Breakthrough in Our Finances
Session 6: Staying in the Center of His Will
I. Staying in the Center of His Will:
God has a strategic financial plan for each of us. Just like He has a ministry action plan and a marriage plan and career plan for our lives He has a very real destiny for how we spend, invest and receive money. God wants to be in charge of our money but He will not force us to follow His ways; rather He gives us financial principles and then invites us to follow Him. We want to use this series as a way to adjust our thinking about money; no longer seeing it as our money but that 100% of what we have or will make is really His money that He has entrusted to us to do with as He directs.
II. Perspective About Our American Privilege:
As Americans we have more privilege and opportunity than the majority of the kings of history. In many ways we were born into prosperity and whether we asked for it or not we are greatly blessed in the natural arenas of life, far more than most of the population. We want to rightly understand the long-term ramifications of what it means to be first in this life as it pertains to God’s perspective.
A. Much is Demanded of Us:
Our privilege as the wealthy and well fed of the Earth comes with real responsibility; we’ve been given more and so more will be expected.
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked (Lk. 12:48).”
B. Not Stockpiling Possessions:
It’s not bad to have possessions it’s just essential that whatever we do have (or lack) that our focus isn’t on our stuff. Our culture teaches us just the opposite; that life is all about what we have; this is a trap that we need to be careful not to fall into.
“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 (Lk. 12:15).”
C. Rich Toward God:
Being rich toward God isn’t just a good idea it is required; it’s not evil for us to have possessions but He wants for us to be generous with what we have and sow into His purposes.
“The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘…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 (Lk. 12:16-21).”
D. Being Generous Toward Our Brothers:
We are invited to be generous on all occasions but we are called to help supply for the needy that are in our midst.
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had (Ac. 4:32-35).”
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need (Ac. 2:44-45).”
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Ga. 6:10).”
E. Called to Give it all Away:
Jesus approached the rich young man with a very hard admonition to sell everything he owned in order to be able to follow Him and to get treasures in Heaven.
“Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (Mk. 10:21).”
1. Not a universal call to poverty:
This was not in any way a prescription to all wealthy people everywhere however; this was the exact prescription that this particular young man needed because of his love for wealth, this was a major stumbling block for him to be able to follow Jesus and Jesus knew that so he asked him to release it all.
2. Still gives this call to some:
There are times however when Jesus still gives words like this to people, both powerful people and poor people alike.
3. Probably been given it back:
According to the give and it will be given principle however he probably would have ended up with all that back eventually anyway after a good season of testing and having his heart freed from materialism.
III. Fulfilling Our Responsibility:
The Word lays out some responsibilities that we as believers are to carry as part of what it means to stay in His will regarding our finances. Part of the journey for us is to learn how to navigate and embrace these areas as part of our approach to learning how to be generous.
A. Give to the One in Need:
We are called to help supply for believers who are in need whenever we are able to do so. This specific passage doesn’t mean that we aren’t to use wisdom in when and how and who we give to but it does mean that our default response should be to give as oppose to withhold when we see a brother or sister in need.
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (Jm. 2:14-17).”
B. Give to the One Who Asks You:
This is another interesting thing that the Lord wrote into the equation of how the finances of the Kingdom are to operate. He calls His people to be generous and then partners that call with a very real part of life; that there will be those around us who ask us for help. There are time when the Holy Spirit may warn you otherwise or instruct you differently in how to handle a situation but this sets us up for another default in the way we should handle it when someone asks us for help. As receivers we want to be very careful not to abuse this.
“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you (Mt. 5:42).”
C. Collection for God’s People:
There are times when collections will be made for groups of believers that are need. It’s not just an invitation to partner but it’s our instruction as believers to follow our leaders encouragement and sow into these initiatives when they arise.
“Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem (1Co. 16:1-4).”
D. Hard Work to Help the Weak:
Paul describes a category of people as “the weak,” and he makes it clear that these are those who are to be supplied for by the majority. We are to work hard in order to take care of the needs of those in our midst who for whatever reasons are unable to make it without help. There is no clear definition as to what all classifies under this designation but it we know that it does not apply to those who are just lazy; probably the reference is to those who are disabled or sick.
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive (Ac. 20:35).’”
