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FinancesSelect one: Prosperity, Tithes & Offerings, General, DebtFinances » Prosperity[ back to top ]Question:You said that God wants us to really show the value of His blood by being prosperous and by being in good health. I’m all for that, but I ran into somebody the other day who told me that God wants us to be average. So I was wondering if you could point me to some Scriptures that show God wants us to be prosperous.Answered on 03/22/06:The blood of Jesus is very powerful. It paid the price for our sins, for our sickness, for our disease, for our defeat so that we can have not only salvation but so we can have victory in every area of our life. It honors God when we honor the blood in a way where we receive all that He provided for us. Romans 8 says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” God wants to freely give us all things and not hold anything back from us. He desires for us to succeed because His blood paid for us to be saved and to succeed.Here are some Scriptures that you can share with these people. One of the things that you can say to them is, “Look, here are some Scriptures. You may want to look at them; you may not. It’s totally up to you, but this is what I base my belief on regarding money and prosperity.” And really, it’s not just about money; it’s about success and prosperity in every area of your life. 3 John 2 says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” God wants your soul to prosper, and when it does – when your soul, emotions, mind, and intellect are flourishing in the Word of God – it’s going to affect every area of your life. Genesis 39 says that even when Joseph was thrown into the pit, he prospered and that his master saw that he prospered in everything he did. Deuteronomy 7 and 8 are all about God blessing His people and causing His people to succeed. God is a successful God; He doesn’t fail at anything, so why would He want his children to fail at anything? Psalm 35:27 says, “God delights in the prosperity of his servants.” Go with those verses. Study them. Review the cross-references in your Bible, and you’ll find other Scriptures as well. Question:My question is, I feel like there is a tension between what God says in the Word about prosperity, of how He wants to prosper us, and then Jesus comes and says something like lay your treasures in heaven, not on earth. How do I not feel guilty if I’m doing really well, you know what I mean? How do I do both of them—how do I become prosperous and not lay up treasures on the Earth?Answered on 03/22/06:What a great question. Well, first of all, you have to remember that the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6 that God created all things richly for us to enjoy. So he wants you to enjoy life. He wants you to be prosperous. But where does prosperity begin? It begins in your soul. It begins in your emotions. It begins in your mind. As you get your thinking in line with God’s Word, you get your thinking—if there’s thoughts and attitudes in your life that are contrary to God’s Word, you make the adjustments there and as you prosper in your soul, it is an overflow for you to prosper in every other area of your life. So there’s no reason to be guilty when you realize that the good is in your life comes from God.Here’s how you balance that. If you’re jealously pursuing wealth, if you’re selfishly pursuing prosperity, and you’re doing it because you’re driven to have more so you can feel safe or secure or confident, then you know that you’re doing it for the wrong reason. But when you seek the Kingdom of God, the Bible says, and His righteousness, then the Bible says in Matthew 6:33, all these things will be added to you. All these things will be added to you. So, how do you balance prosperity with what Jesus said about laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven? By giving away what God gives you? Not all of it, but by being generous with what God gives you. You start by giving God the first fruit. The first tenth of everything you receive, you give it to God. That’s what delivers us from greed. Lack and poverty never delivers somebody from greed and selfishness. Because there are a lot of people that don’t have anything, but they’re still greedy and they’re still selfish. And so what delivers us from selfishness is generosity. What delivers us from greed is giving. So way you balance prosperity is you understand the purpose for which God gives it to you. God gives you prosperity. He blesses you so you can be a blessing. Genesis 12 tells us and Psalm 67 tells us, so look up those verses and that will help establish a foundation in your life. He blesses you so you can be a blessing. So if you’re just receiving the blessing of God, but you’re not being a blessing with it, then you are out of balance. Okay, that’s where you’re going to get into greed and selfishness. So I trust that that helps you to understand that and I believe that that will really be a blessing for you if you take that to heart. Listen, it’s purpose that is the balance to prosperity. When you know the purpose of something, that’s when you use it for the right reason. When you don’t know the purpose of something, that’s when you’re going to abuse it. Question:I recently heard you mention briefly what the New Testament refers to when it talks about prospering. I just wanted to ask you more.Answered on 03/22/06:There’s a lot of misinformation about the subject about “prosperity.” There’s a lot of wrong information about the subject and there’s a limited information. Some information is wrong. Like, for example, somebody might say that “God doesn’t mean to prosper everybody.” Well, that’s wrong information. And then, there’s a limited information where somebody says, “Well, God wants to prosper me, which means God wants me to be rich financially.” Well, that’s very limited because prosperity does not limit itself. It does not lower itself to mere financial terms. And so, we need to have the right information and not wrong information and not limited information.So what does the Bible mean when it says that God wants to prosper us? 3 John 2 says, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as you soul prospers.” So, the number one aspect of prosperity starts in our soul. God wants our soul to prosper. He wants our mind, our will, our emotions to be healthy, to be sound, to be successful. The word “prosper” itself means to do well; it means to arrive at the destination. And so, God wants us to arrive at His destination for our life, to arrive at His purpose for our lives in our soul and in our emotions. And as we arrive at His purpose and destination in our soul and in our emotions, we will arrive at His purpose and destination in every other area of life as well. So, the clearest definition of prospering means to achieve, to arrive at the destination that God has for you. If I just become a millionaire, but I have not arrived at God’s destination for my life, then I am not prospering. There are a lot of people that have a lot of money that are not prospering. There’s a lot of people that have their health, but they’re not prospering. In other words, are we arriving at God’s destination for our lives? “To do well on our journey” is what the word literally means. People would say, “May you prosper on your