Thought Conditioners – God’s Laws of Finance & Stewardship

“One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer, another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”  (Proverbs 11:24)

 The world prospers by hoarding, but God reveals that the way to supernatural prosperity is through giving.

God doesn’t operate by this world’s system, and it’s more important for us to understand how God’s financial system works than it is to understand Wall Street.

God’s laws of prosperity always keep God first while the world’s system of prosperity always puts money first.

In God’s economy, you move closer toward your goals by giving than you do by clinging to everything you have. It all comes down to faith. 

Everyone wants to prosper, but few people are willing to pay the necessary price of study and meditation in God’s Word which is necessary in order for His laws of prosperity to be manifested.

Only a small percentage of Christians are willing to pay the price of constant study and meditation that God requires in 2 Timothy 2:15, Psalm 1:1–3 and Joshua 1:8.

Meditating day and night on God’s laws of prosperity, speaking them with your mouth and acting on them in your life, will activate God’s laws of prosperity.

The two most important steps toward prosperity are to realize that God is your source, and to develop the mindset of a steward. Once you do those two things, the Word of God will cause you to prosper. 

In the world, people study the Wall Street Journal and all the stock market tips to decide how to handle their money.  This is fine for man’s system of prosperity, but Christians should study God’s laws of prosperity which are found in the greatest instruction book that this world has ever known – the Holy Bible.

If we want God to prosper us, we must give ourselves wholly to continual study and meditation in His Word.

None of us should expect our Father to prosper us unless we are willing to pay the price of working hard at studying His Word.

We renew our minds through constant study and meditation in God’s Word.

If I had to boil everything that I have learned down to just four words, this four-word prescription for God’s prosperity would be, “always keep God first.”

We should say, “God, I’m going to put you first and keep you first every hour of every day of my life. I’m going to study and meditate constantly in your Word and do exactly what it tells me to do, trusting completely in you to supply every one of my needs.”

If you give a little, you get a little – but when you give liberally, you get liberally. When you sow a lot, you reap a lot.

Nearly everyone wants to reap a lot, but they try sowing as little as possible, it doesn’t work that way. You can’t give by the teaspoon and expect to receive by the truckload. If you want to receive by the truckload, then you have to give by the truckload.

If we sow sparingly, we will reap a modest harvest. If we sow bountifully, cheerfully and ungrudgingly, God will supply abundantly so that we will always have everything that we need with enough left over to contribute to every good work.

If you can look at all your assets and say, “I produced all of this,” then you haven’t tapped into God’s abundance yet. When you put God’s kingdom first, the Lord will prosper you supernaturally. And it will be abundant.

If you aren’t embarrassed by your level of prosperity, then there is a good chance you aren’t depending on God as your source.

God is the source of our prosperity but notice the Scripture doesn’t say God gives us wealth. God doesn’t send us checks in the mail; He gives us the power to get wealth. (Duet. 8:18)  He releases an anointing on whatever you do and causes it to prosper – and the blessing of God is so powerful that it cannot be reversed.

Gifts also have an effect in the spiritual realm. When you give, it opens up doors for you. It can create opportunities and bring you before powerful people.

God evaluates prosperity by how much of a blessing you are to others.

Financial success isn’t about you – it’s really about how much money is flowing through you.

By fixing your heart, you deal with the root cause of financial situations, and then money will take care of itself. Once your heart is right, using wisdom in how you spend/invest your money comes naturally.

Without the blessing of God upon your life, you wouldn’t even have the ability to prosper.

It is important to develop the mindset of being a steward – over God’s money, not yours.

It was purely the favor of God that made him rich. In the same way, your efforts are not the source of prosperity in your life.

Abraham saw God as his source. He trusted in God, and because of that, God prospered him supernaturally. God is the one who opens doors of opportunity. God is our source, and just like Abraham, we need to recognize that the money we have belongs to God.

I recognize that I am not the one who has caused my success. It isn’t my great wisdom or ability that has caused our ministry to succeed, it’s the blessing of God.

