God’s All-Inclusive Plan

It’s good to be with you again at the beginning of a new week, sharing with you Keys to Successful Living, which God has placed in my hand through many years of personal experience and Christian ministry. My theme this week will be “God’s Plan for Your Money.” I’ll be dealing with a subject that is of vital, practical importance for every one of us.

But first, let me say “Thank you” to those of you who’ve been writing to me. Before I finish this talk, we’ll be giving you a mailing address to which you may write. It means a great deal to me to hear how this radio ministry of mine has been helping you and blessing you. So please take time to write, even if it’s only a brief, personal note. Now, back to our theme, “God’s Plan for Your Money.”

Perhaps some of you may be surprised to learn that God actually has a plan for your money. You may have the idea that for really spiritual people, money isn’t important—it’s too sordid, it’s too materialistic. Some of us grew up with a background in which, when we were thinking in religious terms, we referred to money as “filthy lucre”—a phrase that’s found in the King James. However, that is really not a correct view of what the Bible has to say about money. The truth is that in our contemporary culture money plays a major part in the life of every one of us. If God didn’t have a plan for our money, then a major part of our life would not be under God’s control. And that, in turn, would inevitably affect other areas of our life. And that’s the truth with many Christians—their lives are out of order, they’re not really under the control of God and many times they wonder why and they try to be more spiritual. But many times the answer is to be more practical. The area that you’re not dealing rightly with can well be the area of finance and that plays such a major part in the life of every person in our culture today that it follows automatically: if your handling of your money and your finance is not in line with God’s plan, then your whole life is out of joint. No matter how spiritual you may be in other areas, you’ll never know the real blessing and overruling of God in your life until you bring your money into line with the will of God revealed in His Word. You see, God does have a plan for our money. The Bible clearly reveals that.

As a teacher of God’s Word, it’s my responsibility to share with you God’s plan for your money in just the same way as I would share His plan for any other area of your life. I’d like to quote some words of Paul, which he spoke to a group of men to whom he had ministered the Word of God for something like two years and he reminds them of how he ministered God’s Word. In Acts 20:20 and 27, Paul says this:

“You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. [And then he goes on to say a little further on:] For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.”

So Paul says, “Anything in the Word of God that will be helpful to God’s people I have taught. I have declared to them the whole will of God.” Now the whole will of God includes His will for our money. And, as a teacher of God’s Word, I have a responsibility not to hold back that part of the truth because it certainly will be helpful to you. It’s part of the total counsel or plan of God.

Now, I want to point out to you in a more general way that God really does have a plan that covers every area of our lives. I’m going to read from Romans 12:1–2, where Paul says:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship.”

Notice that spiritual worship includes our body—it moves right in to the physical world. Some people think the body isn’t spiritual. Well, being spiritual includes doing the right thing with your body. And Paul says that is presenting it to God as a living sacrifice. Then he continues in the next verse:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

So God has a will which is unfolded to us in three successive phases-three beautiful words are used. The will of God is good, it’s pleasing (another version says it’s “acceptable”) and it’s perfect. And those represent three phases in our perception of the will of God.

When we first begin to perceive it, we discover it’s “good.” God never wants anything bad for any of His people. Then we discover it’s “pleasing” or “acceptable.” The more we perceive it, the more we want to embrace it. And finally, as we move on in the perception and the application of God’s will, we discover it’s “perfect” or “complete.” It covers every area of our lives. And that includes our money.

Now, Paul in that passage points out two essential steps to finding God’s will. The first is: surrender yourself without reservation to God. Paul says, “Place your body on God’s altar as a living sacrifice.” He’s contrasting it with the sacrifices of the Old Testament where the animals that were offered were first killed and then placed on the altar and thus set apart for God. Paul says, “You have to do the same with your body. Put it on the altar of God’s service without reservation.” Only one difference: You don’t kill that body, you present it a living sacrifice.

And then the second essential step to finding God’s will is learning to think God’s way. Paul calls it “being renewed in your mind”—changing your whole outlook: the way you think, your values, your standards, your priorities and only as your mind is renewed can you perceive with your renewed mind what God’s will is.

Now, I want to point out something that’s very important about your money. Don’t underestimate your money. Don’t belittle it. Don’t think it’s unspiritual or unimportant.

What does your money really represent? I want to suggest that it represents at least these three things: your time, your strength, and your talents. Perhaps it also may represent your inheritance. You may have received as an inheritance money or other valuable things, like houses or lands, from people who loved you, who cared for you, and who passed them on to you when their life came to an end. So it represents three or four very, very important things: your time, your strength, your talents, and quite possibly, your inheritance.

Maybe you went to college, you had a fairly elaborate education. All those years of education are represented by your money because if you didn’t have the education you couldn’t make that money. Or maybe you have special talents or ability that are not in the academic field. You may be a very practical type of person. Those talents and that ability are represented in your money. And certainly your money represents your time. Say you work eight hours a day, five days a week—that’s forty hours of your life that are in the money that you earn. So, when you invest your money, you are investing a major part of yourself for good or bad. I hope you can begin to see how important it is that you invest yourself through your money in that which is good and in accordance with God’s will and plan.

Now, I want to bring to you in closing one more important thought: God’s plan for your life, including your money, is summed up in one beautiful word: prosperity. This is stated in the third epistle of John, the second verse, where the writer says to a Christian:

“Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”

Notice the key word there is “prosper” and it covers three areas: your soul, your physical health and your finances, your material needs. And in each area the revealed will of God is prosperity, or you could translate it “success.” God wants you succeed in the area of your soul, in the area of your physical body and in the area of your finances. Failure, defeat, frustration, poverty are not the will of God. Now that may shock some of you. I can understand that. I grew up in a religious tradition where the attitude was: if you want to be holy, you’re going to have to be poor. Well, I respect people who hold that view but I want to tell you very firmly it’s not a scriptural view. I could give you dozens of Scriptures that contradict that but we’re going to stick today with just this one Scripture: 3 John :2:

“Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”

In this series, I’m going to be teaching you the will of God which shows you how you may prosper financially.

Our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again tomorrow at this time. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing with you how your attitude to money actually reveals your attitude to God Himself.