Where Your Treasure Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also

Jesus tells us, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Often, I think one of the biggest hindrances to Christians living a life of faith and serving the Lord has do to with what Jesus was talking about in this verse. If Jesus is not our treasure, how can He have our heart? And if He doesn’t have our heart, how can we truly serve the Lord?

God has called us to do more than merely exist, work for a living, earn a paycheck. The Lord has called us to bear fruit (John 15:16), and bear it abundantly. But where our treasure is will determine how much fruit we bear.

I remember a number of years ago I was wrestling with increasing my giving. The Lord had been placing a burden on my heart for four or five months. I knew it was from Him, I knew He was asking me to give more, and I was refusing. Actually … I wasn’t refusing; I was ignoring.

Then, on a trip with a Christian organization I realized I had to finalize this once and for all. The Lord wasn’t letting up, the burden on my heart was growing, and I knew I couldn’t ignore it any longer. So, while my wife slept, I took a walk on the beach to “discuss” this problem with God. He kept saying, “increase your giving.” And I would say, “no.” He would ask again, and I would refuse again. Then I felt in my spirit the Lord asking “why won’t you increase your giving?” And I replied, “because I want that new house and I need the money to save up for it.”

So the Lord next said, “give me the house.” And I replied, “no.” “Give me the house.” I again replied, “no.” He asked again, and I finally relented and gave in. I said, “Okay, I give you the house.”

After I gave the Lord the new house I wanted, He then said, “now, increase your giving.” And my reply? I said, “okay, how much?”

For me, the new house was my treasure. I wasn’t willing to obey the Lord because He didn’t have my heart — the house did. Once I surrendered my treasure and gave it to the Lord, my heart followed with it. And when the Lord had my heart, I was willing to do what He asked.

How about you?

Are you holding onto something, a treasure, that is keeping you from obeying the Lord?

Give the Lord your treasure so your heart will follow, then watch the Lord do great things in your life. Surrendering to the Lord is where walking by faith begins.

… Beatty Carmichael

The problem for most Christians today is our culture and the circumstances of our life influence our daily decisions more than God’s word. It’s not that we purposely choose to ignore God’s word, but the reality is what we hear the most is what we believe. And what we believe determines what we do.

It used to be a cuss word was forbidden in the media. Gone With the Wind was edgy because it had one bad word: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a d_ _ _!” Today, though, we don’t think anything of it. In fact, prime time TV constantly has words and situations that would make our grandparents gasp in disbelief. Yet for most of us not only does it not bother us, but we don’t even notice it. We’ve been desensitized by our culture.

Unless we meditate diligently in God’s word every day, seeking Him with a whole heart and loving Him enough to do what He has told us to do, we invariably fall into the trap of making bad decisions based on the influences of our culture.

I have a friend who is a committed Christian. He and his wife raised their children in a Christ-centered home. Yet one of his daughters, a believer who goes to church regularly, lives with her boyfriend. Why? As she said, “it’s not that bad. Lots of Christians are doing it.”

It’s a sad statement, but it shows the power of the culture to influence our lives contrary to God’s word. And what we hear the most is what we believe. Unless we drown out the culture with the pure word of God, how can we expect to make decisions that honor Him?

As my pastor recently said, “if our belief and following God included intentional obedience out of a love for Christ, it would amaze us how many personal, marital and church issues would not only be solved but would never occur.”

So, let me ask you: what are YOU doing daily to soak your mind and your heart in God’s word? And if you have children, what are you doing each day to soak THEIR minds and hearts in God’s word?

It’s more than just going to church and being “good.” It’s being deliberate with what you do and why. It’s having a plan.

For us, this is a high priority. Our responsibility as parents is to train our children to know God, experience Him personally, to obey us (authority) so they will obey the Lord as they grow up, and soak their hearts and minds constantly in God’s word. We accomplish this by playing the Bible on tape (now on mp3) every night for several hours as they sleep, letting God’s word saturate their minds. Every night before bedtime we read God’s word directly from the Bible and explain it to them. Daily they see us live our lives righteously before the Lord, and we guide and correct them in love. They see me and my wife having a daily quiet time, practicing what we preach. In other words, our life reflects our words. We teach them to pray. When they lose something special, we pray they will find it, and in most cases they find it immediately, reinforcing that God loves them and can help them. We teach them to thank the Lord for good things and to pray for others as needs arise. When we go through tough times as a family we are quick to point out how God continues to provide for all our needs … and they SEE it themselves.

