Wealth

Day 5: Prayer for Fallow Seed Offerings

Have you given offerings to the Lord, asking Him for a harvest from your seed offering? Have you been waiting for your harvest with no sign of a return in sight? If so, pray with me today for all your fallow seed offerings!

God can and will bless you and bring you a huge harvest even when things look dead.

I know it’s hard to persevere in your faith sometimes. It’s way too easy to think that you mis-heard God, or the ground you sowed into must not have been good, or that sowing seed offerings doesn’t work after all anyway.

But beloved, sowing seed offerings DOES work; God can bring harvest even out of the worst ground; and He says that, in due season, you WILL reap–IF you faint not (Galatians 6:9).

I love the story of how Isaac got a supernatural harvest during a drought.

Genesis 26:1-5 tells us the story:

“There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the Lord appeared to him and said:

‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws'” (Genesis 26:1-5).

There was a famine in the land … but God told Isaac to stay put. It was a supernatural setup.

When God told Isaac to stay put despite the famine, He also promised to bless him there. He re-affirmed the covenant that He had made with Isaac’s father, Abraham, all those years before.

So, Isaac did as he was told. And you know what happened?

A supernatural harvest happened.

Genesis 26:12-14 says:

“Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him” (Genesis 26:12-14).

That’s right. The man sowed in famine–into what looked like a stupid investment; a fallow field–and God blessed him A HUNDREDFOLD. As a matter of fact, Isaac “began” to prosper–meaning, he had not been prospering before–and the people around him began envying him.

That’s right, folks. God can bring you a hundredfold harvest, even if your seed goes into ground that looks fallow.

If you believe God can bring you harvest from your fallow seeds, pray this with me:

(Reminder: I am going to share these videos over the next 31 days–one per day. If you haven’t already signed up for free email updates from this blog, be sure to do so so that you’ll get a daily email with the prayer video for each day! (Also, click here for the table of contents for this entire series.)

Do you have fallow seed offerings from which you need a harvest? If so, leave a comment below and tell me what you’re believing God to do!

(By the way, please subscribe to my YouTube channel while you’re watching, so you don’t miss the other cool videos I post! Thanks!)

Day 4: Prayer for Languishing Investments

Have you made some investments that haven’t panned out? Do you wish you could finally see some fruit from your languishing investments?

If you want to pray for your languishing investments, you have Scriptural basis to do so–even if you made a mistake while making those investments!

Isn’t that good news? You have a right to pray for God’s mercy and help with your investments if you are right with Him. Deuteronomy 28:1-8 says: [Read more…] about Day 4: Prayer for Languishing Investments

Day 3: Prayer for Past-Due Bills

Are you struggling to get your head above water, drowning in an ocean of past-due bills? If so, I want to pray for you today.

If your past-due bills are piling up, I believe God wants to help you.

The thing is, I also believe that neither you nor I may know the exact best way for Him to help us, so we need to depend on His wisdom and mercy. [Read more…] about Day 3: Prayer for Past-Due Bills

Day 2: Prayer for Current Bills Due

I was terrified.

We had just launched an official charitable organization for this ministry, and I was having a meeting with my CPA firm. They were telling me about all the things I needed to do now that we were official … and All The Things sounded expensive.

I went home and sat before the Lord that night.

I was reeling after my meeting, still seeing dollar signs circling in my head. All the things we needed to do were going to cost more money than we had; our income was going to have to increase on a monthly basis. I didn’t have the answer for that, but I knew who did. [Read more…] about Day 2: Prayer for Current Bills Due

31 Days of Praying for Your Finances

Hey everybody! Are you ready for a financial UPGRADE? If so, it’s time to start praying for your finances more aggressively than ever before!

I recently recorded a number of short videos in which I prayed for you about 31 aspects of your financial life. I am going to share these videos over the next 31 days–one per day.

If you haven’t already signed up for free email updates from this blog, be sure to do so so that you’ll get a daily email with the prayer video for each day! (Also, click here for the table of contents for this entire series.)

The Lord is shouting in my spirit about praying for your finances.

I’ve just recently come off a week-long sabbatical, during which I just rested, spent time with the Lord, and spent time with my husband and son. During that sabbatical, the Lord spoke into my ear STRONGLY about praying for finances–yours, mine, this ministry’s, my church’s, everybody’s!

It’s simply a fact that Christians do not pray enough.

People in other religions have a set schedule on which they pray. They pray multiple times per day, like clockwork. But do we pray? Alas, we rarely pray as we should, considering that God moves on the earth in response to prayer. We don’t even pray to our One True God as much as pagan religions pray to their false god. Lord, have mercy.