The way God gets you to trust Him in that area of your life is by asking you to give a portion of what you earn back to him, and He promises to bless you back in return. It helps to remember that the power to get wealth comes from God, and it teaches you to trust God as your true source of prosperity.

Once you begin trusting God for that which is seen – money – then you will be able to trust him for that which is unseen: health, peace, joy, prosperity, and God’s favor in your life.

Once the favor of God is on our lives, it cannot be stopped! The only thing that can derail the blessing of God is our own unbelief and negativity. As long as we keep believing, the blessings of God will keep coming.

When you know God is your source, you won’t cling to assets. This mindset will help you sleep at night! It will completely transform your life to learn to rely on God instead of trusting in assets or other people. You can actually live your life without being tied to, or a servant of, your money. 

When we follow God’s laws of prosperity, we receive His wisdom in our finances and in every area of our lives because His laws of prosperity apply to much more than just our finances.

Money is nothing! It’s the blessing and favor of God on you that is the real asset. The true power of money is in using it to bless others and help grow the kingdom, which will also change your future.

(When they get to heaven…) They’ll still be blessed and overwhelmed by the love of God because we aren’t saved according to our works, but there won’t be anybody waiting to welcome them into heaven because they never used their money to spread the gospel and change lives.

You won’t know how many lives you have touched by giving to support the preaching of the gospel until you get to heaven and see everyone lined up to greet you.

Money is not our greatest asset. Wise people invest their money in the future. Remember, the blessing of God is what makes you rich, not money. As long as you have God’s blessing, wealth will find you. The key is learning not to spend all of your money on short-lived pleasures but using some of it to help shape your future. Not just on earth, but so multitudes of people will be waiting to welcome you into heaven.

God’s kind of prosperity results from faith. When you work so that you can have money to give, God takes care of you. It’s a mindset and a heart condition, not a get rich scheme. 

The highest form of giving is to help share the gospel. When you start helping the good news to be shared, demonstrating the love of God in word and deed, there is a divine flow that takes place. God starts supernaturally supplying your needs.

There’s nothing wrong with being prosperous. God wants you to have nice things, but your heart attitude should be that prosperity isn’t about you – it’s really about how much is flowing through you.

God gave us two hands: one hand to receive, and one hand to give. If God can get the money through you to other people, then he will get it to you – and as the money flows through there will be plenty left over for you.

God’s kind of prosperity comes when you shift your focus from getting and maintaining stuff, to living to give.

Many people will have had $1 or $2 million pass through their hands in this life, but they won’t have anything to show for it in eternity. They will have spent all of their money on cars, clothes, and food. Right now, we have the privilege of taking something that will eventually be completely destroyed and converting it into something that will never pass away.

Once you understand this truth, you realize what an incredible blessing it is to be able to give. It’s the investment opportunity of a lifetime.

You have to rely on God and trust that He is your source. It has to be a heart–level revelation, not just a conclusion you arrive at mentally. But once you grab hold of this, it will revolutionize your life. You will be completely transformed once you believe that by putting God first, he will begin to supernaturally take care of you. It will bring you a tremendous amount of peace and confidence.

Prosperity isn’t about indulging your flesh, that’s not it at all. Prosperity is about giving. When you get that attitude, God will get money to you – and there will be plenty left over for you.

The Lord is searching the earth, looking for people who will believe His promises and put first the kingdom of God. He is looking for people who will give genuinely, from the heart, not as a form of manipulation – not giving just to get. God is literally searching the world for people He can give finances to, people who are givers.

You could turn this around and say that if you are consistently short on money, if you always have more month then you have money, then maybe God doesn’t see you as a giver.

Sowers are the people God is searching the world to find.

It’s only what you give away that you get to keep, and no one is a fool to give away something they can’t keep in order to get something they can never lose.

When you get the attitude of a giver and walk it out over time, God will increase your finances. If God can get money through you, He will get it to you – and it won’t be long before you have plenty left over for yourself.

God won’t let you outgive him. God always blesses you back when you show faith in Him by giving of your substance. You will never be more faithful to God than He is to you.