If you live your life merely as a drive-by Christian, doing “Christian” things only when you think about it, the culture will influence your life. If you live your life by deliberately following Christ, seeking Him daily and meditating in His word, you will influence your culture. You have only one life to live. Choose to live it wisely.

… Beatty Carmichael

OK, I know I opened a BIG can of worms even approaching the concept of “predestination” in my last blog. It’s such an unpleasant concept for a lot of people, but as I read the Scriptures I must at least conclude that SCRIPTURE seems to be pretty clear on that concept.

On that same note, in Sunday School this past Sunday another interesting revelation was made, and I want to share it with you.

James 2:6 says, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Are you not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who DRAG you into the court?” The word “drag” is from the Greek word “helko”. It means to forcefully drag or pull something.

The same word is used in John 21:6. “He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to HAUL it in, because of the quantity of fish.” The word “haul” is the same word “helko” in Greek.

Why is this important. Why does it matter what the Greek word is for dragging or hauling something? Because it shows a definite action of forcing something to happen that doesn’t necessarily happen on its own. It shows that the hauling or dragging of an object is not of the object’s free will, but of the decision by the person or thing doing the dragging.

This word is used only eight times in the New Testament.

The last place I want to share about this word is found in John 6:44. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me DRAWS him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” The same word used for dragging someone to court, hauling in a load of fish, is used to describe God’s action to draw someone to Him. And if He is drawing that person, then whose decision is it? Is it man’s free will to choose, or is it God’s Sovereign will to draw that individual to Him?

So, I promised last time to share a few implications of what being chosen BY God, rather than us CHOOSING God, may mean.

The biggest implication for me is the renewed revelation and awe in what being “saved by grace” really means. Eph. 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.” Simply put, “grace” is receiving something good I do not deserve and have not earned. When put in the context of God being the one who drew me to Him, rather than me in my brilliance having chosen Him first, grace takes on a wonderful meaning. And the hymn, Amazing Grace, takes on a new meaning as well. For me, it means, “Wow! Thank you Lord for saving me! What in the world made you choose me? But I am so thankful you did!”

A second implication is obedience. Why do we share the gospel with others if they have already been “chosen” or “not chosen”? Jesus said, “if you love Me, do my commandments” (John 14:15). Jesus commanded us to take the gospel to everyone so people may hear, and by hearing, God can open their hearts that they may believe. In other words, being saved by GRACE and not by MY choice means I should love Christ even more and passionately pursue obedience to Him in all things.

And thirdly, I believe another implication is if I did nothing to deserve my salvation, but God chose me and drew me to Him, then my assurance of salvation is that much greater. I don’t know if I can effectively put this into words, but let me try. If it was MY choice to accept Christ, then I had a part in my salvation. I worked towards that salvation by making a right decision. However, if I had a part in it, could I fall out of salvation because I make a bad decision later — maybe I fall into sin of some sort? It’s possible. But if it was not my choice, but GOD’s choice to choose me and drag me to Him, then He took me as I was, as I am, and as He knows I will be in the future, and accepts me nonetheless as I put my faith in Him. To me, that’s a lot greater assurance that I can’t lose my salvation because of a bad choice I may make in the future.

Wow. This is heavy stuff. I’ll try something a little lighter next time!

… Beatty Carmichael

So, here’s a question I’ve wondered about for years: do we get salvation by choosing to accept Christ through our own free will, or is salvation “forced” upon a select few by God’s design through “predestination”?

First of all, let’s be clear. The only way we get to heaven is by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Accepting Him as Lord means we endeavor to do all He commands us to do, to the best of our ability. Accepting Him as Savior means we trust in His punishment and death on the cross as the propitiation of our sins (that’s a fancy way of saying that Jesus was punished for our sins instead of us, so we can have fellowship with God and go to heaven).

So, back to the question: did WE choose to accept Christ and believe in Him, or did GOD choose (predestine) that we should accept Him and placed it upon our hearts to do so?