journey. It was a definition concerning traveling; “may you reach your destination.” Well, so how does that translate to us spiritually? If we reach the destination, the purpose, the calling of God for our lives, then we are truly prospering. And if we reach that, it will affect every other area of our life. When we do what we were created to do, we will succeed in every other area of our life and that’s the clearest definition of prosperity that I can give you today. Now, that’s not the only definition of prosperity, but that’s the fundamental foundation of prosperity. The Bible says that God will give us the power to prosper, the power to succeed, the power to achieve God’s destiny for our lives, God’s purpose for our lives. Of course, God wants us to have enough money. God wants us to have enough of anything. And you could say that prosperity means having more than enough of whatever you need: more than enough health, more than enough time, more than enough joy, more than enough peace, more than enough money, more than enough of everything. God wants you to have more than enough. Why? Because He wants you to have enough for you and more than enough so that you can share it with others as well. Question:I just wanted to find out if Jesus wants believers to be wealthy financially? I just wanted your take on that.Answered on 03/16/06:Excellent question. My take on that is, according to John 10:10, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy,” Jesus said, “but I have come that they would have life and have it in abundance.” God wants us to experience abundant life. Now abundant life doesn’t mean that we should be seeking and pursuing wealth. But rather it means that we should be seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, according to Matthew 6:33. And he says, “and all these things shall be added to you.”You see the problem is not being wealthy. Being wealthy is not the problem. But pursuing wealth, as an ambition, is where we run into problems. And where we’ll run into a lot of temptation that we don’t need to be putting ourselves in. But rather what we should be doing is seeking God, worshiping Him, sitting at His feet, doing things His way. Handling our business and handling our money the way He tells us to. And then the result will be He’ll bless us, He’ll increase us and we’ll reap what we sow. So if that means that we’re going to end up wealthy, if I can be wealthy in love and wealthy in generosity and I have enough to give to others to minister to them, then I believe that that is a godly thing that every believer should want in their lives. Question:I was wondering about prosperity. I’ve looked up the word “prosperity” and it’s in there 8-12 times depending on the translation. And it’s not even in the New Testament. And I’m concerned about people preaching prosperity all the time. I understand that people need to have a hope, but telling people that God’s just going to open up the heavens and pour out financial blessings and stuff on you. Like, in the Old Testament, the blessings that they received from God were external: gold, silver, sheep, cattle because that’s how their atonement was made, by the lamb. Now, we’re under a new covenant, the New Testament, everything is spiritual, the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the spirit. And we’re supposed to really be focused on God. What do you think about the preaching of prosperity?Answered on 03/16/06:Matthew 6:33 is the greatest Scripture on the subject. It says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” So, yes. We should be pursuing God. We should be seeking God and seeking His kingdom and seeking His way of doing things and seeking His love and things that are much more valuable and much more important that just getting our needs met. But He says when we do that, that all these things will be added to us. He’ll bring to us the things that we need in our life, what we shall eat, what we shall drink, what we shall wear. God wants to meet our needs, but He doesn’t want us to pursue them ourselves. He wants us to pursue Him and then those things will end up pursuing us. 1 Timothy chapter 6.And again, you talk about Old Testament – New Testament. Let’s talk about New Testament. Matthew 6:33, but also 1 Timothy chapter 6 says, “God created all things richly for us to enjoy.” He created life for us to enjoy. John 10:10 say, “the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But.” Jesus said, “I have come that you would have life and that you would have it in abundance, to the full, til it overflows.” Now, what does it mean to have an overflowing prosperous life? It starts in our soul. It starts in our physical life, in our spiritual life. That’s where prosperity comes from, that’s where prosperity is. And if your soul is prospering, if your soul is healthy, if you are full of peace and full of joy and full of love and full of grace and full of mercy, then that’s going to spill over into some other areas of your life, it’s going to spill over into all the other areas of your life. Because the Word of God contains within itself the power to bring itself to pass. So when you hear a Scripture about peace, that Word will bring peace. When you hear a Scripture about God providing for you, that Word will bring provision. As long as we’re focused on the Word of God, the Word of God will bring the provisions that we need, whether it’s money or whether it’s time or whether it’s wisdom or whether it’s favor or whether it’s peace or joy or forgiveness. All of that is a part of what Jesus did for us, not just part of it. But it’s all a part of it. So, I don’t think that we can say that God just in the New Testament deals with spiritual things, because He doesn’t. He told Peter how to get his taxes paid. He fed the multitude fish and loaves so that everybody had enough to eat. God wants to meet all our needs but it starts with our spiritual needs and then it spills over into other areas of our life. Also, there’s a Scripture in Galatians chapter 3 where it says that the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would heir of the world was to us as well. “If we belong to Christ, we’re Abraham’s seed and we’re heirs according to the promises of God.” God wants us focused on Him, but He wants us to know that when we’re focused on Him, He will be focused on us. And when we’re focused on seeking what He wants, He will take care of what we want. The Bible says that as we seek his kingdom, all these things will be added unto us and they are natural, physical, material things that God wants to add to us as long as we’re not pursuing them, that they’re pursuing us when we’re pursuing God. Finances » Tithes & Offerings[ back to top ]Question:My husband and I are considering tithing. Could you just talk about the benefits of tithing for believers?Answered on 08/24/06:I strongly encourage you and your husband to follow through with tithing. There are a lot of benefits in the Bible that come from tithing. Let’s talk about them.Number one, the Bible says in Malachi chapter 3 that “God will open up the windows of heaven through our tithing and He will pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough for us to receive.” It goes on to say, “He’ll rebuke the devourer.” Those things that devour our finances and devour our money, the Lord will rebuke the devourer for