How much money does a Christian need to live up to all the requirements that God has placed on our lives? Below, I want to provide some insight into a few of such requirements, and scriptural answers as to how each of us can live up to God's requirements in our lives.

God Requires You to Have Enough Money to Give Good Gifts to Your Children.
How discouraging it must be to children of Christian families who must always hear that after tithing and giving to missions, there just isn't enough money for them to have any of their heart's desires.

This type of disappointment can embitter children long after they become adults.

The Word of God reads:

...What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven give good things...?
(Matt. 7:9-11)

I am not encouraging you to spoil your children. Good parents have to teach their children the value of things. However, the Bible says never satisfying their heart's desire will eventually affect them.

God Requires You to Have Enough Money to Have a Good Savings Account.
Statistics tell us the average American has less than $3,000 in savings. I believe many of God's people have less. I came to this conclusion because of a startling statistic I found in a book, "31 Reasons People Do Not Receive Their Financial Harvest."

It stated that 40 percent of the bankruptcies in the United States involve born-again Christians. This statistic should be reason enough for every Christian to start saving money.

However, there is an even better reason for saving. The Bible says God wants you to have enough money to be able to set aside a substantial amount.

Deuteronomy 28 contrasts the believer who does what God commands, with the one who refuses. I recommend you read it in the near future. I will deal with only a part of it.

…it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments…Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
(Deut. 28:1,5)

God Requires You to Have Enough Money to Fund a Proper Retirement Plan.
Preparing for retirement is expensive business, especially when you take into account the process called "inflation." You must keep in mind that while you are setting aside money today for future retirement, the money you save will probably be worth only 20 percent of the value it has when you save it.

The next question you should be asking is, "Does the Bible say anything about retirement?"

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
(Prov. 6:6-8)

Only a qualified professional should help you assess exactly how much to invest each month for your retirement. However, God merely wants me to make you aware of His requirement for you to gather and store enough finances, while you are young, to see you comfortably through old age.

It is evident that God meant for His children to have much more money than even the most outspoken advocates of biblical economics and the life of abundance have been teaching. It is as the Psalmist said:

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause; yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
(Ps 35:27)

Notice the Psalmist tells us we must continually, not occasionally, but continually say, "…Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant."

It is for this reason the writer of Proverbs says, "The blessings of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it" (Prov. 10:22).

Source: God's Financial Requirements and Divine Provision
by John Avanzini
Excerpt permission granted by HIS Publishing Company