We have been conditioned to believe that we need money to thrive. More money; more things; bigger houses; better cars; savings accounts; retirement funds; the latest gadgets. But what happens when we don’t achieve our goals or live up to these standards or acquire these possessions? We get frustrated; depressed; angry; we feel worthless. However, God has already richly blessed you beyond measure. All you need to do is reach out and receive it.
In this article, I want to help you understand the richness of God and how it applies to you. I want you to see that you are indeed rich if you follow Jesus. I want you to know that the lure of wealth and keeping up with others is a tactic the devil uses to keep your focus away from truly following God. And, I also want you to know that God will provide for all your needs, even to overflowing.
True wealth and riches aren’t from having tons of money. In fact, it’s the things money can’t buy. Now, I will add that God isn’t opposed to you building financial wealth, and interestingly enough, He encourages it through good stewardship and wisdom.
However, I think there’s way too much focus on the attainment of money, and because of this, there are far too many households and individuals who are suffering all sorts of hardships and despair – needlessly. What if you didn’t put much weight on money? What if you did seek the riches of God instead of the riches of the world? Well, I assure you that you would find true and lasting peace and joy and rest for your soul and happiness. Again, the things that money can’t buy.
12 Weeks in Colorado is a fun to read Christian fiction novel about a group of friends and overcoming real life issues.
Table of Contents
Contentment is the key
I’ve spent many years chasing money. I was never any good at it, yet, I’ve always held the dream that something big would happen. Well, it hasn’t. At least not concerning my pursuit for money. My constant desire to attain wealth and have big wads of cash in my pocket has only brought me heartache and frustration.
I’ve found myself in many cycles of depression because I wasn’t good enough, couldn’t provide well enough, didn’t have all the nice things others had. I was trying to keep up with others but wasn’t even close. This led me to take on ridiculous amounts of debt. In the end, all I had was debt. I suffered a permanent layoff from work, and over time, have had to sell most of the stuff I once financed. However, the debt remained.
I was surely frustrated with God, but God wasn’t the problem. It was me. It was my thinking and my habits. Before my life would improve, my thinking and perspective had to improve. I knew about contentment, but I found it to be elusive; more like a fairy tale only the greatest could achieve. I was anything but content.
The more my life fell apart, the less content I was. But soon, I realized that God was working on me and trying to help me learn a critical life-lesson; all that I need is in Him. Since my focus was so heavily on money, God stripped what I did have away so that I could see that He is a great provider. And through this, I have found that He is indeed, a great provider.
As time has progressed, I’ve been learning to trust God. I’ve been working on being content. I’ve been practicing being appreciative of the things I have and learning how to have faith that God will provide. Some people will call this edge-of-the-seat living and highly unnecessary, but I believe that God will provide far more for me than I could ever achieve on my own.
God wants you to have wealth and a great life
Many people have the misconception that God is terribly cruel and judgmental. Many people believe that He is so strict and has so many rules and that He only wants people to be disciplined or punished. Well, He is strict, and He does discipline those He loves, but it’s because He has high standards and wants to see us grow and learn and overcome the devil. He doesn’t want for anyone to perish in Hell, but instead, to have everlasting life in Heaven with Jesus.
People think that this short life on earth is all it is. They don’t put much thought or weight into eternity. They say, “Yeah, I want to go to Heaven, and it’ll be great,” but that’s about as far as that goes. Most of our time and thoughts are spent on the current moment and doings. But God wants you to see your time here on earth as the training grounds for eternity. He wants to teach you and build your faith in Him so that you won’t succumb to the lies of the devil and end up in eternal torment.
Don't Let the devil Defeat You - learn to combat the tactics of the devil through Christ to be better equipped in spiritual battle.
But the riches and wealth of God aren’t reserved only for when you get to Heaven. In fact, you can have a taste of that pie right now. You can literally live your best life here on earth as a foretaste of what’s to come in Heaven. Follow God and He’ll show you.
God wants you to have a nice family and home and job and friends and stuff. He wants you to prosper and succeed. But first, He wants you to follow Him.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Psalms 37:4
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Neither of these verses say that money’s evil and that you shouldn’t have it. Nor does it say that if you have money, you can’t follow God. It says that by truly seeking God, that He will provide all the best for you. Money is a tool. It is necessary, and God knows that.
But many people see money as a god. They put it before the true God, and they literally give it all their attention. That’s the part God doesn’t like and won’t tolerate. But if He sees that money and wealth are not an idol to you, then He can trust you to be wise with the resources He places in your care. Knowing that it all belongs to God can help us to see ourselves as stewards of the resources He provides for us to use.
