Financial Freedom Part 1
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
When was Jesus rich? When did he BECOME poor?
All through His ministry, Jesus had abundance. A man who can feed 2,000 people, and has a treasurer is by no means poor. The definition of poverty is when you are in lack of all things (hungry, thirsty, without clothing). This was experienced on the cross. In fact one of the last things he said was “I thirst”. His clothes were gambled off (they must have been expensive garments for the Roman soldiers to cast lots for his clothing). Jesus nailed poverty to the cross along with many other things as a divine exchange for us so we (by his stripes are healed, by his poverty we might be rich). If you do not believe this, you will never truly understand that poverty and lack is not of God, it’s from the devil.
- The house falls, and its fall is great.
Matthew 7 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Build on the Rock by hearing and doing what God says, even about money. Obedience always bring blessings, but disobedience will bring curses.
- Do Not Rob God or the Devourer Robs you
Malachi 3 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes (remember 2 Corinthians for your sakes he became poor so you could be rich), So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; 12 “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts.
Are you a God Robber? Are you a thief? There are consequences for every behavior.
Tithing is proof that you are not in idolatry to your money. Tithing is proof that God can trust you with more.
Look at how many people devote their entire lives to school, careers, and work to get this thing called money. They are even willing to get away from church, their own families and God because work now is more important to them, it’s their supplier in life! And the justification is “I want my children to have all the things I never had”. What if those things are killing them? There is no way we can become a better provider for our family than God. So many people spend so much of their time, energy and resources on their job, or work. It is important to know what God says about this topic. Money has become the world’s God and are trapped in modern day slavery. Is this you?
Tithing and Sowing is CRUCIAL to your financial prosperity. It is necessary if you want to break free from this modern day slavery. If you are not tithing, in a sense you are just throwing your money away. The devil (devourer) has a legal right to your money, and will make sure you waste your hard earned money, time and energy.
The devil does not want you to tithe. He wants you to believe that you NEED that money for yourself, or that tithing is not such a big deal.
If you get this now, and start obeying God in this area, HE WILL open doors and opportunities to take you far beyond your dreams, but it starts with obedience. But if you choose not obey God in this area, by default you are obeying the devil, and this is bad news because you are now subject to his will for your money.
Proverbs 3:9 – Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Tithes and Offerings are to be done FIRST! Do not look at your bills. First pay the tithe and offering (seed) and then look at your bills and deal with that. Don’t wait till Sunday, use an online payment system or make the trip to the church for the tithe and put the seed in the ground where God leads you, but be sure to put the seed in.
Galatians 6:7 – Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Do not over spiritualize this, it will cause deception. It’s very simple and straightforward. If you need finances you sow finances. If you need employment you sow your time because that’s what you will reap. It’s much easier to grow what you need but a common mistake I see is when people want to sow their time in exchange for money. You will just get a vacation and still be broke. It’s time to break free from poverty and learn how to grow what you need (in this case money).
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE SEED.
Tithing is easy because God tells you exactly how much (10%) and where to give it (the storehouse, my house, the church). So in a sense, tithing is automatic. Sowing a seed is a bit more difficult because it requires your attention and direction from God. You don’t always know how much money to give or where to give it to. Come up with a method to make sure you are always planting/sowing along with your tithe. What we have found out to make it easy for me and my wife is giving a specific percentage on top of the tithe. The seed has to be given as each purposes in his heart. There has to be a purpose. Find out where the best Kingdom ground is. Don’t just give it anywhere. Invest it. You are a farmer. Find the good soil to put it in. The seed will go wherever you see a purpose and passion toward the Kingdom. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where to give it, but make sure you plant it. If you don’t know then just give it to the church. We give to many organizations, ministries, and other individuals as the Holy Spirit leads us and have seen some amazing harvests as a result.
Remember this.
1.Tithe 10% of all your increase, 2. Sow seed / Offering on top of your tithe, 3. Give from the First Fruits Its more important to pay God than your bills 4. Don’t tithe or give with a motive of just reaping (or need or necessity or burden), but rather in reverence and honor to God. The increase will automatically come, that’s the law of seedtime and harvest, but give simply to be obedient to God. Check your motive and your (good) ground. The purpose of money is to advance the Kingdom of God. These 2 things, tithes and offerings must be done.
Jeremiah 23: 36 And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of theLord of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the Lord answered thee? and, What hath the Lord spoken? 38 But since ye say, The burden of the Lord; therefore thus saith the Lord; Because ye say this word, The burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord; 39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Don’t let tithing or giving be a burden. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this financial system that is everlasting and not broken like the worlds. Also, don’t allow that which God calls us to do to be a burden. Don’t call it a burden to win souls or teach children’s church, or play in the worship team. God called you there, do not let offense, or the world call you out of where God has placed you. Only God should call you out (usually by closing the door, or opening a new opportunity to serve IN THE KINGDOM not the world).
