Growing up in the Christian environment caused me to be exposed to a LOT of preaching. For the most part, I had absolutely great pastors and teachers who taught me what the Bible says. I went to Christian school from kindergarten all the way through college. Some may say that is too much, I say that was such a huge blessing in my life. I was given the opportunity to learn from dozens of Christian men and women who spent their whole lives studying the Bible. Not many people get that opportunity.
However, I was also made aware of all the bad preaching in the world. People like Joel Osteen or the some of the televangelists on TV say, "God wants you to be happy and rich. So, if you pray for happiness and wealth, and obey the commandments, He will make you happy and rich." Now, there are obvious flaws with that preaching. Does God want you to be happy? Yes, but our view of happiness is mainly selfish and shortsighted. His view of happiness, is knowing Him and living our lives to glorify Him.
Does He want us to be rich? No way! He wants us to be poor because being poor means you are forced to rely on Him and therefore causes you to be a better Christian. The Bible says that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needled than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Therefore, we are to run away from money and be poor. Right?
Well, I'm not saying I believe we are supposed to be poor, but I was pretty sure I couldn't make too much money without sinning somehow. I know, that is very flawed logic. But in my mind, being poor was more spiritual. I think the reason I thought this was because I absolutely hate "the prosperity gospel". God doesn't owe me anything! He should be enough for me. To say that God will make me rich if I pray hard enough is NOT what the Bible teaches. Because of that, I went in the other direction a little too much. That is, until God started to open my eyes a few weeks ago.
I won't go into the whole story, but I was reading scripture and few other books and they all seemed to be talking about money and prayer. The Bible says "You do not have because you do not ask". That is a powerful thing for James to say. At the time I was reading other Christian books that talked about how making money is not a bad thing, if your heart is in the right place. That if you are bad with your money, your options will be limited in how you can bless your family and other people.
Well, God seemed to be speaking to me through all of these things. He allowed my eyes to be open to the fact that making money is not a sin. Even if I make a million dollars, I'm not sinning. The sin lies in whether I love money more than Him. If I work my absolute hardest to make money, that is a GOOD thing. As long as the reason I am doing that is to give that money away and be a blessing to people. He also allowed me to realize that praying for money is not only good, but necessary. Me praying for more money is no different than praying that God will bless my marriage. Through money and my marriage, people can be blessed.
It's been an eye opening experience for me. Not only am I realizing that by praying that God will bless my work and allow my business to grow, I am coming to terms with how powerful He is. Every good thing comes from Him! So many times I would pray, "God, please bless Stewardship and give this company business... but if not that's okay!" I was diminishing His power in my own mind by not having faith He will provide. In Desiring God by John Piper he talks about how God is glorified in answered prayer. That God WANTS to answer our prayer so He can be even more glorified in our lives! Prayer is how we learn about the character and power of God. We are to be bold in our prayer lives! God wants us to come to Him with all of our requests, not just the ones we think are super spiritual.
Again, I don't think we are to be praying that God will make us rich so that we can be selfish in our spending. Be faithful with whatever He gives you. Whether it's a lot or a little, be thankful, be wise, and pray that He will bless it. More than that, pray that He will reveal His power and love in your life no matter the circumstance.
- Brian
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