Series: The Christian and earhtly riches

I want to further share with you on ‘The Christian and earthly riches.’ If you have not forgotten, we have been looking at financial intelligence and the need for us to possess it in order to increase in earthly riches or come out of poverty. That, of course, has led us to looking at how to live within our income. I already pointed out to you before that one of the habits of financially intelligent people is that they do not spend more than they earn. And if you will not spend more than you earn, you need to know how to manage your resources. In fact, from what we see in Scriptures, God expects us to be faithful in managing our resources. He does not want us to use the resources He has entrusted to us anyhow. Otherwise, He would not take us as ready to have more or receive more. It is the one that has shown himself to be faithful in handling what he has that can expect God to increase it. And we see this principle in the Scriptures.

How, then, do you manage your resources in such a way that you do not spend more than you have? First, I said you need to know the minimum resources you require to take care of your needs or responsibilities. Don’t just use your resources as you like. First, acquaint yourself with the minimum resources you need. Then settle down and plan the use of these resources. You need to identify your real needs and reconcile them with the resources you have. This is so that you do not end up spending your money on things that you do not really need. There are people who use their resources to take care of non-essentials or irrelevances. And when their real needs surface, they have no resources to deal with them. That, of course, shows that they are financially unintelligent.

You, however, must not be like them. Instead, learn to plan your resources. Learn to settle down to look at what you really need and the minimum resources you need to take care of it. That way, you will be able to tell whether what you are making is enough or not. But if you do not know the minimum resources you require to take care of your needs, then, you will not know whether what you are earning at the moment is sufficient or not. And if it is not sufficient, then, you do have to examine the job or business you are doing.

One of the reasons God instructs us to be involved in one form of legitimate endeavour or the other is that we may be able to take care of our daily needs and not have to be unduly dependent on anybody. Another reason He wants us to work like this is that we may have something to share with others. But it is only when we have been able to take care of our real needs that we can think of supporting others or sharing with them. If we are in debt or unable to take care of ourselves, it becomes pretty difficult for us to act on the word of God that instructs us to be generous. In any case, the point I am making is that if your job or business is not making enough resources available to you, then, you need to examine it to see if there is anything you can do to make it more profitable or if you need to abandon it altogether and go for something else or if what you need is an additional job that will make you access more resources. (Cf. Acts 20:33-35; Ephesians 4:28; 1Thessalonias 4:11-12)

Another thing I said is that you need to cut off the waste in the use of your resources. Here is someone that does not have enough resources to take care of his needs or responsibilities. He is not just making enough money at the moment. Yet he is wasting the little resources he has. He is allowing people, maybe his family members or neighbours, to waste his food, water, electricity and so forth. That kind of person, if care is not taken, may never come out of poverty. So, you need to make sure every form of waste in the use of your resources is dealt with.

Doing that, as I pointed out, will enable you to have some left over from your resources to share with others. Also, it will enable you to save to take care of future challenges and opportunities and to keep yourself free from undue financial pressures. These are the benefits of cutting off waste. Remember the things I said about Joseph and how God used him to save the Egyptians and the rest of the world from certain seven years of famine that they experienced. What he did is what we also must learn to do. He saved the surplus that the nation of Egypt had during the seven years of plenty that preceded the seven years of famine. He did not allow the surplus of the land to go to waste. Unfortunately, the Egyptians themselves did not learn from him. They did not save as he did. He was saving for the days of famine. But they were just consuming what they had. They saw him going from place to place, building barns and so forth to preserve the surplus of the land but did not take the matter very seriously. So, they ended up becoming slaves of Pharoah when famine hit the land.

In like manner, we do not know all the circumstances we are still going to face in life. So, we will do well to manage our resources in such a way that we minimise the waste or cut it off totally and are able to save for days in which things may not go as well as we will want them to go or days in which a famine may strike the land. We do not pray for such days to come. But sometimes they come. And if they should come, we need to be ready for them.

Look again at certain things that are said about the prodigal son in Luke’s gospel, chapter 15, from verse 11: “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.” (Luke 15:11-12NIV) You can see that the young man wasted his resources. He was not wise at all in using it. He was not making more money but was simply consuming everything he had. That was the major reason he became poor. That is, in fact, the way to become poor. If you are not making more money, then, you should watch how you spend what you have.

It is interesting that people spend more money than they have without considering the fact that they are putting themselves in financial trouble. This young man was not making more money. Yet he was consuming all that he had. And he kept on spending until he finished spending all that he had. Afterwards, there was a famine in the land he had gone to sojourn. Then he began to be in need. He was not expecting the land to experience the famine that it did. But the land did experience famine. Unfortunately, he was not prepared to deal with it.

See, it is not a lack of faith on your part to save a part of your earning. Rather, it is one of the habits of financially intelligent people. They save so that they can deal with certain future challenges that may come. They save so that they can take advantage of certain future opportunities. Yes, these are evil days. But they are also days of opportunities, as the bible tells us. And Paul says we need to be ready to make the most of every opportunity we have. (Cf. Ephesians 5:15-16)

But how are we going to make the most of every opportunity we have, if we are not prepared for it? You may have an opportunity to be educated along some line or to acquire some property that will make life easier for you and your family. In short, we may be confronted with all kinds of opportunities to do good things for yourself in life. But if you do not have the resources to make the most of these opportunities, they may just go away like that. And it may be someone else that will benefit from these opportunities. This is why it is important that you learn to manage your resources well, so that you may have something to save.

If you have something to save, when an opportunity arises, even if you cannot spare any money to deal with it from what you are earning, you can always take from what you have saved to deal with it. But if all you do is to consume everything you have, then, when there are future opportunities or challenges, you won’t be able to handle them. Apart from that, if you will not save, you will continually put yourself under undue financial pressure.

Mind you, you need to be careful not to save what God expects you to give out or use to take care of yourself. So, do not begin to neglect certain things you need to take care of in your life all because you want to save. That may hurt you badly. So, you need to be wise in saving. There are things that you will save that you may end up not being able to use at all. And that may be because you are not taking care of certain matters of your life that you ought to be taking care of.

In Saint Luke’s gospel, chapter 16, our Lord Jesus speaks of a man whose land did well in a particular year. And all that this man could think of doing after harvesting his crops was to save and enjoy himself. He did not think about giving thanks to God for his plenty, neither did he think about being generous to God and to men. So, God said that his life would be taken that very night. What, then, would become of all that he had gained? They would go to someone else. He would not be able to enjoy them or use them as he pleased. And the Lord concluded that story by saying that is how it will be for everyone who is not rich towards God and only stores up things for himself. (Cf. Luke 12:16-21)

So, do not use your commitment to saving what you have as an excuse for not being generous to God. I already shared a number of things with you about the role generosity has to play in our coming out of poverty or becoming rich in earthly riches. And you need to take them seriously. That is because if you are not careful, you may end up keeping what is meant for others or what God expects you to use for yourself. If you keep what God expects you to use for yourself, you may end up hurting yourself. If there are resources you ought to use to take care of your health or family members and you save them instead, things may get out of hand for you and them at some point. And you may end up spending more in dealing with the problems that follow than you would naturally have spent, if you had initially done the right thing.

If you end up having health problems, for instance, because you are saving the money you should have used to take care of yourself, would you not need more than you have saved in taking care of yourself? So, be wise in the way you save. And remember that even though it is important that you learn to save here on earth, it is even more important that you learn to save for eternal purposes.

Well, what we are still looking at is how not to spend more than we earn or stay within our income. And we have already talked about the need to plan our resources so that we may know the minimum resources we need to take care of our needs. We also talked about considering worthy and less costly alternatives that we may use in all that we do. Then we talked about getting additional jobs or businesses that could make us access more resources. Furthermore, we talked about getting rid of attitudes or practices of wasting our resources.

Now let me take this further by letting you know that we must equally learn to be diligent and careful in using what we have. This is something that many do not pay much attention to. But it is very important. I am talking here about not being careless in the way we use our things. I am talking about having a culture or setting up a system in our lives that will see to it that the things we have are preserved. I know that it is only what God preserves for us that is preserved. Solomon says unless God protects a city, the watchmen lie awake in vain (Psalm 127:1). And this statement is not applicable in the protection of cities or countries or places alone; it is also applicable in the protection and preservation of our possessions or properties. It is what God preserves for us that is preserved.

For example, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt to go to Canaan, God preserved their clothes and sandals for them, so that they did not wear out (Deuteronomy 8:3-4; Nehemiah 9:21). We also can enjoy this kind of preservation of our things from Him. However, we must still learn to be careful in the way we use our things. For instance, if you know that you do not have any money to get a new smartphone for yourself, then, you should handle the one you have with care. Don’t put it anywhere it can easily fall down and get smashed or give it to a careless person to handle for you. And if you know that you do not have money to buy a new television set or car, then, you should take a very good care of the one you have and not allow anyone to handle it anyhow. Otherwise, it may be destroyed through someone’s carelessness, and you will be the one to lose or suffer for it.

What about your cloths, books and so forth? God expects you to be careful and diligent in the way you use them. That is what it means to be responsible. God does not want us to be careless in using what we have. If we are careless in using them and they get destroyed or we lose them, why should we expect Him to replace them or to give us more things? And you know that when we allow our things to get spoilt or destroyed through carelessness or lack of diligence, we will have to take responsibility for the consequences.

Therefore, it is important that you learn to be careful in the way you use your things. Also, teach and demand that others are careful in the way they use your things. If someone is careless, then, don’t entrust your things to them. If you know that someone will take your things away and not bring them back in one piece, don’t give it to them. They may say that you are wicked or stingy. But don’t be manipulated to give in to their requests or demands. They will end up making a mess of your things.

Our Lord Jesus says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:6NIV) Do you know what that means? Well, it means be careful who you entrust important things to. There are people that behave like wild dogs and pigs. These ones do not have any sense of appreciation of things or how they are to be handled. Therefore, you can be sure that they will make a mess of anything you give them, however costly or vital that thing may be. And when you confront them with the truth, they will most likely get mad with you, fight you or begin to call you names. So, it is better to know what you entrust to such people to use or manage. Otherwise, you may someday suffer for your lack of judgment in dealing with them.