our sake when we tithe. In Genesis chapter 4, tithing was used as an act to honor God so tithing helps us to show God that we honor Him. In Proverbs chapter 3:8-9, when we bring the tithe into the storehouse, God will fill our barns with plenty. Our barns will be filled with plenty and our presses will burst out with new wine. So, we will have plenty and we will burst out with abundance and prosperity. The Bible says in Luke chapter 6, “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.” The Bible says in Acts 20:28, “You’re more blessed when you give.” You’ll be happier when you give than when you receive. So, those are some benefits of tithing. There are so many and I could just go on and on. I hope that that begins to help answer your question. Question:I moved to a new neighborhood and visited new churches. On the offering envelopes, there was a field where you could enter your credit card number. And on one of the envelopes, it even had the VISA and MasterCard logos. So my question is is that suggesting that members should use their credit card and essentially go into debt to make their tithe and offering?Answered on 08/02/06:No. Absolutely not. It should not be suggesting that. It’s inappropriate to try to suggest that. But I believe that you should try to make things convenient for people and using credit cards is a way to make things convenient for people. A lot of people use debit cards because that comes right out of their checking account. That’s a convenient way to give your tithes and offerings to the Lord. But no one should go into debt in order to give a gift to the Lord because the Bible says a gift is received according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. If fact, he shouldn’t go into debt over anything. If you can, by all means avoid it as much as possible. Now if you buy a house or something like that and borrow money for that, I think that is okay. But we should stay out of debt as much as possible. We shouldn’t use our credit card unless we know we have the money at the end of the month to pay for whatever we’re buying. It should be done out of convenience, not because we can’t afford it or don’t have the money.Question:I have a friend who tithes and is now in charge of their parents’ money as well because of dementia of the parents. The parents were not tithing when the parents were mentally there. Should this person tithe on the parents’ money?Answered on 04/07/06:If the parents have made the son or daughter legally responsible for that money, then that person now has the responsibility to do what they believe is best with that money. And if they believe that they should be tithing off of it, then they should have that freedom if that stewardship has been entrusted to them.Question:Can you tell me where in the Bible in the New Testament it talks about tithing? I know it talks about tithing in the Old Testament but where does it talk about tithing in the New Testament?Answered on 03/22/06:Excellent question. Let’s talk about that. First of all, we’ve got to go back to Genesis 14 to remember that even though Abraham is written about in the Old Testament, he’s not an Old Testament believer, because Abraham lived before the Old Testament was written. He lived before the Law was even given. And he tithed to Melchizedek before the commandment to tithe ever came in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. He gave out of love for God, out of honor for God, out of appreciation for God. We can go back even further to Genesis when God put the garden of Eden in, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden, and God said, “Don’t eat from that tree.” That was the tithe. He wants to be honored.How about Cain and Abel? Abel brought the first of his fatlings, and Cain, in the course of many days, after much time had passed, he brought some fruit from his vegetable garden. God honored Abel’s offering. And God did not honor Cain’s offering. Why? Because Cain brought what was left over, but Abel gave God the first. Now that’s something that was in their heart to do. I think it’s in every person’s heart that they want to honor God. And we need to understand that we honor Him with our tithe. Because our money represents our time, our heart, our affection, our loyalty. And where we put our treasure there is our heart also, Matthew chapter 6 talks about. So it’s a heart issue. It’s are we honoring God? Matthew 6:19, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart.” And he’s talking about money there. He said you cannot serve God and money at the same time. So the way we prove that we’re serving God rather than our money, is that we honor God with our money. That’s Matthew chapter 6. Also, it talks about tithing in Matthew chapter 23. He said, “You guys, you tithe but you don’t have compassion and mercy. You ought to do both.” New Testament, Matthew 23:23, 24. You should do both, you should tithe and you should have compassion and mercy on people. Hebrews chapter 7, New Testament, “That we bring tithes to a greater one, one who is greater than ourselves. And that is, Melchizedek was a type and shadow, but Jesus is the high priest that we bring our tithe to in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 7. Also, Acts chapter 4, they went beyond the tithe. “They took all that belonged to them, and they laid it at the apostles’ feet.” Okay, so people that wonder is tithing in the New Testament, maybe it’s just the Old Testament, if we really step into New Testament giving, it means we give everything. We don’t hold anything back. And everything belongs to God. All right? So there you have some Scriptures and I hope that helps to answer that question. It’s a great question. I appreciate very much that you having the boldness to ask it. Question:I have a question on tithing. I am a college student and I am in debt. I have always been a tither ever since I started walking with the Lord. Recently I got into a little bit bigger debt. I have stopped tithing for a month already. I was just wondering what you think of me not tithing right now and what you think about giving your tenth of every check.Answered on 03/21/06:I know that a lot of people deal with that. We get into situations where we’re troubled financially, where we get into some debt that we weren’t expecting and it seems that one thing adds upon another and often we do things to alleviate the pressure. Where does stress come from? Stress comes from pressure. And one of the things that we do to alleviate pressure and to alleviate stress is we make a decision to get rid of the pressure. And the quickest decision financially to get rid of the pressure is to stop tithing and to give that money to pay your debt.But the problem is we end up causing more problems by not tithing because though you might attack the debt in one area, you open the door to other problems by not honoring God with your money and putting Him first. I believe that the Bible is true that when we give our tithe to God, when we give our fist tenth to Him, that He rebukes the devourer for us. He rebukes the enemy for us and so by not tithing and using your money towards paying your debt, you’re rebuking the debt. But by not tithing, you’re not rebuking the devourer. So, it’s the better of two evils. I’d rather get rid of the devourer first than to get rid of the debt. I’m not