But it’s time to change our prayerlessness. Would you join with me on a quest to pray as Jesus prayed? To seek Father like Jesus sought Him? To believe God like Jesus believed (and still believes)? I believe you will, and I’m glad for it.

Day 1 of 31 Days of Praying for Your Finances is about financial UPGRADES.

The Scripture the Lord has been speaking to me about this is Isaiah 60:17, which says:

“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
Instead of iron I will bring silver,
Instead of wood, bronze,
And instead of stones, iron.
I will also make your officers peace,
And your magistrates righteousness” (Isaiah 60:17).

And in this verse, we see that the heart of God is to UPGRADE you.

Do you see how promises to stop bringing the little, cheaper things, and give you nicer things? For example:

He says He won’t bring bronze anymore; He’ll bring gold instead. (Bronze may be gold-ish in color, but actual gold is WAY better!)
Instead of wood, which is brown like bronze, He’s going to bring you bronze (which is way better than wood).
Iron may be silver in color, but that silver isn’t anywhere near as valuable as real silver. From now on, silver will be your portion instead!

In this verse in Isaiah 60, upgrade follows upgrade follows upgrade. I don’t know about you; but I say, “Lord, sign me up for those upgrades!”

So are you ready to pray for financial upgrades? Watch the YouTube video below and pray with me:

(By the way, please subscribe to my YouTube channel while you’re watching, so you don’t miss the other cool videos I post! Thanks!)

Huge Principle of Kingdom Finance: First Need, First Claim

Do you struggle with knowing how to balance paying your bills with giving? Do you want to step into God’s river of abundance? If so, today’s blog post is an encouraging word for you!

God’s Kingdom is a river of abundance.

He is an abundant God who lacks for nothing, and it is His will for His children to lack for nothing as well. God’s Word says this throughout its pages.

However, most of us are not there yet. We’re not flowing in that river … or if we are, it’s not all the time–and not as much as we should be. (I know I’m not where I want to be, anyway, and I’m just going to assume that most of our readers aren’t either.)

So how do we get there? How do we get into that river of abundance?

By learning God’s ways and knowing His heart.

Many years ago, I learned a Kingdom finance principle from the life of Rees Howells. This lesson has stood me in good stead all these years, and it works. I want to share it with you today, for I believe it will help you too.

If you’re not familiar with the life of Rees Howells, you can read all about him in Norman Grubb’s book Rees Howells, Intercessor.

Basically, Rees Howells was a Spirit-filled intercessor and missionary in the first decades of the 20th century. He was a missionary to Africa, and he also founded a Bible college in Wales. He and his Bible college students prayed the Allies through World War II.

Grubb’s biography of Howells is, in my opinion, an absolute must for every person who wants to become powerful in God, learning to shake heaven and earth.

The principle is called “First need, first claim,” and it’s the way God taught Rees Howells to live.

What does this principle of Kingdom finance mean?

“First need, first claim” has several steps, as follows:

You acknowledge that everything belongs to God.
You accept that God is your provider, and you depend on Him to provide.
You decide to live out your days obeying Him in every area. When He speaks, you obey. And …
You acknowledge that God sometimes wants to get money through you while He’s also getting money to you.

Here’s how it looked in practical life:

Rees Howells worked a secular job for some parts of his life, but he also spent time in full-time ministry. Early on, he learned that he was dependent on God for provision (as we all are).

So sometimes, Howells would have plans, but the Lord would interrupt him … particularly regarding his plans for his (God’s) money.

For example, Howells would be walking from his house to the train depot, money in his pocket for a ticket to a gathering of preachers in a distant town. On the way, however, Howells would encounter someone in need: a widow, a child, a hungry man, etc.

When he did, God taught him that he was to use the money in his pocket–money he had saved for the train ticket he was to purchase a few minutes later–and help the needy person. It wasn’t easy, but Howells learned to obey. He would take whatever money he had and meet the need the Lord was leading him to meet.

However, that didn’t negate Howells’ need. He still had plans and needed to get to wherever he was going.

So, in faith, knowing that God had told him to go to that preachers’ meeting in that other town, Howells would walk on down to the train station like he was supposed to. Once there, he would wait.

Essentially, he was putting a demand on God to provide. He had had the money he needed; God told him to do something with it; he obeyed. But he knew God had also told him to go to the other town, so that meant that God’s river of provision would show up somehow and get him there.

And invariably, God came through.