Also, in Saint Luke’s gospel, chapter 16, we have a story that the Lord tells of a man whose manager was accused of wasting his resources. And how did the man respond to that? He responded by telling the manager that he was going to sack him. He called him in and told him, “You can no longer be manager here, for you are not managing my possessions well.” In like manner, when someone is not managing your things well, you should take away those things from them. That is the wisdom of God. And on this basis, the Lord goes on to say from verse 10 of that chapter, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can be also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (Luke 16:10-12NIV)

Look at that. The Lord expects us to be trustworthy in handling whatever is entrusted to us, however little or cheap it may be. And it does not matter whether it is for us or not, we are to be trustworthy and diligent in handling anything in our possession or under our care. So, if you have access to another person’s property, handle it well. If you are giving the privilege to use another person property or possession, handle it well. Otherwise, you will be shutting the door against your own prosperity or increase. Jesus says if you will not handle another person’s property well, who will give you own? Is it God? No, God will not give you your own property. And that will be because you have not shown yourself to be diligent or faithful in managing what belongs to another.

This, I must tell you, is the reason many do not have anybody that is ready to favour them or lift them up. They pray all the time for God’s favour. But they are not ready for His favour, for they are not diligent; they are careless. For some, it is laziness that is their problem. They are just too lazy in their minds and in practice. So, there is nothing you entrust to them that they will handle well.

If you are working in another person’s office or organisation, how are you handling the job you are being given there? You may be praying now to God to provide money for you to open your own business. If He does, how will you manage that business and do well with it? Don’t say, “Oh, when I start my own business, I will manage it well.” What makes you think you will manage your own business well, if you cannot manage another person’s business well? If you are working for others, you will be under serious watch and scrutiny in all that you do, so that you can achieve excellence. And if you still fail to do well under such conditions, what makes you think you will thrive in your own business, where there will be no one to discipline you or scrutinise your work or decisions?

Look at most of our politicians today in Nigeria, especially those that have served as government leaders at one time or the other. How many of them are doing well with their lives outside government offices? How many of them have businesses that are really doing well, especially now that they no longer have access to public funds to use as they please? When they had the opportunity to manage the state’s businesses, did they manage them well? No! How, then, will someone who could not manage government’s businesses well be able to manage his own business well?

In any case, the point I am making is that you need to show yourself as diligent and responsible in managing the possessions or resources in your care now. If you want God to increase you, be responsible in managing what you have now. Cherish them. Protect them. Don’t put your cloths or shoes anywhere or use them anyhow. Don’t expose them to destruction or do things that will make them liable to destruction. These are some of the things we need to pay attention to in life, if we will succeed in living within our means.

In addition to all I have said, we must also learn contentment. If you will not be spending more than you are earning, you must be content with what you have. In Hebrews, chapter 13, from verse 5, we are told, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5NIV) Why must we be content with what we have? It is because God has said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. So, God will always be with us to take care of us, regardless of where we are or what we have, even if it is little. Our own job is to be content with what we have.

Now being content with what we have, of course, does not mean we should not work or pray to have more or to be more in life. Rather, first, it means to be thankful to God for what you have and where you are, even though you know things can really be better for you. Then it also means for you not to lose your mind because you do not have more or are not more. I told you before that it is the love of money that makes people do just about anything to have their needs met. And people will do just about anything to have their needs met, if they are not content with what they have.

So, you must learn to be content. Contentment can be learnt. Paul speaks about this to the Philippians, from verse 10 of chapter 4 of his letter to them, saying, “I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:10-13NIV) Often, people quote the part of this Scripture that says I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. But they hardly consider what led Paul to say it.

 Indeed, he says I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. And what does that mean to him? Well, to him, it means that he could live happily and joyfully, regardless of the circumstances, through Christ that gives him strength. Yes, to him, it means that he could live a life of contentment.

So, what Paul is saying is that he has learnt to be content, regardless of his life’s circumstances. If he has much or little, you won’t know. He won’t begin to gripe or murmur or misbehave because he does not have much. That is what it means to be content. You too must learn to be content. God taught the children of Israel contentment when He brought them out of Egypt. And one of the ways He did that was by giving them manna every day. He gave them the same food every day for forty years. Of course, they complained and grumbled about this. And those who did were dealt with. If you too are complaining or grumbling about your position in life or about your resources, you may be dealt with as those people were dealt with. So, watch yourself.

If, at the moment, what you can afford is two meals a day, be content with it. It does not mean things will not get better for you. If the resources you have at the moment cannot afford you a new dress every month, be content with it. Don’t lose your mind because of it. And don’t start borrowing because of it. God has said that He will never leave you nor forsake you. That means He will surely take you to a place of abundance, to that place where you will flourish. But be content while you are wherever you are. If your money at the moment cannot afford you fish or meat along with your meals, be content with what you have. Eat it joyfully and thankfully. Just learn contentment. And you can learn it. You can pray to God to teach you to be content with what you have. This will help you to live within your income. Do not go borrowing. Do not go for things that you ought not to be involved in.

But if you will not be content, you may find yourself borrowing, stealing, embezzling public funds or doing any other wrong thing those of this world are doing to take care of themselves. Many in this world, because of their lack of contentment, get involved in prostitution, robbery, kidnapping, money rituals and other similar things that can only ruin their lives. And if you do not want to ruin your own life, learn contentment.

Let us pray.

By: Johnson O. Lawal | Date: November 21, 2021

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

Series: The Christian and earthly riches

I want us to continue from where we left off on ‘The Christian and earthly riches’. We are looking at the need for us to possess financial intelligence in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches. We have looked at a number of other things along this line. But at the moment, what we are looking at is the need for us to possess financial intelligence. And as I pointed out to us before, if we do not possess financial intelligence, it does not matter how much money we are given, there is every tendency that we will still end up in poverty. So, we need to be financially intelligent in order to increase in whatever we have instead of losing it.

Now I have been showing you habits of financially intelligent people. One of them is that they make legitimate and righteous use of the things they have in order to increase in earthly goods. And I also gave you some warnings about this, which you will do well to pay attention to. Another habit of financially intelligent people is that they do not spend more than they earn. As I pointed out before, if you are spending more than you are earning, it simply means you are already in debt. If you are not in debt, you should be able to tell where the excess money is coming from and why it is coming to you.

Then I went on to speaking about the need for you to control the use of your resources. This is important because if you do not know how to manage what you have, there is no way you won’t be spending more than you are earning. This, in fact, is one of the major reasons some people are in financial mess. They don’t know how to manage what they have or how to discipline themselves in using their resources so that they don’t end up borrowing. And if you want to avoid that in your life, you must learn to recognise worthy alternatives to whatever you want to do or get. There is always an alternative to everything we want to do in life. It may not be a worthy one. But there is always an alternative to everything. And it is for us to recognise worthy alternatives to the things we want to do in life and use them. If you will learn to do this, you will save yourself from regularly using more resources than you are earning.

Apart from that, you may also want to consider what you are doing now to see if you need to be doing something else in addition to it. If the job or business you are doing at the moment is not making enough resources available to you, then, you will need to look at it carefully to see whether you are getting things right in it or not. That will let you know if you need to quit it altogether or if you need to get an additional job or business with it. It is important you do this, if you do not want to be spending more than you are earning. You need to know the minimum resources you require in order to take care of yourself and your responsibilities.

I am saying this because it is easy to tell people not to spend more than they earn. But in reality, is it something that is practicable? If what is coming in to someone is very low, that is, if their income is low, and they have a lot of responsibilities to handle, it will be hard for them not to spend more than they earn. And if they are spending more than they earn, it will probably mean that they are borrowing or doing something wrong to get the excess money they are spending. Or it may be that they are getting support from some people, support that may not be regular or that may stop coming at some point. These are the things we need to look at carefully and deal with, if we do not want to put ourselves in difficult positions, as far as our finances are concerned.

Then I went on to speak of the need for people to learn not to waste their resources. Don’t forget that we are now looking at how not to spend more than you are earning. And if that is going to happen, you must learn not to waste your resources. As I pointed out before, there are two main things you stand to benefit, if you will learn not to waste your resources. The first is that you are put in a position where you are able to share with others. There are many that complain of not having enough to give to others or to be generous as God wants them to be. But their problem may not be that of lack; rather, it may be that what they may have been giving to others has been wasted by them.

From the scriptures we considered on this, it is clear that God does not want us to be wasteful or to squander the resources He has given to us. Don’t forget that He is the owner of everything we have. We may call our possessions ‘our things’. We may speak of ‘our car’, ‘our house’ and so forth. But all these things actually belong to God and not to us. And He is interested in how we use them. He is interested in how we use the things He has entrusted to us directly or through other people. If we, then, will not learn to manage the things entrusted to us by others well, we should not expect God to give us our own properties or possessions. Also, if we will not learn to manage the material things God has entrusted to us directly well, we should not expect Him to entrust us with true riches, which are mostly spiritual. That is what our Lord Jesus tells us about this matter. (Cf. Luke 16:10-12)

So, God is watching out for our faithfulness in managing what we have. If you are not faithful in managing what you have now, there is no way you are going to be faithful in managing more things. That is a life principle that is illustrated for us in Scriptures. Therefore, it is important that you take the use and management of the things you have very seriously and not be careless about it. Do not waste what you have. Do not allow those around you to waste your resources. They will be unconsciously limiting you, if they are doing that. Well, my point is that when you avoid wasting your resources, you are placed in a position in which you can be generous to others with what you might otherwise have wasted.