Giving is a powerful part of tapping into God’s prosperity. Several different things help determine the harvest you get from your giving – like the attitude you give with, where you give, and trusting God as your source – so there isn’t a formula. But you can’t really prosper in God’s economy until you start sowing into his kingdom.

As you become a deliberate, on purpose giver – and you do it motivated by love – it will start a flow of God’s blessings into your life that will cause you to prosper like never before.

Giving with the right attitude, and in the full knowledge that God is your source, will really prosper you.

When you honor God by giving the firstfruits of your increase, then the Lord turns around and says, “so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” The way we would say that today is, “I’m going to fill up your checking account, and your savings account is going to burst.” 

Giving is how you wind up with a huge savings – not by hoarding. When you take a portion of what you have and trust God with it, then it becomes a seed that yields greater increase in the future.

Planting seed ensures that you have a crop in the future to feed your family and provide for your needs. Most people are short-term thinkers. They don’t see the wisdom in giving because the natural mind can’t understand the things of the spirit.

The liberal soul shall be made fat is another way of saying that when you are a giver, you will have more money than you need. You’ll have riches in reserve. God will bless you and multiply you.

The blessings that we receive from our Father will be in direct proportion to the degree of our true, deep and lasting commitment in Him.

Prosperity is a byproduct of seeking God, it shouldn’t be the goal.

Our Father has more than enough to meet every one of our needs. Too many of God’s children are focusing on inflation, interest rates and unemployment instead of meditating constantly upon his promises. Heaven’s economy isn’t dependent in any way upon the condition of a man-made economic system!

 The Holy Spirit is the world’s best salesman, the world’s best mechanic, the world’s best factory worker, the world’s best engineer, the world’s best nurse, the world’s best doctor, the world’s best dentist, etc. etc.  There is no limit to what he can do through us in any occupation. Our job is to do the very best we can with the human abilities that He has given us and then to trust in Him for the rest.

This is what “separates the men from the boys” spiritually. Strong faith demands action. If we really believe, then we’ll do exactly what our Father’s Word tells us to do.

REACH OUT AND RECEIVE!
God has already commanded blessing and the power to get wealth upon you. You just have to learn how to reach out in faith and receive it!

God doesn’t give you wealth directly; He gives you power to get it instead.  “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant” (Deut. 8:18).

As a born-again believer, you already have God’s wealth anointing and prosperity power. However, you must believe in your heart that you already have it and then put it to work by faith.

Many things are involved in the process of putting this power to work and seeing wealth manifest. You need to wholeheartedly seek God and His kingdom first. (Matt. 6:33.) You must trust in Him and start giving. It’s important to understand that there’s always a period of time between sowing and reaping. Also, you must go out and work. There are many, many practical things you can do to actively cooperate with God’s laws of faith concerning prosperity.

Once you believe that God—by grace—has already provided prosperity, you’ll begin to reach out in faith and take it. You’ll start cooperating with the power and anointing to get wealth that is already in your born-again spirit. Instead of just praying and asking God to dump a bunch of money in your lap while you sit at home watching “As the Stomach Turns” on television, you’ll get up, go out, and start touching things. Why? Because you know that God has promised to bless all the work of your hands! (Deut. 28:8, 12.)

When you start doing things—believing for that anointing to manifest and prosperity to come—then you’ll start seeing it. If you just sit at home, pray, and wait for God to magically put money in your wallet, you’ll never receive it. God said He’d bless the work of your hands. One hundred times zero is zero (100 x 0 = 0). You need to believe that God has already done His part, and then do something. It’s not, “God, did You see that I worked? Now, release Your power!” No!  You’re working because you believe that God has already given you this anointing to get wealth, and you’re acting in faith to release that power to manifest the prosperity the Lord has already provided. Can you see the difference?

Every believer is called to live a life that is abundant, increasing and always expanding. Words like growing, improving, expanding and increasing are the vocabulary of God’s abundant life. Abundant life is about always moving forward and rising higher. When life on earth started in Genesis 1, the Spirit of the Lord started moving across the earth, and He has never stopped since then.

Jesus said, “And these signs will follow those who believe” (Mark 16:17).

