My Finances

What Does the BIBLE Say About....Finances and Stewardship?

If we are having problems in the area of our finances, we need to examine God's Word as to what He says about finances and then line up with that Word. Are we handling our money wisely? True wisdom comes from God and the Bible has revelation about money problems as well as our other problems.

So many people in our day are having financial problems. Even wealthy men are concerned they will lose their riches because of inflation and the worth of the dollar dropping daily. Stock markets around the world have been unstable. People are contemplating bankruptcy and even suicide due to such heavy money pressures. Many marriages are also under extreme stress and divorce has risen due to unresolved financial difficulties.

Is there an answer to all the money problems? Yes, the Bible has the answer to this problem as well as all others that face mankind. Briefly, we are going to write down a basic financial check list based on the Word of God. On this list we are going to look at some things that can block our financial blessings. As Christians, we are promised the blessings of God, not the curses of the devil. The promise of prosperity and blessing belongs to us, not the curse of poverty and fear. Galatians 3:13-14 says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Genesis 17:1-7 says, When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty ^[1] ; walk before me and be blameless. ² I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
³ Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴ "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram ^[2] ; your name will be Abraham, ^[3] for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

From these Scriptures we see we receive the same blessings as Abraham because we are his seed. Therefore, our first step is to become a child of God, thus the seed of Abraham and God. Then, Matthew 6:31-33 applies to us. ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. We must give our lives totally to God and seek His righteousness, then all the things that the Gentiles (those in the world) are seeking will be added to us. What are the things that those in the world are seeking? Clothes, houses, food, etc.

A total commitment to God is the very first step to financial blessings. However, there are many Christians who still have not gained the victory in finances due to other principles in God's Word that have been ignored. Let's ask ourselves some questions that will bring us financial freedom if we are agreeing with the Word of God in these matters.

A FINANCIAL CHECK LIST

1. Are we giving at least 10% to the work of God which is the tithe? (If not, we are using God's money, and robbing Him.) Malachi 3:10: 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 you will not have room enough for it.
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

2. Are we giving our tithe to the ministry where we are being fed? (Offerings, above the tithe, may be given to the poor, good works, etc. however, our tithe should go to the spreading of the gospel. Additional offerings also should be given to the church and it's five-fold ministries as listed in Ephesians 4:11; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.) 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: ⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

3. Are we giving to God first, before paying other bills? Proverbs 3:9-10: "Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."

4. Are we indifferent to the needs of the poor? Proverbs 28:27: He who gives to the poor will lack nothing,
but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses

5. Are we going in debt for lustful things? Wants, instead of needs? 1 Timothy 6:6-10: ⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For 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 grief's.

6. Are we planning and budgeting our financial spending? Luke 14:28-30: ²⁸"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, ³⁰saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

7. Are we lazy or slothful on the job (a day's work for a day's pay)? Ecclesiastes 9:10: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Proverbs 21:25 The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.

8. Are we too generous in giving to others without paying our own bills? Do we spend for lustful wants while making our creditors wait for their money? Proverbs 3:27-28: ²⁷ Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. ²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"- when you now have it with you.

9. Are we being wasteful? John 6:12: When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

10. Have we committed all our money and material things to God? Luke 12:34: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

11. Do we need the things we buy or are they luxuries? Proverbs 21:17: He who loves pleasure will become poor;
whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.

12. Are we selfish in our families, spending more on our own desires? 1 Corinthians 10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

13. Are we willing to sell or give away anything that God would tell us to? (Make sure you hear God's voice when giving or selling all, as this is a major step and God does not require this of you unless you absolutely understand what His plan is for your life; however, we must all be willing.) Matthew 19:21-22: ²¹Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." ²²When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

14. Have we paid our debts or made arrangements to do so when we are having difficulties? Romans 13:8: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

15. Have we been sowing money into the kingdom of God? We reap in proportion to what we have sown (a little or a lot). Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

16. Have we done our spiritual homework in fasting & prayer over our finances? Isaiah 58:6 & 9: ⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

17. Have we been hard on people who owe us money, demanding payment with no mercy? Luke 6:34-36: ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

18. Are there other areas that could be blocking our finances such as any unforgiveness, disobedience, stubbornness, etc.? Matthew 6:14-15: ¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

19. Are we spending our money foolishly or are we being wise? Proverbs 24:3-4: ³ By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; ⁴ through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

20. Are we totally committed and thankful to God, no matter what is happening? This does not mean we are to praise God for bad things as He does not send bad things in our lives as His children. It means we are to be thankful and praise God in the midst of all of our problems as He desires to show us the way out of our troubles. We praise God "in" the trouble, not "for" the trouble. Psalm 34:1: I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. Philippians 4:4-7: ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

21. Do we lack faith in God as our total source? Psalm 121:1-2: ¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Romans 14:23: ... everything that does not come from faith is sin.