God is ready to bless you right now
This isn’t prosperity teaching. This is truth teaching. God wants to bless you. He wants you to have all His best right now. He doesn’t want any one of His children suffering and going without. But just like a loving father disciplines his child to steer him back onto the right path, God will do the same. This might come in the form of withholding something like money, as I have experienced, or it might be in the form of a different type of hardship.
God uses all sorts of scenarios to teach His people, but He does it for their good. He never expects them to stay in the hardship of discipline, but to learn their lesson and move on. And, just to give the answer to how to quickly learn your lesson; seek more of God during the hard times instead of cursing Him or getting angry with Him. Praise Him and be thankful for what you do have and how He provides. This is the quickest way I’ve found to get through the storms.
Following God means believing and trusting in Jesus. It means to read the bible and become intimate with Him in knowledge and understanding. Following Jesus and believing in His work on the cross is of the most importance to God. This is His first desire for each of us. He says that if we do this, He’ll give us the gift of Salvation – eternal life in Heaven (John 3:16).
12 Weeks in Colorado is a fun to read Christian fiction novel about a group of friends and overcoming real life issues.
If you aren’t following Jesus already, you’re not living. I guess I mean that both figuratively and literally. God calls the people who don’t follow Him, dead. The spiritually dead are the one’s who will experience eternal death in Hell. Eternity in Heaven is known as Life. Jesus came that you could have Life, and Life abundantly (John 10:10).
Accept Jesus and chase Him. This is the first step to receiving God’s best for your life. This is immediate and you can do it right now.
Accept Jesus, receive His fullness, too!
The blessings of God don’t necessarily come in the form of money, although they might in your situation. Generally, the blessings of God are the things that will help you succeed in spiritual living. Since we live in a world where there is a spiritual battle going on all around us (Ephesians 6:10-12), this is quite important and necessary.
God’s will is for each of us to stand firm against the devil and not perish. God doesn’t even want us to have bad days. He wants us to learn and practice and overcome. He wants us to wake up and turn to Him and trust Him throughout the whole day. Whether all things are going great or all things are going wrong. He wants us to learn about His Son and live in the same way; loving others unconditionally while serving and praising God.
When you accept Jesus, you get all that the Father has given Him. Nothing is held back. Sadly, so many Christians don’t understand this simple concept. They accept Jesus, and then remain in bondage to the devil. I want to encourage you that when you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, that you also inherit all that God has given Jesus. These are the true gifts of wealth that last. These are the gifts that will allow you to defeat the devil and live the way God desires.
Here is the inheritance you receive when you follow Jesus:
- Fruit of the Spirit
- Power, Authority, Dominion
- Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, discernment
1. Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
We see people all over walking around defeated. Depression and sickness caused by stress is at an all-time high. People are literally dying because of stress and worry. But when you look at these characteristics of the Spirit of God, you won’t find anything like stress or worry or depression or anxiety. Instead, you find words like peace and joy and goodness and self-control.
It’s the devil who wants you to worry. It’s the devil who wants you addicted to drugs and alcohol. But God says that when you have Jesus in you, you have His Spirit in you; when you have His Spirit in you, you have His power, too. This means, when the Scripture reads “self-control,” you have the power to practice self-control right now. So, you CAN quit what you’re addicted to; you can quit worrying or being angry or gossiping or stealing or lying. You just need to do it through the power of the Holy Spirit.
No one has to walk in defeat. The devil doesn’t have the power to make you. There is a hierarchy and God’s at the top. This means that the devil must obey any commands that are given in the name of Jesus. Thus, if you want to walk in freedom from the devil, you need to send him away. You need to quit living for him, which means quit living a sinful life, and command him to leave you, In Jesus’ Name.
You’ll need to do this every day. Probably for the rest of your earthly life. Satan will keep coming back to try to defeat you. If it isn’t one thing, it’ll be another. I know you or anyone can overcome addictions through the power of the Holy Spirit because I overcame smoking, drinking alcohol, and drug use this way.
You see, I couldn’t do this on my own, and many times I tried and failed. But when I finally understood the addictions as a harmful attack and method of Satan to destroy me and separate me from God, I rebuked him and cast him out. The addiction was gone, the spirit left, and I was delivered. There is power in the Spirit of God, and you get that power immediately when you accept Jesus.