This is one of those questions I struggled with for years. And while the answer may be important in some respect, in my opinion it doesn’t really matter. All that truly matters is that, for whatever reason, each of us personally accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior and chooses to follow Him.

With that said, though, this idea of “predestination” comes up frequently enough, and with such vigor at times, that I thought I’d do a little study in the Bible and see what God says about the subject. I first did this study a number of years ago, and found myself repeating the study recently. While on one hand I wanted to believe God loved me before I ever loved Him and that He personally chose me to know Him. On the other hand, though, I struggled with the idea that if God predestines one person for salvation, by definition it also means He predestines another person for hell — meaning no matter what that other person does, if he is predestined for hell he’s out of luck … there is nothing he can do to be saved.

But that’s not the only problem. If we are predestined as some people say, then why share the Gospel and try to lead others to Christ? If it’s out of my control and out of their control to accept Him or not, why even bother? If God has already predestined someone to be saved, then God doesn’t need me to try to “win” that person to Christ.

So, I felt it was my duty to disprove the idea of predestination. And what better way to do it that to go to the Bible, God’s Holy and infallible Word, to show you what it says.

So, what does it say? Well, after a lot of research and LOTS of passages focused on the subject of knowing God, going to heaven, having eternal life, being “chosen” (predestined) or not, I was blown away with its consistency. Space doesn’t allow me to include all the passages I found, but here are just a few that speak on the subject of whether or not God chooses some people and not others (italics are added by me):

Deut. 7:7
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples…

Ezk. 20:5
… Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God.

Neh. 9:7
You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

Matt. 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen

Matt. 24:22
And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Acts 13:48
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Rom. 1:6
including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ

Rom. 9:10-13
And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad–in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call — she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Eph. 1:4-5
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will

1 Thes. 1:4
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you

2 Thes. 2:14-15
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Pet. 1:33
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

Rev. 13:8
and all who dwell on earth will worship it [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

Wow! If I accept God’s Word at “face value” and not try to inject my own personal opinion of who God is and how He should act, there is only one conclusion I can make. For me, it was a paradigm shift!

Personally, I didn’t want to believe what I was reading. However, the more I study His Word the more I see a common theme throughout His entire Word indicating His sovereignty of choice — that He chooses us first before we choose Him. And as it says in Rev. 13:8, He has chosen us before the foundation of the world.

For me, that didn’t sound fair. I felt it was unjust, that He would choose one person and not another. Then I read what Paul, in his letter to the Romans (9:14-16) said: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

Pretty thought provoking stuff, huh?

More on the implications next time.

Beatty Carmichael

Prayer in the life of a Christian … what is it REALLY, and how do you do it? Do we merely pray for things we desire, pray for “world peace,” pray for others, or what?

A blog is too short to answer all those questions, but I thought I’d touch on the subject of prayer and offer some thoughts. I’ve compiled a list of “nuggets” over the years from various Bible teachers, and here’s just a few of them…

> Random Thought #1: The purpose of prayer is not to align God’s will with my desire, but to align my will with His desire

Regardless of what we are praying for, the real purpose of prayer is NOT to accomplish our will, but to have the Lord accomplish His will through us. It’s not trying to get God to do what we desire, but to desire what He wants.

How do we apply this in our daily lives?

How many times do we find ourselves in a situation where we really want something? It may be trying to buy a new car, get a new job or get a promotion. So we pray “God, please help me do this.” Yet, is that really what He desires? Shouldn’t our prayers be more along the line of “God, my greatest desire is to serve and glorify you, to do that for which you have called me to do. If buying this new car, or getting a new promotion, will help further that work, please provide it. If not, please change my desire and help me be content where you have placed me thus far.”

> Random Thought #2: We as Christians today are powerless because of our prayerless. It’s not enough to just pray for our work. Our work is to pray.

If you are like me, you probably pray each day, “Lord, help me with my work. Help me do this. Help me get that account.” While these prayers are fine and the Lord encourages us to pray for our needs and desires, our REAL work as Christians is to devote ourselves to prayer for God’s work to be done.

