Don’t Get Rich Quick

Posted on July 3, 2019 by briansauder

A friend of mine calls this get-rich-quick mentality “lottery thinking.” I have to agree with him, lottery thinking is poverty thinking. The people who spend the most money on lottery tickets are at the bottom of the income scale. The help you need is not a big sum of money dumped in your lap, but rather a kick in the pants to start moving so God can bless your steps of faith.

Do not look for the big break, an insurance settlement, the miraculous provision, the chance deal, an inheritance or the lottery to get rich quick. The desire to get rich quick is really a lust for financial success without learning how to manage money. If we can just get this clear in our minds, we are far closer to actually learning how to advance.

Advancement comes to those who diligently apply God’s principles on a consistent, long-term basis. Look for steady progress through diligent, consistent work. God generally advances us gradually so we can concurrently grow the maturity to hold on to what he gives us. It is like a plane taking off—there is a correct trajectory of climbing that won’t stall the plane’s motor and yet gets you in the air before the end of the runway. Eyes set on the “chance that may come” will keep you from taking today’s step forward. Proverbs speaks to the trap of sitting around and waiting for your ship to come in.

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished (Proverbs 28:19-20).

I know a businessman who once said, “If you see money falling out of the sky, it is counterfeit; don’t pick it up!” If you build systematically, God will bring the growth. The answer is not out there somewhere; it is right in front of you with the step forward God wants you to take today. God’s nature is seed time and harvest. According to Hebrews 6, it is through faith and patience that we receive from God.

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Hebrews 6:12).

Patience is the power that will carry you through the obstacles of life into the seasons of blessing. It is notable that sometimes a wealthy person will lose all of their money, but somehow over time they seem to earn it all back and more. Amazingly enough this was actually Job’s experience. Let’s examine some more scriptures:

“…he who gathers money little by little makes it grow…All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty…The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (Proverbs 13:11; 14:23, 4:18).

Can you pick up the pattern here? Gather money little by little…hard work brings profit…shining ever brighter until the full light of day. If our eyes are set on the chance that may come it will paralyze us and keep us from taking today’s step forward. A prosperous soul will begin wherever it is and work toward advancement. Progress, God’s blessing, increase, promotions and favor are expected, but faithfulness and steady progress are the path to get there.

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Financial Courage

Posted on June 26, 2019 by briansauder

I was privileged to hear a wealthy man speaking with some service men and women who were wounded in combat. He was talking about possessing the courage to take risks. Interestingly, He spoke about financial courage as being different than other kinds of courage. When stating that he had the confidence to take the multi-million dollar financial risks he often did; he qualified that statement by saying it would be difficult for him to risk his life on a battlefield like these war veterans had done. He said he did not possess “that kind” of courage. I learned something that day. There are different types of courage.

It is fascinating to me that you could have so much courage in one area but not in another. But this is really true. A construction worker can have the courage to balance himself on a six inch I-beam, hundreds of feet above the ground, but at the same time not have the courage to stand up in front of a group of 40 people and give a speech or walk into the bank to meet with the bank manager to talk about financing a project. Likewise, a salesman who has the courage to knock on a dozen doors a day making sales calls might not have the financial courage to buy a single share of stock.

There are different kinds of courage. We need courage in the financial area. With God’s help we can obtain the financial courage and strategy that we need to walk in the prosperity that He has for us. There are specific things we can do to help us become more comfortable in the financial world. We must learn to overcome the misconceptions we have about the financial world and how it functions.

In order for us to develop some financial courage we will have to get over the idea that it is not spiritual to talk about money. People afflicted by the spirit of poverty find it difficult to talk about money. A lot of churches struggle to communicate financial needs or even take a biblical offering for a need or vision the church is undertaking. Jesus spoke about money a lot. There are over 3,000 references to money in the Bible. People with a poverty spirit don’t like to talk about money. On the other hand, prosperous people enjoy talking about money.

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today (Deuteronomy 8:18).

So let’s take a closer look at this. You mean God gives us the power and creativity to get wealth, but we are not supposed to talk about it? No…it is OK to talk about money. Certainly we need to keep money in its proper perspective. To prosperous people money is important and interesting. They enjoy talking about and learning about money. They are unashamed to have a good conversation with their children and friends about the ins and outs of money. How are we going to learn about managing money without talking about it?

