Today, I want to start sharing with you some wonderful truths concerning faith and finances. This is an area where many people struggle and when I say “struggle” I don’t mean that they struggle because of lack of finances but lack of faith regarding finances. You could be the wealthiest person on the planet and yet be in fear about what you have or losing it . If you’re in fear regarding finances and provision you are not in faith. I’ve seen wealthy people be very concerned, very worried and even full of fear about their finances. If you’re in fear about finances then you are not trusting God and you’re living in bondage to fear. The answer is simple: trust God! It’s not about what you have or what you don’t have, it’s about your focus with regards to your finances.
It’s good to be wise, to have savings and manage your finances wisely. It’s good not to be reckless with your finances and with your spending, but what’s more important is that you trust God. You might have a great job, you may earn a great salary and things may be going very well for you, but are you trusting in God or in your circumstances? I know a guy who had a comfortable life and then was in an accident and couldn’t walk anymore due to being disabled. I don’t know all the details of this guys situation but I do know that he, very quickly, had to learn to trust God and not what he was doing. I know a couple of people who were very comfortable in their lives until they were retrenched and needed to learn to trust God for new work in a difficult economic climate. God doesn’t bring these challenges into our lives but they certainly come and He is there to help us through them. But we shouldn’t just start operating in faith (trusting God) when things are really bad, we should be living by faith.
You should not put confidence in your education, ability or connections for success in life. You cannot place confidence in your savings or investments – it’s all subject to change but God is not! You have got to be confident in the God who gave you breath. Friends of mine are missionaries to South Africa from a foreign country. When they left their homeland as missionaries, their family thought they were crazy because they had to forsake their pension in order to leave. They gave up everything to go and be missionaries. By many people’s standards, that’s not wise, and yet these people are not destitute. They are looked after and they are happy! I know them well. They don’t lack and they are making an eternal impact in the lives of many people. Many years after leaving their homeland as missionaries, their homeland went through an economic crisis and many people lost all their investments. These missionaries sent money back to their families to help them through a difficult time. Can you imagine that? It’s not wise to trust in the world’s system; trust in God!
I remember not being able to pay the rent. I had just gone into fulltime ministry and didn’t have enough income to pay all the essentials. I remember being three or four days overdue and praying, “You called me to this Father, you and so I trust You for the provision. Thank you that the money’s going to come in.” I’ve been in situations where I could dear about finances and provision. I learnt to trust God. Fear of lack has no hold on me. If I feel the Lord say, “step out and do this” I do it without looking at the cost. I know God’s voice and I know His character. I know that I can trust Him to look after me. After all, I am His child and I am also working for Him! God looks after His children and He certainly isn’t going to abuse those who work for Him by not paying them well. If you can get your heart to a place of peace and trust in Him; free from fear and panic; if you can settle your heart then you will receive. A heart at rest is a heart in faith and a heart that receives from God!
Matthew 6:25 New King James Version (NKJV)
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
Jesus is saying to you right now: “do not worry about your life”. Many of you are in a position where you’re worried about your life. You might be worried about finances, or about a decision are need to make. You may be going into a new season and you need to make a big decision… Why worry when Jesus says that you don’t have to? And let me encourage you by saying that if you have a big decision to make in the future then, by all means, pray about it now, but make the decision when you have to.
Learning this really helped me walk in peace: make decisions when you have to! I’m not going to worry about a decision that I only have to make another day. I’ll pray about it and think about my options but I will not stress over it and I won’t push to make a decision until I really have to. I have seen it so many times: people make premature decisions and then they change their minds tomorrow based on new information. Make decisions when you have to, or at least when you have confidence that you know that this is what God wants you to do.
Take inventory of your life right now and think about how often you worry about your life. I’m not bringing condemnation, guilt or any kind of shame on you! I don’t want you to feel bad for it. I want you to realize that the majority of us tend to live in contradiction to the words of Christ because we worry about our lives. Sometimes we even worry about this which are so insignificant that it is simply pathetic. Jesus, the Lord of all creation, has told us that we don’t have to and shouldn’t worry. Why wouldn’t we believe Him?
The bank may be coming to collect their money and everything else you own but they can’t eat you!
Relax! Don’t worry about your life! Worry is an indication that we’re not in faith. It’s an indication that we’re not trusting God and that we do not believe His promises. Years back, when I was learning these truths, I heard a Bible teacher say this and I wrote it down and stuck it up on my wall and every time I worried I looked at these words and I said them out loud: Worry is blasphemy against God because it’s the result of not trusting in God or His word. That would always shake me up! When you know the promises of God and His character and love for you, you will have no reason to worry because it doesn’t matter how justified your worry is, the promises of God far outweigh any of your reasons to worry!