Another benefit of not wasting your resources is that you are able to save for future purposes. I mean that when you do not waste your resources, you can save what you might otherwise have wasted to deal with future challenges or opportunities. See, none of us knows all the combinations of challenges we are still going to be faced with in life. Since you are alive today, it means that you have faced a number of challenges before arriving at where you now are. But you will still face more challenges in life, as long as you are alive. In fact, every day comes with its own challenges. They may not be difficult for us to handle. It is not every time that the challenges we are daily faced with are difficult for us to handle. But there are times that we are faced with some difficult challenges that are like terrible intrusions into our lives. We don’t like them. But they come. And if we have learnt to put on the whole armour of God, as Paul instructs us in the Scriptures, we will find that we are able to walk in victory over them. (Cf. Ephesians 6:10-18)

Now one of the elements of the armour of God that we are to put on is the word of God. So, we must allow His word to dwell in our hearts richly. Paul calls God’s word the sword of the Spirit with which we can put the enemy to flight. But if we do not have His word in us, then, when we are faced with difficult times or situations, we may not know what to do. I am showing you the word of God now about handling your finances. And this will help you in dealing with certain life challenges and also in taking advantage of some life opportunities.

See, apart from the fact that we are faced with diverse challenges in life, we are also confronted with diverse opportunities, opportunities to do big and great things. And if we are not prepared for such opportunities, they may just be wasted. We may, for example, have an opportunity to acquire something that we really need or that we will need in the future. And if we do not have the resources to take advantage of such opportunity, we will feel bad about it and may even be affected by it at some point in life. Or it may be an opportunity to get some form of very relevant education that we are confronted with. But if the resources to take advantage of it is not there, we may miss that opportunity for life.

All of this is why it is important that you learn to manage your resources well. It will put you in a position where you are able to take advantage of future opportunities or deal with future challenges. Some people think it is wrong or faithless to save. But it is not wrong to do so. In fact, one of the habits of financially intelligent people is that they save. They don’t consume everything they have. Of course, you need to have more than enough resources to take care of yourself and your responsibilities in order to save conveniently. And if you will learn to manage your resources well, you will see that you are able to save, even if it is not much.

Look, it may be that the reason you have not been able to save for future purposes is that you have not been managing your resources well. It may not be that the resources that are coming are not enough. Instead, it may be that you have not learnt to manage them well; you have not learnt not to waste them. I am sure you remember the story of Joseph and how he became the prime minister of the then nation of Egypt and began to serve Pharaoh. He actually had told Pharaoh what would happen to Egypt and other nations of the world at the time and how they were to respond to what was coming. He said there would be seven years of plenty of farm produce, which would be followed by another seven years of very severe famine. So, they would need to save during those years of plenty in order for them to have food to eat during the years of famine that would follow.

Now that is something we too need to keep in mind. A day of famine may come. We don’t pray that such days come to us or that we are confronted with such days in our lifetime. But we cannot rule out the fact that a day of famine may come. As long as we are in this world, things like such are bound to happen. Our Lord Jesus says things like famine, disasters, calamities, wars and so forth are bound to come, as long as this earth remains (Matthew 24:6-8). Yes, we are looking forward to a new order of things. We are looking forward to a day in which all of these things would be gone, in which all of them would be history. We are looking forward to a day in which we will not fight any kind of war or experience any form of calamity or disaster or death. That day is coming. But it has not yet come. And while we are waiting for it to come, we must learn how to conduct ourselves in this world so that we do not become victims of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

In any case, learning from the Scriptures and applying what we learn gives us victory over a number of unforeseen problems we may be faced with in life, even without praying about them at all. Everything is not always about prayer. Yes, there are problems that are solved only as we pray to God. But it is not every problem that gets solved merely because we have prayed about it. There are problems that won’t go away just because we have prayed about them. That is because if there are things God has shown us that we need to do about them and we do not do them, they will not go away even if we use the rest of our lives praying about them.

What I am saying is that days of famine may come to you. Days in which you do not make as much money as you have been making may come. Days in which your business may not boom as it has been booming may come. Days in which you lose your job or in which your salary is cut down may come. And days in which things become so expensive that what you earn is unable to handle them may come. These are realities of life. Of course, as I pointed out before, we don’t pray for such days to come on us. But when you consider the current situation of this country, you should understand what I am talking about. People’s salaries or earnings are not increasing in most cases. Yet the prices of goods and services are increasing every day – we are confronted with inflation everyday. That is nothing but famine.

See, we may not acknowledge that this is a period of famine for us as a nation. But it is. Many think it is only when there is no rain or when there is drought that a land can be said to be in danger of experiencing famine. But it is beyond that. There is famine already when the income of most of the people in a land is insufficient to take care of their needs or expenses. And is that not the situation with us in this country? It is. Most people’s resources are not enough to take care of their needs and responsibilities. That is famine. And I pray that God, by His mighty power, will lead us out of it. But this is our reality now.

Well, my point is that we can learn to get ourselves ready for such days. And how do we prepare for them? One of them is by learning how to manage our resources instead of consuming them as we please. We you learn not to consume more than you are earning, you are able to save. When you learn not to waste your resources, you are able to save for future use or purposes, apart from being able to support others. Look at what is said about Joseph and how he prepared the nation of Egypt for a period of famine that eventually came on them:

“Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and travelled throughout Egypt. During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. 

Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure. Before the years of famine came two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, ‘It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.’ The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’ The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.’ When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. 

And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.” (Genesis 41:46-57NIV)

Observe that this was a worldwide famine. Look at the words used in the last sentence of the passage we just read: “And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.” So, all the people of the world of that time were confronted with this severe famine. Did they plan for it? No! But it came. And it was only Egypt that was prepared for it. Really, it was only Joseph that was prepared for it. He had told them what to do with their surplus. They had seven years of surplus in Egypt. What the situation was in other parts of the world at the time is not expressly given us in the bible. But Egypt had seven years of surplus. And I do want to believe that other nations of the world must have had a similar experience, seven years of a surplus of their farm produce. But what did they do with this surplus? They most probably wasted it.

Joseph, however, stored up the surplus of Egypt. He built storehouses in different cities and stored up the surplus they had during those seven years of abundance. So, when the seven years of famine began and all of Egypt began to feel it, he opened the storehouses to them and began to sell what was stored up to them. Think about it. He was not giving them free of charge. Rather, he sold it to them. But it was from them that he originally got this surplus. How come that it was only he that made deliberate and serious effort to store up their surplus? Couldn’t others too have done something similar? I believe they could have. But they did not.

Now I am certain that the king of Egypt could not have prevented these people from storing up their own surplus. If your land did well and you had plenty of farm produce, more than you could use or sell, would it not be on you to decide on what to do with whatever was left? So, you could make plans to store up whatever was left. Joseph had plans to store up the surplus of Egypt. But the citizens of Egypt themselves did not do likewise. There must have been business people in the land at that time. Why didn’t they also act as Joseph did? Was it that they did not believe what he told them? Or was it that they got tired of saving their surplus? Joseph did not get tired of saving. Yes, he got tired of recording the surplus at some point. But he did not get tired of saving the surplus of the land. And he stored up so much grain that it was not only Egypt that benefited from it but also other nations of the world. Just think about that.

I once was listening to an uncle of mine talk about their days of poverty and how they continually went to borrow money from some people to stay fine. And one day, as he pointed out, his wife took the matter up with him and said, “If the way we use our resources is the way the people we borrow money from use their own resources, do you think they will have any money to lend us?” That actually touched me. If you are borrowing from others today or you are unduly relying on them for support, you need to consider this too: if the way you are using your resources is the way they are using their own resources, will they have anything to support you or lend to you? These are some of the things you need to consider in your life. What do you do with your resources? What do you do with the surplus you have? You may not have a surplus of everything. But those things that you have in surplus or excess, what do you do with them? Do you handle this excess diligently in supporting others and in saving for future purposes?

The Egyptians, as individuals, did not save for themselves as Joseph was saving for them. So, they ended up running to him, as did all the other people of the world. And when they went to him, he did not give them food for free; instead, he sold to them. He had enough to sell to the Egyptians and to the rest of the world during those years of famine. That means he was diligent in this matter. And he, in fact, ended up making all the Egyptians Pharaoh’s slaves. That was because he took all their lands, livestock and money away from them. Before then, there were individual land owners in the land. But after the famine, all the lands became Pharaoh’s and the people started paying tributes to him every year from whatever they made on the lands.

Why did they become impoverished like that? Why did they all become Pharoah’s slaves? It was because they did not learn to save. They saw Joseph saving for the nation. But they all, as individuals, did not act similarly. We often experience similar things in our country today. There are times, for instance, that we are blessed with plenty of tomatoes and other vegetables. And what do we do with them? All of us would bring them to the market to sell at the same time. So, we will drive down their prices. As a result, much of these things get wasted on our farms, on the road, in our market places and even in our various homes.

But we could have thought of the period in which we would not be able to cultivate or harvest these things and saved our surplus. I mean that even individuals could say to themselves, “Why do I need to take my tomatoes to the market now that everybody is bringing theirs? Why don’t I just sell a part of them and think of how to save the rest for a period in which nobody or only few people would be cultivating them? Then I can sell and even multiply my profit.” Unfortunately, we don’t usually think like this. Instead, we treat almost all our farm produce this same way. We flood our markets with them in their time of surplus and give room for people to waste them and to even drive their prices below what is acceptable. And when we are out of the season to cultivate them, we start starving. Then those who have saved their farm produce become kings among us and start driving us crazy with the prices they sell them.

Now we may see this as being wicked. But is it really? Of course, people may demonstrate some measure of wickedness in handling matters like this. But what actually gives them the upper hand is financial intelligence. So, learn to manage what you have. There are benefits of doing so. There are benefits of learning not to waste your resources, especially when you have plenty of them. Sadly, some don’t have enough. Yet they waste what they have. Why are you doing this to yourself? If you allow your water, electricity or other utilities you pay for in your house to be wasted, you are not financially wise. If you allow your food to be wasted, you are not financially wise. If you are eating more than you are supposed to be eating or allow those with you to eat more of your food than they are supposed to be eating, you are not financially wise. You need to know what is enough for everyone in your house. 

