Finances

Exposing The Five Fallacies About The Purposes of Money
This material appears courtesy of Os Hillman

(Matthew 6:25)   When I accept Christ into my life I am saying to Him that He is now the Lord of my life. My life no longer is my own. What I own, the talents I have, and the resources He allows me to have are simply given to me for me to manage. He isn't against us having more than our basic needs as long as we remain an instrument of His to use those resources for His purposes. Our primary goal is to make money to be used for His purposes. We are to be His bondservant. A bondservant is one who is a willing slave with no rights of his or her own.

Finances was one of the hardest areas for me to have Jesus Lord over. Was I truly willing to have only what Jesus desires me to have materially? "To this John replied, " A man can receive only what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27). I am not saying that God cannot bless a Christian materially. The important factor is whether God gave us what we have or have we striven to acquire more and more out of the wrong motives. You might say, "How can I really know this?" The best way is to pray individually and examine our motives for why we are working and earning money. Discuss the idea with your spouse or mentor, and ask God. Next, get into an accountable relationship with a few others who are also willing to submit their finances to the Lord. Ask them to confirm through prayer whether your finances are lining up with what they believe God wants for you in this area. If we truly want Jesus lord over everything, it must start with our pocketbook.

James warns us against hoarding.
(James 5:1-5)   It's very difficult to maintain a kingdom focus if we are focused on building wealth. This scripture is a description of those who live in the outer rings as described in Matthew 13.

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