The abundant life of God is a life that grows and moves forward every day. Jesus says in John 10:10 that the devil, the thief, comes to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to keep you from living. He wants to rob from your life. Everything that’s negative, everything that removes, everything that stops and kills is of the thief, the devil.

But Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly.” Oh, I love that thought! So in our first look at God’s spiritual process of victorious transformation, I want to put God’s thoughts of abundance in your mind. I want to inspire you with His thoughts of increase and thoughts of moving forward and upward.

So many “pew warming” Christians have been raised so long in the religious culture of just making a living and trying to hang in there that they don’t know God’s abundance even exists. The negative, sick, sorrowful environment they were raised in keeps them constantly confused. They’re always wondering what’s happening. Their lives are not what God willed. Their vision is not what God planned. What they see for tomorrow is not what God sees for tomorrow.

This is not the abundant life of God; it is the life of religion and the expectation of tradition. This is the attitude of people who don’t know the life that God has called them to.

What God sees for tomorrow is what He sees every day: exciting, progressing, abundant life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

The Greek word for life spoken by Jesus in John 10:10 is zoe. It means “absolute life, the purest kind of life, life in its very essence.” I like what the margin note in my Bible reads: “the God kind of life.”

Jesus didn’t say, “I’ve come for you to exist.” You can exist without Jesus. He didn’t say, “I’ve come for you to survive.” You can survive without Jesus. He didn’t say, “I’ve come for you to make a living.” You can make a living without Jesus. No, Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have the God kind of absolute life, the purest kind of life, life in its very essence—zoe.”

God doesn’t fulfill our needs according to the condition of the stock market. It’s not according to what your boss wants to pay you. It’s not according to the contracts your union fought for. It’s not according to your company’s profits. It’s according to His riches in glory. You may want to trust in the Dow Jones industrial average or in the Teamsters or in your boss and company. But I’m going to trust God. He is the One who promises to meet all my need and yours according to His riches in glory.

The Amplified Bible says, My God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. You won’t find any of this “barely enough” stuff in Scripture. What you will find is phrases like, liberally supply…fill to the full…according to His riches.

If Paul were just talking about what we need to survive—air, water, food and shelter, we wouldn’t need to call on His riches in glory. But Paul is talking abundant-life talk. He’s talking about God’s giving you what you need to live this abundant life so you can fulfill your destiny. And to do this, the apostle says that God will use His riches in glory to make sure you have a liberal supply.

The Church must teach God’s reality. But before we can do that accurately, we must get the true image of who we are in Him and who He is in us. We’ve got to know first that abundant life is available. Then we’ve got to stop our selfish ways of thinking that major on survival and what we want. We must start living bigger in such a way that we change the world around us.

John realized that the prosperity of our whole lives, including the health of our bodies, hinged on the condition of our souls. John understood that what is in us controls what comes out of us and ultimately produces life’s experiences. The apostle is telling us that as our soul prospers, our life prospers.

So many Christians wonder about God’s will when it comes to prosperity and health. It should be obvious to anyone who believes the Bible that John wouldn’t pray a prayer that was contrary to the will of God. Neither would he have said that he prayed this prayer above every other prayer if it weren’t so.

If it weren’t God’s will for His people to prosper and live in health, the Holy Spiritwould never have inspired John to believe it or record it as a part of holy Scripture.

WE MUST BELIEVE THAT IF WE GIVE THE BEST, WE WILL HAVE THE BEST

Regardless of the economy or marketplace, God is a God of abundance. He told Abraham, “I am El Shaddai,” the God who is more than enough. Abraham became a very rich man as he walked with God. (Gen. 12-17.)

The prophet Malachi tells us to bring our tithes, a tenth of our income, into the Church so there will be food in God’s house. When we believe this promise is connected to our destiny and do it, the Lord can open the windows of heaven to pour out a blessing on us.

When you put the wrong things first in life, you fail. There is no way around the reality of right priorities.  Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).

If you will make Jesus the top priority of your life, He will enable you to succeed in business, family and every other area of your life.

