Money is just one resource. There is your time, your intellect and your energy. They can be translated into hard earned cash. They can be offered to Him as an offering. many teach about tithing, giving 10% of your income. There is often a big debate as to whether it is net (after tax) or gross (before tax).

This would seem to me to be missing the point. I would go so far as to say it is the wrong answer to the wrong question. It isn’t how little you can give or what is the minimum before something bad happens to you. Rather it is how much you are willing to surrender to Him.

If you have ever said or sung ‘I surrender all’ then you have declared that everything is His. Your time, your money and your energy and even your skills, abilities and knowledge. He gave them all to you anyway.

Money tends to be the focus. It can be easily measured. It can also be our biggest downfall. More often than not we become transfixed by it. Obsessed by it. Love it. Fear it, and the list goes on. It can be our security and also a powerful weapon.

Money itself is inert. It isn’t evil. What we do or don’t do with it sheds light on the workings of our heart. Jesus was supported by the wealth of the ladies that followed Him. They took care of His needs out of their own pocket. If Jesus needed money so will we.

The Holy Spirit will give you ideas and solutions. They may be baby steps in the scheme of things but they are important steps none the less. As you ask Him for solutions to financial issues or just wanting an idea how to earn money He will tell you.

But are you taking the time to listen and actually do exactly as He says. Either you might dismiss it as to simple, lacking detail or you might very quickly develop it into something more strategic and get ahead of yourself.

Whichever is your response, repent if you think you know better. Ask again if necessary and do what He says without. God is the ultimate pragmatist. He has history to show that He knows how to get things done.

This is all part of your journey. This is all part of building a deep and meaningful relationship that interacts with and includes your finances and wealth. He does not separate wealth from worship, just don’t worship the wealth.

Money is not evil. God wants you to prosper. That may mean be wealthy. What He doesn’t want is for anything to come between you and Him. Being wealthy or poor is not a sin, it is simply a statement of being.

Money is abstract. Your time, your energy, your skills, your experience are not. Money is the means of sharing wealth. To buy or sell goods and services. It is what you do with it is the important thing. Not comparing how much you have compared to someone else.

Does God want you to prosper? Yes

It is the definition of prosperity that is difficult to pin down. At its most simplistic form, you go to work to earn money to pay the mortgage (rent) and buy food etc. After doing this a lot you get locked into that process. It becomes cyclical. A loop that is hard to break out of and look at it from any other angle except the treadmill you are on.

Work can be all consuming. Surviving to keep your job. Striving to get promotion. These become things themselves and end in themselves. You can lose sight of what you are and who you are to Him. He isn’t going to ask you your final salary was when you stand before Him.

Living for Him does not mean poverty. It does not mean lack. But it does mean surrender. That is the crunch.

Money is a strange thing it is neither real nor abstract. You can hold it but what you are holding isn’t worth anyhting as a piece of paper or a piece of metal. It is a promise, an agreement to carry a value.

You can use it to exchange your time working in an office with a burger at MsDonalds. You get paid a salary which is in the form of money and you are free to do with it as you please.

In heaven there is no money, there are no goods and services, no jobs to go to etc. That doesn’t mean there will be nothing to do but that is another story. So why does money get us in a muddle?

I want to find out exactly what He thinks about money, wealth, finances, prosperity and poverty. I have views, thoughts and ideas. I know scriptures and I know what I have been taught and told but it is good to ask the question and more importantly to ask Him the question.