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May 14, 2013

How to Trust God with Your Money Honey

One area we ALL struggle with no matter what religious belief we have is the area of finances. Many of us were not so blessed to have wise information on how to manage money when we were younger. Many us of learn how to mange money as we got older through our mistakes. If I knew then what I know now about money, trust me things we have been different, including my mindset and many of you may have the same feeling. Although we can’t go back to the past, but God does give us the present and future to correct our mistakes, so it’s not too late!


We must examine first on how we view money. Some people view it as power, a tool, in reality it can be both, more a tool than anything else. What is a tool? A tool is a device. It’s something you use, it’s an item that helps you fix, etc. When you use money as a tool, you are using it to do something. Many times we are simply using it the wrong way. Money was created to be useful not put you in trouble, debt and problems. As we examine how we view money, we must also examine the motive for it. Why do you want money? To pay bills? To shop? To show off? To help others? What is the purpose of money to you? Knowing the answer to these questions will help you understand the purpose of this topic. I know some of you may want to believe that God should be separated from your money, but that is the problem with our thinking in the first place. If we say God is a part of our life then we can’t separate Him from “certain” areas of our life, He is either in our life or not. And God want to be in our life, ALL of it. The number issue that comes up with relationships and marriages is the issue of money. Many have divorce because of this one issue and I believe until you learn to trust God with your money, we will always have issues with others and with ourselves.

So what does it mean to trust God with you money? Do you give it all away? Do you stay in poverty? Do you turn your back on wealth? No, no, no that is not how God created it to be. God doesn’t have an issue with money; scripture says it’s the LOVE of money that is the problem, 1 Timothy 6:10. God expect you to have money, how are you going to pay the house that you live in? How are you going to feed your kids? God knows we live in a world that requires money to take care of even basic necessities. I believe once you take a hold of this truth, you’ll begin to trust God with your finances. So how do you do this?

Four Keys to Trusting God with Your Money Honey

First, you need to FALL OUT OF LOVE with MONEY. 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV) says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” The LOVE (emphasis on love) is self-destructive. It’s the reason why so many compete with others, it’s where greed is birth, jealousy takes place, and covetousness grows. Nothing good comes out of putting money at the forth front of your life. There are people who can’t sleep because they are trying to figure out how to make more money. Money has control them and they have become modern day slaves to money. That is not God will for your life. God doesn’t want you to be a slave to paper, because that is what money is piece of green paper. You need to see money as a tool to do useful thing and be blessing, instead of letting it turn into a curse for you. Stop letting money control you, choose today whom you will serve, no one can serve two masters. "Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Luke 16:13 (NIV). Moreover, Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) says “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” God is not hiding from you, there is no reason to think He wants you to struggle, be in debt, He wants to help you but you have to get your heart and thinking right about your finances. Being content is key in falling out of love with money. Learn to be grateful for everything, even if it doesn't seem much in your eyes or the eyes of others, that is not what matters in life.

Secondly, understand your money belongs to God, He is your source. Yes it is God that gives you the POWER to get wealth, Deuteronomy 8:16-18. It is God that Gives you the ability, strength, favor to work, start a business, it’s not because you are so smart. Once you recognize whose boss you won’t be tempted to take money and use it for your own selfish desires. Understand that your job, employer, family, the government is not your source but God is. God has made us stewards of money. A Steward is someone who manages, oversee. It’s someone who can be trusted to manage, take care. Now think about this for a moment, if God is saying I have made you a steward of my things, shouldn’t we treat what He has placed in our hands with respect? If God came down from Heaven and gave you $1000 dollars and said, take care of this, what will be the first thing that you do? I know many people will think they just won the lottery and go shopping but here’s where you will be tested, if you are unfaithful with the least, you can’t be faithful with the much, Luke 16:11 now tell me how you will use this money? Well God don’t need to come down from Heaven, He has made you a steward the minute money came into your hands. So that paycheck that you receive on Friday, it’s God. That paypal deposit you receive from your business, that’s for God. Once you acknowledge that God is your source and “your” money is He’s, He can take that and bless you even more. Remember God says to work with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, Colossians 3:23-24.