Sometimes Howells would feel led to check his mail–and there would be a letter for him containing just the amount of money he needed.

Or, sometimes, someone else would find him and tell him that God had just put it on their heart to give him money–and hand him exactly what he needed.

Whatever the method, it always worked. Howells, acknowledging that the money in his pocket belonged to God, would do with it whatever God said … and he never lacked.

In this way, God taught Howells that the first person who needed the money God had sent him had the first claim to it.

“First need, first claim.”

The lesson of “first need, first claim” put Howells in an uncomfortable situation a number of times. After all, there’s much more peace of mind for our natural selves when we know that the money we need is in our pockets. Having everything we need in advance means we don’t ever have to use faith.

However, God doesn’t always work that way.

Oh, sometimes He does. Sometimes He’ll provide your need wayyyyy in advance. I love those times! Don’t you? When you don’t even have to give your need a second thought, or a second prayer?

But sometimes God waits.

He’ll wait until the midnight hour. He waits until the sun’s coming up. He’ll wait until the very moment when you need that provision now, and then, POP! He shows up, seemingly out of nowhere.

My husband and I have learned to live by the principle of “first need, first claim” in our daily lives and ministry.

And, to be very real, it actually gets fun after awhile.

Here’s the thing: God may send any number of situations our way, asking us to give. However, we have never gone without when our need showed up.

It works the same way with this ministry (From His Presence, Inc., our 501(c)(3) organization that owns this website). We may have plenty of ministry funds in hand from a great product launch, a large donation, or whatever. We love it when that happens! It’s fun, and it’s a huge relief from the stress of running a business.

But, almost every time that happens, along comes God.

He’ll put us in a place where we hear about someone’s need, and He’ll tell us to meet that need.

When He does, our thought process goes something like this:

“God, we have the money. But we need it to pay our email bill / hosting fee / payroll / virtual assistant etc. this month. Those things aren’t going to get paid if we don’t have X amount.”

And God looks at us with a big grin, raises His eyebrows, and smirks, as if He’s saying, “So what? That’s then and this is now. You need that money 10 days from now, but they need it today. You have the money and they need the money. That money came from Me, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Give it to them.”

It takes faith … a lot of faith.

I, at least, have not always had the faith that it will work out without problems. When the Lord first started teaching me about this, I obeyed but then was really, really worried afterward.

But faith can start small and grow. Even if you don’t have enough faith yet to see the way the whole thing will turn out in the Spirit, if you have enough faith to believe God and obey Him, you can trust Him: it will work out.

Even though we practice “first need, first claim,” we have never, ever, ever gone without.

Every time God asks us to give–first need, first claim, right?–He comes up afterward, just in the nick of time, and provides the need we thought we were keeping that money for.

After we have seen Him do this a huge number of times, it has gotten easier. So much so that I now believe we have tapped into a secret about His heart. A river of abundance, because all our needs are met even if we don’t see big balances in our bank accounts all the time.

It’s like this:

If you are willing to BE a river, God’s river will flow through you.

And when it does, it will benefit both you AND everyone else around you.

First need, first claim. Be a river. It works every time.

Has God ever spoken to you about this principle of first need, first claim? Do you have a testimony about how He has provided for you, even though you gave to someone else’s need? If so, please leave a comment below! I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Prayer for Actual, Literal Gold

Did you know that God likes gold? He does; true story. And as you read today’s blog post, I believe you may be as stunned as I am to read about how much God likes gold, per His Word. Read on, and pray the prayer for gold at the end of this post!

Here’s the backstory:

God really likes gold. He’s HUGELY into gold.

As a matter of fact, He surrounds Himself with it in Heaven … and I believe He wants you to have some here on earth. If you will stick with me in this rather unusual subject, I’ll explain why you should pray for gold–and provide you with a sample prayer for gold too: actual, literal gold.

First, here’s how we know God likes gold:

In Genesis 2:10-12, the Bible says:

“Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there” (Genesis 2:10-12).

In this passage, God is telling us what the world looked like right after creation (or at least, this version of creation, as the Bible also shows that a world existed before … but that’s another story for another day). In this newly-fashioned and formed world, God had many wonderful things. He describes them in detail in His Word, in the first few chapters of Genesis.

But right in the middle of that description, He specifically points out this place where there was gold: Havilah. And you know what else He says about gold? He said that gold is GOOD.

I first heard about this from Rabbi Daniel Lapin, who wrote a book called “Thou Shall Prosper: 10 Commandments for Making Money.” He points out that God called gold “good” right in the 43rd verse of the Bible … and the fact that it’s one of the very first things God says to mankind through His Word is pretty important.

