Can God Really Help You?

Money is a difficult subject for Christians to talk about, unless of course you are being asked to donate it! There are conflicting views and it is a topic that people can become very heated about. The prosperity teachers tell us that God wants us to have an abundantly blessed life and that it is okay to want and enjoy nice things. Others teach that the love of money is the root of all evil and that we shouldn’t seek after it. We are told to tithe (or God wont bless you) and give to the poor. We are reminded that Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven”, better not be rich then! We are often reminded about how lucky we are, told to be grateful for what we have, and made to feel guilty about the starving millions.

In the meantime, while all this teaching is flying around, the reality is that many people are struggling on a day to day basis with their finances. Are you one of these people? Financial worries weigh you down and stop you enjoying life. They also prevent you from walking in victory. They hold you back and restrict you from achieving God’s plans for your life.

Maybe you are someone that does have money and you don’t know what to do with it. Are you afraid of losing it or being taken advantage of?

Whatever your financial position you need to know and understand what the Bible teaches about money and understand God’s heart on the subject.

Seek His Kingdom
When it comes to understanding God’s heart where money is concerned, a good place to start is the Sermon on the Mount. This is a sermon that Jesus gave to many thousands on a hillside near Capernaum. Firstly, Jesus teaches that we should give to the needy. Secondly he teaches that we are not to have two masters, we cannot serve both God and money. Thirdly he teaches that we are not to worry about materialistic things, because God knows that we need them. He then goes on to say, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Jesus does not say that we can’t have money and nice things (how otherwise could we give to the needy), but he is saying that we cannot allow the desire for them to master us. He is saying that we have to put God first in our lives; we have to seek his kingdom and his righteousness.

Problems with money often arise because our relationship with God is not what it should be. Instead of seeking affirmation from him, we seek it from materialistic things. We think life will be okay if we have a nice house or nice clothes. This is a deception, things can never satisfy us; we can never have enough and will always want more. We can only be truly satisfied and at peace with life when our relationship with God is right.

God wants to be first in our lives. He wants us to seek a relationship with him above anything else. He wants us to stop worrying and trust him. This is the first place you have to start if you want to sort your finances out. You have to start by seeking God, putting your relationship with him above everything else. Make time for him, read your Bible and pray, or simply sit in his presence. As you go through your day, think about God and consult him on all the decisions you have to make.

God wants to bless you
It is God’s will that we have an abundantly blessed life. He does not want us to be poor, struggling to pay our bills and worrying about how we will feed our family. Poverty does not glorify God. Jesus came to give us an abundant life, and poverty is not abundance!

God said “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (Jeremiah 29:11) These are not the words of a God that wants you to live in poverty, struggling for money, weighed down by worry. These are the words of a good God, a God that wants to bless you.

In the Old Testament we often see an angry God, who brings judgement on people. Yet we also see a loving God that blesses his people materially, even when they have been disobedient. Abraham, David and Solomon were all made very rich by God even though they did a lot of things wrong. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the poor slaves brought out great possessions because God blessed them. Job lost his money, but then God gave it all back and more. God loves to bless his people; he does it because of who he is, not because his people deserve it.

So if God blessed people in the Old Testament, does he bless today? Yes is the answer, even more so because we have the victory of the cross. Jesus died for our salvation. The Greek word that salvation comes from doesn’t just mean that we are saved from our sins; it is an all encompassing word that means saved, healed, delivered and prospered. We were given prosperity on the cross.

In Galatians 3 we are told that through Jesus we inherit the blessing of Abraham.
       So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 9
      Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. 13
      He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus so that by faith we might receive the promise of the spirit. 14
      If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. 29

In a nutshell, if you are a Christian Jesus died to give you the blessing of Abraham, which includes financial blessing. You need to understand this. You need to understand that it is God’s will that you prosper. He is a good God and he loves you. Until you really understand this deep down in your spirit, you will not trust God with your finances. If you do not trust God, then he cannot trust you.

What about the rich young man?
The passage about the rich young man (Mark 10:17) puts fear in people because they wonder if they should be selling everything to give to the poor, even though they don’t want to. However, it is a passage that is often misunderstood and is not really about money. It is about our perception of what is good. You see we need to understand that God is a good God, but unfortunately we tend to overuse the word and our understanding of it is distorted. If our understanding of the word good is distorted then our understanding of God is distorted. We use the word to describe lots of things, good holiday, good home, good kids, good wife/husband, good parents, good film, good car, good meal, good weather, good walk, good dog, good job etc. However, these things are not all the same, a good wife is so much more than a good meal. A good God is so much more than everything else.

The rich young man ran up to Jesus, called him good teacher and then asked what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus challenged him over the use of the word good and then told him to keep the Ten Commandments. The man declared that he had kept these, so then Jesus told him he to sell everything and give to the poor. (Note he didn’t say to give everything to the poor, only sell everything. If he gave everything then he would become the poor and need people to give to him.) He didn’t want to sell everything because he was rich, so he went away sad. The issue here is that the man thought he was good because he kept the Ten Commandments and he thought that Jesus was a good teacher. He also thought it was good to have money. His view of good was distorted, so he couldn’t recognise the true goodness of following Jesus.

