“We listen to what God says about finances in His word because we trust Him. The more we trust Him, the more we hear Him.” In this article, we will learn how we can face our own personal challenges and be channels of God’s blessing.
What is the importance of hearing about finances from God’s word? How will it affect a person’s walk with God?
We study what God says about finances because we do not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Instead, we acknowledge that in His wisdom and sovereignty, God knows what is best in every area of our lives, including our finances. Whenever we step out in faith and trust God, we silence any voice that tries to compete with God’s voice and we get to know Him more. Trusting God in our finances means putting ourselves in a position where we can experience His reality and goodness in our lives. It means leaning on Him, putting our full weight without any fear that we will fall, because we know that we are leaning on someone who is strong and stable.
How has our recent series, Add to Heart, helped us face financial challenges brought about by the pandemic and the recent typhoons?
In the third week of the series, we looked at the poor widow who gave sacrificially to God. During that time, a widow had very few options in terms of sources of income. From the story we know that she chose to be a beggar. She was clearly challenged by her situation and yet, it did not stop her from giving. In spite of her poverty, her generosity was abounding. In the same way, any pandemic, typhoon, or calamity should not stop us from being generous. Generosity is not an act but a posture, an attitude. An act of generosity is an overflow coming from a generous heart.
We have several people in church who demonstrated generosity in spite of their own challenges. One couple would be Getty and Grace Cua. They attend our church in Greenhills, but they live in Marikina. During the typhoon, the first floor of their house got submerged in flood water. So they redesigned their home and placed the kitchen on the second floor, with the intention of opening their kitchen and serving soup to people if ever there would be flooding in the city again. And that’s exactly what happened. They were able to feed hundreds of families even if their own family was experiencing difficulties because of the recent typhoons. Their generosity was an overflow of their trust in God.
When we look to God and not at our own financial situation, we can rise above our own challenges. We can be certain that the God we trust is more than able and willing to provide all that we need.
How does knowing what God says about finances affect your financial decisions? How would knowing these principles enable us to trust God more in this area?
When we look at Scripture, we can see that God used finances to make a point. But the point was never about money; it has always been about the heart. What we need to understand is that we should not settle for material things in this world. That’s what we always say to our children. We are a family on a mission. We teach them not to have a firm grasp on the things of this world, and instead be ready to let go if and when God tells us to do something. This world is not our home. We have been placed here to do specific assignments from God. Having a firm grasp of that should guide us in our financial decisions in life.
Dennis Sy serves as the senior pastor in Victory Greenhills. He started following Jesus as a young student and now, together with his wife, Thammie, is teaching their young children to do the same.
Beyond the Series is a set of interviews on topics related to our sermon series.
