Finances — Creating Financial Security God’s Way

For a fee, many advisers will teach you how to manage wealth, but God freely shows us the best way to create financial security.

This may seem a far stretch from what I usually write about, but people of every age and financial situation read and follow this blog. Many feel the uncertainty of post-Covid times. Whatever security they once held appears more of a mirage than a reality. Stocks crash, employment opportunities dwindle, and health fades.

Jesus focused His teachings mostly on the Kingdom of God. But He didn’t avoid the subject of wealth and finances either. So here are a few rock-solid principles I find in Scripture.

#1 God First

Okay! This sounds obvious. But how do we implement it financially?

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:33

“Everything you need” includes the broad concerns most of us tend to worry about — health, food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over our heads. Jesus instructed His listeners to put God above even these basic needs.

One way to incorporate this principle to put God first is to consider God the CEO (Chief Executive Office) of your business and finances. As such, consider holding business meetings with God on a regular basis. I designate time each week for a business meeting with God, taking time to worship Him for who He is, thank Him for achievements, and commit all future endeavors to Him in prayer.

Sudden turns of events surprise me, but they never surprise God. When we establish God at the center of our goals (short and long term), it brings stability and financial security. This one practice has significantly changed how I do business, helping me face difficult decisions with confident hope.

#2 Spread Out

My dad often said, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” He warned about the risks of investing all my resources and energies in one spot, where they might all be simultaneously destroyed.

Solomon gave similar advice.

“Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight …”
Ecclesiastes 11:2

Maintaining multiple streams helps to create financial security. In the overall finances of our family, we attempt to hold diverse income streams. But even within the context of my small business, I work toward the seven/eight principle for a continuous stream of finances throughout the year.

When one venture dwindles, the others potentially carry you through. Over the course of a year or the duration of the business, multiple streams help to ensure financial security for the whole.

Initially, you may have only one stream. In your business meetings with God, ask Him to show you where, when, and how to diversify.

#3 Work Hard

Solomon adds this instruction:

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”
Ecclesiastes 11:6

I am thankful for parents who instilled a strong work ethic in their family. I must admit, however, I carried the principle to extremes far too often. Balancing work with periods of rest and recreation helps to refresh our minds and prepare us for heavy work seasons ahead. We might forget we are made from dust, but God knows how much we need a Sabbath rest.

In the healthy balance of work and rest, God also provides financial stability.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”
Psalm 90:17

God often establishes His blessing and favor through the work of our hands.

#4 Contentment

Millions of people live from one paycheck to another and carry huge burdens of debt. Never knowing where their next meal will come from, they live on the precipice of ruin. We don’t minimize the desperation many people feel. Their circumstances have often been imposed upon them.

Paul counsels,

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12

So much striving and self-effort comes from a lack of contentment. Comparing ourselves to others and being deluded by the empty promises of get rich quick schemes may lead people to spend more than they make and accumulate more than they need.

Paul says, “I have learned!” Contentment is a learned skill. Those who never learn the secret of contentment find themselves on an exhausting cycle to accumulate more and more and more. We find within contentment one of the main keys to financial security.

Let’s bravely ask God to reveal areas where contentment should grow.

#5 Generosity

Generosity brings us full circle. We started with God as the focus and center. We end with Him securely at that central point.

The Kingdom of God functions on entirely different principles than we naturally understand. In giving, we receive. By opening our hands to the poor, we gain more. In sharing, we become rich.

The principle of sowing and reaping ebbs and flows throughout God’s Word. A farmer always reaps the same type of seed He has sown. The same principle applies to finances and wealth.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Luke 6:38

As we remember God and share with others, whether out of our need or abundance, He gives us the added bonus of joy in the journey. We can never outgive God!

#6 Thanksgiving

No matter where we find ourselves today, whether in abundance or lack, thankfulness shifts our vision, goals, and purposes back to God.

Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”
Deuteronomy 8:18

We take no credit for any financial security. God gives the ability and power to be successful in every area of our lives. Time and chance happen to us all. We experience areas of both need and plenty. But as we turn ourselves to heartfelt gratitude, we remain anchored, not in our own ability, but in God’s great grace over us.

When we find ourselves in the place of little, be thankful for the little. When we find ourselves in the place of abundance, be thankful for the abundance.

Financial security comes through God and Him alone. As a matter of fact, I have discovered more excitement and peace in the places of trusting God for even the basic things of life, than when I lacked nothing.

Blessings my friends! May you learn the joy of handling finances God’s way.

*********

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust In The Lord With All Your Heart

What does it mean to “trust in the Lord with all your heart?” These seven little words may take a lifetime to accomplish. Why? Because they require moment-by-moment, day-by-day, surrender — all encompassing surrender.

The problem started for us all in the Garden of Eden a long time ago. Self-reliance began the unceasing battle against surrender. Since that time, every individual has witnessed this relentless war. Even the youngest of us asserts, “I can do it myself.” 

