Church is really growing at a fast rate! It’s so exciting to be able to have a hand in building God a great house! Ps Ryan kicked off the Financial Series in our church last weekend, a sensitive topic most church would not dare to even touch, but the church has really been blessed by the message. It is tough to NOT allow money be the master over our life, since every aspect of our life requires money, but by putting God first in our hearts and through His power, we can be masters of our money. The beautiful thing about being masters of our money is that we can control when and how money can work for us. If money is our master, it will control us. God is not against us having more money, but God is totally against money having us.
I have always been so disturbed in my spirit with people, long time Christians in particular, who always condemn other Christians for being rich and having much wealth. Obviously, these people don’t know the Bible and God very well, as they claim to know.
But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 8:18
There are so many accounts of great people in the bible who do marvelous things that change the course of an entire nation, who love God fervently, who one of them is even called the very man after God’s own heart, that were very VERY wealthy not just in their sprit, but in their physical possessions.
You don’t believe me? Do open your Bible and refer to the following references:
- Abraham (even when he was still Abram)
· Genesis 12:1-3
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
"I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
· Genesis 13:1-2
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
- Isaac
· Genesis 26:12-14
Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
- Jacob (wealth inherited from Isaac)
· Genesis 37:1
Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
- Joseph (Pharaoh’s appointed Prime Minister)
· Genesis 41:44
Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift His hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”
- Job
· Job 1:1-3
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.
- King David (his preparations to build God’s temple)
· 1 Chronicles 22:14-16
“Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the LORD one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. Moreover there are workmen with you in abundance: woodsmen and stonecutters, and all types of skillful men for every kind of work. Of gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no limit. Arise and begin working, and the LORD be with you.”
- King Solomon (richest king of ALL human history)
· 1 Kings 10:14-22
The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country.
And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. Twelve lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.
All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. For the king had merchant ships[b] at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.
- Paul (a tentmaker-biblical time hotelier to wealthy travelers)
· Acts 18:1-3
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
· Acts 20:33-35
“I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 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.' “
- Jesus (He wore designer clothing of the new testament times, it was so expensive that the soldiers were very careful not to tear it, instead they gambled to see who wins it)
· John 19:23-24
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it."
God desires to bless us and make us wealthy, otherwise He wouldn’t have given us the power to make wealth. However, the foundation of wealth is generosity. Without a generous heart, the wealth that we gather will never last.
There is one who scatters, yet increases more;
And there is one who withholds more than is right,
But it leads to poverty.
The generous soul will be made rich,
And he who waters will also be watered himself.
Proverbs 11:24-25
I still don’t understand where ‘so-called Christians’ get the idea that becoming a Christian, we must be poor. God NEVER related humility to being poor in the physical. However, Jesus did mention that we have to be poor in our spirit so that we will always depend on him (Matthew 5:3). Being poor in spirit doesn’t mean having nothing in our spirit. When we talk about being poor, it’s always related to being hungry, not having enough. It is the same in our spirit, being poor in the spirit means always being hungry and desiring for so much more of what God has for us, totally depending on His wealth. So in other words, we can be rich in the physical, having everything that’s top notch this world has to offer, yet we must continuously be hungry for more of God.
I personally had enough of the nonsense from the older generation of ‘christians’ condemning fellow believers because of their wealth. Being a strong believer doesn’t mean we must live scrapping the bottom of our buckets every month just to feed ourselves. My God is a God of Abundance! If I choose to put Him and His desires first in my life, He will add on to me all the things I need to live abundantly without any worry (Matthew 6:32-34). So personally think that ‘christians’ that have a problem with wealth are plain weird..
God promised us that if we give our offerings and tithes in obedience, He will bless us even beyond our own measure (Malachi 3:10-11). To the measure of our hearts in how we give, God will bless us back with so much more (Luke 6:38). Most of the time, people who have a problem with Christians being wealthy have a problem with giving and tithing in church. These people are so weary of what the church will do with the money that they have missed out on God’s blessing for them if they were to have sown (Ecclesiastes 11:4).
Giving and tithing is a personal thing between a believer and God, we don’t have to worry what happens to the money after we’ve offered it to God because true giving out of a generous heart is to totally release the wealth with trust. Do you think God will keep quite if someone were to steal from the church? I HIGHLY doubt, because God is a just God, even if they escape in this life, they won’t escape eternal judgment. So if Christians working outside church can make wealth through obedience, why can’t full-time workers in church be wealthy too? Does God practice double-standards? Definitely NOT!
How great would our testimony be if the God whom we declare as the creator of the entire universe, the one who supplies all our needs, can’t even provide for our daily needs? How great would our testimony be if full-time pastors can’t even send their children to the best universities? How high would people regard Christianity if full time church workers don’t even have enough to provide for their own families? If we Christians live in poverty, we are actually declaring God a liar and publically saying the Bible is fake! It is written in the Bible that we, as believers of Christ, shall not beg for bread (Psalm 37:24-26). So Christians, be very careful not to reject or condemn God’s financial blessings on other as well as yourself because rejecting or condemning God’s word is an outright blasphemy.
We can glorify God through our wealth. I believe God is raising up a new generation of millionaires and billionaires, who are strong in the Word and totally dependent on the Holy Spirit, to cause a major impact in world economics, moving governments and impacting nations. A new generation that doesn’t gather wealth for his or her own self consumption, but a people who will fund that many ministry and missions works, building many churches across the world, relieving poverty and giving welfare to the needy, all for the expansion of His Kingdom, making His Name great! All this is because we’re are blessed by God to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:1-3).
Hope this little sharing has inspired you to live out your dreams, to make more money for the glory of God. If we choose to build God a great house, to go after what matters to Him first, He will add on much to us. I’m so glad I’m now planted and discipled in Harvest Generation, a church which believes in taking embraces EVERY PROMISE that God has for us as believers of Christ. I want to be very wealthy one day, and I want other people to see my wealth, particularly non-Christians, not to boast of my ability to make wealth, but to boast of God’s favour, goodness, blessing and greatness over my life and the lives of my future children, to be greater blessing to them not just in spiritual and emotional support, but also in physical finances.
Do mark my words, if you think money is a problem or even a curse, Please Bring Your 'Problems' and 'Curses' to me! I will gladly DELIVER you from ALL of it~!! HAHA!
PROJECT REPORT! I’ve just traded in my old car audio amplifiers to a more powerful one as the former was causing my sound system to produce a lot of white noise. I’ve also added 2 new Clarion mid range speakers to the back of my car to create a surround sound feel in my car. Now I’m blasting Eminem songs from it and it sounds fantastic! HAHA! Other than that, I’m currently planning my finances to change my worn-out clutch and clutch pressure plate. Planning to change to a Trinity 6-puck racing clutch couple with Exedy racing pressure plate from to be able to support the torque my engine is currently producing. It’s about time my gearbox is serviced also.
That’s all the time I have for now, thanks for taking time to read this post. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. Have a great new week ahead! Take care and God bless!
