As you might guess from the title, this blog is about our money. It is really amazing how hard it is to trust God in this area. I almost feel as though I can more easily trust Him with my eternal salvation and destination, than I can trust Him to provide for my needs today! Since the founding fathers of our country chose to inscribe our currency with the term, “In God we trust,” I am guessing I am not the only one with this hang up.
I think money is especially difficult for followers of Jesus. We have all kinds of differing beliefs about wealth, from people deliberately living in poverty, to the prosperity gospel believers. I think the bottom line comes down to trust. Are we trusting that our God is a good God, able to supply all we need and to give us wisdom and discernment in how to use our resources?
As I mentioned, this is very hard to do. My personal goal is to get to a place of faith and trust where I don’t worry anymore about whether or not God will provide for me. I want to have unshakable faith that of course my heavenly Father is going to take care of me. Despite the fact that God has never let me down, I still doubt!
As many of you know, I really love “My Utmost For His Highest,” by Oswald Chambers. I recently read that he says that trusting God to provide for us is actually a habit and one of the first that we need to establish in our spiritual lives. The reason for this is that it is not just about our material provision, but the provision of His grace and power in our lives. If we say we are following Jesus, but are still just scraping by each day in our own strength, it doesn’t say much about the redemptive power of the cross!
My prayer for us as Jesus’ followers is that we will make it a habit to trust more and more in God’s abundant provision in every area of our lives. That we wouldn’t fall into bed at night with a feeling of having barely made it through the day, but with a sense of confidence and peace. That we would be able to look back through each day and see God providing over and over and to also look forward with expectancy to tomorrow when we know that He will do it all over again.
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” I Chronicles 29:11-12
(For any of you that would like more information about a Godly perspective on finances or how to get out of debt or manage money better, I would highly recommend Dave Ramsey. He has written many books on the subject, has a radio show and a very helpful website. You can find more at www.DaveRamsey.com)
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