BY DAVID REYNOLDS
“I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).
For some time now I have felt the need to help you young l couples in the area of your finances. I feel I can do it because I have lived long enough to have experienced or observed most of what you are going through. You may not like my advice for it will be very Biblical-which means it will not be what this world-or the Jones’s-expect.
Financial stress is one of the main reasons for divorce. God promised you He would never leave you nor forsake you-but He promised to supply your needs not your wants. There are principles found in the Word of God that if you will follow I promise you, you will never be to the point of begging. You may suffer temporary setbacks, but over a lifetime you will always have enough.
Over the next few months I will write to you “My Son” in the Lord. This will not be advice from a professional financial planner but rather from one who uses the principles found in the Bible which I have found to be very enriching. Let me give you a short overview and you check yourself to see if you are ready to change and live in God’s blessing of always having just enough.
My son-so you never seem to have enough?
1. My son, you must choose who you are going to serve God or money.
Matthew 6:24 “No man 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 [money].”
There can be but one master in your life. It is strange but even if money is seemingly the problem, if you pursue it, it will always evade you. “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
2. My son, you must honor God with the first fruits of all that God gives you.
Malachi 3:10 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall j not be room enough to receive it. ”
You cannot rob God and then expect to have financial security. Your bag will always have holes in it.
3. My son, you cannot be lazy and be blessed of God.
Prov. 20:13 “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.”
God has determined that we should eat by the sweat of our brow. A man is never truly satisfied unless he is producing.
4. My son, you cannot be stingy and expect God’s abundance.
Prov. 11:24 “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”
God is a generous God. When he blesses you He expects you to be a conduit in order to bless others.
5. My son, you cannot be indulgent and be blessed of God.
Prov. 23:21 “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.”
Learn to enjoy the simple things of life. There is only so much you can eat and be healthy. You can only wear one suit and drive one car at a time. Learn to be content.
6. My son, you must not be hasty or impatient to accumulate this world’s possessions.
Prov. 21:5 “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.”
Many young people want all that their parents have-not realizing that it took their parents a lifetime of hard work to get what they have.
7. My son, listen to my advice-even if you think it is old fashioned or will change your values and lifestyle-for it will.
Prov. 13:18 “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.”
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY THE APOSTOLIC ACCENT, PAGE TEN. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY AND RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
