Finances are often a touchy subject for people.
The topic itself conjures images of preachers putting money before God and using their congregations to enrich only themselves.
While the Bible warns against the love of money many times, throughout the Old and New Testaments the Word of God confirms that the Lord wants to bless His people for their faith in Him.
Financial expert and Pastor Jim Baker recently sat down with Charisma News to share three reasons he believes a Christian may not be receiving the full blessings of the Lord in their life.
- A Lack of Knowledge
“One of the reasons Christians are not prospering is they lack knowledge,” says Baker. “‘My people perish for a lack of…’ didn’t say lack of faith, doesn’t say lack of money, doesn’t say lack of time, people perish for a lack of knowledge.
“Financial knowledge acts as a ceiling to somebody’s financial growth. … If you want to have a greater [number] of resources for the King in His kingdom, you need to increase your ability, you need to increase your financial knowledge. As you increase it, it doesn’t take money to make money. It takes money to invest money,” he adds.
- The Spirit of Mammon
“I would lump that [the love of money] under the spirit of Mammon. Mammon tries to get you to look to money the way you’re supposed to look to God, right?” asks Baker.
“Here’s an example: If you feel more significant and more secure when you’ve got more money in your checking account, that’s the spirit of Mammon because your security and your significance are supposed to come from God,” explains Baker.
“You can see how sneaky this thing is, it really influences. It’s the spiritual influence behind money that God talks about, and that Jesus talks about in Matthew 6.
“It’s like a two-sided coin. There’s fear on the one side that says there’s not going to be enough, and on the other side, there’s greed, which is the same message [that] there’s not enough. We need to break that because God’s supernatural cannot flow into that fear and worry. Fear and worry are the symptoms of the spirit of Mammon,” says Baker.
- Not Having a Financial Map
“No NFL team goes into the Super Bowl and they’re like, ‘Hey, let’s just line up on the line of scrimmage. Let’s just pray in the Spirit and see what happens,’ right? No one is doing that,” says Baker.
“We all love Jeremiah 29:11…He had a plan for Joseph and how he was going to prosper during those seven years of plenty so that he could save the world during the time of famine. He had a specific plan,” Baker explains.
“God has a plan for you, and how you’re going to prosper. So, the wealth map is…different than your financial plan. It’s not a way to build up wealth in the first place. So, a wealth map is not how you are going to start with point A and get to point Z. It is, how are you going to get the provision for your vision? What are the action steps? How are you going to do it? How do you reliably build wealth using timeless biblical truths and proven financial principles customized to you? That’s your wealth mapping,” says Baker.
To learn more about building wealth along biblical principles to help grow the kingdom of God, sign up for the free online workshop with Pastor Jim Baker on Wednesday, June 7 at noon and 8 p.m. (EST). {eoa}
James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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