saying to be irresponsible, but I’m saying we have to put God first. I really believe in any situation that you have to put God first. If it’s a life-threatening situation, then I’m sure that God would understand if you weren’t able to tithe because your baby was sick and you had to get formula or you had to get medicine. God doesn’t want your children to die, but at the same time, we’re hardly in life-threatening situations where the first tenth is concerned. We’re usually just making bad decisions and we’re getting into debt that we should not have incurred. But why rob God to pay something that was a bad decision on your part? Instead, get the extra job. If you have to take less classes and work, whatever you have to do, make sure you put God first. That’s my belief. I find that in the Bible and that’s what I would do if I were you. I hope that that doesn’t discourage you. You can do it and God will honor His Word. He will be faithful to open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive. Question:We are selling our home. Do we tithe off of the equity that has been built over the past few years? If so, how do we figure that amount? Subtract how much we purchased it for from how much we are receiving for it? Would that amount include realtor fees?Answered on 03/16/06:When we put God first in our lives, we need to have an attitude that Lord, whatever comes to me, you’re getting the first portion, the first tenth. It’s an attitude of honor. So, since it is the first tenth, God gives us the Word tithe because it means tenth. It is a way to be definitive. It is not arbitrary anymore. It’s not, well, I want to give this amount, I want to give that amount. God gives us that to make it easy for us to know how to put Him first in a practical way. So yes, the way I would do that is I would find out how much equity you received, the gross amount you received, and I would give a tenth of that to the Lord, even before the realtor fees and some of the other fees that are usually involved. That is what I would do. There is no law that says you have to do that. It is the law honor and that is what I live by. I encourage you to live by that as well.Question:I have a construction company, and I was wondering whether I should just tithe my salary or the profits off the company too.Answered on 03/16/06:First, you should tithe off whatever salary you are receiving – tithe off the gross amount. That’s what the Bible teaches with first fruits. I also believe that when it comes to a business, you should be benevolent, that your business should sow seed. There’s no law in the Bible that requires you to do this. But you need to get with some godly people – a financial planner and whoever you do business with – and figure out what’s best for your business. If it were me, I would give a tenth of my business income to the Lord’s work. You have to figure out what’s best for you, though, without violating principles from the Word of God.Question:I used to support a ministry before I joined a church. My church has a lot of need right now, and my tithes and offerings are going there. But I feel conflicted because I’m not supporting that ministry. How do you decide where your money should go?Answered on 03/16/06:Well, primarily God decides. God decides where you’re supposed to be connected. God decides where you’re supposed to go to church. That is why we should be constantly seeking His will. 1 Corinthians 12:18 says that God adds members just as He desires. So you need to find out what His desire is for you. If you’re going to a church and you’re being fed there and you’re growing there, then that’s where your tithe should go, along with your offerings. But if there’s a ministry outside of your church that is truly feeding you and a relationship that you know God desires you to be in, then you should support that ministry.That doesn’t mean you should cut back your tithes from your church. But you should also give offerings to that ministry if God has put it in your heart and if they are ministering to you, feeding you, and if you believe in the vision that they have. Recognize, though, that you can’t support everybody. That’s why you should limit it to your church and then maybe one or two primary outside ministries that truly are God-ordained for you. Certainly, if you don’t have a church, there’s nothing wrong with giving your tithe to the ministry that’s feeding you, at least until you find the right church. Because you still need to honor God with the first of all that you receive. Question:My sister and her husband send their children to the school that’s associated with their church. She said that her husband feels that the kids’ tuition is part of their tithe. I know that it isn’t, but I didn’t know how to respond. Help!Answered on 03/16/06:When people do that, they are taking from God. That money belongs to the Lord. As we know from Scripture, the tithe is the Lord’s. And really when people rationalize doing things like that, what they are really demonstrating is a lack of honor for the Lord. Tithing is not about giving money to God; it’s about honor and putting Him first. Tithing honors God because people are fed through tithes. Many people don’t understand that it takes money to have electricity in a church building. It takes money for the staff members who clean that building. You can say, “I’ve got to take care of my kids’ education . . . I’ve got to take care of my mortgage.” But when does it ever stop? At what point do you honor the Lord?The only thing you can do in a situation like that is to encourage your sister – if she’s open to that – to find her conviction from Scripture. Tell her that that the tithe belongs to the Lord. You bring it to the house of God so that there may be meat in His house and that He might open the windows of heaven and pour out such blessing that there would not be room enough to receive it all. The only way you can explain tithing to somebody else and encourage other to tithe is with graciousness. The Bible says, “Let your words be soft with wisdom” and “A soft answer turns away wrath.” Question:I recently attended a men’s ministry meeting. At the end, my pastor, who headed the meeting, took up an offering. I already gave while in church. Am I wrong to feel hurt or upset that I gave again at the ministry meeting?Answered on 03/16/06:It’s hard to determine someone’s motive. Was it just another opportunity to receive an offering? Well, if that is his motive, then let God speak to him. Don’t be like Miriam and Aaron who spoke against Moses. Instead, pray and ask, “Lord, if what this man did was not right, then I pray that you would show him. If you don’t show him anything and if he doesn’t say anything about it, then I’m going to take that as a sign that it was OK for him to do that.” If you’ve received from the Lord during that meeting, then there is nothing wrong in giving into that. Throughout the Scripture God gathered the men together three times a year and said, “Do not come empty-handed. Bring an offering to the Lord.” Ask the Lord to show your pastor if he was maybe trying to pressure people to give. If that was the case, then he crossed the line. But just receiving an offering during a men’s meeting is not a problem.Question:Should we tithe the full 10% to the church we attend, or is it OK to send part of our tithe to other