So gold is good. God said so.

That point will preach, all by itself. I’ve been working on Rabbi Lapin’s book for a few weeks now, but that one statement still freaks me out. I think we all need to meditate on that verse; it will help break poverty thinking off you if you have any left (and we all do).

I’ve been pondering on this statement that I first noticed from reading Rabbi Lapin’s book, and I noticed this:

Jesus said that no person is good. Yet, He did call gold “good.”

Umm. Think about that.

People, who are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), are not good according to Jesus. They used to be good–because Genesis 1:31 says “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

When people were originally created, mankind was perfect. There was no sin on the earth, and people had not yet sinned.

However, when Adam and Eve sinned for the first time, man became sinful and corrupt as a species–and we were no longer good. Without the blood of Jesus, which makes us right with God if we make Jesus the Boss of our lives, we would be lower than gold on the value-scale.

BUT … Gold is a thing. It’s an inanimate object, obviously.

It has no will and no soul, and thus cannot make decisions for right or for wrong. So GOLD is still good. God made it good and it has stayed that way.

Here’s something that will freak you out if you think about it:

God surrounds Himself with gold in Heaven.

People say, “Oh, in Heaven gold is considered trash. God paves the streets with it …,” but that’s a load of hooey.

Think about it. Yes, God paves the streets with gold in Heaven. But the city of New Jerusalem is made of gold too. Does that mean God built the city out of trash? NO. God wouldn’t build His city OR His streets out of trash.

It’s much more likely that gold is one of God’s favorite things.

Maybe gold is a heavenly material that God saw fit to deposit on earth, just to make us long for eternity.

Maybe God deposited a little piece of Heaven on the earth, and that’s why gold has carried a mystique about it since the beginning of time. Maybe that’s why it gets into men’s spirit and makes them long for something more.

Maybe gold carries the very molecules of Heaven.

And maybe that’s why gold doesn’t tarnish.

Whoaaaaa.

And when you think about all that, if you’re like me, you just thought: “I need gold!”

Now, I’m not here to recommend or suggest any investment strategy or purchases. I am not an investment advisor, financial advisor, or legal counselor (consult your professional advisor, etc, etc). God may lead you through those things; I don’t know. But what I am here to say is that Papa wants you to have gold according to His Word.

Here’s how I know God wants you to have gold:

Genesis 2:10-12 (quoted above) says that gold is good.

Psalm 84:11 says:

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

Gold is good + no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly = God will not withhold gold from you. And since Jesus said to ask for whatever you want, and it will be given to you, it makes sense that God wants you to have gold.

It’s as simple as that.

God wants you to have gold.

That doesn’t mean He wants to just dump it in your lap if you can’t be trusted with it. You need to be a good steward to expect God to bless you; and you need to become a better steward in order to see Him bless you more. That’s just the truth of God’s Word.

Plus, Haggai 2:8 says:

“‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

So everything belongs to God and He’s only letting you steward things when He entrusts them to you.

But He wants to entrust you with more as you become capable of stewarding it. And if you’re capable of stewarding it, He will give you all the good things you can handle.

And since God likes gold a lot, calling it a good thing …

And since Psalm 84:11 says that He will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly …

Then I believe it would please God for us to ask Him for gold. Not to make ourselves wealthy. Not to hoard it or love it … but just as a way to do business.

After all, Jesus said to “occupy”–meaning in the Greek, do business–until He comes.

And a world of business is done through investing in gold. Just something to think about.

So pray this prayer for gold with me if you feel led by the Lord to do so:

Father God, I come before you in Jesus’ name. Father God, thank You for loving me and blessing me. Thank You for providing all my needs richly in Christ Jesus. Thank You for prospering me and blessing all the work of my hand.

Father, Your Word says that gold is good. Your Word also says that You will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly.

Furthermore, You told us to occupy until You come; and the steward that Jesus described who got the most reward was the one who did the most business and turned a profit.

So Father, on the basis and authority of Your Word, I ask You to send me gold.

Lord, when You send that gold, teach me to steward it well. Help me to learn how buying and selling gold works. Teach me how to handle gold and how to invest in it safely, securely, and properly, as a faithful steward for Your Kingdom.

Lord, never let my heart become attached to gold. Don’t let me love it, crave it, hoard it, or worship it. Never let gold get in my blood, Lord; let only Your Spirit have influence over me. I refuse to be bound by anything except the blood of Jesus, Your Word, and Your Spirit.

