might be bearing false witness against your neighbor instead of being guided by the Holy Spirit and spending the time necessary to utilize the spiritual and practical principles above to make your life as fruitful as it can be.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 22:7, Galatians 5:1-2 and 16-17, Jude 5:9
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
Monday, May 4, 2009
MoneyWalk 447: You shall not steal
This program will help you undo financial bondage.
We normally think of stealing as taking a possession of material things or ideas belonging to another human without their willing consent. Of course this is the type that we’re most familiar, but interestingly it is not the type of stealing that happens most often.
Stealing from God is the most common type of theft perpetrated by man. To be sure, stealing things from other people is definitely unrighteous. How much more unrighteous is it to steal from God? The scriptures say that God asked the question, “Can a man rob God?” He then answered the question by telling the people that they robbed Him of tithes and offering and told them to prove the truth of His Word by faithfully and regularly giving the tithe so that the religious leaders would be able to use it to serve in a manner that would glorify God, draw people to Him, and care for them as necessary.
God could pose this question and give the correct answer because He is the Creator of everything and thus owns everything. Man only manages possession on earth. He does not own them and will find that when he dies none of the possession he had use of will go with him. It’s all left for someone else to manage after he/she is gone. I’ve never seen a U-Haul make its way to heaven or to hell for that matter.
Thus, we should recognize that God has provided for our need to be met and has given each individual possessions / income to manage and that each person should honor Him by managing these possessions / income in the manner He directed. Unfortunately, we usually manage them in the manner we desire because we hold too tightly to them, don’t really believe that God is the owner of them, and/or believe that he has any standard for how we manage them. Simply studying scripture leads to the realization that each of these mentalities is unrighteous. Your management should be by God’s direction as confirmed in the bible.
Now surely I don’t want to steal any possessions that God has given to another person to manage or that he has allowed to come into their hands. More importantly, I will not steal from Father God: the one person that cares for me more than any human being including my wife, mother, or father. By faith, I will honor Him as He instructed regardless of ridicule by other people for doing so, their failure to do so, and the fact that it looks like I might lack some need or desire if I faithfully tithe and give offerings.
I would follow His instruction regardless of whether I would ever received any earthly benefit from it, yet I know by His Word that eternal blessing awaits those who while on earth manage His possessions in such a way that they are greatly used to lead other people to a relationship with Him thru Jesus Christ and to help them mature to become more like Christ.
Fact is, when you give in this manner prosperity is your earthly and eternal heritage because the following benefits follow those who do not steal from God by withholding the tithe and offerings:
1. God rebukes the devourer of your finances and your soul (spiritually demonic beings with plans to render you useless).
2. He opens the windows of heaven over you to pour out tremendous blessing upon your to help you glorify Him and serve other people.
3. He will not let your fruit rot on the vine. You will be successful and bear much fruit (many good God-led works).
4. People will see that you reside under God’s blessing and will communicate that to others. It will be a platform that you can use to point many people back to Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word in every arena of life.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Exodus 20:15, Malachi 3:8, Luke 18:22, Acts 5:3, Revelation 4:11
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
We normally think of stealing as taking a possession of material things or ideas belonging to another human without their willing consent. Of course this is the type that we’re most familiar, but interestingly it is not the type of stealing that happens most often.
Stealing from God is the most common type of theft perpetrated by man. To be sure, stealing things from other people is definitely unrighteous. How much more unrighteous is it to steal from God? The scriptures say that God asked the question, “Can a man rob God?” He then answered the question by telling the people that they robbed Him of tithes and offering and told them to prove the truth of His Word by faithfully and regularly giving the tithe so that the religious leaders would be able to use it to serve in a manner that would glorify God, draw people to Him, and care for them as necessary.
God could pose this question and give the correct answer because He is the Creator of everything and thus owns everything. Man only manages possession on earth. He does not own them and will find that when he dies none of the possession he had use of will go with him. It’s all left for someone else to manage after he/she is gone. I’ve never seen a U-Haul make its way to heaven or to hell for that matter.
Thus, we should recognize that God has provided for our need to be met and has given each individual possessions / income to manage and that each person should honor Him by managing these possessions / income in the manner He directed. Unfortunately, we usually manage them in the manner we desire because we hold too tightly to them, don’t really believe that God is the owner of them, and/or believe that he has any standard for how we manage them. Simply studying scripture leads to the realization that each of these mentalities is unrighteous. Your management should be by God’s direction as confirmed in the bible.
Now surely I don’t want to steal any possessions that God has given to another person to manage or that he has allowed to come into their hands. More importantly, I will not steal from Father God: the one person that cares for me more than any human being including my wife, mother, or father. By faith, I will honor Him as He instructed regardless of ridicule by other people for doing so, their failure to do so, and the fact that it looks like I might lack some need or desire if I faithfully tithe and give offerings.
I would follow His instruction regardless of whether I would ever received any earthly benefit from it, yet I know by His Word that eternal blessing awaits those who while on earth manage His possessions in such a way that they are greatly used to lead other people to a relationship with Him thru Jesus Christ and to help them mature to become more like Christ.
Fact is, when you give in this manner prosperity is your earthly and eternal heritage because the following benefits follow those who do not steal from God by withholding the tithe and offerings:
1. God rebukes the devourer of your finances and your soul (spiritually demonic beings with plans to render you useless).
2. He opens the windows of heaven over you to pour out tremendous blessing upon your to help you glorify Him and serve other people.
3. He will not let your fruit rot on the vine. You will be successful and bear much fruit (many good God-led works).
4. People will see that you reside under God’s blessing and will communicate that to others. It will be a platform that you can use to point many people back to Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word in every arena of life.
Please pray for this ministry and email any questions. May God bless you richly as you follow His plan!!!
Exodus 20:15, Malachi 3:8, Luke 18:22, Acts 5:3, Revelation 4:11
Please forward these bondage breaking articles to other people who can use helpful insight!!!
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