ministries, like those on the radio or TV?Answered on 03/16/06:Malachi 3 says, “Bring your tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in God’s house.” Your tithe – your first tenth – should go to the church where you’re being fed. Scripture – the Old Testament and the New Testament – teaches it should go to the place where God has chosen you to be at. If you’re going to a church that’s not feeding you, you need to find another church where you can grow and experience the Word of God. And you should give you tithe there so that church can do what it’s called to do – and that’s to feed you and other people the Word of God. Then if you want to support another ministry that you believe in, you should do that by giving an offering above and beyond your tithe. That’s my advice. People may feel that they’re to direct their tithe in other ways. Give it to the Lord. Unless He specifically shows you, unless you have a strong witness to give it to some other source, you should be giving your tithe to your church.Question:People keep asking me about where in the New Testament does it mention anything about tithes.Answered on 03/16/06:There are a number of places where it does, and I’ll give them to you. But the spirit of tithing is our hearts need to belong to God. And Jesus said in Matthew 6:19, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” And really, the most important thing is to give God your heart. He wants your heart. And that’s what you need to tell people. God wants your heart and wherever your treasure is, wherever your money is, that’s the proof of where your heart is. And that’s why. It’s love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Your heart, your mind, your soul and your strength are all involved in your workplace, they’re all involved in your business, and when you hold back your money then that’s proof that you’re holding back your heart, mind, soul and strength. So God wants all of you.Now, where specifically does it say that as far as Scriptures about tithing in the New Testament? Matthew 23 talks about it as well as Hebrews chapter 7 talks about it. And then Acts chapter 4 talks about giving everything to God. They laid everything that they had at the apostles’ feet. It wasn’t just the tithe. Some people would say that, “Well, the New Testament frees us from the law. We don’t need to obey the law to be saved.” We don’t need to obey the law to be saved. But we need to obey the law to have good things happen in our life. When we do what God’s Word says, we’re going to get good results. But if we just say that we love God, but we don’t really honor Him by putting Him first in our life with our money, then our heart really doesn’t belong to Him. So it’s important that we truly give to Him both our life and our money. If your life belongs to God… It’s kind of like if you give somebody your car, then giving them the owner’s manual is not going to be a big deal or giving them the CD player in the car is not going to be a big deal. And when you give God your life, that’s the bigger thing that He wants. So giving Him your money is like the CD player. Why would you hold back your money if you’re saying, “My life belongs to you, Lord.” So you got to just reason with people to help them understand that tithing is a matter of the heart. Question:I’ve always thought that we pay our tithes from our net income not from our gross. I’ve been paying from my net, so have I been cheating God?Answered on 03/16/06:First of all, it’s not God that we are usually cheating when we don’t honor Him the way that he tells us to. We’re cheating ourselves. The Bible says that when we don’t tithe, yes, we’re robbing God, but what are we really robbing Him of? Are we robbing Him of His ability to pay His electric bill? Are we robbing Him of His ability to buy groceries? No, of course not. What we’re robbing him of is we’re robbing Him of the opportunity to bless us the way that He wants to bless us. So rather than dealing with it from a legal standpoint in the Bible, a biblical rule and regulation, let’s deal with it from an honor standpoint. That’s how this ministry handles and deals with money. We honor God. We don’t just give our money or pay our tithes. We’re honoring God. How do we honor God? We honor God by putting Him first in our lives.And so, the reason why I believe that people should give a tenth of their gross, and the reason that I find that to be the biblical pattern is because it puts God first before the government gets involved in taxes, before the government gets involved, state or local or national, you’re putting God first. You’re saying, before anybody takes anything, you’re giving God the first tenth and honoring God with it. And even people who have retirement programs and they have that taken out. I mean where does it end? Electronically, you could take out your taxes, you can have your retirement taken out, you can have your insurance taken out, you can have your mortgage taken out. And then what’s left is what you consider a net income and then you end up tithing off of something that really only represents only 20 or 30 percent of your overall income. So, instead, you factor in what is the amount that you are paid? What is the amount that is legally your income? Regardless of how much is in your net paycheck, what is the amount of your income? And put God first. Honor Him with the first of it. This thing where money is concerned, it really is not about the money. It’s about putting God first, honoring Him. And saying, “Lord, you’re everything to me. You’re first in my life and I want to put you first with my money as well.” I know that’s hard for some people to swallow and we’ve become so intellectual about it and try to figure out all these different ways. But really we need to put God first. It’s all about honor. It’s not about paying God, it’s about honoring Him and putting Him first. If you put Him first in your heart, Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” It’s like a person who invests a ton of money in golf clubs and a golf club membership and all this golf equipment, that’s where he puts his treasure. Guess where he’s eventually going to be? He’s going to be at the golf course. Why? Because where your treasure is, there is your heart also. You’re eventually going to follow wherever you’re putting your money. If you put your money on a big boat, you’re probably going to be on that boat on weekends. And that’s okay to be on that boat on Saturday, but you need to be in church on Sunday. So, where your treasure is, there is your heart. So put your money into honoring God. Finances » General[ back to top ]Question:What am I doing wrong? I go to church on Sunday. I have a personal relationship with Jesus, I tithe, I give my offering, I seed faith, I read my Bible, I pray, I'm always giving. My financial situation is not improving. I really want to be a successful woman of God in every area of my life. Please help me!Answered on 04/12/06:Well, there are a lot of reasons why people are in difficult financial situations. First of all, we need to realize that you’re doing the right thing with the first tenth, and you’re doing the right thing with serving God and going to church. But it’s not just what we do with the tithe; it’s what we do with the other nine-tenths of what we have. And so maybe you need to look at your