God Has a Plan for Your Finances
Money is a resource and gift given to us from God. Like water, wind or electricity, money can work in profitable ways when channeled properly. However, if not channeled properly, money can wreak havoc on our lives!
God has a plan for our lives concerning money and our finances. There are over 2,000 scriptures in the Bible that have to do with how we handle our money and manage it.
Proverbs 21:5 says, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity.” Planning a financial vision and working with God guarantee a profitable return.
In the parable found in Matthew 25, there was a master who gave three of his servants each talent to manage while he went out of town. Two of them managed the talent well and were good stewards with what was given to them. Therefore, in the end, each were given more talents to manage. It is not the same story with the third servant. He hid the talent in the ground because he was afraid. His plan of ignoring his talent did not reap a profitable return; it reaped a harvest of no return.
How many of us feel like doing that today? At the beginning of implementing a financial plan, we get afraid just like this servant and wish we could burry our own situation! We might be afraid to look at the numbers, and actually see how far behind we are, or acknowledge the amount of debt we have.
But God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, self-discipline and a sound mind. We have to face the situation in order to change the situation. Change needs to be conceived on the inside before you perceive it on the outside. You have to work with God. It all starts with the decision to change.
In the Old Testament, there was a widow who faced a severe financial situation. She was in such financial need that the creditors were after her and wanted to take her son as a slave. The prophet Elisha showed up at her house with instructions from God for her situation and it had to do with the little of her resources that she had. All she had was one jar of oil. With one jar, and obediently gathering jars from her neighbors at the request of Elisha, she backed up her faith with actions and obedience. She followed a plan. When her miracle occurred, she not only had enough oil to fill each jar and pay off her debts, but she was well about to sell the oil and live off the rest.
Our God is a running over kind of God. You may feel like the widow with one jar of oil, and feel like digging your situation in the ground like the servant from Matthew, but be encouraged to develop a vision and plan to work with God. Start by eliminating your debt. Work with what you have now as best as you can and as faithful as you can. By staying faithful with little, He will entrust you with more.
Work with God. Establish a vision. Know where you’re heading this year. Remember, it doesn’t matter how grave your situation seems right now, if you will stay faithful and manage diligently what you have and trust God, you will achieve and experience true financial freedom.