BEWARE OF TESTING
When you start doing this it might look like it’s not working. Or you might see a financial breakthrough right away and then after a while, all of a sudden, nothing. The enemy always has to introduce fear and this is where you have to become relentless with your tithes and offerings. You have to be willing to say “If I don’t have enough to buy food after this, then I will go into a fast. If I don’t not have enough to pay my electricity then we will have a candle lit bible study at home.” God is faithful and will come through make no mistake about that. Do not let the fear move you into not tithing or not giving. Stay faithful with it and God will come through. GUARANTEED!
Once this foundation is dealt with, we move on to Gods plan for financial increase. Given that you have tithes and offerings down, then you can move forward to God’s plan for financial increase. Although the following method might work anyway, it will be much easier so execute without a financial curse over you.
DO BUSINESS – The Parable of the Minas:
Luke 19: 12 Then He said, A certain nobleman went into a distant country, there, to obtain for himself a kingdom and then to return.
In this parable, Jesus is speaking and he is the nobleman. He is coming back for His church.
13 But before he went, he called ten of his servants and to each he gave one mina, then told them, buy, and sell (Do Business KJV) with these till I come back.
If you study verse 13, other translations say occupy, buy and sell, do business. The Greek word means to increase. So the purpose of money is to increase it by investing it, and its our responsibility to do it. God has given us the power to get wealth. Just because we have the power, or the command from Jesus to do business doesn’t mean we will automatically do it. And you will see the many attitudes of different people towards this.
14 But his citizens detested him, so they sent an embassy after him to say, We will not have this man to rule over us.
This is very sad because his own people (Christians in our application) hated him. How did they hate him? The did not want his rules. Many people say they love God, but they do not want His rules. “Don’t tell me what to do with my money. I love my job security and benefits. I will not start my own business. Don’t tell me how to live my live. I don’t want your rules. I love you, but I will ignore what you said about this sensitive topic that offends me.” Not to go off topic, but we look at Jesus and the magnificent work he did on the cross, and we will take the salvation, the cleansing, the healing, the joy, but don’t mess with this area of my life. Don’t give me your rules now.
15 Now when he returned after having received the kingdom, he called the servants to whom he had given the money so he could find out how much each one had gained by buying and selling.
The parable of the talents in Matthew says after a long time he returned. Business might take a long time for it to take off and many will not be faithful to see it through and bail out and go back to a job instead. Faithfulness cannot be proven over a weekend. It will take time and persistence.
16 The first one came and said, Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.17 And he said to that servant, Well done, you’re a good servant! Because you have been faithful in this little matter, you shall be given authority over ten cities.
Notice that he said because you have been faithful (not successful) he was given more resources. He was increased because of his faithfulness. If you are faithful in doing business, success will come automatically. It will come faster if you are a persistent tither and sower.
18 The second one came and said, Lord, your mina has gained five more minas.19 And he said to this servant, You would be in charge of five cities.
I want to point out that they say, your mina has gained, and not I have gained. We may have a different mentality because we are used to being the workers that make the money. In business, the idea is to not work for money, but make money work for you. Modern day slavery has it backwards. We need to undo this way of thinking.
20 Then another came and said, Lord, here is that one mina, which I have kept hidden in this sweat cloth.21 I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You pick up what you did not lay down; and you reap where you did not sow.22 He said to that servant, I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant. If you knew I was a harsh man, picking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow; 23 Then why didn’t you at least put my money in the bank, so when I returned I could have it back with the interest?
Fear will always keep you from stepping out and starting your own business. Fear will bring all sorts of excuses and reasons to not to what God tells you to so. He claims he was afraid of his failure and didn’t want to get reprimanded, but this makes no sense and God calls him out on it. If you knew this, if this was true, then why didn’t you put it in the bank? He was called a wicked servant. Don’t be full of excuses and fear. God expects us to multiply our finances not just pay bills.
24 And he said to those standing there, Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas. 25 And they said to him, but Lord, he has ten minas already!
Eventually, it will go to the ones who own everything. Bills. The money gets taken away and it goes to the rich ones. This might not seem fair. In the world you see the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and you may be like the bystanders who say, but he already has money! The basic logic here is that you don’t qualify to get more money just because you have less than someone else.
26 Then Jesus said, I’m telling you that to everyone who gains, more will be given; but from the one who does not gain, even what he has will be taken away.
Gain? Why gain? That’s what he told us to do. Do business. Increase the money. Make it gain! Be faithful with business and you will move on to cities (real estate). The qualifier to become an investor is business.
27 But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’”
Ultimately those who reject Jesus’ rules will fall away. No one can serve 2 masters. The job you are living for can pull you away from Gods will in your life and miss out on what God has called you to do.