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It Takes Money to Do Things for god

Posted on June 19, 2019 by briansauder

We cannot separate money and ministry. Most of us have heard and love the story of the Good Samaritan. We would all like to be the Good Samaritan that Jesus described. Let’s read carefully the story:

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have’’’ (Luke 10:30-35 NIV).

A study of the money of this time period reveals that the two coins the Good Samaritan gave to the Inn keeper were enough to pay for keeping him two months at the Inn.(1) Think about how much it would cost us today to keep someone at a hotel for two months with food costs. It would be thousands of dollars.

The story of the Good Samaritan is the story of a man who had significant financial means available to him so he could take care of the robbery victim for two months. And it gets better, the Good Samaritan then continued on his journey while this man was cared for by someone he paid to do it. Because he had sufficient resources, he met this person’s need and still was not distracted from the primary purpose of his trip.

I find the Good Samaritan model attractive as I desire to multiply my efforts in expanding the kingdom of God. If I have the resources to pay or support others in ministry like the Good Samaritan did, then it means that my efforts are multiplied. I can accomplish more than just what I do with my personal time and energy.

Or how about when God asked Noah to build the ark? Noah had sufficient resources to obey. There are no scriptures indicating Noah awakened one day and the ark was miraculously finished. There is no record of ravens flying in with pre-cut gopher logs to be fitted into place. The ark was built with manual labor over a period of years, probably by his family or hired laborers. It took significant financial resources for Noah to obey God. Could it be that God wants to provide for us in a similar way? I believe He desires that we have the resources on hand to accomplish His purposes as He reveals them to us.

A similar example is that of Joseph from Arimathea. He was a rich man, a member of the Sanhedrin, who was a disciple of Jesus. Joseph was ready and available when called upon to take Jesus’ body and give it an appropriate burial in a rich man’s tomb that had never been used before. This was significant because in Bible times, tombs were used multiple times. His availability and his financial resources played an important role in the death and resurrection of Jesus and the unfolding of the kingdom of God.

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God Love Real Estate

Posted on June 12, 2019 by briansauder

Land is important to God’s plan for His children. One of the first things God did in establishing a covenant with Abraham was give him land. Previous to this Abraham did not have a homeland. Abraham’s father and his family were pastoral nomads, wandering from place to place for varying periods of time. His father worshiped idols in a city dedicated to wickedness. Abraham was told by God to go out into a place in which he would receive his inheritance. It was later referred to as the Promised “land”. It was land!

God gave this nomad a land to call his own and to build on with his descendants. He gave Abraham and his family the Land of Israel as a unique homeland where his descendants were supposed to create the nation that was the model for the world. Physical land was central to God’s plan to prosper Abraham.

We see a parallel lesson if we study the great Native Americans tribes from America. The tribes along the East Coast were more settlementary and would stay in one place and farm the land as well as hunt. They tended to survive and prosper. Those tribes along the West Coast that were nomadic hunters would travel to seasonal hunting grounds. They were more likely to starve and die. They could never prosper because they never settled down and stayed in one place. Simply stated…when you are a nomad there is only so much you can carry so it is hard to prosper.

There is something about land that is really important to God. The story of Ruth is, of course a great love story. But it is also the story of God giving a woman physical land. God took her from gleaning leftovers along the edge of the field to the owner of the field. When she married Boaz, who owned the field, she became an owner of the very field she formerly gleaned in as a pauper.

In the United States the  number one way that people finance new business ventures is by borrowing money against their house which is of course located on land. So the best preparation for starting a business is to purchase a house and start paying it off over time. This will eventually build equity which will allow you to finance a business start up. Small business startups create 70% of new jobs in the United States. Most of these businesses are family businesses and as with Abraham and his sons, land is central to birthing these new businesses.

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Be the Best

Posted on June 5, 2019 by briansauder
As a sitting board member I was motivated ethically to make the best choice for the organization I represented.  While interviewing candidates to fill a top level management position, I was presented with an internal conflict. Of the two finalists, one candidate was a Christian (based on information that did not come from the interview process) and aligned with all I believe but the other, a non-Christian was better qualified for the position. I wanted to vote for the Christian, but my conscious would only let me vote for the one who was better prepared for the position and ultimately better for the good of the organization.