You don’t need to allow people to eat so much that their stomachs want to burst and they have to start rushing to the toilet to purge out all they have eaten. You don’t need to give room for this kind or any other kind of waste in your life. Don’t allow people to waste your resources, for a day is coming when those resources may prove invaluable to you. So, save them. Keep them for future use. Keep them for future challenges. Keep them to handle future opportunities. May the Spirit of God give you strength to take these words to heart and to also make the most of them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

Series: The Christian and earthly riches

I want to further share with you on ‘The Christian and earthly riches’. In recent times we have been looking at the role that financial intelligence has to play in leading us out of poverty or bringing us to a state of financial independence. As I pointed out before, it does not matter how much you earn or how much you make from where you work, if you lack financial intelligence, it won’t be long before you lose everything. It does not even matter how much you have inherited from your parents or anyone, if you lack financial intelligence, it won’t be long before everything amounts to nothing. So, you need to possess financial intelligence in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches.

God, as we see in Scriptures, does not want His children to be unduly dependent on anybody. It is not that He does not want us to depend on others at all or that He does not want us to receive others’ support at all. No. There is none of us that is self-sufficient. There is none of us that is self-dependent. We all need other people in our lives, just as other people also need us in their lives. But there is such a thing as undue dependence on others. And that is something God does not want. That is one of the reasons He wants us to be involved in one form of legitimate labour or the other.

Remember that in 1Thessalonians, chapter 4, from verse 11, Paul says, “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1Thessalonians 4:11-12NIV) Can you see that? God does not want us to be unduly dependent on anybody. So, He wants us to work.

Besides, He also wants us to be in that position where we can support others. But if we can’t take care of ourselves, it won’t be easy or possible for us to support others. So, we must be able to take care of ourselves. We must have enough resources to take adequate care of ourselves before we can start talking about supporting others or acting responsibly towards those that are dependent on us for one thing or the other. Therefore, it is important to know how to function in life in order to arrive in a place where we are financially dependent. I have already shared a number of things with you along this line. First, I spoke about the need for you to see God as your source. I also spoke about the need for you to be generous and to also be involved in one form of legitimate labour or the other. Then I shared about the need for you to seek the support of others, when you need it.

Now we are considering a possession of financial intelligence, for it is also one of the things we need to become financially independent. And on that note, we have been looking at habits of financially intelligent people. One of them is that they make legitimate and righteous use of what they have in order to have what they need or increase in earthly goods. Then financially intelligent people do not spend more than they earn. And I have, in fact, been dwelling on this because of those who may say, “Look, I have a lot of responsibilities to handle. I have people that are dependent on me – my children, spouse, parents, siblings, friends and so forth. How do I fulfill my responsibility to them with the little resources I have?”

See, as I pointed out before, if you are going to help people, you are to help them only on the basis of what you have and not on the basis of what you do not have. If you are spending more than you earn, as I have already talked about, it must mean that you are already in debt. If you are not in debt and are spending more than you are earning, then, where is the excess coming from. Have you been stealing? Have you been swindling people? Have you been involved in money rituals? Have you been involved in one form of corrupt practice or the other? What exactly have been involved in that is making more resources available to you? Where is the excess money coming from?

You cannot spend what you do not have. You cannot give what you do not have. So, if you are spending more than you earn, then, you must know where the excess is coming from. Could it be that someone is helping you with money or resources? Or do you have people supporting you every month? If that is the case, how long will this help continue to come? What is this help for? Is it for you to consume or invest?

There are, of course, people that the word of God shows us that we must continually support. And that is not basically because they are poor but because they are old or physically challenged. What I am saying is that old people must continually be supported when they can no longer adequately take care of themselves because of their age. So, it is not wrong for them to always expect the support of their children or other people that they have raised. Also, physically challenged people must be supported, according to the Scriptures. So, it is not wrong for them to expect the support of others because they are physically challenged and may not be able to adequately take care of themselves. Of course, there may be exceptions to this. But generally, physically challenged people require the support of those around them.

Yes, poor people too need the support of those around them. But the point I am making is that if you are poor and are getting the support of those around you, you need to know to what end they are supporting you. Why are they supporting you? To what end are they supporting you? Are they supporting you so that you can consume what they are giving you or so that you can invest what they are giving to you and lead yourself out of poverty by the grace of God?

Also, the word of God says the Lord Jesus has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live by doing so. Therefore, they can expect people to support them. But even at that, preachers too must be financially intelligent. They cannot be using more resources than they are earning. Otherwise it won’t be long before they are in debt. So, if you do not want to be in debt, you need to know how to handle your resources. That is why I am talking about financial intelligence. And I am saying if you do not want to be using more resources than you are earning, you must know how to use alternatives. You must know how to recognize worthy alternatives and use them. Look, there is always an alternative to everything we want to do in life. It may not be a worthy alternative. But there is always an alternative to what we want to do. So, it is on you to find out a worthy alternative for everything you want to do in order for you to bring down your cost of living.

Apart from that, you may want to consider what you are doing to see why it is not making enough resources available to you. It may be that there is something you are missing or something you are not getting right. Earning more resources, as I told you before, is not always about changing jobs or businesses. Yes, there are times that you may need to change your job or business altogether because it is not making enough resources available to you. Truly, God wants us to work so that we may become financially independent. But if the job or business we are doing is not accomplishing that, we need to examine it to know whether what we need is to change it or to adjust the way we handle it. And what we need may really be to change our attitude or approach towards handling our job or business in order to make it more profitable. But if it is clear that it does not matter what we do to make it profitable, it won’t be profitable, then, we may need to get an additional business or change it altogether.

Now laziness is not going to work here. So, you will need to put your mind to work. Yes, you need to sit down and consider what you are doing to know whether you need to stop doing it altogether and start something new or get something additional to it. Mind you, as I pointed out before, the fact that you change your job does not mean that you will readily start earning more money or be led to a place of financial intelligence. Some job may indeed provide more money for you. But then, it may also take more money from you. So, you need to sit down and look at the situation to know the exact thing you need to do. But don’t just sit down and wait for your financial condition to get better all by itself. It won’t change all by itself.

Yes, you can pray to God about all this. And that is fine. But there are things God will not do for you. There are steps that God will not take for you. You need to take those steps yourself. Part of them is what I am sharing with you now. And I am saying you need to settle down to know whether you need an additional job or business to what you are doing or whether you need to go for something else altogether.

Having said all that, there is something else you need to be doing, if you do not want to be spending more than you are earning. And it is that you must know how to manage the things you have. I will address you about contentment later and the role it also has to play in all of this. But first I want to address you on the need for you to know how to properly manage what you have. Managing what you have has to do with controlling the use of your resources. It has to do with not wasting or squandering your resources. Here is someone that is not making enough money to take care of His needs. Yet he is squandering the little resources he has. He is not financially intelligent.

By the way, let me also quickly remind you that it is important you know the minimum resources you need to take care of yourself and your responsibilities. This is why you must plan your resources. Don’t just spend your money as you like or use your resources as you like. You need to know the minimum resources you require to handle your responsibilities before you start spending. This will help you in knowing whether what you are earning is enough for you or not. And if what is coming in is not enough to take care of what is on ground, then, you know that you have more work to do. It may be that you need to get support for a while in order to attain financial balance. It may be that you need to get an additional job or that you need to work on your business to make it more profitable or that you need to get additional knowledge or improve your work skills. These are things you will get to know when you sit down to examine what you are doing.

But then, even if you are making enough money, if you do not know how to manage your resources, there is no way you will not be using more than you are supposed to use. The word of God is clear about the fact that God does not want us to be wasteful. For example, John says this in his gospel about an occasion in which Jesus fed five thousand people, not counting the women and the children: “Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” (John 6:10-12 NIV)

Look at that. The Lord fed these people on this occasion, making sure that all of them ate enough. That is why John says, “When they had all had enough to eat…” But what happened after that? John goes on to say, “He said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.” This shows that God does not want us to waste things. He does not want us to waste our food, our water or anything else that He has given to us. Don’t forget that none of the things we have originally belongs to us. Everything belongs to God. Whatever we have is what He has enabled us to acquire. And we must always remember this and be thankful.

Well, because none of the things we have really belongs to us but to God, we must not use anything anyhow. Instead, we must learn to use our resources, properties or possessions to honour God. This is why we must stop wasting things. Cut off the waste. Stop everything you are doing that is resulting in a waste of resources. This, I tell you, will help you a lot. Remember also the story of the prodigal son. How did he come into poverty? Look at what is said about that: “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” (Luke 15:13 NIV) What did this young man do to his wealth? He squandered it in wild living. He was not making more money. All he did was to use or spend what he had. He was not making more money or acquiring more wealth but was using all that he had. So, he was bound to come to poverty. And he did come to poverty. If you too are like him, you are bound to come to poverty at some point. That is because you are not increasing your resources but simply consuming them. Anyone like that will never be rich, as long as they are functioning like that.

There is another parable that the Lord also shares on this same matter. It is in Luke, chapter 16, from verse 1, which says, “Jesus told his disciples: ‘There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.”’” (Luke 16:1-2 NIV) Why was this man going to sack his manager? It was because he was wasting his possessions. So, there is nowhere in the Scriptures that we are encouraged to waste things. And if you will not be spending more than you earn, you must learn not to waste things but manage what you have well.

The resources you have are not enough for you at the moment. Why, then, are you wasting them? Even if they are enough for you, should you waste them? Wasting your resources will lead you to poverty sooner or later. So, watch yourself. How do you use your resources? How do you use your water? How do you use your electricity? How do you use your gas stove or the things you use in cooking? How do you use plates and cutlery? How do you use your mobile phone? You need to watch the way you use these things.

