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God's financial plan primarily works on the plane of sowing seed and reaping the harvest. Our Lord expects His children to live up to a set of financial directives that He has wants us to follow. These directives comprise the seed that we can sow and expect the harvest that He wants to pour into our lives.

This article focuses on five such directives, and on God's divine provision, which is available to us.

1. God requires you to have enough money to pay all of your bills in a timely manner.
No one should ever have to use the word "deadbeat" to describe a Christian. However, there is an ever-increasing number of Christians with the reputation of not paying their bills.

The Word of God says, when you walk as God wants you to walk, you will have plenty of money available for day-to-day expenses, making it possible for you to pay all your bills in a timely manner.

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store" (Deut. 28:2, 5). Blessings, are supposed to overtake you in your basket (the money you use to meet your daily expenses).

There is no possible way for me to determine exactly how much money you will need to pay all your bills on time each and every month. That is something you will have to decide.

2. God requires you to have enough money to pay your taxes.
In Matthew 22, the legalists confronted Jesus. They tried to trap Him with this question, "Is it lawful to give tribute (pay taxes) to Caesar?" Jesus knew it was a tricky question, so He asked to see the coin used to pay the tax.

When they showed it to Him, He inquired, "Whose picture is on the coin?" They answered, "It's Caesar's picture." Then Jesus replied: "…Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's…" (Matt. 22:21).

This verse makes it clear that Jesus wants us to pay our taxes.

3. God requires you to have enough money to never have to borrow money to live.
"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13).

Compare this verse to: "…the borrower is servant to the lender" (Prov. 22:7).

This verse says borrowing makes you a servant of the lender. The Bible also tells you that as a servant of the lender, you will not be able to properly serve God.

Now, before you are overwhelmed by this statement, I must bring to your attention that God has a miracle solution to assist those who desire to be debt free. See 2 Kings 4:1-7 where God miraculously canceled the debt of a widow and funded her retirement. Also, see Nehemiah 5:1-12, where God miraculously took a whole nation out of debt in one day.

4. God requires you to have enough money to give generously to the poor.
This responsibility will never end, for Jesus said the poor would always be among us. "For ye have the poor with you always…" (Mark 14:7).

Not only will the poor always be among us, Jesus goes on to tell us He leaves it up to us to decide how often we help them. "…whensoever ye will ye may do them good…" (Mark 14:7).

Our Lord does not specify a percentage of your income that you should give to the poor. He simply says you are to help them as often as you will. It's totally up to you how much of your income you make available to the poor. With this information comes good news, as well as bad news.

First, the good news. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again" (Prov. 19:17). In this verse, we see two very important things about giving to the poor. First, a gift to the poor is actually a loan to God. Second, God promises to pay you back the money you give to the poor. Isn't it just like our Lord to put up His own good name for those who have no assets?

Now, the bad news. "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard" (Prov. 21:13). When you turn a deaf ear to the cry of the poor, you automatically set a negative force in motion. If you do not assist the poor when they cry for help, you will face a time when you will need help in your own life.

The Bible goes on to say that when your time of need arises, no one will hear your cry. God wants you to have enough money to give to every poor person who asks something of you.

5. God requires you to have enough money to lend to every believer who asks.
This financial requirement is probably the biggest one Jesus ever gave His children. After twenty years of walking in the benefits of seedtime and harvest, I thought I might be arriving at a point where I had enough money to do everything God required of me. However, after realizing the magnitude of this requirement, I have had to start sowing more than ever before, for it has become obvious to me that I need much more money than I have.

Let me share two verses that staggered me. I hope they will be as important to you as they are to me. "…him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away" (Matt. 5:42). Jesus plainly says His children should have enough money to lend to everyone who asks. Add to this requirement the following instructions:

"If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. But, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land" (Deut. 15:7-8,11).

When you consider these divine directives, it becomes extremely difficult to determine exactly how much money you will actually need to properly pay all the financial requirements God gives to every believer.

I feel I must say a few words to help dispel the hopeless feeling the preceding information might bring upon you. I have chosen just a few verses of Scripture that hold out God's promise of delivering more than enough money into your hands to do everything He requires of you.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…" (Eph. 3:20). This means no matter how great the financial obligation God places upon you, even if it goes beyond your ability to imagine, your God has a plan for accomplishing it.

Source: God's Financial Plan by John Avanzini
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers

Author Biography

John Avanzini
Web site: John Avanzini Ministries
 
John Avanzini was born in Surinam, South America in 1936. He preaches the message of financial prosperity and teaches that God wants believers to be wealthy. He speaks in conferences and seminars worldwide about biblical economics.
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