But Father, with that said, I do believe that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous.

I believe You put gold here on earth for a reason, when it’s obviously a heavenly treasure. And I believe that, like you did for Noah, You forewarn us of events to come.

So Lord, because of Your Word, I have asked You to send me gold and I believe You will.

Let it come to me now, Father, and keep it and me safe. Help me to keep it, buy it, or sell it only in response to the prompting of Your Spirit, and make me wise with understanding about how to handle it to bless Your Kingdom.

Thank You, Father God. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”

Does this word about gold resonate with you? Has Holy Spirit been talking to you about gold? If so, or if you prayed this prayer for gold, please leave a comment below! I want to hear what you are sensing!

Billionaire By-Laws: Do What You Love

Do you really love what you do? I mean really, really, really love what you do?

Like I said in our first Billionaire By-Laws post, I have been studying the habits and characteristics of Christian billionaires. I figure they must know something about money that I don’t. 🙂

One of the billionaires I’ve been studying is David Green, founder of the Hobby Lobby chain of retail stores. He wrote a book entitled “More Than a Hobby: How a $600 Start-Up Became America’s Home & Craft Superstore.” I picked up a copy of his book recently, and I’m loving it so far.

One of the things I noticed immediately is this:

David Green loves his job.

Check out what he said in the very first chapter of this book:

“From the very beginning, I loved the work–and that’s an important point: To succeed in retail, you have to love it. The process of bringing items in, displaying them attractively, and seeing them miraculously change into actual cash in the drawer has to get your blood racing.”

“Has to get your blood racing.”

Just two sentences further on, he wrote, “It’s some of the greatest fun in the world.”

The greatest fun in the world.

I think that’s true about finding success in anything, not just in retail.

In order to do well and be extremely blessed …

… whether it’s in your job, in your ministry, in your occupation and even in your hobbies … you have to do things that get your blood racing. Things that you enjoy. You have to love what you do.

But do you love what you do?

I think that not too many of us do things that make our blood race. Think about it:

Do you do anything with your time that makes your heart beat fast with enthusiasm?

Hobbies?

Ministry?

Your job?

Do you love what you do? Do you do anything you love?

Most people don’t.

Most people are slaving away at the factory, whether at a real factory or a plush, conference-room-leather-chair-teleconferencing-cube-life factory.

Most folks are working at someone else’s dream.

And then they go home and cry at night because they ask why, God, why, and when, God, when? And their hearts break because they know, and they looooong, and they ache to do what they were made to do.

That was me, anyway.

For many years as a younger person and then for nearly 15 years working in the Fortune 500 at a job I was good at, but not made to do.

Nothing about corporate-land made my heart race. I wasn’t called to it. It wasn’t my dream; it wasn’t fulfilling; it only hurt. It hurt my spirit; it hurt my heart; and it made me go home at lunch and cry on my floor more than once.

Is it you too? Do you love what you do?

Or not so much?

Are you watching the hope drain out of your spirit every day as you spend yet another day doing what you’re not called to do?

And if so, what are you going to do about it?

I really believe that your calling contains your prosperity.

It’s no coincidence that Hobby Lobby is a multi-billion-dollar business and that David Green’s net worth is an estimated $6.5 billion. David Green is doing what he was born to do. He’s doing what he’s called to do. He’s honoring God in everything he does, and he’s doing his work with all his might … and God blesses the work of his hand.

Isn’t that what the Bible promises all of us? That if we obey God in everything, which includes:

obeying His call on our lives;
honoring Him in everything we do;
seeking God’s kingdom first; and
working with all our might, as to the Lord and not unto men …

… then He will bless all the work of our hands?

After all, Deuteronomy 28:8 says:

“The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

But that promise has a condition, and the condition is that we have to obey God in everything He has commanded us to do.

One problem standing between us and prosperity, however, is that we feel like God’s call on each of our lives is just an added bonus.

Too often, we go through life either surviving–spending our time just making it through, without having the energy to think about our calling–or ignoring God’s call on purpose.

We think of God’s call as something that would be ideal if we get around to it, but we don’t think of it as an obedience vs. disobedience issue.

What we don’t realize is:

When God created each of us, He deposited us in our mother’s womb and said: “Do ____.” He sent us to the earth with a call on our life, and that call is a command.

Of course, our primary call is to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength; to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. So God spoke those commands to us first and foremost. But in His third sentence, He said to do something else.

To me, He said: “Preach the Word.”

To David Green, He said: “Do retail.”