If, for example, you know that there is no money for you to buy a new phone at the moment, then, you should handle the one you have well and with seriousness. Yes, of course, if God does not keep your things for you, they will not be safe. That, however, does not mean that you should not handle your things with carefulness. You cannot be praying that God will protect your things and at the same time be careless in handling them. Your prayers are contrary to your actions. You are sowing a seed that is different from the harvest you want. It won’t work. If you want pawpaw fruit, then, sow pawpaw seed. If you sow something different and expect pawpaw, it won’t work, regardless of how hard you pray to God.

So, you need to be sowing seeds of carefulness into your life in order for your things to be preserved. Praying about the preservation of your things is not enough; you also need to be careful in the way you use them. If you do not have a refrigerator to preserve your food, then, you should not prepare more food than you can eat all at once. Otherwise you may end up wasting things. You are not making enough money at the moment. Yet you leave all the bulbs in your house on all through the night or day. How do you pay your electricity bills? Or maybe you are stealing the power supply coming to your house. Otherwise how do you pay? This is a bad culture that you must deal with.

Well, I am saying you need to see to it that you are managing what you have well. When you manage what you have well, when you do not waste your resources, there are two major things you will be able to do. The first is that you will be able to support others. Perhaps you have been complaining of not being able to support the people in your life the way you should. I already told you that you should support people only on the basis of what you have and not on the basis of what you do not have. Otherwise it won’t be long before you and those you are trying to support come to poverty. So, you must let those you are trying to support know that until you increase in riches, there is a measure of support you cannot give them at the moment. And if they want you to be able to give more, then, they should pray to God for you to make things better and better for you so that you can support them more.

In any case, if you will be able to take care of yourself well and support those in your life adequately, then, you must learn how to manage your resources. Look at what is said about Ruth from verse 14 of chapter 2 of her book: “At mealtime Boaz said to her, ‘Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.’ When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, ‘Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.’ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an Ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.” (Ruth 2:14-18 NIV)

Ruth, as we see here, was given a privilege to eat with Boaz, the owner of the field in which she had gone to work. When she was done eating, she had some left over, which she could have thrown away or messed up. But she did not throw it away or mess it up. Instead, she kept it and brought it back home to her mother-in-law. This is showing us that when we manage our things well, we will be able to have something to share with others. The reason you do not have to share with others may just be that you are not managing what you have well or that you are wasting your resources.

Therefore, you need to deal with every form of wastefulness in your life. And you will be amazed at what you will have left over with you to share with others. What you have to share with others may not be much. But if you manage what you have well, you will often see that you have things to share with others. So, again, I am saying deal with every form of wastefulness in your life and in your family. If you have family members that are wasteful, you need to call them to order. If your spouse is being wasteful, you need to call them to order. If those staying with you are wasteful, you need to call them to order. If you have neighbours that are wasting your resources, you need to call them to order. They may say that you are hard or difficult. Don’t mind them. You are just being biblical.

Look at our Lord’s case again. He would not allow the people to waste the food that was left over after He had fed them. Yes, it was a miracle of multiplication. Nevertheless, the Lord wasn’t going to allow them to waste what was left over. That is to show that He was really thankful to God for that supply. One of the reasons some people will not receive from God miracles of multiplication is that they are wasteful.

Well, I will stop here for now and share more with you when next I come your way.

November 07, 2021 |  J. O. Lawal

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

Series: The Christian and earthly riches

We are still on the subject we are treating, the Christian and earthly riches. Recently, we began to look at what financial intelligence is and how important it is for us to possess it in order to increase in wealth or come out of poverty. Now there are habits of financially intelligent people. One of them is that they consider the things they have that they can take advantage of in order to increase in wealth and take advantage of them. This, of course, does not mean that they take advantage of anything they have or anything in their possession in order to increase in wealth. Rather, it means that they take advantage of the things in their possession in legitimate and righteous ways in order to increase in wealth.

So, it does not mean that they use their brains to steal from people, swindle people or do immoral things in order to increase in wealth. And it does not mean they use anything in their possession in order to increase in earthly wealth. If you are financially intelligent, you will be able to differentiate between those things in your possession that you are authorised to use and the ones you are not authorised to use. As I warned you before, if you use things that are kept in your possession that you are not authorised to use to make money, you may get into trouble. So, it is financial intelligence to know what you can use for commercial purposes and what you can’t use.

Furthermore, I said financially intelligent people do not spend more than they earn. Spending more than you earn will plunge you further into poverty. If you are spending more than you earn, it means that you are using resources that you do not possess. Where, then, are the excess resources you are using coming from? Could it be that you are stealing, swindling people or doing something untoward? Otherwise you should be able to answer the question, “Where is the excess money I am using coming from?” No one can use what he does not have. So, if you are using or spending money or resources that you do not have, you need to ask where they are coming from?

If you are not stealing or involved in anything untoward, could it be that you are unduly pressuring people to give to you? Could it be that you are living a parasitic life, unduly pressuring others to give to you or manipulating others to give to you? There are people who live such lives. They are parasitic in nature. They are always feeding off other people. When they need something, they will be on the neck of others, pressuring them to give to them. These ones have all kinds of schemes that they use to pressure those in their lives to give to them or do things for them. That is a parasitic life. That is being unduly dependent on others. And it is not the will of God for us to live that way. Remember that Paul tells us that one of the reasons God tells us to work is that we may not be unduly dependent on others (1Thessalonians 4:11-12). So, if you are pressuring people or manipulating them to give to you, you are doing something wrong.

Then could it be that you are begging to have more resources. There are beggars today that beg people for money, These ones go from place to place begging people for money. Unfortunately, many able-bodied people are now involved in this, begging others to support them, begging them to give to them. In fact, this has become a job for them. Maybe you too are begging in order to have more money than you earn. This is not the will of God for you.

In any case, I am saying that financially intelligent don’t spend more than they earn. That is because they know the implications. They know that once you are spending more than you earn, you are already in debt. And if you are not in debt, could it be that some people are supporting you. If that is the case, to what end are they supporting you? It is possible that people are supporting you. And I did say before that one of the ways to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches is to have the support of others. You may not need the support of others to come out of poverty. But most people need this kind of support at some point or the other in their lives in order to come out of poverty.

Now when such support comes, what do you do with it? Do you consume it or invest it? They may be giving you money to take care of yourself, your family and your bills. But you need to be wise in using this excess money that is coming to you through the grace of God. Otherwise you will never come out of poverty. If all you do is consume the support you get from people and you do not think of investing some or all of it in something that will make additional resources available to you so that you too, at some point, can become financially independent, you may not come out of poverty. It does not matter how much support you get, if you do not do anything tangible with it in order to increase your wealth, you may not come out of poverty.

I will keep reminding you of the story of the prodigal son. This man went away from his father full but came back empty. Was that because he did not go with enough resources from home? No! He went with an abundance of every good thing. Yet he came back poor. He came back poor because he lacked financial intelligence. He just kept on consuming what he had and was not making more money. So, you need to watch this: don’t spend more than you earn. And if you are getting support from people that makes it possible to spend more than you earn, you need to know how to use this support, so that you can after some time become financially independent yourself.

If you are not a pastor or a preacher of the word of God that God has a plan of support for, you need to watch the way you use the support you are getting. I have been saying you need to know what the support or excess money coming to you is for. Then you need to also consider how you will fare if this support should stop coming. This support you are getting now may not come forever. If you are not an aged person or physically challenged in some way, the support you are getting now may not continue to come to you at some point. What will you do, if that should happen? You need to stop to think about this. In any case, my point is that if you will come out of poverty, you need to stop spending more than you earn.

Now some people may ask, “But what I am earning is not sufficient to take care of me and my responsibilities. And those I am responsible for – my children, parents, siblings, spouse and so forth – are continually pressuring me to respond to their needs. These are real responsibilities for me. What do I do?” I have mentioned some things to you about this as well. But remember that begging, stealing or doing anything untoward is not the right way to deal with this kind of problem. Also, borrowing is not the way out of this. If you keep on borrowing, how are you going to pay back? What you are earning at the moment is not enough to take care of your needs and responsibilities. And you want to borrow more. How will you pay back? You want to mortgage your future and that of your future generations. Is that what you want?

If someone is borrowing money, he must have a sure plan or way of paying back. Otherwise that person will never be free from poverty. This is the case with Nigeria at the moment. We keep borrowing but do not have any concrete plan of paying back. That means we are in trouble. Our future generation is in trouble. And unless God intervenes in the matter and raises people for us that will lead us out of this financial mess, we are already mortgaging our future.

So, you need to know what steps to take, if your resources are little, to stay out of poverty and increase in wealth. And I have been sharing with you the things you need to do or take note of in order not to spend more than you earn. First, I said you need to learn to seek and use alternatives for everything you want to do or have. Look for alternatives that are cheaper or that are not as expensive as what you may naturally want to go for. Of course, it is not every alternative that you will find worthy of consideration or use. But you must learn to look out for less expensive alternative for everything you want to do. That is one of the ways to see to it that you do not spend more money than you earn.

Also, it is important that you find additional jobs to do in order to make more money and not spend more than you earn. 

As I pointed out to you before, the Lord clearly tells us through Paul that one of the reasons we are to work is that our daily lives may win the respect of others and that we may not have to be unduly dependent on anybody (1Thessalonians 4:11-12). And if you are following this instruction and yet see that what you earn is not enough to take care of your needs, then, you need to re-consider the job or business you are doing. If you are working and still realise that you need to rely on others or borrow money to take care of most of your needs, then, you just have to reconsider the job you are doing. That means that job is not yet fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. So, you need to reconsider it.

Now I am not saying that you should change your job or close your shop or resign from where you are working because the money you are making in it is not sufficient for you. That may just be a stupid thing to do. You need to first sit down and examine what you are doing. Remember that I said financially intelligent people plan their money. They don’t just spend. They plan the way they use their resources. They look at what they have and consider how to use it and not get into debt or financial trouble.

