How Can the Lord Help You Overcome Problems Related to Money?
Proverbs 11:28-11:28
1. Concentrate on being more spiritually productive allowing the Lord to provide to you whatever is necessary. Solomon wrote, "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." (Prov. 11 :28)
2. Appreciate how much more valuable Godliness is than wealth. Paul wrote, "Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we will carry nothing out."
3. Do not spend a lot of energy storing up money and possessions on earth - instead invest in your heavenly future. Lay not up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also." (Matt. 6: 19,20)
4. God expects us to invest quantitatively and qualitatively in planting and growing churches. Paul wrote, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (2 Cor. 9:6,7) God has a way of multiplying our investments in His ministries a hundred fold.
5. The Lord wants us to put relationships before money and possessions. Jesus said, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."
6. Avoid the trap of chasing after monetary desires that ruin so many lives. Paul wrote, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (I Tim. 6:9)
7. Realize that the accumulation of wealth is a vain attempt to find satisfaction. Solomon wrote, "Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom. Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly will make wings for themselves; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." (Prov. 23 :4,5)
8. Thank God for how He gives you more happiness in your righteousness than if you were a millionaire. David wrote, "A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked." (Psa. 37: 16)
9. Consider how many people with meager incomes find happiness in the lasting values of life. James wrote, "Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?" (James 2:5)
10. Thank God for the quiet contentment you can find with a simple lifestyle. Solomon wrote, "Better is a handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit." (Eccl. 4:6)
11. Be aware that God works for the humble and opposes the proud and self-sufficient. David wrote, "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that is puffed up." (Psa. 12:5)
12. Give compassionately to the poor and needy and do not look down on their condition. Solomon wrote, "Whoever mocks the poor reproaches His Maker: and he that is glad at calamities will be punished."
13. Use your wealth for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom and righteousness with strategic investments in evangelism and disciple-making ministries. Paul wrote, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who gives all things richly to enjoy. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute." (I Tim. 6: 17- 19)
14. Remain humble with your money remembering that it is God who gives you the capacity to earn it. Moses wrote, "But you should remember the Lord you God: for it is He that gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is
this day." (Deut. 8: 18)
15. If you really want to flourish always choose righteousness over accumulation of wealth. Solomon wrote, "He that trusts in his riches will fall: but the righteous will flourish as a branch." (Prov. 11 :28)
16. Make money slowly and do not be hasty to get rich quick. Solomon wrote, "A faithful man will abound with blessings: but he that makes haste to be rich will not be innocent." (Prov. 28:20)
17. Remember that your savings will not do you any good when you stand before God’s judgment seat. Solomon wrote, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death."
18. Realize that many people who found security in their money ended their lives in deep regret. Ezekial wrote, "They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be removed: their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: it will not satisfy their soul."
19. You are no fool to give what you cannot keep to gain what you cannot lose. Solomon wrote, "There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing: there is the one who makes himself poor, but has great riches." (Prov. 13:7) Death has a way of bringing everyone back to the creator’s values of what is real success!
20. Money never satisfies for very long. Solomon wrote, "He that loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity." (Eccl. 5: 10)
21. All people will one day have to give an account of what they have done with their money and possessions. Solomon wrote, "The rich and the poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all." (Prov. 22:2)
22. The fear of God allows you to find great satisfaction with little. Solomon wrote, "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith . " (Prov. 15: 16)