When confronted with a need, either personally or in helping someone else, prayer should not be “the least I can do.” It should be the first and most important thing I can do. And we need to teach that to our children as well.

Dutch Sheets, a pastor of a large church, wrote a book “Intercessory Prayer.” It’s the best book on prayer I have ever read. One of the points he makes is that the Lord seldom acts in the absence of prayer, that He uses OUR prayers to accomplish His work. This isn’t to mean that God is powerless without us, but rather He directs us to pray, and as we pray by His direction He responds.

One of the things my wife and I attempt to do with our children is teach them to trust the Lord. And part of how we do this is through teaching them to pray. Just as in any Christian’s life, it starts with small stuff. If one of our children has lost something and is upset, we’ll ask, “have you prayed about it?” Usually the answer is, “no.” So we’ll say, “let’s pray and ask God to help us find it.” Once we do, our child usually finds what he’s been looking for pretty quickly. It reinforces the power of prayer.

As we get older and more mature in our faith, our prayers change. We know God hears us. And if we are following Him and pleasing Him, we know He delights in answering our prayers even more. This is when our prayers change. Rather than just praying for ourselves or our work, we feel the responsibility to pray for others, to pray for God’s work to be done, and to intercede on others’ behalf. This is the true work of prayer — not focused on our desires but focused on God’s desires and work.

> Random Thought #3: Revival never starts until God’s people begin to pray.

Ever thought about that? God just doesn’t send revival. He waits until enough of God’s people pray for it before He acts.

In Ezekiel 22:30-31, God says, “I searched for a man among them who would … stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath.” Because no one prayed, God did not do His will (have mercy and send revival on the land), but instead He exacted justice. This is just what Dutch Sheets says in his book, Intercessory Prayer: God usually waits upon us to pray before He acts and manifests His promises and desired will.

How does this apply to us? Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for things to happen. Get on the field and participate — pray for those things to happen.

… Beatty Carmichael

Living the life of a Christian — a follower of Christ — is not always an easy task. It takes disciplined commitment each day. It takes diligence to keep Christ first in your life. It doesn’t just happen.

Once following Christ moves to second place in your life, it’s just a matter of time before He has no place in your life. Christ should always be first.

How do you make Christ first in your life, and keep Him there?

The first step is you must desire to make Him first, then pray for God’s help to do it. Our life is a spiritual battle, and prayer is our primary weapon. The enemy does not want Christ to be first in your life. Therefore, if you are to make Him first, you need help.

1 John 5: 14-15 says: “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

If you truly desire for Christ to be first in your life, the first step is to pray for it, and pray consistently. It is God’s will that He should be first in your life. Therefore, when you pray according to His will, you can be confident that He will answer that prayer.

The second step is to commit to make Him first. Making Christ first in your life begins with discipline — doing the things you ought to do. As you pray to make Him first, and discipline yourself to do so, you’ll find over time the discipline changes to desire — you desire to do the things you ought to do.

The first discipline is to give Him time each day. Rather than racing out of the house each morning to go to work, slow down and spend time with the Lord first. Here’s an important truth I learned years ago: I can always trust God to take care of things while I slow down to seek Him. In fact, I take considerable time from my business to spend time with the Lord, and He’s always faithful to take care of my business in my absence. And He can do the same with you. It really doesn’t matter how busy you are. It’s merely a choice you make — you choose to make Him first, or you choose not too.

The second discipline in making Christ first in your life involves your finances. Are you holding back out of worry of making ends meet, or are you giving cheerfully and abundantly, trusting Christ to take care of your needs (see my Radical Faith audios on Financial Stewardship for more details)? If you commit to make Christ first in your life, then “Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce” (Prov. 3:9). Prove your commitment with your checkbook.

And finally, the third step in making Christ first is to be thankful. We take so many of the Lord’s blessings for granted. However, once we begin consistently thanking Him for what He gives us and how He provides for us, something wonderful happens. We fall deeper in love with Him and appreciate His goodness even more. As we do, a sincere desire and yearning wells up from deep within us to make Him more of a priority. It’s much like when a friend constantly helps you and is always there to help out in tough times, you appreciate that person more and desire to give back in return. The same happens in our relationship with Christ as we constantly acknowledge how good He’s been to us. We grow more thankful of what He has truly done for us, and that thankfulness creates a yearning to spend more time with Him and make Him more of a priority.