So, sit down and look at the job or business you are doing. Why is it not making enough money or resources available to you? You need resources to take care of yourself and also support others. That is the target, according to Scriptures. And I do not want you to forget that. We do not work only to be able to take care of ourselves but also to be able to help others. That is the will of God for us. But if we are not able to take care of ourselves adequately, it will be pretty difficult for us to support others. And if we are not supporting others, we are not fully living in the will of God for us. (Cf. Acts 20:33-35; Ephesians 4:28; 1Thessalonias 4:11-12)

Well, the point is that you need to consider the job you are doing and see why it is not making enough resources available to you. This is not just about praying. Of course, you need to pray that God will expand your business and exalt you where you work. But there are things you too need to be doing, things that God will not do for you about your business or job. Maybe you are not running your business the way you should be running it. Perhaps that is why it is not making enough resources available to you. Then it could be that you are not in a position in your office where you could expect to be paid enough money to take care of yourself and others. What, then, do you do about that?

These are the things you must consider. If, for example, you are working in an office where people are promoted on the basis of the certificates they have or the skills they have, if you do not have such things that will make your employer promote you or increase your wages, you may not be elevated there, even if you are praying hard to God. So, you may consider studying further, acquiring more skills or refining your skills so that what you are doing in that office may attract more money to you. And if it is your business that is not working well, you may want to consider seeking more knowledge or information to drive it to begin to do better.

It is as you consider these things that you will know whether there are certain things you need to adjust about how you handle your job or business or whether you need to quit the job altogether and find another one. You don’t just quit a job or business because it is not making enough money or resources available to you without first considering these things. Already, you are not earning enough resources from the job you are doing. If you, then, want to quit the job, do you have a plan of getting another job right away? Or do you have a plan to start another business that will begin to make more resources available to you almost immediately? If you do not have such plans, you should not quit your job yet. Otherwise you may just make a bad situation worse.

Then, apart from considering what is wrong with your current job or business, you also need to consider the possibility of additional jobs. But people hardly do this. Here is someone that earns thirty thousand naira monthly. And unless he gets someone to support him, that is all that is coming to him. Then when he looks at the things he has to do and take care of, he sees that he will be spending far more than thirty thousand naira. Yet he sits down and expects or hopes that things will take care of themselves. But things will not take care of themselves, if you do not take care of them.

All of this is why you need to plan your resources or money. Write down what you need to spend on and compare it with what you earn. You should know where your money is going. You should know how much you spend every month or week and be able to compare it with what you earn, so that you can know where you stand. I mean that you should know the minimum money or resources you need to take care of yourself and your responsibilities and other emergencies that may show up. I already told you that you must learn to pray that God will not allow you to experience any situation that will drive you to look for money where you shouldn’t look for it. And it is my prayer too that you will not have any kind of emergency that will make you do this.

At any rate, you should know the minimum resources you need to be able to handle yourself and your responsibilities. And if you can see that what is coming in is not enough to take care of these things, then, you definitely need to have additional streams of income. So, ask yourself, “What additional jobs can I take on, in the light of the present situation of things, without leaving the job I am doing?” You are already earning money through the job you are doing. What else, then, can you do to make more money without quitting this job?

Again, this is not about changing jobs. People often want to change their jobs, businesses, organisations and so forth when they can see that it is not taking care of most of their needs. And that may not necessarily increase their wealth or resources. Sometimes, the jobs people go for are those that will make them spend even more than they should be spending. I am talking about jobs you will take that will require that you buy new dresses and shoes every month or that will require that you use certain expensive phones. Otherwise you won’t fit into the setting of the office or organisation that has employed you.

So, though the job is making more money available to you, it is also taking more money than you used to spend from you. And ultimately, you will realise that your financial situation has not changed, even though you now earn more money. Getting a job that earns you more money does not mean that your financial situation will automatically change. It depends on how much the job will make available for you and also how much it will take away from you. So, you have to use your head. The fact that you have become a child of God does not mean you should not use your head. God gave you those brains so that you could use them. Therefore, you need to begin to think hard about these things.

Yes, you should be praying as well. When you pray, God illuminates your mind and fill your heart with wisdom and revelations about what to do about your life and so forth. But you need to process the things He is making known to you and put them to work. You need to know how to apply the things God is revealing to your life. This is why you should learn to sit down and consider the various jobs or businesses that are available for you to do and which among them will be suitable for your situation. Yes, consider these things, look at the prospects of the jobs or businesses that are available for you to do in addition to your current job or business and put your observations or discoveries down. Then you will be able to tell whether they will make more resources available to you or not.

Well, my point is that you need to know what additional jobs or businesses you can do in addition to what you are already doing, if what you are doing is not making enough resources available to you. Otherwise you may never come out of poverty. And I am sure you can now see that in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches, we too have responsibilities. Everything is not about God or prayer. Yes, we need to pray, for prayer is an expression of our dependence on God. Without God there is nothing we can do for ourselves or others. Without Him all our activities will amount to nothing, regardless of how financially smart or intelligent we may be. So, it is important that we are expressing our dependence on Him all the time in order to be financially independent. But beyond that, we also must get ourselves involved in things through which His blessings can freely flow in our lives and make us increase in wealth.

There are, in short, a combination of things we need to be devoted to in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches. And we need to be ready to know these things and to put them to work in our lives. This, then, calls for seriousness on our part. I am saying this is not a place for lazy people. And I am not just talking about those who are lazy with their hands but also those who are lazy in their minds. That means this is beyond working from money till evening every day. There are many that work like that everyday and are still poor. So, this is beyond expending your energy in doing all kinds of things. This is also about being wise, being smart and being intelligent in using your resources. I pray that the Spirit of God will enlighten your heart more and more about this matter and make you know the things you need to know in order to come out of poverty or progressively increase in wealth until you are financially independent.

October 31, 2021 |  J. O. Lawal

Copyright © 2021, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministry.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 07085711280)

Series: The Christian and earthly riches

I want to further share with you on ‘The Christian and earthly riches’. If you have not forgotten, recently, I began to share with you on financial intelligence. Why am I sharing on this? It is because it is one of the things we need to possess in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches. We have already looked at a number of other things we need in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches. And this one is also very important. It is very important that we possess financial intelligence in order to come out of poverty.

As I told you before, it does not matter how much money or resources we are given, if we lack financial intelligence, it won’t be long before we lose it all. The story of the prodigal son that the Lord speaks of clearly shows us that it does not matter how much we have, if we lack financial intelligence, it won’t be long before we lose everything. And when we look around us, some of us may be able to see people who inherited great wealth from their parents but who, today, are in poverty. Or we may be able to point at one or two people around us who, at some point in their lives, won money lotteries and everyone thought that would bring an end to their days of poverty. But now they are back in poverty.

I am not saying that everyone who is in poverty at the moment is in poverty because he lacks financial intelligence. There are other reasons people could be in poverty apart from lack of financial intelligence. But to say the fact, most people are in poverty because they lack financial intelligence. And what is financial intelligence? It is the ability to manage the resources we have, however little they may be, in such a way that we increase in them and become financially independent.

Now there are habits of financially intelligent people, some of which I have been sharing with us. First, I said financially intelligent people make use of what they have to get what they need. And of course, I made some distinctions or clarifications about this. I said using what we have to get what we need is not about using what we have in illegitimate or unrighteous ways to get what we need or want. Rather, it is about using them in legitimate and righteous ways to get what we need or want. That means if you are financially intelligent, you will keep your eyes open, take an inventory of what you have, see what you could use among them for commercial purposes and begin to use them. But you will be doing this using legitimate and righteous means.

Also, I said this is not about taking things that belong to others, which we have not been given the right to use, and using them for commercial purposes. If certain things have been entrusted to us by others, and they have not given us the right to use them for commercial purposes, it will be wrong of us to do so. That could create immediate or future problems for us. And that will not show that we are financially intelligent. If you are financially intelligent, you will not be doing things that will create immediate or future problems for you, problems that even money may not be able to solve, all in the name of wanting to make more money.

Furthermore, I said financially intelligent people do not spend more than what they earn. If you are going to come out of poverty and increase in earthly riches, you must not be using more resources that you are earning. I mean that you must not be spending more than you are earning. When you spend more than you are earning, you are not financially intelligent. Of course, every one of us is often under the pressure to spend more than what we earn. But this is unacceptable. Yes, your family members, friends or neighbours may be pressuring you to be financially committed to them in certain ways, even legitimate ways, and spend more than what you earn. Even your children could do the same unconsciously, putting pressure on you to use more resources than you earn. And if you succumb to this pressure, you are not financially wise.

But you may ask, “What, then, am I to do with all the responsibilities I have?” I will share some things with you about this shortly. I only want you to know for now that if you are spending more than you are earning, you are not financially wise. And on this basis, I should say that one of the things you should talk to God about always is that He will keep you free from any challenge that will make you begin to unduly run around for resources you do not have and in places you should not go. I am saying this because there are times people find themselves in predicaments, matters of life and death, and have to frantically look for money anywhere and everywhere. When people look for money in such situations, we know that it is not because they want to but because they are dealing with a matter of life and death. And that may end up throwing them in debt.

However, if you are not in a matter of life and death, if God has been keeping you so that you are not under any pressure to rescue someone or yourself from a life and death situation and you are just living your normal life, you should not succumb to any pressure of spending more than you earn. If you are spending more than you are earning, you are already in debt. You may not know that you are in debt already. But you are.

See, you need to ask yourself a number of questions, if you are spending more than you earn. The first is where is the excess coming from? I am saying if you are spending more money than you earn, where is the excess coming from? A man cannot give what he does not have. So, there is no way you can spend money that you do not have. If you, then, are spending more than what you are earning, where is the excess coming from? 

Even our Lord Jesus speaks to us about planning how we use our resources. In Saint Luke’s gospel, chapter 14, from verse 25, he says:

“Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person bean to build and wasn’t able to finish.” Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able to with ten thousand men oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:25-33NIV)

Now, of course, the Lord here is specifically speaking about the cost of being His disciple, that is, the things we need to do in order to be His true disciples. But among the things He says are things that we can equally apply to financial matters. And first, He speaks about financial planning. If you want to build a house, you need to plan it. You need to estimate how much it will cost you before you start. Otherwise, at some point, having started the building, you will realise that you no longer have the resources to complete it.