IV. Following His Lead:
There is great safety in following the Lord. We want to be people who follow Him wherever He leads us, because going right where He wants you and doing exactly what He wants is the only safe place for you no matter how it may look. His leading will look differently for each of us and will probably vary from season to season. I’m about to share some stories that are intended to help illustrate the types of things that the Lord can say, not to tell you what His plan is for you. Sometimes His leading is unconventional and at other times it’s perfectly normal looking and in unity with how things are typically done in our culture. The point isn’t to go against the grain or to try and always look normal, it’s to be obedient and follow His lead.
A. Not Accepting Payment:
During those early years I wasn’t allowed to take money for any of the normal things that a person could and should be paid for. This was pretty unconventional and made me look pretty silly not taking money that it was obvious I could really use.
B. Get Any Job and Work Hard:
I came back from my time in the mission field and I was feeling quite directionless about what to do next. I felt like I was supposed to go get a job but I wasn’t getting any leading other than that. So I chose Bassett Furniture, I applied and got the job. As I went through training I began to realize just how out of place I was in that environment not having an eye for interior design what so ever. But within a few months I was employee of the month and that month I outsold everyone on the sales floor even though I had no idea what I was doing. This is the normal thing to do; go get a job and work hard at it and He will prosper you.
C. Quit Your Job and Wait for the Next One:
But what wasn’t normal was when the Lord led me to quit my job and then wait in faith to get hired at Lennar Homes. That was about the most unconventional thing He could have said; But He was in it. I got the job a few months later and so that season began a several year career in real estate.
D. Raise Full Time Missionary Support:
After working my way up in real estate from making about $20,000 a year to making about $50,000 the Lord made it clear that I was supposed to quit my job and raise missionary support as my means of income. This is just about the oddest financial flip-flop ever; quit a great paying job so you can ask people to give you money so you can pray.
E. Buy a House:
Buying a house is a very normal thing to do for an employed 20 year old, but I never wanted a house so it was actually quite against my normal mode of operation. Further, He employed the most wild tactics in order for me to actually be able to purchase that house so this story includes both transitional instructions and some very untraditional means to make it happen.
F. Amy Quitting Her Job:
Under the Lord’s leading Amy had been working as a school teacher for AISD and while that was not at all what she wanted to be doing we both knew it was right. After 6 years of teaching and Jaci’s first year the Lord made it clear that it was time for Amy to quit her job and that He would take care of our finances. This was a serious gamble because that was well paying job and my missionary support wasn’t going to cut it.
G. Market an Good Idea:
Some time after Amy told her boss that she would not be returning the following year to teach quit I got it in my spirit that it was time for me to start traveling and speaking. As I prayed about it I felt like I should introduce the idea of traveling One Day Seminars and consulting for houses of prayer. I sent out 17 emails throwing around the concept and received 14 invitations to come speak. The idea of marketing is a normal thing to do, and the Lord used the right idea at the right timing to make provision for what lacked because of how else we had obeyed Him.
H. Making Investments:
I don’t want to go into details but I felt the Lord speak to me about beginning to invest in a particular way. This would be just about the last thing on the planet I would think to do or feel comfortable doing but it’s been an area that He made so clear to me. While this type of thing can really make a good bit of financial sense it’s the leading toward a specific investment that gives me confidence that He is in it.
V. Consulting the Lord About Our Money:
The best way that we can stay in the center of Lord’s will is to consult Him about the way He wants us to handle our money. He wants to give us overarching principles that we can follow as well as specific direction. This section seeks to identify what those principles look like so that we can develop a fairly good road map for our finances and which of course we can always fine tune and listen for His voice in the moment. This is more about setting healthy defaults that will keep us on track.
A. Your Overall Lifestyle:
His purposes for each of us id different; some the Lord wants to be independently wealthy, others He wants to bless us greatly with riches at the work of our hands and still others are never supposed to have much at all because of how the Lord wants to use them. It is essential that each of us knows what kind of lifestyle He's called us to so we know how to posture ourselves in the marketplace and our ministry assignments.
B. Financial Philosophy:
Another area to work through with the Lord is to figure out what your overall philosophy of giving and spending will be. This is about making a budget that you feel comfortable with regarding where and how you allocate your money as a general rule. This includes things like how much of your paycheck do you normally plan to give away and what do you spend on your wants and where does that money come from?