budget. Maybe you’re spending more than what you’re taking in. Maybe you need to cut your budget. You will be a successful woman in every area of your life as you keep meditating on the Word of God. Success comes from Joshua 1:7-8, so I would encourage you to not just read your Bible and pray, but to read the things in the Bible that will plant the seeds of success in your life. And don’t ever give up. Galatians 6 says to not grow weary in doing good, so keep doing good, for in due season you will reap if you faint not. But again, it’s not just what you do with the first ten percent, that’s critical that you give that to the Lord, but it’s what you do with the other ninety percent.And evaluate what you’re doing with your spending, and get some material on getting your finances in order. We have a book called Financial Freedom: Ten Steps to Getting Out Of Debt. You will be successful, but you can’t lose heart. And you’ve got to have a plan. You need a financial plan in your life. “Okay, where am I now and where am I going to go?” And establish how you’re going to get there, and the necessary steps to get to that end result. And you will have success. So be encouraged, stand on the Word in Joshua 1:7-8, and you will have good success, according to the Word of God. Question:Proverbs 13:22: A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. How do we deal with that? What does that mean?Answered on 04/05/06:First of all, let’s establish clearly that Scripture does not just mean that if you’re a Christian, if you’re saved, if you’re Born Again, that somehow the wealth of this world is going to end up in your hands. It’s just not going to happen that way. Just being a Christian does not earn us a right to have the wealth of this world come into our hands.When He says “the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just,” He’s saying, “Look, if you live justly, if you live righteously, if you get your decisions lined up with God’s Word and live according to God’s way of doing things in your mind, in your body, in your family and in your finances, when you are faithful, that’s what causes a flow of wealth to come out of the hands of this world’s system into the hands of those who are following God’s system.” Matthew 6:33 says, Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Some may thing that because they are saved and they tithe the wealth of the sinner is laid up for them. They think that means that in these last days, the world’s wealth is going to come into their hands. However, this is not the case. Because it’s not just what you do with the first tenth of what you have, but it’s what you do with the other nine-tenths also. So yes, it’s critical that you give God the first tenth, but it’s also critical that you handle the other nine-tenths with integrity, with character, with faithfulness and diligence, proper planning, proper stewardship, not being greedy, not spending frivolously, and not spending more than you take in. Sometimes we live a lifestyle that is above our means and you’re never going to get ahead if you live above your means. You need to live below your means so that there’s always a surplus and you can start investing that surplus, both in the kingdom of God and in good companies and in good real estate and in good investments that can bring a yield to your seed or to your investment. So, it’s really important that we understand that God is not just going to suddenly just drop millions of dollars into your hands through the lottery because you love Him. No, you’re going to have to do things His way. As you seek first God’s way of doing things, Matthew 6:33 says in the Amplified Bible, God’s way of doing things, then all these things will be added to you. So you can’t just follow God’s way in one area of your life; it has to be in all areas of your life. Question:We were walking out of a fine restaurant in downtown Chicago and we were approached by people looking for handouts. What do you say to them? What can I say to them or what should I give to them and leave them with other than saying, “Do you know Jesus?”Answered on 04/05/06:That’s a great question. First of all, you have to be able to differentiate between somebody who’s truly struggling in life and people who are professional at begging. And with those people, you need to make sure you don’t give into the guilt and the manipulation that they try to impose upon you. Oftentimes, people are hanging out at places like that because they know that people are well-to-do that go to restaurants like that and they’re taking advantage of that restaurant. They’re taking advantage of the people that come to that restaurant.We’re not going out to a restaurant because we’re trying to help the homeless. We have programs in our church and other churches should have programs. There are real mission organizations downtown that you can direct people to. Tell them to go down to the Gospel Mission or the Olive Branch. Say, “Hey, man, have you tried the Olive Branch?” Those are missions completely designed with those people in mind who are truly sincere in wanting help and not just wanting to professionally beg. So I would encourage them, “Hey, have you tried the Olive Branch Mission? Have you tried the Gospel Mission?” Try that. Encourage them to go there. That’s what those places are for. Question:I had a question in regards to sowing a seed as far as helping someone that’s in need of help financially. Is that being in the will of God as far loving thy neighbor as thyself, and loving God with all your mind and all your heart and all your soul?Answered on 04/05/06:Well, it’s never out of the will of God to help somebody. Unless they’re taking advantage of you or unless they’re manipulating you to get it, or something like that. So it’s not out of the will of God. The Bible says if you see your brother in need, and you just say to him, “Be warm and filled,” but don’t do anything for him, then where is your faith in that? There’s no faith there. That is obvious. The Bible says he who gives to the poor lends to the Lord. And so, really, there is a willingness that God is after in every one of our lives, a willingness to be surrendering everything to Him, and not holding anything back.Jesus told the rich young ruler to give what he had to the poor. Sell everything he had and give—well, he didn’t say give everything to the poor, but he said sell everything you have and give to the poor. Now, whether he was saying give everything to the poor, or just make sure you give to the poor, the point was, He wanted him to sell everything and put his trust in Jesus and follow him with all his heart, and be willing to do whatever Jesus told him to do. And that’s what I believe that you’re feeling, that you’re sensing. So, no, it’s not wrong to help somebody in need. But it’s wrong to take what you should give to God and give it to somebody in need instead of giving it to the Lord and giving it to the body of believers that God has placed you in because it really is the church’s responsibility to distribute it. We find in the Book of Acts they brought their gifts to the apostles, laid them at the apostles’ feet, and then the apostles distributed the money as they were directed by God in Acts 4; the apostles distributed as they saw there was a need. That’s how the church is supposed to operate. If you and I and everybody else just starts giving away everything we have to people as we think they have need, then there’s no order in that. And there’s no biblical pattern for that. But there are times, certainly, where God will move on your heart to give to somebody who’s hurting, but not to take what belongs to the Lord and what belongs to the house of God that He puts you in. You should not take that and give it to somebody who’s hurting. You should do what God tells you to do but you will find that what God’s telling you to do will line up with what you find in the Scripture. If you go to the Word of God, find the patterns in the Bible of where they brought their significant seed, where they brought their gift, look at the examples in the Word of God, and that should be the thing that sets the pattern for you. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give something to somebody if the Lord’s putting that on your heart to do. So I don’t want to make a rule, because it’s not my place or responsibility to say, “Here’s the rule.” The Bible clearly says, “Bring your tithes and offerings into the storehouse, which is the place that God ordains for you to be fed and for you to grow.” And the significant seed was often times in the Bible brought to the altar of God and brought into the kingdom of God. But God can speak to you and direct you to give something significant to somebody, by all means. Question:I’m a single parent. I’m walking and I’m believing in God. I pay my tithes and I walk upright before Him but sometimes it gets hard as a single parent because you don’t have all the income coming in and you’re facing evictions month by month and I just wanted you to give some insight on what God’s Word says about this.Answered on 03/22/06:First of all, God says that He loves you and that He’s going to provide for you. And it says in Hebrews 13:5-6, God says, “I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.” And the most important thing you can do right now is to put your faith, put your trust in the fact that God will not leave you. It may seem like you’re alone. It may seem like you’re on your own, but He has not left you, He will not leave you, He will not forsake you, He will not fail you. You have to begin to take some steps to get the help that you need. You’ve got to obviously continue to work and continue to tithe and continue to improve yourself so that you can get an even better job or a promotion at your job. You have to develop yourself. You have to be the best employee that you can possibly be and go to your boss and say, “What can I do to improve myself?” Is there a track you can give me to improve, to increase, to become better"? You have to make up your mind to take the necessary steps to grow and to develop yourself. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 12, “the hand of the diligent will rule.”Also, of course, if you’re in a jam where you have nowhere else to turn, then that’s why God places people in churches. A lot of times, people don’t want to commit themselves to a church until they have a real severe need and a lot of churches don’t help because they’re trying to help the members of that church first before they start helping people that aren’t members, that aren’t faithful, that aren’t consistent. So, there’s a couple things that you got to do. Number one, you got to trust God that He will not leave you or forsake you. Number two, you have to improve yourself and work on yourself to get better at what you do so that you can position yourself for promotion and position yourself for improvement. And thirdly, you have to get some counseling, some help from your church, that maybe somebody in the church that you go to can look at your financial situation and can look at your responsibilities and your bills and all that and then give you some advice as to how to make some changes and some adjustments as well as perhaps offer give you some benevolence if that’s appropriate as well. So, those are the steps that I would take. You know, if you don’t improve, if you don’t invest in yourself, you’re never going to get better, so there has to be a commitment on your part to get better, to improve to do whatever it takes to not stay in the situation that you’re in. I hope that helps. Question:The Bible says to store up treasures in heaven. What are those treasures?Answered on 03/16/06:The treasures in heaven are the souls that are saved and the lives that are changed as a result of our giving into the gospel. Jesus said don’t lay up treasures – don’t put your money into this earth, where moth and rust can destroy, but rather invest your money into heaven, into the things of getting people into heaven, and advancing the preaching of the gospel. But when you invest into the gospel, when you give your tithes and your offerings to God, that’s when you’re laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven; that is where God is going to honor you. You’re putting your money, putting your treasure into eternity, and you’ll be rewarded by the joy that comes from knowing that your money here on this earth went toward bringing somebody into heaven.Question:I have been attending your church for six months and my life is turning around financially. Now the thing I found interesting is that I read in Acts 4 where it talks about the Christian souls that gave as they saw others in need. So, my question is where is the balance or fine line between saving and having money and just giving it away as you get it? The thing is, I have had such a poverty mentality for years and suddenly I am not poor and I am just really having to change my thinking, but I am not sure how to.Answered on 03/16/06:Well you are going about it the right way. The way you change your thinking is by reading the Bible and going to a good church that teaches the Bible as the Word of God. Where it comes to the whole idea of how do you determine when to give everything away, what to hold onto and what to save? God gives us a responsibility to be good stewards of the things that he gives us. We have to take the approach of good, effective personal stewardship is the rule of thumb. There are times sure, God tells people give everything away. There are times sure, He says to also be a good steward of what you do have and to invest. There are places in Luke 18 where Jesus instructs us to invest in things and to invest in land. There are different places in Scripture where investments are good.What we have to do is to find the balance by saying what do we know for sure the Bible tells us to do. Knowing the Bible tells us to be faithful, responsible the Bible tells us to honor God so we put God first with our money. So he gets the first tenth. If we gave it all away, we would all be on the streets. So we can't practically believe that we have to give it all away. Now, if God spoke to you and said to you and put it on your heart, and it was confirmed, you know, from every witness you could think of. “This is what God wants me to do” and give it all away and go into the mission field, then you do that and God will provide your needs that way. But for the every day average person who has to live their day to day responsibilities what we need to do is honor go with the first tenth and be responsible to live within a reasonable budget with the remaining money that we have. And be