That, unfortunately, is the case with many all around this country. So, we have a lot of abandoned building projects all around our various towns and cities. And that is because, in most of the cases, those who started them did so without any financial planning for them. They did not think things through before they started. Maybe they got some money and felt they should start building their own houses with it. And they started, only to realise after a while that there was no more money to continue building. So, they stopped. That is how many of these buildings have been left like that for ten, twenty or more years. And some of them have become dilapidated or are already collapsing.

In like manner, many homes are collapsing today because of lack of financial planning. You know how much you earn or how much is coming in to you. You need to plan how you use it. Otherwise, you will realise, month after month, week after week or day after day, that it is not enough for you. Then you may have to go and borrow. That is why I said when you spend more than you earn, you are already in debt. Otherwise, where is the excess coming from. It must be that you have gone borrowing – you are already using money that you do not have. How, then, are you going to pay back?

If you are a salary earner, for instance, you know how much comes in to you at the end of the month. And you are not doing any other job in order to make more money. You need to plan how you will use what is coming in. But what if the money coming is not enough? I will talk to you about that as well. But first, you must realise that if you spend more than what you earn, you are not financially wise. And as I said, that could be an indication that you are already in debt. Otherwise, where is the excess coming from? Could it be that you are already stealing? Could it be that you are already involved in something untoward? If you have not borrowed money to use, having exhausted your earnings, where is the excess money you are using coming from?

Often, we see around us people who are living very large lives, lives larger than what they naturally earn. Yet we do not ask ourselves, “Where is the excess money they are spending coming from? Where is the money for the big things they are doing coming from?” These people move around in luxury cars and live in luxury houses. They buy expensive dresses and footwears. Some live in expensive rented apartments and send their children to expensive schools. And many want to imitate them. But they are not asking themselves, “We know what this person does and have an idea of how much he earns. Where, then, is this surplus money that he is spending coming from?”

See, you need to be wise or you will copy the wrong people. People, though not everyone, who spend more than they earn need to be suspected. Are they involved in bribery or corruption of some sort? Are they stealing, swindling people or prostituting themselves? Or are they involved in drug trafficking or sorcery? What exactly are they involved in? Where is the excess money they are spending coming from?

Now someone may say, “What if they are being supported by family members, friends or even church members?” That is possible. In fact, I shared with you in the past along this line. I said one of the ways to get out of poverty is to use other people’s support. At some point in life, we may need such financial support to come out of poverty or debt or to increase in earthly riches. Some people probably never needed it because of their financial background. But most people, at some point in their lives, may require some sort of financial support in order to come out poverty or increase in earthly riches. And that is fine; nothing is wrong with it.

But don’t forget that the will of God is that none of us will be unduly dependent on others. In fact, that is one of the reasons He wants us to work with our own hands. Remember He says this to us through Paul: “Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.” (Cf. 1Thessalonians 4:11-12) So, if you are getting other people’s support, and you are not a preacher of the word of God – preachers of the word of God have been authorised to receive the support of those they minister to – and you are not disabled or in a physical condition that makes it impossible for you to support yourself financially, you need to ask yourself certain questions.

For instance, you need to ask yourself, “What is the support I am getting meant for? Is it meant for me to consume or to invest?” It is good to have people support us. But as I told you before, we must not waste such support. If you have family members or friends or neighbours or colleagues at work that God is using to support you financially, you need to ask yourself, “What is this support for? Is it for me to consume or to invest?” Is the support coming to you so that you can have some resources left for investment and, at some point, become financially independent too? Or is it just something you are receiving for consumption?

You are not handicapped physically or bedridden. Yet you are so favoured by God that people are financially supporting you. Then you need to use your head. You are not a preacher of the word of God, one who can expect his brethren to support him with their resources. Still you are getting people’s support. Then you need to use your head. It is God’s arrangement that preachers should be supported by those they are ministering to, as I pointed out before. So, it is fine if a preacher is constantly looking forward to receiving such support.

But if you are not a preacher and are getting the support of others, you need to know why you are getting it. Is it for you to waste it, consume it or invest it? Then ask yourself, “How long will this support keep coming?” Already, it is because of this support that you are spending more than you earn. Perhaps you are not working at all. Yet you are getting this kind of support. How long do you think it will keep coming? How long will the people supporting you keep on doing so? What if the support stops coming? What will become of you financially? Have you asked yourself these questions? It is important you think about these things.

You are consuming more than you earn because of other people’s support. And you are not thinking about what to do with the excess money coming or what you will do if it should stop coming. It won’t be long before you get into financial trouble. Meanwhile, the truth is that all along you have been in debt. It is just that you do not know, for other people have been paying your debt in advance. And if you do not act smart, while the support is still coming, you will be in serious financial mess soon. There are many whose lives illustrate this around us. So, learn from them.

Well then, if you do not want to spend more than you are and yet you have all kinds of responsibilities that you need to attend to, what do you do? First, let me remind you that God Himself wants us to use our resources in keeping with what we have. That is why He wants us to give on the basis of what we have. So, whatever your responsibilities are, you should attend to them only on the basis of what you have and not on the basis of what you do not have. If you have parents or children or family members or friends you need to support, you must make it clear to them that you will support them only on the basis of what you have and not on the basis of what you do not have.

See, as long as those you want to support are not in any imminent danger, as long as you are not dealing with a matter of life and death, you should support people only on the basis of what you have and not what you do not have. Otherwise, all of you will soon enough be in trouble. And all these people, family members, neighbours and friends that are pressuring you to borrow or get money anywhere to support them may even be the ones that will start looking for a way to rescue you at that time. So, if you allow them to pressure you to spend more than you are earning now, there may come a time when you will not be able to support them at all. That is because you will be in terrible financial mess.

So, if you want to be able to support those in your life for long and in very reasonable ways, you need to let them know right away that you will only be able to support them on the basis of what you have and not what you do not have. And when you increase in earthly riches or become financially independent, you will be able to support them more and more. This is the way you may relate to every financial responsibility you are confronted with. Handle everything on the basis of what you have and not what you do not have.

This, of course, is where serious financial planning comes in. You need to think of alternatives to everything you want to do. If the fees of the school your children are attending at the moment are way out of your means, then, consider alternatives. There is often an alternative to everything in life. So, find an alternative school that is within your means. And don’t say, “But the standards of other schools I could consider are poor.” If the standard of a school is poor, find a way to make up for it. But you must find an alternative that is within your means.

If the meal you like to take is too costly for you at the moment, think of an alternative. If you cannot afford rice at the moment, think of an alternative to it. If you cannot afford fish or meat at the moment, think of an alternative. There are other sources of protein that are not as expensive as fish or meat. You can consider them. Always think of an alternative that is within your means in everything you want to do. And of course, you should not do anything that will endanger your health. I am talking about planning your finances and not about being stingy to yourself. So don’t do anything that will create problems that money may not be able to solve for you, all in the name of wanting to spend within your means.

Well, you must understand that human wants are insatiable – there is no way you can fully satisfy them. That is why you have to plan the way you use your resources. It is why you have to consider alternatives to everything you want to do. This is so that you can spend within your means. Get rid of everything that is absolutely unnecessary. Get rid of anything you can do without. That is one of the things you will discover as you plan your resources.

Human wants are insatiable, as I already told you. There is no way you can satisfy all of them. So, it is only those things that you truly need that you should go for. Anything that you do not need or that you can do without should not appear on the menu – you should not commit your resources to it. As long as you, your family or your children can do without it, you should drop it until you have enough resources to take care of it without getting into financial trouble.

Unfortunately, many people do not know or understand these things. So, they keep getting things they can do without. Financially intelligent people don’t spend on things they can do without. You too should not spend on things you can do without. Don’t spend money on footwears, clothes and so forth that you can do without. In fact, there are clothes, footwears, cars and so forth that are way beyond your means. Don’t get them or allow any group, club or family member to pressure you into getting them. You can do without them. And since you can do without them, not spending on them will give you room to have resources to take care of your real needs and to also invest.

Don’t forget that I am sharing with you about how to plan your resources so that you do not spend beyond your means. There are more things I will share with you along this line. And I want you to look forward to them. May the Spirit of God enlighten you more on this matter, so that you may always act responsibly in the way you use your resources.

October 17, 2021 | Pst.  J.O. Lawal

Series: The Christian and earhtly riches

I want us to continue from where we left off on ‘The Christian and earthly riches’. We have been looking at how to increase in earthly riches or come out of poverty. Evidently, when one begins to increase in earthly riches, he is on his way out of poverty, even if he has been poor. Already, I have shared a number of things on how to do this, based on what we have in Scriptures. And now we are looking at a possession of financial intelligence as one of the ways to increase in earthly riches or come out of poverty. As I told you before, becoming rich in earthly things is not always about having more money or having access to more money. 

Many, unfortunately, think that what they need in order to come out of poverty or increase in earthly riches is to have access to more money. They think maybe if they get a well-paying job or someone blesses them with some huge sum of money, they will naturally come out of poverty. These are some of the things going on in the minds of many. So, you see people praying that God will send helpers to them that will give them a lot of money or that He will connect them to some influential people that would fix them up in some big organisations, where they would be earning lots of money.

But having access to more resources is not synonymous to being rich in earthly things. This is a mental thing. Of course, there is the spiritual aspect of it. But being rich is not all about being spiritual. There are people who are unspiritual, who do not know God, that are rich. I am talking about people who have become rich legitimately, not those who became rich by swindling others, embezzling public funds or robbing people. These people gave themselves to diligently managing their businesses or ventures and by so doing became rich in earthly things. Yet a good number of them do not know God at all or are not religious in any serious way. Truly, they may be generous. But it is not everyone that is generous that is religious or that is generous because of their consciousness of God. Some people just believe that it is a good thing to be generous, to share what you have with others. And that is not because they are conscious of God but because they have human feelings.