Excellence is key to experiencing God’s will in every realm of life. But we live in a world where just getting by is viewed as good. We must realize that according to God’s perspective, good is the enemy of best. Many people don’t do their best on the job; they just do enough to get by. The problem is, they don’t realize that there is more to being paid than the check they receive. New opportunities from the Lord, increases and prosperity come to those who are faithful in what is least. If you give your best, when nobody but God is looking, you will soon be faithful in much as well. (Luke 16:10-12.)

If we Christians would get rid of that “barely get by” attitude and begin to go for excellence in every area of life, then we, too, could have a highly respected influence on our nation.

Mediocrity is a curse that causes people, families, businesses and ministries to exist far below their potential. It is only through excellence that we reach the height of our abilities. Because mediocrity is the norm in society and so much easier to attain, we must fight for excellence. It must be a drive and a passion that gets us up earlier in the morning, causes us to work longer at night and motivates us to give more than is required.

That’s why the body of Christ must likewise strive for excellence. We must start where we are at and use whatever means we have. But the point is, we should always strive to improve and set our sights on excellence. You may no be there now (I know I’m not), but you’re on the way. Don’t accept a mediocre life. Fight for excellence in everything.

People achieving excellence always strive for improvement, and they learn to love change. You see, when you learn to love the transformation process—you will change!

The key to prosperity isn’t a better salary; the key to prosperity is to renew your mind so that when you do make more money, you will be able to manage it properly.

Paul is telling us here that God has already blessed you with everything heaven has to offer. So stop right here for a second and say, “I’m already blessed!” So many Christians are trying to get God to do something, without knowing He has already done it. That’s right—God has already provided whatever you need. Right now, you’re blessed with everything heaven has to offer. And if you can see this image of total blessing, it will change the way you live.

How you see God is how you see your world. If your image of God sounds like, “Well, God might heal, but you never know,” “God might bless, but you can never be sure,” “God touches some, but He doesn’t touch others,” or “God prospers some, but others, He wants to be poor,” then these images will become the controlling factor in your life and you will act that way. Sometimes you will be generous; sometimes you will be stingy. You might be nice to some and unkind to others, because your image of God is your image of yourself.

But once you see in Ephesians 1:3 that God has already blessed you with everything heaven has to offer, it is easy to receive from heaven. It is also easy to give, because understanding that every spiritual blessing in the heavens is yours leaves very little limitation on what you have.

When your mind is renewed in the revelation that you are blessed, you will just flow. You won’t be selfish or guarded. You won’t be defensive. You will be a big, open, generous, liberal person. Because God is big, you will see big.

So if you say things like, “Well, we’ve just been in debt, I was born in debt, my parents were in debt, I was raised in debt; I can’t afford that” and so forth, you just framed your world with debt upon debt. And as long as you keep talking that way about finances, you will live that way.

But if you act like God, you will speak light to the darkness. You will prophesy light to that big hole in your checkbook. You will raise that thing from the dead! Because God calls things that are not as though they were, and because you are made in His image, you can too!

So when you begin to say, “I’m financially prospering, I don’t live in debt, I pay off my debts, my home is paid for, I have a car paid for, I have money in the bank, God gives me the power to get wealth, money is coming to me,” you are only obeying what God’s Word says and framing your life with God’s supernatural best.

Many people pray for provision and then expect God to instantly manifest their answer. If it doesn’t happen, then they start doubting and say, “God, why haven’t You done anything?” No, the Lord has already done His part. He’s already commanded financial blessing upon all believers. (Deut. 8:18.) God has already given every Christian power, anointing, and ability to prosper. Psalm 35:27 reveals His delight “in the prosperity of his servant.” In the spirit, there’s abundant supply for every born-again believer. (2 Cor. 8:9.)

God, why didn’t You answer my prayer? He did! He’s blessed you with all spiritual blessings. He’s commanded His favor upon you. He’s given you power to get wealth. All of these things are real in the spiritual realm. But you need to cooperate in faith!

For Scripture References, refer to “God’s Laws of Finance & Stewardship” in the “Word of God” section of www.phlibrary.com

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