Friday 3rd April 2020 Devotion
Scripture:- 1 Corinthians 6:1-20
Topic:- Why We Don’t Get Blessed By God For Every Giving
Text:- Proverbs 21:20
When I have a sorge in income, what took most of the money away were demands from other people that seems to be very urgent and important.
I realise that there are many of us who are mismanaging our finances because of that reason, because it sound very legitimate.
Somebody didn’t have this, this person have this problem, that one have that problem and you can find scriptural justification for that, for spending all your money, giving it out to other people.
It took God to help me, to resolved that, because I was permanently carrying guilt around for not solving other people problems.
Until one day, the Holy Spirit said to me, you are pretending as if your middle name is El Shaddai. You want to solve everybody’s problem, you want to play my role in people’s life.
He said if you pretend to be El Shaddai, you will soon find out, that your name is not El Shaddai but “I shall die.” Because I was filled with guilt all the time, for not solving people’s problem.
God was trying to remind me, that I am not God, let me play my role in people’s life. In fact, He said that there are some people I am trying to teach to trust me, they can’t trust me, they can’t wait for me, they will always look for a short cut, I don’t want them begging anybody, but they can hold themselves back, am trying to train them to trust me.
He said when you step in when am trying to help someone, you did not help them, you frustrated their growth process.
So learn to hear from me before you help people, before you give the money out. I said wow! It is not every giving you get blessed for it. So am trying to help someone.
Do not walk around with guilt all over the place. What happen is this, that once you have someone who is fairly doing well and the person can’t have the opportunity to build anything to save, to invest, to increase their capacity, eventually that person may come down to be at the same level with everybody else, that he/she is helping.
So let me explain this way. In our environment we have a culture of mutual impoverishment, because we have a way of making wealthy people feel guilty for not spending all their money on us.
A lot of indiscipline people who will visit the result of their indiscipline on someone who through discipline built their wealth.
Let me say this; if you will ever build wealth, you must be discipline, you must exercise self control, spend less than you earn, other than that, it won’t work, you can’t build wealth.
Now, some people are going to wrestle with this statement “spend less than I earn” what I earn is not even enough, is not up to what I spend and you asking me to spend less than I earn when what I earn is not even enough.
Some people have a policy, whether it is somebody else’s money or your own, the important thing for you is not to lack anything at the moment.
Some people borrow shamelessly, the important thing for them is to have money to spend. We can teach money management skills but money spending skills, people don’t learn to be taught.
The attitude many people have about money is for spending. Whenever wealthy people comes around, you will see the indiscipline one saying to them; How can you have money and not spend it?
What many poor people don’t realise is that, it was that discipline, control that allowed it to build up to the point where you call it wealth.
Money can never be enough, the only way to turn things around is to save some 10%. If one thousand naira is not enough, nine hundred is also not enough.
There is no difference between one thousand naira and nine hundred naira. If the one thousand naira is not enough, while not carry 10% from the one thousand naira and use it to fulfill a principle that can turn life around.
If you can’t save 10%, save 5%. Stop impressing people, you can’t spend more than you earn, you must spend less, do the budget and use that budget to control your spending.
One of my financial mentor said to me; I have been hard on myself and it has paid me. With that, I also had to learn. See 1 Corinthians 6:12.
Not everything is important. Stop trying to impress people and don’t try to live up to the society standard of definition for success. Stop borrowing, stop owing, it becomes a habit and a weakness because you are sending more than you earn. See Proverbs 21:20.
It is not because the money is not enough, that you are spending everything. Your spending everything is a proof that your wisdom pipe is blocked.
As an individual, don’t spend everything, you can’t give what you don’t have. If you don’t develop those management skills, what will you do when you become a manager?
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, help me to manage my resources well henceforth, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Happy Weekend!