To my friend Kristina, He said: “Paint from My heart.”

To my friend Eva Conner, one of our fellow Presence-seekers in this community, He said: “Encourage and teach My people how to transform their lives.”

To a man in a nearby city, He said: “Turn tree stumps into art with your chainsaw. You’re going to love doing this, and your work will bring people joy and release the Kingdom.”

To my friend Kara Green, He said: “Write songs and sing prophetic words over My people.”

To another friend of mine, He said: “Do beautiful calligraphy that adds beauty to people’s lives. Beauty is a manifestation of Me.”

God’s call is not an option. It’s actually a command.

And if we aren’t doing whatever He told us to do, we’re in disobedience.

And we can’t be blessed in the way of disobedience.

So what’s the Billionaire By-Law?

Simply this: Do what God has called you to do–and it will be something you love. If you’re in Christ, do what you love.

And where does your prosperity lie?

In the pathway of obedience … when you do what you love.

Are you doing what you love for a living? Or are you bound to something you hate? Are you obeying God in regards to His call on your life?

Please leave a comment below and share your thoughts!

Billionaire By-Laws: Principles Christian Billionaires Know that Help Them Win

It was early in the morning, and I had been praying, studying, and reading. My study topic that week was what God says about money. Suddenly, in the stillness the Lord whispered into my spirit: “Find five Christian billionaires to learn from.”

My spirit leaped at the thought, because …

You will become like the people you learn from.

It’s a principle that works every time:

Study Jesus and learn from Him, and you will become like Jesus.
Study a demonized rocker and learn from him/her, and you will become demonized.
Study from an excellent professor of history, and you will become an excellent student of history. (Notice I said “study from,” not “sleep in class from.”) 🙂

Studies also show that you even become like your friends. If you hang out with negative friends, you will become negative. Hang out with positive friends, and you will become positive. Hang out with rich friends, and you will become wealthier.

So when God told me to find 5 Christian billionaires to learn from, I knew He had something in mind that would bless me.

Obviously, billionaires must know something about money, business, and work that the rest of us don’t know. So I knew I was supposed to examine these people’s lives and find out what they know.

For example:

Which of God’s financial principles are they practicing that I’m not? Whatever it is, I should start.
What does good stewardship look like for a billionaire? Whatever it is, I should practice the same thing in miniature.
What does a billionaire know about Biblical success principles–e.g. writing goals, reading, and exercise? I should make a point of doing those things.

I also knew that I would need to study these people’s habits through a very cautious, Scriptural lens.

Just because someone gets one thing right doesn’t mean everything they do is a model of virtue. We need to learn from people who are better at something than we are. However, that doesn’t release us from the obligation to pass everything we see through the tests of Scripture, in order to determine right from wrong.

Therefore, I will carefully examine the principles to which these billionaires adhere(d). Then, I will eat the “meat”–but spit out the “bones.”

So here are the Christian billionaires whose habits I am studying:

David Green, founder of the Hobby Lobby chain of retail craft stores;
Truett Cathy, the late founder of Chick-Fil-A restaurants;
Mary Kay Ash, the late founder of the Mary Kay cosmetics company;
Pat Robertson, founder of the CBN Christian television network; and
Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton family of mutual funds (and definitely an opportunity to eat the meat and spit out the bones, for he had some really bad theology mixed in with his Christian beliefs).

I may add additional people to this list, and may also study the habits of some Christian millionaires. Christian millionaires whose lives I am interested in include:

Dave Ramsey, of DaveRamsey.com;
Dr. Michael Chitwood, motivational speaker and founder of Chitwood & Chitwood, the nation’s largest financial management firm for ministries;
evangelist Jesse Duplantis; and
Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Again, I may add others over time.

So the first Billionaire By-Law I have learned is from David Green, founder of the Hobby Lobby chain of retail stores.

I watched some videos by Mr. Green recently (found on RightNow Media), and I was incredibly impressed with what this man and his family members said. The prevailing message they were discussing was this:

They are acutely aware that God owns it all.

They really pay attention to the fact that God owns everything in the world. I mean, they really pay attention to that.

The Green family has a very hands-off approach to their fortune. They believe they are only managing it for God, based on His instructions, and for His glory.

In fact …

They believe that God owns their business SO strongly that they actually had legal papers drawn up to give ownership of their entire Hobby Lobby business to God. Legally and formally.

In these videos, Mr. Green said that they actually had to have 3 generations of family members sign legal papers renouncing all claim to the Hobby Lobby business and fortune. That was the only way their attorneys would draw up the papers to transfer ownership of the company to God!