Thirdly, Honor God with your money. I know many churches, preachers have distorted the word of God to teach the “prosperity”message  and people have been giving tithes and offerings under pressure, guilt and compulsion but understand this, God doesn’t need money, there is no mall in Heaven that He needs to shop at. The world belongs to Him and whatever He wants is at His command, “The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” Psalm 24 (KJV). God want us to honor Him with money, because I believe He is saying ”Do you trust me or your money more”. In Malachi 3: 10 God says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” His asking us to trust Him, prove to Him you trust Him with the money that is in your hand. Proverbs 3:9-10 (ESV)  says, “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine.” There is increase attached to honoring God with money. So stop trying to withhold from giving to God, prove to God that you do trust Him with money. Who better to give your money to anyway? If you have issues with tithing, I wrote a blog post about here http://loveruleswisdomisgold.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-issue-of-tithing-in-church.html

Lastly, as a steward of God things, He has given us direction on how to manage it. The book of Proverbs is full of financial wisdom, spend some time in it, pick out some scriptures from it, study it, and meditate on it, live it. Here are some, Proverbs 22:7; Proverbs 3:9-10; Proverbs 21:20; Proverbs 24:30-34; Proverbs 28:20-22; Proverbs 10:22; Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 11:4; Proverbs 11:28: Proverbs 23:4-5, these are some but there is plenty more and more in other books of the bible. Learn how to be a good steward of money. I believe our issue with money is not that we don’t have enough; it’s because we don’t know how to manage what we have in our hands. We don’t understand how to make a dollar out of fifty cents. But God did not leave us clueless, we just need to take the necessary process to learn these money management skills and apply it to our life. Remember the story with the five loaves and two fishes, Jesus didn’t see it as not being not enough to feed 5,000 thousand people, although it “look” like in the natural that it wasn’t enough, but Jesus knew how to manage it and bless it, Mark 6:30-44. I believe that is why God says to honor Him with our money so He can bless it and multiply it.  He can turn not enough to more than enough. But instead of doing that, we try to keep it all to ourselves or spend it recklessly. If you see the truth in this, then I encourage you to apply the scriptures that are teaching you how to manage money in your life.

I hope this minister to your spirit and you change your thinking on how you use money, trust me I’m doing the same thing! I don’t believe God want us to live in lack, pay check to pay check, stress out, in debt. The bible was given to us as a tool on how to live in abundance in every area of our life. This doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a mansion, the newest car, it means to be content and give God control of your life, including your money. I believe once you start managing money God’s way, there is lot of things you thought you wanted or needed, you’ll find you can live without. The stress of having more money has cause many to be lead astray from God, so it’s imperative that you turn over this desire to God and let Him put a new, better desire in your heart. Learn to trust God to show you, teach how to trust Him with money. Be Blessed!

Sorry for the long blog posting, this is why some things I just save to write another book, so much to write! 

Didn’t know I wrote one? Yes, its title Five Steps to Draw Closer to God, learn practical steps to build and maintain your relationship with God. It’s available on Amazon, also on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Five-Steps-Draw-Closer-God/dp/1453816186


May 13, 2013

The Grass is Not Always Greener

How many times have you seen someone life and thought to yourself, “I wish my life was like that” “I wish that was my husband, wife” “I wish my kids were like that” I believe we all been there. I remember a friend, who I felt had the perfect situation, she dated her (then) spouse, they got married, brought a house had a child and it look so perfect from the outside, in fact because they were so young, I said to myself what a great example BUT guess what happen a couple of years later out of no where a divorce was the final result of that “perfect picture”. From the outside it was picture perfect but the on the inside was so much secrets and lies that I couldn’t believe she went through all of that, till this day, I’m still saying Huh? See this reaction happened to me because I believed in that picture perfect relationship, in fact I wanted everything to work out for them so I can see “it can be done” but what I wanted to “see” was not enough to keep them together. Many times we enjoy seeing others success, prosperity in their careers, relationships and desire the same. And many will often try to imitate that very lifestyle but guess what? THE GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE. In fact many have laid out fake grass to cover up the mess that they are really in and many from the outside can’t see pass the fakeness. Don’t get me wrong, there are good relationships, true success but those are God anointed success and relationships and time will prove that. There is a difference between God GAVE me this and “I choose this”. Let’s look at ONE example with Lot and Abraham.