Positive determination has produced amazing results. It has led mankind to explore, invent, engineer, create and break preconceived limitations. Through this compulsion we have

stood on mountains,
walked in space,
explored ocean depths,
developed cures,
conquered fears,
and challenged the impossible.

But such exploits have also created an over confidence in our own ability, ingenuity, or intelligence. So how do we turn about face and kneel before the Lord God, Creator and Sustainer of all?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on
your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5

Jenna Loveridge Photography

Trust

As a mother, I find it uncomfortable to watch a young child being thrust into the air by its father. The child may scream in fear, while simultaneously delighting in the game of dangerous reliance of its father. The father trusts in his own strength to catch the child. However, the child trusts in the father’s loving character to not allow it to fall.

Sometimes, I honestly feel like that little child tossed skyward by my Heavenly Father — gasping for air and screaming. Not always in delight! Usually, I’m not wanting more!

Trust conveys a sense of security or calm assurance.

“May the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace
as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow
with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13

Such explicit trust, of necessity, requires that we know the One we are trusting in. Do I trust Him as the God of all hope? Do I know Him to be trustworthy? Or do I question His character and His love for me?

How I perceive God’s character will ultimately determine my level of trust in Him.

The LORD

The name for God used here is “Yahweh” — “I AM.”

“God said to Moses,
I AM WHO I AM.’…”
Exodus 3:14

Perhaps it takes so long to trust God, because it takes time to understand who He is. Self reliance declares, “Trust only yourself.” However, history has shown how faulty that reasoning is!

By reading the bible, we begin to develop insight into God’s nature. Experience also teaches us that He is completely trustworthy. His character is constant and good — indescribably good.

God
eternal, self-existent,
omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient,
Alpha and Omega, without beginning or end,
independent and unchanging,
absolute truth, beauty, and goodness.

Jenna Loveridge Photography

The more we come to accurately know God for who He truly is, the more we sense the security and calm assurance that comes with trusting Him.

“Those who know your name
trust in you, for you, LORD,
have never forsaken those who seek you.”
Psalm 9:10

Can we trust God when our prayer seems to go unanswered? Can we trust Him when He appears distant even though we needed His Presence? How can we trust Him when His ways are so much different than ours?

These are honest questions. The only honest answer is, “Yes!” Yes, because His love never fails. Yes, because He is immeasurable good. Yahweh is redemptive in all He does. He remains trustworthy.

With All

If seven words present a problem, seven letters create an even bigger one — “with all.”  Perhaps, we can trust God “with a little”. We might even trust Him “with some.” But “with all?”  Now that’s different. And difficult!

Dare I trust Him with

my family and relationships,
finances and possession,
dreams and desires,
restoring my past or securing my future,
providing not just what is good,
but the absolute best?

It has been over 40 years since in hopelessness I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. With faltering prayer, I simply said, “Lord, I have nothing worth giving you. But if you want me, I am Yours. Take the broken pieces. I give them all to You.” With that, I gave Jesus “all.”

Amazingly enough He took me up on the offer. He still holds me to it!

Through the years, God has been persuading me about the inclusively of “all.” Some things I have clung too resistantly. Other things, I have gladly tossed His way. “With all” really does mean everything. God cannot be Lord if He is only lord of some. Lordship encompasses “all.”

“You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD himself,
is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:3-4

Yet with such yielding comes peace — “perfect peace.”

Heart

The heart signifies the centre — the core of all feelings, will, and intellect. The heart makes me to be me, and you to be you. It determines our values, how we perceive the world around us and  how we respond to others. The heart is the central part that makes every aspect of our lives “tick.”

The human heart is made up of many chambers. So is our heart of hearts. Trusting Him must flow through “all” the centre of our being.

“I will say of the LORD,
“He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalms 91:2

Do we foolishly think we can trust our feelings above His goodness? Are we in any way resistant to surrendering our will? In what ways do we believe we know better than God? Writing these question makes them sound unreasonable. Perhaps because they are.

Yet, in my littleness, I cling to them with childlike determination. God pulls at my small hand with persistence, wanting my little, so He can grant me His big more.

Trusting in oneself “with all your heart” proves futile. On the other hand, “trust(ing) the Lord with all your heart” brings his security and calm assurance.

Blessings

Many promises await fulfillment as we trust the Lord — in everything and with everything.

“But blessed is the one
who
trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree
planted by the w
ater
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8

Trust and blessing co-exist — inseparably bound together. As fragile as our trust might seem, it powerfully links us to innumerable benefits. The security and calm confidence derived from trusting in the Lord replaces fear and worry. Trusting God demolishes the vulnerability of uncertainty.

So today, I trust again, afresh, and more fully. Moment-by-moment, day-by-day, I choose totrust in the Lord with all (my) heart.”

God faithfully invites me closer, while creating new opportunities to trust. He also rewards my efforts to trust with confidence.

**********