Before I tell you who's responsible for your financial troubles I'd like to clarify something. Plato said, "The greater part of instruction is being reminded of things you already know." As the author of this web journal, what I'm trying to do is simply help people understand in a new and clear way something that they have long sensed inside of them. I want to create "aha moments."
I never want anyone who reads this journal to feel like the Charlie Brown cartoon I once read where he built a sand castle on the beach only to have it washed away by a huge downpour. As he looked at the bare spot where his efforts once stood, he says, "There must be a lesson here, but I don't know what it is." You don't have to be an expert to understand what I'm trying to teach. You don't have to be "super smart." My goal is to share financial gold that I've learned through painful trial and error. The purpose isn't to impress you. It's to be a friend who helps you.
So, how can I help you? Today I'm going to identify the person responsible for all your financial hardships. It's not who you might think. When you find out it's not you, you're going to be in shock. I hope that gets your attention. However, with you...is a good place to start.
We begin with your attitude toward money.
Read the words of David from 1 Chronicles 29:10-14:
David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying "Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 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. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand."
David understood the sovereignty of God over everything he had. If you and I are looking for financial success in our life, our family, our business, or for our children, then we must do the same. We're going to have to change our attitude toward money.
We need to live by another verse of the Bible that says, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Our attitude toward money is what keeps us from the blessings of God. So then, who influences our attitude?
Christians should be leading the world in the management of money, but we're not. Why? The devil convinces us that all the church talks about is money, so whenever the subject of money comes up, we get offended. Why? So you and I won't listen to God's truth. If the devil can get us fired up and "private" and self-righteous about "our" money, we won't hear the truth that can set us free! So the devil sets us up so we are closed to what God wants us to know. And, as long as we don't know what God wants us to know we can't even begin to do what God wants us to do, right? The result? The devil is able to keep us in bondage. Then, we need to change our attitude...right in his face. We need to stop believing the lies of the enemy so we can hear the truths of our Creator.
Tomorrow I will talk about these lies and help us all discover the truth.
Thanks for reading.
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