2. Power, Authority, Dominion
To give further understanding, Satan is both powerful and powerless. If you don’t follow Jesus, Satan has power over your life. Because you’re spiritually dead, and without the Holy Spirit, you are only left with your sinful nature, which is the spirit of Satan. Evil can’t cast out evil.
Every time you sin, you invite the devil into your life to live and do as he pleases. You give him authority and dominion in your life. You basically invite disaster into your life, even if unknowingly. As long as you remain in sinful living, you don’t have the power yourself to kick him out.
But Jesus provided a way for each of us to defeat the devil and overcome him. When Jesus died on the cross, He did so to buy us back from the devil. Jesus’ death on the cross was an atonement to God for our sins; the sins that were preventing us from living for God and having eternal life. Without Jesus’ work on the cross, there would only be death because all were filled with evil and belonged to Satan.
God gave up His Son that day so that we could be set free from the bondage of sin and the grasp of Satan. When Jesus died and rose to life again, three days later, He took back the power and authority and dominion from the devil. All who believe in Jesus and claim Him as Lord are saved and are no longer slaves to sin. Thus, the devil becomes powerless over them.
But the devil doesn’t want people to know this, not even the Christian believer. He literally will tell you that you aren’t free. He will try to break you down and make you feel worthless. He’ll lie to you and try to get you to believe that God doesn’t care about you and that He’s abandoned you and isn’t there for you. These are all lies. Instead, ignore him and turn to God. Trust that God is there, that His Spirit and power is in you, and rebuke the devil. Cast him away and resist him at all costs.
James 4:7
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Accept Jesus and gain power over the enemy.
3. Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, discernment
Finally, the Spirit of God comes with wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and discernment. These are the tools that you really want and need. People devote their whole lives to trying to learn the philosophies of others who spent their whole lives trying to gain wisdom and knowledge apart from God.
There is worldly wisdom and there is Godly wisdom. You can only get Godly wisdom by reading the bible, studying and fellowshipping (spending time together) with other believers and getting to know God on an intimate level. He will give you more wisdom than you can use. But very few people search for the wisdom of God. Instead, they try to find the ways to better living through common books in the library and by listening to gurus and other interesting means.
Wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and discernment are given freely to those who seek God. He doesn’t hold back.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
God knows exactly what you need. He knows that wisdom and discernment are necessary to see the wiles of the devil and to avoid them. He knows that without wisdom and discernment, you’ll get carried away by the lies and false doctrines of those who appear to be of God, but are truly servants of Satan. The devil is clever and crafty and has confused the minds of many. He has created division in the strongest of churches and Christian households. He causes people to get distracted over false and meaningless things to the point of arguing, fighting, and division.
When you accept Jesus and seek Him, you find a good dose of understanding of these things. You get a great amount of discernment through knowledge of the bible. God tells us to learn the truth and focus on that, so we’ll see the false when it comes along. The more time you spend getting to know God on an intimate level, the stronger your spirit will become in truth. Then, when something contradicts the teachings or character of God, you’ll know right away and won’t get sucked in.
Be careful out there!
Conclusion
God wants to give you His best – His Son, Jesus. But what do you get when you accept Jesus? You get all the riches of Heaven and the full inheritance that God promised Jesus. You get Salvation. You get acceptance from God and unconditional love. You get the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit that is with you forever. You get the full fruit of His Spirit, which allows you to remain in control and peaceful. You get power, authority, and dominion over Satan. And, you get wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and discernment. Upon receiving Jesus, you get all this.
There’s no limit to how great of things can be done through a person who embraces the fullness of the gifts of God. One who strives to use these gifts to serve the Lord and live in obedience to Him will do amazing things in life to help others and advance the Kingdom of God on earth. These are the things that matter to God, and these should be the things that matter to each of us.
Money can buy some fun things, but the feelings of joy from purchases are short-lived. Money can give a sense of security, and to some extent, it does when you don’t have to rely on others or the Government. But this security isn’t failsafe. Thieves can steal, investments can go bad, jobs can be lost, and savings diminished. Instead, put God first and have true security. Let Him provide for you and trust Him to sustain you. Find joy in following Him and choose to never give any of your time to stress and worry or depression. Instead, learn about having faith in God and let abundant faith and spiritual maturity be the goals you reach for in life.
Accept Jesus and get the fullness of Him, too. Reach out and receive the blessing of life and wealth that God is trying to give you!
If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, you can follow this link (Prayer for Salvation) to find out how. Also, if you need prayer for your life or your family, feel free to fill out a private prayer request in the provided prayer box in this article. My wife and I would love to pray for you.
Take care!