How to Manage Your Finances
The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.
Once again you will have all the food you want,
and you will praise the Lord your God,
who does these miracles for you.
-Joel 2:25.26
On the day of Pentecost recorded in the Acts 2, the apostle Peter rises to preach as the Holy Spirit pours out upon the gathered congregation. It is a profound and pivotal moment in the History of the Church. Peter reads from the book of Joel chapter 2, to describe what is happening in this moment of time recorded in the scriptures.
‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.
-Acts 2:17,18
So powerful was this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the church grew not by addition but by multiplication! God restored to His Church all that had been lost to the locusts of sin: idolatry, Greed, Theft, Unfaithfulness, Slavery. God did not start the blessings where they had left off in the past, He took into account the years of suffering, the loss of production, the measure of what should have been if God’s people had remained faithful and He poured out of the Windows of Heaven a global blessing we know as Christianity. I use that language “Windows of Heaven” scripturally not just metaphorically.
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! ”
There are two scriptures in the Bible that speak about the windows of heaven. The passage above from Malachi 3 and the passage below from Genesis chapter 7. The Windows of Heaven were opened to pour out judgment in Genesis and Blessings in Malachi. The Judgement was brought about by disobedience the blessing by Obedience. Obedience is what made the difference for the people of the earth. Obedience is the key to blessings from God. The windows God wants to open over our lives in Malachi will bring “blessings so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!” Wow!
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened”
The picture painted for us in Malachi is one in which there will be abundance to share not hoard. That is multiplication not just addition. An abundance that is more than enough. An abundance that requires we dispense the excess to a world in need.
Managing finances is not something we do well naturally. When funds fall short we usually know why: overspending, crises that arise and demand huge funding, loss of income, theft, a financial obligation we failed to include in our budgeting. We think a great deal about money. We work hard to get it and there never seems to be enough of it for what we want to do with it. We look for ways to add more of it. We call this action “side hustles”. Something that will help us make additional money beyond what our careers and jobs can provide. People get very creative when it comes to side hustles.
The goal is to become financial free. We define that in different ways some multimillionaires do not consider themselves to be financial free. Some people living just above the poverty line consider themselves completely financially free. What we can all agree on is that financial freedom is arrived at when ones income exceeds ones expenses in such a way as to create more free time to think, live, relax, enjoy, work at doing what you want to accomplish rather than working for what someone else is attempting to accomplish. For some, financial freedom is the opportunity to serve and give to others while not being concerned that your own monthly budget will be at risk.
God has provided a way for us to succeed financially so that our needs are met and we have the ability to share our abundance with others. The very first step toward managing our finances is to understand we are only stewarding what God provides. The source of all income is God. We are His creation created to steward His creation.
The second step toward managing our finances is to partner with God. There is no better financial planner than God. He see’s yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same glance. He knows what you need before you know you need it. Early in our marriage Michele and I decided to walk in obedience with God in the area of tithing. We have found in God a partner that supplies all our needs and beyond. We have experienced a measure of financial freedom in that we are not concerned about our tomorrows we trust God completely with all He has given us to steward while we are here on earth.
We could fill books with stories of how God has blessed and taken care of us over the years. We not only give 10% of our income to our local church we give another 6% of our income annually in offerings to help others in need through missions giving, benevolence, and in general we just obey God each time He asks us to give. When I was 11 years old I had a paper route. I worked to save up $100.00 as an emergency fund. It took me exactly one year to do it. I tucked in back in my wallet. It became a habit over the years. There has rarely been a time in my life that my wallet did not have at least one wadded up hundred dollar bill tucked away. My wife learned about that habit of mine early in our marriage. We laugh that when God speaks to her to help someone with a financial need she always looks directly at me, knowing I have some cash tucked away. So very often that 100.00 bill is given away. Sometimes it takes a while before I can replace it. It always feels good to give it in obedience to God and I know He is fully capable of replacing it in His time, it’s His anyway. We have experienced the windows of heaven blessings several times in our lives. Most importantly we have such a great partner in our Heavenly Father. We have placed our lives and everything we have been given by God into His hands.
That’s how you manage your finances. You add God as your partner and walk in obedience to Him. Give generously because you don’t own it anyway, He does. If you are wondering if He can take care of all your needs, just remember where His home is located they use gold as the asphalt for the streets. I know He can take care of you so I encourage you to walk in obedience.