If you recall, God promised to bless Abraham and gave Him many blessings, live stock, lands, gold, silver, etc. His land was so big, He split it between His nephew Lot, you can read more in Genesis 13. But here’s the scripture I want you to focus onNow Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east.” Genesis 13:5-11.

See here, Abraham gave Lot a choice and just like many of us would do, he chose the “best looking” land BUT the difference between this land from Abraham’s land was that God GAVE Abraham his land. In fact, when you read further down, God end up giving Abraham even more land. See Abraham was not selfish in his giving, he really trusted that God will take care of him, because the land that he kept, was not the “best looking” land, in fact it was dry. BUT when God GIVES you something, it does not matter what it look like, He will bless it and the results will be abundance. Do you know what happen to Lot land, eventually he was kidnap and all his things, family was taken by his neighbors, Sodom and Abraham had to go and rescue him, Genesis 14. This certainly could have been a difference story if Lot and his servants would have just got along, but that was not the case. So what do we learn from this? There are Two Important things I got of that story between Lot and Abraham,

First, don’t look at what it “looks like” because the picture perfect life can be just that picture perfect. Everyone has issue and no one will ever put all there issues out in the open. So instead of looking at someone life and desiring it, remember that we each have our own life to live. You may try to follow someone lifestyle and find yourself lost, hurt, broken and broke, because the grass is not always greener on the other side, sometimes it’s just a cover up. Don’t always go for what “looks good” because everything that shines is not gold. Do you know where diamonds come from? under the dirty, deep muddy ground. Most people won’t go near dirt and because of this will never find a diamond. Sometimes the package is not what you expect but if it’s from God you can rest assure it’s going to be a blessing!

Second, Let God be the one who bless you. Don't create your blessings. One thing I’ve learn in my relationship with God, is to not focus on what others are doing, what they have because I truly believe and He has shown me that our destiny is already planned out and if we stick with Him, we will see the results of His guidance in our life. When God is with you, you are already blessed! You don’t have to do anything, compete, imitate, God will work it out. It didn’t matter if Abraham got the land that Lot chose because God would’ve blessed it. So instead of imitating what others are doing find out what God wants you to do. He placed a talent, skills in you for a reason and yes it could be something similar but it will never be the same. For instance, I notice a lot people write, but the writing styles are different.

Be careful of Covetousness. It is a sin and it’s when someone desire someone else’s possessions, life, etc. A lot of people have the spirit of covetousness and don’t even realize it because they mistake it for wanted success. But any desire that makes you go above and beyond to get attention, prove your worthiness, show your success could be a spirit of covetousness. Remember when God bless you, there is peace, wisdom flows from it and you draw closer to Him and desire less of the world. If you find yourself desiring, craving a bigger house, the best cars, this and that, competing with others examine the motive and the spirit behind that. There is nothing wrong with wanted nice things, what’s wrong it the motive behind it.

I hope this posting minister to you and you wholeheartedly want to seek God first above anything else. He will take care if you believe He will. Remember God was with Joseph, and he prospers. God was with Abraham, David, Joshua, etc and they all succeeded! They did not have to do any thing extra but believe and be obedient to what God told them to do and did it. All they needed was God to be WITH them.

Scripture Meditation

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” ~Exodus 20:17

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. ~ 1 John 2:15-17

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ~Hebrews 13:5

“Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”~ Luke 12:15-21 (NIV)

You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ~James 4:2

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? ~Matthew 16:26

But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. ~1 Corinthians 12:31

Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ... ~Philippians 2:2-8 (ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. ~Philippians 4:8-9