Secrets of financial prosperity

pharmacy

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

(Genesis 12:2)

“Change” is an interesting word to begin a discussion on finances because so many of us think of change as the coins in our pocket or the money we get back from a cashier. That’s not the way I’m using the word, here, however. I’m talking about making a change in the way we look at money-which is something I believe that most Christians need to do.

Change is always a key word in our searching, finding, and having the wisdom of God in our lives. God always asks us to change-to grow from where we are towards greater and greater perfection in Christ Jesus. The very process of growth requires change. A baby doesn’t look or acts like an adult. A baby changes as he or she becomes an adult. A sampling of a tree doesn’t look or produce fruit like a full-grown tree. A sapling changes as it becomes a mature tree.

Change is inevitable, but change toward perfection is not automatic. That’s a crucial difference for you to understand. You WILL change whether or not you want to change. But to change toward the good requires effort and a willingness to change.

Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in the way we as Christians deal with our money. Most of us need to change in order to grow into the full stature of the wisdom God desires for us. And we need to be WILLING to change. For virtually all of us God’s approach to our money and to our use of money is vastly different from our way.

Isaiah 55:6-8 says, “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD…For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.”

In The Living Bible, verse 8 reads this way: “This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours!”

In Deuteronomy 8, we find a great warning and a great promise of God related to our finances. This chapter says, in summary, that if we obey the laws of the Lord our God, walk in His ways, and fear Him with a reverent awe, then great blessings will be ours. But, on the other hand, if we start to trust in our own ability and start to claim that the blessings we have are results of our own accomplishments, then we should look out. If we forget God and worship other gods and follow evil ways, the Word of God in this chapter says, “you should certainly perish” (Deuteronomy 8:19 TLB).

Towards the end of Deuteronomy 8 we find this verse: “Always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfil His promise to your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 8:18 TLB).

Are you aware today that you have a promise of God made to your ancestors in the faith that God is going to meet all of YOUR NEEDS according to His riches in glory (see Philippians 4:19)? Note that word ALL. Note the phrase YOUR NEEDS. That is the promise of God’s Word through the ages to those who will love God, serve God, seek the things of God, obey God, and fear God with a reverential awe. That’s His promise to YOU today.

How many in the church have fallen under what I call a “spirit of piety.” They believe that to be a devout person, you must be really poor. The poorer you are, the better Christian you are. That’s been the overriding philosophy of one large segment of the church for the past fifty years. And while Christians have become poorer and poorer, as a whole, we have seen various cults owning more and more of our nation. And what is their number one purpose? It’s evangelism for their cause! They expect to use their wealth and power to promote their own beliefs and to convert others to their religious convictions.

A few years ago, a member of our church sent us to Hawaii for a few days of vacation, and while we were there, Melva Jo and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Arts Centre, which is owned and operated by Mormons. That centre is actually a ten-billion-dollar tool for evangelism! Its primary purpose is to make money to support Mormon students to complete their education and to return to their island homes to convert their people to Mormonism.

Culled from WISDOM: DON’T LIVE LIFE WITHOUT IT, by LARRY LEA