22. Are we hoarding things through fear or greed? Luke 12:19-21: ¹⁹And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ²⁰"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?' ²¹"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." This is different from preparing for the future by saving and storing at God's direction. Proverbs 30:24-25: ²⁴ "Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: ²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;

23. Are we seeking financial blessing instead of seeking God and His will? (Wanting God's benefits, but not God's ways.) Matthew 15:8: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

24. Are we giving excessively to God's work in an attempt to ease our guilt, yet are not paying our bills? Although not many are guilty of this sin we felt we should deal with it as the devil tempts us to go to one extreme or the other. If we are giving too much and not paying our bills it would be wise for us just to give a tithe for awhile until the Lord showed us how to pay our debts. Giving 50% to God and not paying our bills is not in harmony with the Scriptures. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8). The Lord wants us out of debt, then we will be able to give more to His Kingdom. Some Christians go to the other extreme and say when they are out of debt, then they will give. The devil sees to it they never are out of debt. We must always put God first in our finances, then He will show us the way out of debt.

These are some of the major reasons we fail financially. We may have been ignorant about some of these things until now. The Bible says in Hosea 4:6a: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Many Christians are being destroyed financially either because they are ignorant of God's knowledge or they refuse to adhere to it. Don't be destroyed in this area of your life. Simply repent of past failures and ask God to give you the grace and strength to obey Him and do those things that His Word outlines. You can be an over comer and walk in victory. Remember to give God some time. If you have been doing it the world's way a number of years, you must now give God an opportunity to prove Himself faithful.

Malachi 3:10 says to "prove Him". 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 you will not have room enough for it.

Galatians 6:9 promises we shall reap what we sow. Just as a farmer plants a crop and then there is a growing season before the harvest, so it is with planting God's Word in our hearts. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Don't faint! Ask God for the strength to overcome. We are overcomes in Christ!

Remember, we are stewards of all that we own and we must give an account to God for it. A steward is someone who takes care of another's property. Psalm 24:1: The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

If we want to be pleasing to the Lord with our money, we must begin today to be faithful in the small amounts; only then will we be faithful in the larger amounts God will entrust us with as we obey Him. How wonderful it will be to then hear the Lord's commendation recorded in Matthew 25:21, "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

Some are heaping treasures together in these last days while ignoring God and they will find such treasures are worthless. ¹Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. ²Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
(James 5:1-3).

Money cannot save us from the tribulation of these last days; only our trust and faith in God will see us through.

One rule we should follow when considering giving is to never give under extreme emotional persuasion. Many fleshly ministries use not only drastic emotional appeals, but also many other gimmicks to influence people to give to their ministries. Many people have given under this kind of pressure and later have found that it was not the Lord. Others have made pledges under the same influence and then have found they were unable to keep them. Any minister that would threaten people with the wrath of God should they fail to keep their pledge is definitely not under the Holy Spirit's leadership.

Pledges are very similar to vows or oaths unto God, and we are told not to swear in the New Testament. Above all, my brothers, do not swear--not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned. (James 5:12). We can desire to do certain things and tell the Lord that we want to be able to do them, but we should not promise God or make a vow that we will do them because Satan will condemn us if we should fail. This is not only true in the area of giving money, but also in other areas of our lives. We can make commitments to God, but not vows.

We should ask God who is worthy to receive the things He would have us bring as an offering unto Him. True ministers of God will receive offerings as unto the Lord as they will make their needs known however, they will not spend half their time begging, pleading, threatening or coercing people to give. Those ministers who are walking in faith know that God is their source and they do not look to people. God touches people's hearts to give when a minister is trusting God for his needs.

When we give unto the Lord, it should be with a cheerful attitude. If we give generously, the Lord blesses us in the same way. However, God's blessings don't come back only monetarily, but in the form of our needs when we are trusting Him.

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."^[1] ¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. (2 Corinthians 9:6-12).

Sowing and reaping is a very important principle in the Word of God. We must sow (plant) money into God's works if we expect to receive a harvest. The Lord gives us money for two purposes. We must have money for a living and to eat, plus money for giving. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, (Isaiah 55:10).

God expects us to keep money for bread, as well as seed for sowing. Those Christians who give it all away and then expect God to take care of them are violating this principle of keeping bread to eat. (Farmers kept grain to grind into flour for bread making, as well as some grain for seed to plant the next crop.) Some people give all their seed away and have nothing to eat, while others wrongly eat all their seed and have nothing to plant for the next harvest. We should have seed for both purposes.

After we plant a crop we expect a harvest; even so we should expect God to meet our financial needs when we have been obedient and have given of our tithes and offerings. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38).

Our giving should also be to help our brothers and sisters whenever the Lord so directs. We must learn how to give by the Spirit's direction and not allow our emotions or sympathy to rule us. Until we have had these soulish areas renewed, we can still be influenced by Satan through them. God is not always sympathetic with seemingly good causes. We should not give mechanically to things because it has been our pattern in times past, but we should remain open to the Lord's direction for our giving as with all guidance. Sometimes the Lord may speak that we are not to give to a certain person or ministry. We need to be just as sensitive to the Lord's restraining voice as to His condoning voice. He may want us to give elsewhere.

If we are truly walking in the Spirit, we will always have the desire to give because it is the nature of God to give. Greed and stinginess are from Satan. If we are truly committed to God, giving will not be a burden, but rather a joy. God is calling us to be committed to the point where if He told us to leave all and follow Him, we would not hesitate. We find a rich man in the Bible that could not make this commitment, and he ultimately missed God's blessings for his life. Let us be faithful in the area of giving and we shall never lack in the things we really need as that is God's promise to us.

This is taken from the book Pathway Into The Overcoming Life by Betty Miller. You may copy and circulate it freely.