… Beatty Carmichael

Have you ever prayed for God to do something — something important to you — and you prayed, and prayed and prayed. And God never answered it?

I wonder how many times we pray for things, and give up too soon. This seems to be the case with Zechariah, and there’s a neat lesson we can learn from it. Here’s a little background…

Zechariah is married to Elizabeth. They are of priestly descent of the line of Aaron. This is the line that has the privilege of performing services inside the Tabernacle (and later the Temple) and, once a year, inside the Holy of Holies. They apparently prayed for years that God would give them a child, but God never gave them that child. When we pick up the story in Luke 1 they are both advanced in years, Elizabeth is barren and is past the age of childbearing. They apparently forgot their dream and resigned their life to serving the Lord without children.

As the story picks up in Luke 1:13, Gabriel, an angel, visits Zechariah in the Holy of Holies as he is performing his priestly duty. Gabriel exclaims “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard…” and goes on to explain that they are going to have a child.

Here’s the interesting point. Zechariah had prayed for a child, but it was many years ago when he prayed. So long ago, in fact, he had forgotten about it and put it out of his thoughts. Now, years later, Gabriel says his prayer has been heard and God has answered it! And the answer is more than Zechariah could ever have dared to pray, for he was to become the father of John the Baptist, who in the spirit of Elijah was to prepare the way for the Messiah Himself!

What an awesome privilege to a man and woman seeking the Lord … and one who had given up all hope of getting what they had prayed for.

And here’s the lesson I keep learning over and over myself. God doesn’t necessarily answer our prayers in our timing — He answers them in His timing. It may be years later, long after we stop praying and have given up hope, that God answers our most fervent requests.

However, God doesn’t always answer our prayers. God is very specific on how to get our prayers answered. He says in James 5:16 that it’s the “effective [continued] prayer of a righteous man” that accomplishes much. We must pray diligently and consistently, and we must be righteous. Luke tells us Zechariah was such a man, that he was “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”

This has happened in my life, too. Years ago I had been praying for something important to me. It wasn’t spiritual, it wasn’t important in the big scheme of things. It was just something I personally desired. I prayed for years, and when God didn’t answer I quit praying and gave up any hope of getting it. Then a number of years later a series of events happened and … God blessed me with it! That’s when I learned (again) how much God loves me — that He would give me something I greatly desired, even though it really wasn’t all that important. It was just important to me.

So … if you’ve been praying and nothing is happening, don’t give up hope. If you are right before God, if your heart does not condemn you, if you do the things the Lord has directed you in His Word, take courage. God loves to shower good gifts upon His children. And you may find God answering your prayers, too. And while it may be longer than you would have desired, God always does things in His perfect timing.

… Beatty Carmichael

Wow! Our God is great, wouldn’t you agree!

I’m reminded of the passage in Psalms 34:8-10 where it says, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

This is the concept I’m constantly driving home to my children and to others as well. Especially in times of financial hardships like most of us are going through with The Recession, the reality is the Lord can always provide, and WILL always provide for those who love Him.

One of my favorite passages is the story in Mark 8:1-9 where Jesus feeds 4,000 people with only 7 loaves and a few fish. He apparently has nothing, yet He actually has an abundance. The people are hungry, looking for food, and Jesus takes just a little and provides the abundance they need.

We see this throughout scripture as well. The Israelites wandering in the dessert for 40 years — God provides for them. The famine during King Ahab’s reign — God provides for the widow and Elijah. The widow whose husband died and the creditor was going to take her sons as slaves — God turns water into oil and provides all she needs and more.

As you go through life, there is NEVER a time the Lord can’t provide for you. And, as you earnestly seek Him, thirsting to know Him more and taking time each day to meet with Him, He WILL always provide for you. He will take the little that you have and provide the abundance you need.

I could share story after story of this in my life. I’ll share only one. This was a few years back. My company was struggling, we had been losing money for 6 or 8 months in a row, and I was scared. Everyone was on reduced pay out of fear of going under.