Can you imagine being SO aware of the fact that God owns your business, that you actually have legal papers enacted so there would never be any doubt? I was floored by that.

What does this Billionaire By-Law mean to you and to me?

God entrusted the Green family with a really big amount of money to steward. God did not call you and me to help steward it, so we must have something to learn from what they do! And what I see for myself, right away, is:

I have not been nearly as acutely aware of God’s ownership as the Greens are.

As I wrote about recently in Do You Need to Plea Bargain with God?, if I were constantly aware of that fact, I’d never leave a Taco Bell bag in the car. I would make sure the floors in my house were vacuumed and swept at all times. And I wouldn’t leave things sitting around.

If I really were aware of how God owns all the stuff around me, I would take much better care of it.

Since the Lord began dealing with me about this, I’ve started taking little steps to improve in this area. I want to do all things as to the Lord, not unto men! I want to clean my house as to the Lord, clean up the car as to the Lord, and take care of everything around me as to the Lord.

It’s not that I didn’t know God owns everything. I did. But it’s the acute awareness of this fact that changes our behavior.

So I’m trying to meditate on this truth–that God owns everything around me–as I walk through my day.

Those dirty dishes in the kitchen? God owns them. I’d better put them in the dishwasher.

Those dirty clothes in a pile on the floor? I need to hurry up and get those in the washer, rather than letting them wait for days. They’re God’s!

That drink bottle in the car? It’s empty. I need to dispose of it properly, not leave it sitting in the car. That car is God’s, and I ought not to junk it up.

Staying acutely aware of God’s ownership is a different way to think.

It requires us to take our minds off ourselves during the day and think about God instead. It requires us to meditate constantly on Jesus.

But, after all, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Isn’t that the point–to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ?

Yes. It is.

So I’m going to keep trying. After all, the commandments God has given us–even the ones about meditating on Him constantly–are not too hard.

What about you? Are you acutely aware that God owns everything around you?

I don’t just mean “Do you know it?”; I mean, “Are you urgently and acutely aware of it, every moment of every day?”

If not, are you willing to start taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ with me?

It’s God’s Word. These Christian billionaires obey it. Maybe that’s one reason God has entrusted more to them to manage than He has me.

I think I have something to learn. Don’t you?

What is God saying to you about managing His stuff? Are you constantly aware that you’re working unto the Lord? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Do You Need To Plea Bargain with God?

If you knew that a crime was being committed against you that was ruining your finances, would you try to get it stopped?

Worse yet, what if you found out that you were the one committing the crime?

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that you probably have been committing a crime against yourself. I know I have. And this particular crime is really insidious and really harmful. In fact, it will destroy your finances.

The good news is that Papa God will forgive you and help you make everything right, undoing the damage that was done.

The crime:

The crime is squatting on God’s stuff.

What is squatting? According to Dictionary.com, to “squat” in this sense means “to settle on or occupy property, especially otherwise unoccupied property, without any title, right, or payment of rent.”

And a lot of us, including myself, have been squatting on God’s stuff.

What does it mean to squat on God’s stuff?

It could look like two things.

First, it could look like thinking and acting like everything is yours.

The Bible tells us that we own nothing. NOTHING is yours, and nothing is mine. Psalm 24:1 tells us:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).

The silver is God’s. The gold is God’s (Haggai 2:8). And Psalm 50:10-15 says:

“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.'”

Everything belongs to God. Everything. And it’s for His glory.

So if we think anything belongs to us–anything at all, even if we don’t think everything belongs to us–then we’re squatting on God’s stuff. We’re sitting on something, taking something, using something, living in something that is HIS, and we’re acting like it’s not.

That’s thievery.

Squatting on God’s stuff could also look like mismanaging His stuff.

If you think about it, we don’t mistreat things that belong to someone we respect. If Jesus Himself stood in my bedroom, handed me His crown, and asked me to hold it for a minute, you better believe I’d hold that thing close. I wouldn’t move. I wouldn’t let anything happen to it, because in just a minute He’s going to ask for it back and I don’t want to be the one who messed it up.

Well, you know what?

Jesus Himself did hand me His car. He handed me His dishes. He handed me His clothes. He handed me His house, His bedroom, His bathroom, His tools, and even His body …

… and I have mismanaged them all.

I’ve left the trash in the car, the clothes on the floor, the dirt in the bathroom, the dishes dirty on the kitchen counter, the tools laying on the floor, and too much fat accumulate in my body. All of it. I have mismanaged it all, and it’s all His stuff.