willing to give whatever God tells you to give, to give whatever God puts on your heart to give; you have to be willing to do that. But to be irresponsible and not provide for my wife, provide for my children because I gave it all away I would be failing to take care of my household and I have to do that as well. Finances » Debt[ back to top ]Question:What does the Bible say about filing for bankruptcy?Answered on 09/20/06:The Bible does not address it directly in the New Testament. However, there are some implications about bankruptcy in the Old Testament in that once every seven years, there was to be a cancellation of debt. And then would come, after every seven periods of seven years, a 50th Year of Jubilee, according to Leviticus 25. That was the year that all debts were supposed to be cancelled. In a sense, America has given people the opportunity to have a Jubilee through bankruptcy.Now, it’s not something to heedlessly take advantage of because it does affect your credit. And it does affect your ability to purchase things or get a job. And it does show that you were irresponsible with your finances in some cases. So I don’t encourage bankruptcy. But is it permissible according to Scripture? Yes, it is – for two reasons: 1) because God is a God of second chances and 2) because our government legally offers it as an alternative to being crushed and destroyed by financial problems. But I would caution anyone considering bankruptcy to examine the reasons why you’re at that point. And if you don’t deal with the things that got you there, it will be only a matter of time before you wind up there again. So is there forgiveness for bankruptcy, and is there sometimes a necessity for it? Yes, even recognizing that there are people who will abuse the system, just as there are people who will abuse anything in our government system. If you’re one of them, I believe it’s totally wrong. But if you have no alternative and you’ve had counsel, godly counsel and financial counsel, and come to the conclusion that it’s your only option, then I think that it’s a good thing. But, again, you must also deal with the root causes. Question:I have a question about debt. Someone told me that having debt, like a mortgage payment or a car loan, something like that is sinful because the Lord didn’t want you to have any debt. They were referring to Romans 13:8, where it says owe no man anything.Answered on 09/20/06:Except to love him. Right. The Bible says “owe no man anything except to love him.” In other words, we should not be in debt to people, except the only debt that should always be paid, that we should continue to pay and never feel like we’ve paid it enough is love. The focus on that verse is really on love, not so much on borrowing money. The Bible clearly says in the Old Testament that we should lend to many nations but shall not borrow. Well, if we’re going to lend to people, then the fact is that it can’t be sinful to borrow if we’re going to lend. If we lend, then somebody will be doing the borrowing. How can that be sinful if God is telling us to do the lending? So, it is not sinful to have a mortgage on your home.Now the perfect will of God is that you wouldn’t have to owe a mortgage. The good will of God is to have a house and to not be paying rent. Yes, you’ll get a mortgage, but the house has more value than what you owe. As long as the house has more value than what your mortgage is, then that’s not sinful. It’s sinful to run up credit card debt because you don’t have the money to buy it. If you have the money to pay for the mortgage payment on your house in a reasonable time and you’re being a good steward and you’re honoring God by giving Him the first tenth of everything you have, that’s okay. Is it better to not have to have a mortgage? Yes. But that is not practical for most people. Would it be better to wait? Yes, if you can wait to have all the money and pay for it cash. That’s the perfect will of God. The good will, acceptable in the will of God is to have a mortgage. There is nothing in the Bible that says that is wrong. Question:My husband and I are going through some things financially. I wanted to know when God makes you a promise, when God tells you you can have something, I don’t believe that He’ll take it away from you. Different people that I’ve asked about that have tried to make us feel like we were wrong for wanting a home or whatever. Is there a Scripture that God won’t take away what He has given to you?Answered on 09/20/06:Well, Romans chapter 11 says that God’s gifts are without repentance. They’re irrevocable. When He gives something, He doesn’t take it away.So, the question really needs to be asked, Did God give it? Was He the one who gave it? In other words, you might feel like God gave you a new car. But really, the bank gave you the car because you were willing to get a five year loan for the car. And now you can’t make the payments anymore. And you don’t want the bank to take your car away, but they own it. They’re the ones that have the right to the car if you’re not making the payments. And you could say, “Is God taking my car away after He gave it to me?” In that case, I would say, God wasn’t the one that gave it to you. It was the bank that gave it to you and it was you that gave it to yourself. And so, I think in things like that, we have to use wisdom and we have to truly understand that once God does give something, no, He won’t take it away. But we have to determine if that really came from God or not. If we have to borrow a ton of money in order to have it and then say that God gave it to us, then we’re stretching the truth and we’re not really being faithful with what we have. If God has promised you this home and if this is truly from Him, then He’s going to make a way where there is no way. And a door is going to open where you can keep your home, so don’t give up. But at the same time, it may be a blessing to sell this home and be in a place where it’s more affordable and to downsize until you can build up your business again and build up your base, until you and your family can build up a financial strength that doesn’t prohibit you from being able to keep your house. It’s okay to start over. I know many people that have sold their house because of financial problems. They downsized for a season of time. And then they built their finances back up. They learned God’s system of doing things and now they’re better off two or three or four years later. And it’s worth it to be able to go to bed at night and not be stressed out financially. I want to see you to be able to do that. And the only way for you to be able to do that is to be in an affordable situation where you have more money coming in than that which has to go out, where your income outweighs your outflow. That’s where you need to get it to. Balance your budget. That’s the problem in America. Even our nation doesn’t have a balanced budget. We need to have a balanced budget as a country. And you and I and everybody else needs to have a balanced budget personally. So, that’s how I would encourage you to do that. And don’t be ashamed. And don’t feel bad if you have to do that. Again, I’ve seen people who have had to do that and they came out way more successful a few months and years later. And you will, too. |
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