Then, one January, I was having my monthly “day of prayer” where I take time out to spend the day with the Lord, and I asked God, “When are You going to let up? When are You going to provide for us?” And in that still, small, quiet voice that He speaks to us in, I heard Him say, “do you really believe my promises that I will take care of you?” I said, “Yes, Lord, you know I believe.” Then He said, “If you really believed, how would you act?” I said, “If I really believed you would take care of us, I would put everyone back at full pay.” He said, “then why don’t you do it and trust Me?”

So I did. This was the end of January, and I put everyone back at full pay, beginning with that month of January. The result? That month we took a big hit and lost a lot of money. But the next month we made a HUGE swing and made a strong profit! And we made good profit the following month, the next month, the next month, the next month … for a long time.

But the amazing thing is, even to THIS day, I can’t tell you how it happened. We didn’t bring on any new accounts. We didn’t have any existing customers that just “sprouted” with lots of new business for us. It just happened.

Much like it did when Jesus took the few loaves and fish and fed thousands of people.

And it CAN happen for you. Stop looking in the “natural” and fearing what you see. Instead, start looking in the “spiritual” — at God’s Word and His promises to you — and rejoice in His abundance.

You can learn more about trusting God for his abundance and how to have “miracles” happen in your life (where the Lord defies what you see in the natural and causes His promises to come true) in my CD set “Radical Faith” found on this site.

… Beatty Carmichael

Here’s a neat thing…

I’m sitting here thinking, “OK Lord, what do you want me to share about?” So, I turn to my “spiritual nuggets” file and pull out the next one in sequence, and wouldn’t you know, it’s about financial giving! For those who know me, one of my spiritual strengths is giving, so I guess it’s only appropriate I share about this as the inaugural blog! (by the way, if you don’t know me, check out my personal stewardship testimony above)

When we think about what it means to be obedient and “walking by faith,” one of the biggest hindrances I see with most people relates to their giving. You can here my full teaching on this by clicking “Radical Faith” above, but let me sum it up in three key principles:

Principle #1: God owns it all (Ps. 50)

Isn’t it funny how most of us think “how much should I give to the Lord?” In reality, we should be asking God, “Lord, how much of YOUR money should I keep for myself?”

The first step if proper financial stewardship is just that: realizing it’s a stewardship, not an entitlement. Stewardship is managing someone else’s resources, not our own. And as Christians, that’s really what we are doing. And the implication is pretty important. If it all belongs to God, then when He nudges us to give, we need to obey.

Principle #2: Watch out for covetousness (2 Cor. 9:5)

We’ve all heard one of the 10 commandments, “thou shall not covet.” But here’s something interesting that hit me this morning in my quiet time. Intending to give (by God’s direction), then failing to give the full amount, is covetousness.

2 Corinthians 9:5 says, “So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, that the same might be ready as a bountiful gift, and not affected by covetousness.”

Principle #3: Give cheerfully (2 Cor. 9)

Giving cheerfully. That’s an interesting concept, isn’t it?

To me, giving cheerfully is giving by God’s direction with the joy and assurance that He will take care of all my needs.

In other words, if He nudges me to give a certain amount of money and it’s going to be a real stretch for me financially, I need to go on and give it and not worry. He tells me to “test” Him (to prove His promises to be true — Malachi 3:10) and give cheerfully, not grudgingly, and He WILL make all grace abound to me to have an abundance to meet all my needs (2 Cor. 9:8).

This is a hard concept. I’ve heard people “caution” others about giving “too much.” But what I’ve learned about the Lord is I can take Him at His word. If He tells me He will provide for me, He will!

When I gave my stewardship testimony (you can hear my live testimony above), I was telling people to do just that — trust the Lord to meet their needs. But the rest of the story is when I was sharing, I was in my third month without a paycheck. I was on the verge of losing everything if we didn’t get more sales coming through. I had three months of savings left … and that was it. And the short of the long story was, God provided, literally overnight. He always does if you obey Him.

If you’ve never really stepped out on faith in your giving, let me encourage you to seek the Lord in prayer and see if He’s urging you to “test” Him … just as He did with me. It might be one of the scariest, yet most exciting things, you’ll ever do. And it will profoundly change your life!

… Beatty Carmichael