You need to examine what your perception of good is. Think about the things that truly matter to you. Do you think your life is good because you have certain things, or are able to do certain things? Or do you think that it is good to have Jesus in your life. What is good to you? Do you recognise that God is good?

Is tithing necessary before God will bless you?
The short answer here is no. God blesses because of who he is, not because of anything we do. We can’t earn it. There are many people out there, including non Christians, who don’t tithe, but are blessed by God.

However, your attitude towards tithing does say something about your attitude towards God. In the Old Testament, God’s people were taught to give the first ten percent of everything they earned or produced to God. This was part of the law. Today, we are not under the law, we are under grace. So, what should New Testament believers do? Paul said;
      Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.

When you willingly give some of your money back to God, it shows that you understand that it came from him in the first place and that you trust him to look after you. The church needs your tithe to do its work. Other organisations need your money to help the poor and needy. 

In an ideal world you should be aiming to tithe around ten percent to your church and make additional offerings to other organisations that do God’s work. (Spreading the gospel, helping the poor etc). Many of the prosperity teachers will tell you that God will not help you if you don’t do this. This is not true. Do not be struck with fear because you are not tithing and can’t afford to. Remember, you are under grace, God will still help you.

The most important thing is to get your relationship with God right and to start trusting him. As you start to trust him, God will speak into your heart and show you what to give. The more you grow to love him, the more your heart will start to want to give.

Initially, you may need to start by making small sacrifices. Take tiny steps and trust God with your money. Ask him to show you how to give.

The church doesn’t just need money. There are other things that it needs, for example, people with time to serve in certain areas. There may be other ways that you can tithe other than giving money. Maybe you could do some cleaning, or help with some repairs. Maybe you can’t give financially to help with the soup kitchen, but you have time to serve or wash up.

It begins with a change in heart attitude and a desire to serve God. There is a very pleasant side affect to serving God, it softens your heart and brings more love into your life. One of the best ways to beat depression is to do things for other people, it takes your mind off yourself and your problems.

Trusted with a little
Jesus taught that if someone can be trusted with a little, they can be trusted with a lot. Equally, if someone is dishonest with a little, they will be dishonest with a lot. When it comes to honesty, people tend to think that it doesn’t matter with small amounts, but claim that they would never be dishonest with large amounts. However, if you will take a few pounds, or miss a small amount of income off your tax return, you would do the same with a larger amount. The only thing that would stop you is the thought that you might not get away with it and the consequences would be greater.

If God is going to bless you, he needs to be able to trust you. God will not give you something that you will use to hurt yourself or others with. You need to show God that you can be trusted with small amounts of money and that you use it wisely. It is pointless for God to bless you with some money to pay off your debts, if you will just go and blow it on a holiday or new car (well you needed it).
Take a good look at the way you handle money and honestly assess whether you are wise with what you have. If you are in debt, you may well not have been so far, but make a decision today that things will change. Ask God for wisdom, he promises it to those that ask.

Also, decide today, that from now on you are going to be scrupulously honest, no matter what temptations are put in your way.

Show God that you can be trusted with a little so that he can give you a lot.

God will not give you a snake
Jesus taught that if we asked for something, we would receive it. He said that God would give good gifts to those who asked him. God loves to bless people, but he will not give you something that you might hurt yourself with. When it comes to money, he will not give it to you if you are going to use it to hurt yourself.

If you need money and you keep asking and not receiving you probably struggle with the above. You need the money; therefore it must be a good gift, so why isn’t God answering your prayer? The reason is that, even though you may not realise it, you are asking for a snake. Some of the reasons that you are asking for a snake are;
1. You do not manage your money correctly and live beyond your means. If God gave you money, you would spend it all and be right back where you are now within a short time. You need to first learn to manage the money that you do have and then he will be able to trust you with more.
2. You want money to effect a lifestyle change because you are unhappy where you are, for example in your job. If you are unhappy now, you will take your unhappiness and problems with you if you move. (There may be a short respite, but they will eventually rear their head.) It is far better for you to resolve the issues that prevent you being at peace, and then when you move you will be and remain at peace.
3. You want money to spend on things because you covet what other people have. If God feeds this need, it will eventually destroy you because there will always be something that you don’t have, that you crave. A very rich man was once asked “how much money is enough money?” and he replied “just a little bit more”.
4. You want money out of fear. You are afraid of not having enough, or running out. The more money you have, the more you become afraid of losing it. Tiger Woods has earned hundreds of millions, yet in the recent scandal one of his mistresses revealed that he didn’t yet feel financially secure. He is unable to be at peace with his money and is afraid of not having enough. God will not feed fear. Fear must be dealt with first, or it will consume you.
5. If God gives you money he knows that you will move away from him, maybe because you make new friends or take up new hobbies. For example, you may like sailing and want to buy a boat. However, if God gives you a boat he knows that you will spend all your time sailing and stop going to church or spending time with him. He will lose you, and that is the last thing he wants to do, you are too precious to him.

Take some time to think about why you want money or why you are in financial difficulties. Take these problems to God. Money is not always the answer. If you take the underlying problem to him, you may well find that he shows you a different solution.