An individual can have a strong spirituality but not possess the best qualifications and competencies to lead. Even the most passionately spiritual person will be “stuck” in their leadership capacity unless they have a value for growth that is strong enough to stir them to make the sacrifices to grow. Our core values should include a passion for self-improvement and growth that motivate us to become better at what we do. We should aim to be passionately spiritual but we also should strive to be the best at our craft.

When Paul gave an account to King Agrippa of his Damascus road conversion, he stated that Jesus appeared to appoint him, “as a servant and as a witness” (Acts 26:16, NIV). It is understood what a witness of the gospel is; but can a servant be the one managing the assembly line or is it only the one feeding the homeless? Later Paul wrote a similar encouragement to the Christians at Colossae, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. (Colossians 3:23, NIV).

Francis Schaeffer points out how the gospel transformed the workplace during the time of the Reformation. The Christian worldview meant that all the vocations in life came to have dignity. The vocation of the honest merchant or housewife had as much value as the King, a radical thought for leaders in this time in history and a welcome relief to the followers of the day. The one serving in their vocation is the one in the will of God. The one skilled in their vocation is the one fulfilling their calling.

Schaeffer, F. (2005) How Should We Then Live?: the Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Book

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Isn’t It More Spiritual to be Poor?

Posted on May 26, 2019 by briansauder
With tears in his eyes the veteran missionary gathered his children and grandchildren around him at the front of the church building. I had just finished teaching that God wanted to be, El Shaddai, the God of more than enough. Generally as I proclaim this message people respond and ask for prayer for freedom from poverty. But I realized God was doing something different as this man approached me with his extended family.

 

Here was a precious man of God and his wife who had spent much of their lives on the mission field. He shared that early in his life he felt called to the mission field and he told his wife and family they would “always be poor” because of their missionary calling. He went on to share about their experience of never having enough, both when they were on the mission field and when they were home. And now he saw the same lack reproduced in the lives of his children. He wanted me to pray and break the power of his words over his family.

I asked him to pray first and cancel those words of financial lack he had spoken. He stood in his place of God-given authority and prayed. Then I followed in a prayer of financial blessing for the family as God met them in a beautiful time of prayer and restoration. The whole family left with a burden lifted and anticipating God’s abundant financial blessing.

In studying spiritual gifts we find a gift called voluntary poverty.1 Voluntary poverty is defined as voluntarily living below a normal standard of living to minister to a people group or an individual. It works many times alongside of the gift of missionary. Church history is full of stories of people who operated in this gift.

Could it be that some Christians see this gift in well-known missionaries and church leaders (past and present) and hear their powerful, inspirational testimonies; yet they make the mistake of thinking this is the standard for everyone rather than a special grace that is given to only some? Many times Christians who live in financial lack hold as their heroes of the faith some of these spiritual giants who had the gift of voluntary poverty, not realizing they themselves do not have the same grace. This could be the cause of some Christians not experiencing God’s abundance in the area of finances.

1   C. Peter Wagner, Finding Your Spiritual Gifts, (Ventura, California: Gospel Light, 2005).

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God is an Abundant Provider

Posted on April 18, 2019 by briansauder

 If we have a scarcity mentality, it will lead to us just barely getting by and our finances will be scarce. We must understand from a Biblical perspective that God is a loving, abundant provider. His heart emerges so clearly as we read the Psalms. First we read that He delights in the prosperity of his servant.

Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; And let them say continually, “The LORD be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.” Psalm 35:27 NASB

So what does that mean…“He delights in the prosperity of his servant”? It means it makes Him happy to bless us financially. Instead of a scarcity mentality God wants us to have an abundance mentality. We also read in Psalms that God wants to give us the desires of our hearts.

Psalm 20:4May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Psalm 20:4;21:2

Is this some kind of license for us to give God a list of our desires? Of course not…he wants to put his desires in our hearts and then he wants to fulfill them. So it might include something practical like a motorcycle or car for transportation but it is so much more. It is God’s dream and vision for our lives. So we shouldn’t just think in terms of a single item. That is way to small! We should think in terms of what we need to fulfill our destiny.