In any case, I already told you that one of the things that open doors of financial prosperity to people is generosity. So, even when those who do not know God practise it, it will certainly work for them. But that is not what we are looking at now. What we are looking at is the need for us to possess financial intelligence in order to become rich or come out of poverty. And I am saying that becoming rich is not about having a lot of resources or money; rather, it is by having financial intelligence.

Remember, again, the bible story of the Prodigal son. The young man had a lot of resources entrusted to him at some point in his life. In short, he was given a portion of his father’s wealth. And he went away from his father’s house full but came back empty. Why? He had enough money to spend when he left his father’s house. But soon enough, he lost everything. Why did he lose everything? He lost everything because he was not financial intelligent. His father had acquired his wealth through financial intelligence. But he did not have it. So, he lost his money and everything he had. And he could not bounce back into riches. Even when he went to hire himself out to work with some fellow, he still could not retrace his steps into riches. Why? It was because he lacked financial intelligence.

So, I am saying that it does not matter how much money you are given or how much resources you have committed to you, if you lack financial intelligence, it won’t be long before you lose everything. If you, then, do not have financial intelligence, you should talk to God about it. Pray that He will make you financially intelligent. Don’t forget that when we are talking about financial intelligence, we are talking about taking what we have, however little it may be, and managing it until we increase in earthly riches with it and become financially independent. Thus, financial intelligence is a form of ability that has to do with how we manage our resources or money.

Now, as I pointed out before, those who are financially intelligent have certain attributes that we need to know and cultivate. And we find Scriptures that draw our attention to these attributes. These Scriptures, of course, may not major on these things. They may just be statements made alongside certain other important things. But they are things we need to pay attention to, for, if we will apply them to our lives, they will lead us out of poverty into riches.

What, then, are those attributes? We already treated one, which is that those who are financially intelligent use what they have to get what they need. And don’t misrepresent what I am saying here. When I am talking about using what you have to get what you need, I am not talking about getting involved in wrong and unrighteous things. This is not about doing just anything in order to have what you want. It is the love of money that drives people to do just about anything in order to be rich. And if that is what you have, it is not financial intelligence. If you are making money through prostitution, stealing, robber, kidnapping or swindling, do not say that you are financially intelligent. Being financially intelligent has to do with managing legitimate things in legitimate ways to the point that you become financially independent.

Well, I am saying that those who are financially intelligent use what they have to get what they need or want. Again, this does not mean that you sell your body to make money or that you take up arms and begin to rob people of their hard-earned money. What I mean is that you take an inventory of the things you have, the skills you have, the education you have received and the resources you have, and see how you can put them to work in order to increase your resources. If you have a land, for example, how can you put it to work in order to increase your resources? If you have received some form of education or training or have acquired some skills, how can you put these things to work in order to increase in earthly riches. Or maybe you have certain natural abilities or gifts. Then you ask yourself, “How can I legitimately put these abilities to work to increase my earning or resources?”

Mind you, as I also pointed out to you before, things that are not yours and that you have not been given the right to use are not among those things you can put to work to increase in earthly riches. It is risky to do that. Not only is it risky, it is also unfaithful to take what belongs to others and that they have not given you the permission to use and begin to use it for commercial purposes, especially when you have no way or plan of make these things available to those who own them when they need them. That is wrong. And you should not act like that.

But then, it is important that you know the things you have that you can commercialise in order to increase in earthly riches. And to say the fact, many that are wallowing in poverty today are doing so because they will not take an inventory of the things they have in order to see how they can commercialise them. They may keep waiting on a government that may never show up for help. Or they may be praying, going from one prayer mountain to another, asking God to give them a breakthrough. But God has already sent our Lord Jesus to deliver us from poverty. So, He has done everything He needed to do, spiritually, in order to deliver us from every form of poverty. What we need now is to know the things we need to do on this physical plane, the natural things we need to do, in order to access the spiritual riches that are now ours and convert them into material riches.

Again, let me say this: when we are talking about putting to work the things we have in order to increase in earthly riches, our spiritual gifts are not among such things. So, do not commercialise your spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts have been given to us freely. Jesus says, “Freely you have received; freely give.” (Cf. Matthew 10:8) So, do not turn your gift, be it a teaching gift, a prophetic gift or any other gift you have into a commodity that you sell. This is wrong. And those who do this will eventually come under God’s judgment, if they do not repent.

Well, I am saying begin to look at those things you have – your education, skills and whatever other abilities you may have – and see how you can put them to work, so that they can make you more money. This means you cannot be lazy in your mind. Many of us are lazy in our minds and don’t want to think hard. Instead, we always want everything to be given to us as gifts. And it is a beautiful thing for God to lead people to bless us with material gifts. There is, in fact, none of us that would not, at one point or the other, need this kind of support in life. But as I already pointed out, it does not matter how much money we get through such help, if we are not financially intelligent, it won’t be long before we lose it.

More so, we can’t keep waiting for others to do everything for us. We can’t keep waiting for them to pay our bills for us or pay our children’s school fees for them. We can’t just keep waiting for others to bear our life’s burdens for us. You can’t even keep waiting for the government to do certain things for you. If, for example, the government would not provide a job for you, you need to look at how you can provide yourself a job. Put your mind to work about this. God has given you that mind so that you could use it. So, you use it.

It is really unfortunate that many of us who are Christians have been brainwashed by religion. So, unconsciously, we often function with the mindset that once you are a Christian, you don’t need to use your head again – all you need to do is follow the Spirit of God. But if you are truly following the Spirit of God, you will know that you are expected to use your mind. God gave you that mind so you could use it. Now begin to put it to work. Use your mind to think of what legitimate things you can do or what legitimate ways you can take to increase your resources.

Now I want to move on to another habit or attribute of those who are financially intelligent, which is that they do not spend more than they earn. See, there is no way you are going to come out of poverty, if you keep spending more than you earn. It does not matter how prayerful you are or devoted you are to God. If you are spending more than you earn, you are not going to come out of poverty. Someone may love God and be devoted to Him wholeheartedly and still be poor. It does not mean that God wants the person to be in poverty. But it is possible.

For example, the man Lazarus, in the story that the Lord Jesus tells, was poor. And when he died, the angels of God came to carry him to Abraham’s bosom. Think about that. It was angels that carried Lazarus to Abraham’s side after he died. Yet he died a poor man. Was it the will of God for him to die in poverty as he did? Was it His will for him to live in poverty and die in poverty? It all depends on the circumstances that led to his being in poverty. I just want you to know that it is possible for someone to love God and yet live and die in poverty. (Cf. Luke 16:19-31)

We have another account in the bible that shows us the possibility of this. It is that of the widow that came to Prophet Elisha for help. Her husband was one of the sons of the prophet and a godly man. But the man died in poverty. Not only did he die in poverty, he also left a huge debt for his family to pay. So, his creditors came to take away his sons because of this. And could it have been the will of God for his children to become slaves because of his debt? No! If it was not the will of God, and it was not His will for the children of this righteous man to become slaves, then, it could not have His will for him to die in poverty. (Cf. 2Kings 4:1-7)

Well, I said all that to say that if you keep spending more than you earn, there is no way you are going to come out of poverty, even if you are a righteous person. Those who are financially intelligent don’t spend more than they earn. Instead, they spend within the boundaries of what they earn or have. And this is not a problem of lack of faith. I am saying this because people often relate this to lack of faith in God. They buy things on credit or go for things they have no capacity to acquire or maintain, all on the basis of faith in God, faith that He would send someone to give them money to pay up.

That is a wrong way to live. And it is only those who are not financially intelligent that live and function like that. Mind you, that is not even faith. Faith is our response to the word of God. True faith is based on God’s revelation. And if that is not what you are acting on, you are probably being stupid. So, I am saying it is not faith to spend more than you earn, just because you are praying that God would send your more resources from some unknown quarters.

Some even think it is worry that will not make you spend more than you earn – you are worried about tomorrow. And indeed, Jesus has said that we should not worry about tomorrow. In fact, all through Scriptures we are told not to worry about anything but to commit everything to God in prayers. That, however, is not to say that we are to be stupid in handling our resources or that we should not know how to manage or plan how to wisely use what we have. Jesus does not say we should not plan how to use what we have. What He says is that we are not to worry about tomorrow – we are not to allow unseen or unknown troubles or challenges that may or may not come tomorrow make us sick or drive us away from God. (Cf. Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6)

This, however, does not mean we are not to take any step that is within our ability to take in order to make life better for us. People often get these things missed up. That we are praying to God to make us rich or bring us out of poverty does not mean that everything is resting on Him. We too have our own responsibilities in this matter. And it does not mean we are trying to help God; rather, it means we are being responsible. Why has God given us brains to think? Why has given us arms, hands and legs to work? Why has He given us eyes to see, ears to hear and so forth? He has given us these things so that we can use them for our benefits, that is, in line with His purpose for our lives. Since this, then, is the case, why should God have to do for us again things that He has given us hands or legs to do?

What I am saying is that there are things God has given us abilities to do, and we should do them. That is what it means to be responsible. So, while we are praying to God to bring us out of poverty or increase us in earthly goods, we also need to open our eyes to see those legitimate and righteous things we can do in order to accomplish this and begin to do them. And one of those things is to discipline ourselves not to use more resources than we earn or have.

All through Scriptures we see that we are to spend and even give on the basis of what we have. In fact, we can learn a lot about how to use our resources from the principles of giving taught is Scriptures. What is this principle? It is that of proportionate giving. God wants us to give in accordance with what we have and not what we do not have. In 2Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 11, Paul says, “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.” (2Corinthians 8:12) He is speaking here to the Corinthian brethren, encouraging them to fulfil the promise they have made to give to support some other people of God. And he wants them to know that as long as they are willing to give, God will accept their gift on the basis of what they have, not on the basis of what they do not have.

Think about that. God wants His people to give on the basis of what they have and not on the basis of what they do not have. Since this is t