And if I’ve treated His stuff that badly, doesn’t that mean that I really think it’s my own after all?

Like we just said, there’s no way I would mistreat His crown. But He has left me even more than His crown … and I do treat it badly.

Jesus, have mercy.

Can you identify? Have you been squatting on God’s stuff?

Have you been thinking that everything or anything is yours? Have you been acting like you own anything? Have you ever mismanaged anything God has entrusted to you?

Your health? Your tithe? Your kitchen? Your car? (And I write “your” with a grain of salt, because, again, it’s all God’s.)

If you have, then you’re guilty right along with me.

Again … Jesus, have mercy.

I’ve seen financial experts say that you should sign a quit-claim deed, handing everything over to God.

I thought about making one of those for us all to sign individually, but something about it just doesn’t feel right to me.

Why?

Because when you deed something over to someone else, it has to have been yours to begin with. But you and I have never owned anything. It has always been God’s, and we’ve been squatting on His property without right.

So when someone squats on your property, what do you do? You call the sheriff, have them arrested, throw them into jail, and take them to court–hoping for a big sentence of prison time.

But I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t want to be punished.

And fortunately for me and for you, there’s a solution.

That solution is the blood of Jesus.

It’s the blood of Jesus. Jesus, who died to purchase the forgiveness of sins for you and for me. Jesus, whose blood made a way for you and me to be reconciled back to God. Made right with Him, just as if we’d never sinned.

And squatting on God’s stuff is sin. Mismanaging His stuff is sin. I can’t write a quit-claim deed to Him, because I have nothing to deed over to Him. It’s His, and I’ve been squatting–sinning–and I need mercy.

Fortunately, the Bible says that we can obtain mercy when we do only one thing: confess.

First John 1:9 says:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We have to confess. And that kind of confession is called a plea bargain!

We have no right to mercy. We are guilty! We have been squatting on God’s stuff! But, God says that when we come to Him and plead guilty–confessing our sins–He is, right now, faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us.

That’s good news, friend. Good news that changes everything.

This good news will change your life AND your finances.

How? Because when you think stuff is yours–that money is yours, your house is yours, your clothes are yours–then you are free to mismanage them. But when you know things are God’s, your attitude and behavior will change:

You’ll no longer waste money. Instead, you’ll tithe, save, and spend wisely.
You’ll no longer trash your house. Instead, you’ll work on picking it up and making things tidy for Jesus.
You’ll no longer trash your body. Instead, you’ll learn how to put healthy food into it and improve your health … because yes, even your body belongs to Jesus.

Everything is His, and we’ve been squatting on God’s stuff. I know I have, and I’m working on getting it cleaned up. I’m working on cleaning my house, washing my car, not eating out so much, and taking better care of my body.

How about you?

Would you like to plea bargain with God today?

If so, pray this:

“Father God, I come before You in Jesus’ name. Holy Spirit, please help me pray now!

Father, I confess my sins to You right now. I confess that I have been squatting on Your stuff:

I’ve been thinking that things are mine, when in reality they are Yours.
I have been treating things like they were mine; like I had a right to mess them up if I wanted to.
I have been mismanaging Your money, Your body that I live in, and Your stuff.

Father, these things are not in line with Your character. I have not been obedient to You and have not obeyed You when it comes to managing Your stuff. I admit it–and I admit that my disobedience and mismanagement are sins.

Father, I am guilty. I have no excuse.

But, I am here to plead the precious blood of Jesus. Your Word says that, if I confess my sins, You are faithful and just to forgive me my sins, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

I have confessed my sins to You, so I ask You to forgive me and I thank You for doing so. Cover me with the blood of Jesus. Wash me clean and cleanse me, and make me wholly new.

Papa God, please help me to change and change me.

Help me to do what I need to do to draw close to You and obey You. Help me to honor You in all things. Help me to obey You and do my part.

But Father, I also ask for Your mercy–that You would change me also. Take away my old heart and give me Your heart. Take away my old spirit and give me Your Spirit. Make me like You. Give me godly character. Give me a deep revelation about my role as a manager of Your stuff, and make me a good and faithful servant.

Thank You, Father. Thank You for forgiving me. Thank You for washing me in the blood of Jesus. Thank You for paying the price for my sin, Jesus. And thank You for a new heart, new spirit, and new grace and mercy every day. Let it be all for Your glory.

In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Have you been squatting on God’s stuff? Did you plea bargain with God right now? What is He saying to you about this? Please leave a comment below! I’d love to hear your thoughts!