The two things that have been probably fought against the most in the last 30 years in the body of Christ are health and wealth. Healing and finances. Many people call it the “health and wealth” gospel. I have some good news for you: Jesus didn’t die for the sickness and poverty gospel.
If the enemy can keep you sick and poor, he’s going to severely limit your destiny.
Somehow Christians are even partnering with the idea that God made them sick to make them more like Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t sick. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to make you more like Jesus, not sickness. He paid for it all. He didn’t leave one thing out.
There are two errors Christians often see concerning health and wealth. The first error many in the church world believe is that poverty is a spiritual value. Some say that it’s good to be poor and that lack is a good thing because it keeps you dependent upon Jesus.
Well, if poverty is so spiritual why does the Bible tell us to give to the poor? Wouldn’t that just ruin their spirituality?
I tell you what, the poorest way to help the poor is to be poor.
I don’t want anyone to feel bad about your current financial situation, but if you’re partnering with lack, you’re never going to raise your eyes up to see what Jesus paid for on the cross.
Sometimes we need to pull some weeds before we can plant good seeds.
Think about it…
- It’s ironic that the monks who take a vow of poverty live off the wealth of other people.
- God has called each one of us to be stewards. To be a steward, you’re going to have to have something to steward.
- The only people praised with “well done good and faithful servant” before they died were investors who stewarded their money and increased it.
- If poverty is from God, why did the Lord bless Isaac so that he became rich and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy (Gen. 26:12-13)? It wasn’t the devil who prospered him, it was God.
- If poverty is so spiritual, why are we told to pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?” There’s no poverty in heaven. There’s never been a recession in heaven. There are no 30,000-year mortgages on the mansions in heaven. God has an abundance. The enemy has a budget.
- If money’s so bad for us why doesn’t Satan just pour it on Christians and watch them backslide into hell?
- If money is so bad why does Satan take it away from Job and at the end of the book, why does God reward him with a double portion?
- Why is the good man the one who leaves an inheritance to his children’s children?
Think about it. We are told to “Seek first the kingdom of God.” Every religious person on the planet loves the person who seeks first the kingdom, but when the next part of that verse happens, “and all these things will be added…” well, that might be getting a little too much.
So, how much is too much?
Whatever amount replaces trust in God.
Religion doesn’t mind the person who is a million dollars in debt, or even getting him debt free, but if they go a million dollars in the positive, you’re going to be getting some complaints.
Material possessions are not a sign of God’s blessings unless they are. There are actually a whole bunch of times in the Bible where someone’s material possessions were actually a sign of blessing right from God’s hand.
How about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Solomon? God was the direct cause of their blessing.
Here’s what that means for you. It’s not your job to be the prosperity police, trying to figure out who has too much.
The pressure’s off. You don’t get to judge another man or woman’s harvest when you don’t know what kind of seed they have planted.
Loving God doesn’t mean you have to be broke. Having money doesn’t mean you’re necessarily godly. Just ask the mafia.
Here’s the deal with money—money is to the natural realm what the anointing is to the spiritual realm. It’s just a way to get things done.
Guys, we have got to get this biblical view of money. It’s a tool to accomplish kingdom purposes.
Money is a tool.
It is not a tool to get inflated with. It just means that you’re able to be trusted with more resources for the King and his kingdom.
Let’s be careful to do some thorough weeding in our beliefs so that the soil is prepared for the seeds God wants to help you plant.
If God can get money through you, He’ll get money to you… with plenty left over. {eoa}
Jim Baker is the Senior Leader and Pastor at Zion Christian Fellowship in Powell, Ohio. He was led by the Lord to go into finance in 2011 and has helped others utilize biblical principles to experience financial breakthrough in their lives. Baker is now committed to a movement of kingdom wealth-builders who understand that prosperity has a purpose.
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