What about Jesus in Luke 10, he said the fields were white on to harvest. He saw the potential for abundance. More on this next week…

 

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Practical Steps to Take Dominion Over Your Finances

Posted on April 4, 2019 by briansauder

In his book Overcoming the Spirit of Poverty, Rick Joyner describes the spirit of poverty as a stronghold established to keep us from the fullness of victory gained at the cross or the blessings of our inheritance in Christ. Could it be that some of us are not fully receiving our inheritance in Christ?

Apparently this was true for the Ephesian Christians. Paul in writing to the Ephesians says he is praying for them “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people…”There was part of their inheritance they were not seeing. We will need all of our inheritance to fulfill our role as sons and daughters in the Kingdom. Sons and daughters have confidence and dominion because they are owners. But how do we get there?    

I have spoken about buying a Lily to help take dominion over financial worry. Why does a Lily help us overcome the spirit of poverty? It is because beauty feeds your soul. We will discuss more about this in upcoming blogs, but for now understand that beauty is one thing that helps us to have a prosperous soul. A prosperous soul has dominion over financial worry.

Psalm 131:2 describes this prosperous soul that is at rest as like a weaned child. “But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.”A spirit of poverty leaves you with the anxious feeling that your finances are out of control. The money just comes in and goes out. Here are some practical steps to take dominion over your finances:

(1) Understand what the tithe is and do it in faith. Give 10% to your local church.

(2) Deposit your money into a savings account and “own it” for a while before moving it into a checking account to pay bills.

(3) Pay a bill early.

(4) Set aside money so you can pick a small debt and pay it off. Then go celebrate.

(5) Buy a financial book and read it.

(6) Take Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.

(7) Plant lilies around the front door of your house.

Take a practical step forward and take dominion over your finances today.

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Go buy a Lily!

Posted on March 28, 2019 by briansauder

Don’t worry about money…is that really possible when money is so tied to everything we do? Possible yes…easy no. We have to go to the scriptures to at least see the possibility. Here is what Jesus had to say in Mathew 6:25-33. He actually addresses worry in regards to financial provision four times.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worryingadd a single hour to your life?  

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

How does this work in a practical way? Somehow we want to take dominion over our finances. Let joy replace panic; trust replace greed and peace replace worry. We want to take dominion over our finances. The spirit of poverty makes you feel like your finances are out of control. Let dominion over your finances replace that feeling that they are out of control. Jesus said…these things will be given to you.

Here is a practical method I learned from Harold Eberle. Go buy a lily and put it on your desk where you pay your bills. Serious. As you pay bills…look at the flower and let worry be gone in Jesus name. Another translation literally says, “Consider the lilies of the field.” This is not some new age experience. Jesus said to do it.

Go buy a Lily (or another flower depending on the nation where you live because lilies might not be native to your area).

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Delete Poverty Thinking (Practical Exercise)

Posted on March 8, 2019 by briansauder

I am still finding and deleting poverty thoughts from my mind. Just recently the Lord showed me some poverty thinking, things I believed, that I had to get out of my head. One way that poverty thinking gets in our heads is through the words of financial lack that others have spoken over us. We sometimes innocently believe and accept these words and it becomes a word curse that needs to be broken. For example a family member might say something like, “You will always work that same, dead-end job.” If we accept this and believe it, then it can become a limiting stronghold in our lives.

Also we tend to speak negative financial words over ourselves. We might say something like, “ I will never get a ahead. Everyone else seems to get a promotion at work but I am overlooked.” These words poverty thinking words need to be deleted and here is how we are going to do it. Let’s take some practical action with the following exercise. Get a piece of paper and lets get to work.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you words of poverty thinking that you have spoken over yourself or others have spoken over you. Listen to the Holy Spirit and then write those specific words out as shown below. We want to cancel their effect and break their power. (Write them down and then draw a line through them, breaking their power in Jesus’ name! Sign and date.)

Ex: “I will always work this dead-end job!               

1.

2.

3

4.

These words have no power over me in Jesus’ name!

Date:

Name:

 

Next let’s replace those words. What words will you replace them with? See the example below.

Ex: “I will get ahead.” Ex: “I will get a promotion” or “I will do what it takes to get a better paying job.”           

1.

2.

3.

4.

Boldly say these words aloud right now! Do it!

Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you to prosper!

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