Faith and Finances

Jesus told  His disciples not to commence any work to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth until they were endued with power. That will ensure they lacked nothing they needed for the task ahead.  Luke 24[47]"And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. [48] "And you are witnesses of these things. [49] "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

We are given talents, opportunities and open doors in the same measure that we have the ability to do what is required with it. God does not give the same to all and we must not expect that God will bless someone else in the same measure as He blessed us. God may give us even more and may consider it prudent to give less. Actions and habits that repel God's power also diminish what we can get from His hidden riches.

We can therefore increase wealth by expanding our abilities-connection to divine power or by trading existing talents for more. One value focuses on nearness to God and deep faith in the unseen while the other focuses on innovation, obedience, diligence and persistent hard working of our gifts. Both must work together - otherwise faith without works will produce self-deception and poverty arising from lack of action. Works without spiritual depth or strength could result in storing much but in a large bag with many holes  with much  sorrow and loss. Meanwhile the owner has said in;Proverbs 10[22]  The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

Principles of Stewardship  require that we consider our unique gifts, talents and competences as a nation, people or enterprise and avoid seeking to be something we have not been constructed to be. It also requires us to trade and deal by leveraging these competences to meet demands of the populace and to serve others in a fair and equitable manner.  The path to wealth is not just through effort, but divine insight arising from our connections to God. Our devotion must be rekindled to hear and see fresh answers that  could not be discerned before.

However, there are consequences for doing things our way, this includes entering cycles of loss and ultimately the demise of all hope as crashes produce anger and more rebellion - even while grace still cries out that there is a way back.   We can still find our path back to God, the Owner, who is ever seeking good stewards.

A few more words to reiterate on stewardship

• God supplies our needs and will not have us hungry. He does not supply our wasteful excesses.
• Covetousness is trying to be someone God has not gifted us to be and without the grace and abilities. This produces bitterness and anguish of spirit and much zeal without knowledge.
• Remember, we do not own the gifts and wealth but we can have power with God. God does not seek our permission to give or take that which belongs to Him. There are direct unfortunate consequences for seeking independence from God in managing His resources rather than depending on Him.

In the Recession..always remember who owns the resources and His expectations of stewardship.