Wealth secrets
There are
more than 2000 references about money in the bible. The bible is a book of consequences,
especially as it relates to finances.
These consequences are related to whether we follow them or not.
We are
going to look at 5 secrets that 96% of us don’t know or don’t apply in our own
finances. This is a practical tool to
help you understand and apply basic business principles in how you manage your
own income. We trust these principles
will inspire you to have hope in your own financial situation and that you will
be able to grow your own income to help in building God’s Kingdom and building
a legacy for your family. We will look
at one aspect of these secrets weekly to give us time to digest the information
and apply it.
According
to Robert Kiyaosaki’s (Author of Rich dad, poor dad) research on people
spending habits, found that the difference is based on their upbringing and
financial intelligence. Both of these
things can be influenced later in one’s life and therefore we are not stuck in
how we think about money. What he
researched was “What would be the result, a year from now when we would give a
100 people $10 000 and told the people they could use the money as they wished. According to Robert, 80 of the 100 will have
$0 after a year. Sixteen would have $10
300 -$10 500, which is the amount of interest they will get if they put it in a
financial institution at interest. 4%
would have multiplied it between $20 000 and $100 000.
Summery 80%(spend) 16%(save) 4%(multiply)
So what do the 4% know and practice that the
96% don’t?
Wisdom vs Wealth.
We find
that the 4% value knowledge and wisdom above wealth, riches or power.
2 Cron
1:7-12
God appeared to Solomon that night in a dream and said,
"Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you."
Solomon answered: LORD God, you were always loyal to my father David, and now
you have made me king of Israel. I am supposed to rule these people, but there
are as many of them as there are specks of dust on the ground. So keep the
promise you made to my father and make me wise. Give me the knowledge I'll need
to be the king of this great nation of yours. God replied: Solomon, you could have
asked me to make you rich or famous or to let you live a long time. Or you
could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for
wisdom and knowledge to rule my people. So I will make you wise and
intelligent. But I will also make you richer and more famous than any king
before or after you.
The first thing we notice is that Solomon made a reverence
to his father and the relationship he had with God. Solomon was aware of the promise God gave to
Dawid and that Solomon was part of that promise. He understood that he had a responsibility to
the people God entrusted to him. When he
was thinking of the question God asked him, he was mindful of the people not
about himself. So he was asking for God
to help him rule over God’s people, the way God will rule over His people that
the nation will be a reflection of their God, whom gave them a promise, the promise that God will be with them and
lead them through the king He appoints.
Solomon understood the position and the
responsibility this position required. The
common mistake we make when we read these verses is that we assume God was
impressed by Solomon and gave him a “wish” for himself. Solomon never asked for personal wisdom, he
asked for God’s wisdom to rule like He would rule over His Nation. The effect of that understanding implies that
Solomon share in the effect of Gods rule which is fame and riches.
If your focus is on what or whom you have in mind when
dealing with finances, you will need wisdom to achieve that because you know
you are accountable for your spending. A
king rule with resources, people in poverty need resources. Wisdom is needed to manage what you have, wisdom
is needed to invest in what will grow and to sustain the work force. All these principles are present in every
part of your money.
Wisdom entails both Spirit and Truth.
Christians
tend to live out of the New Testament and feel that they are no longer under
law by the sacrifice of Christ. They
feel that they don’t have to pay any attention about the financial principles
explained in Proverbs and the rest of the ‘Old Testament’ because these are a
part of ‘The Law’. God created the earth
with principles that keeps it in order so that the world is a self-sustaining planet. These principles are truths that we need to
know and understand so that we can use them for our advantages. There are truths about finances that will never
change.
Prov. 22:7 tells us the borrower is slave to
the lender. If you
are in debt you are a slave to that lender until you paid what is due. We need to live out these instructions to get
the benefit of the truth, it is not a qualification about Gods acceptance of us
obeying His “law”, it is about embracing His wisdom and making it your wisdom.
The question is:” Do you want to be a slave?” If the answer is “no” then stop
borrowing. We live in a culture of debt, it is easy and
acceptable, even if everybody is in debt, it can never become a truth because
God created truth, not the majority.
Is it more
important to know the bible or to life the bible? We do not need to know the bible, we need to
live according to it, the only way is to apply it. Allowing Gods truth to become our truth by
doing it.
John. 4:23 But a time is coming, and it is already here!
Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father
according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship
him.
Worship in Spirit and truth. What does this mean?
Truth – It is Gods principles that He lives by. His kingdom is ruled
by truth.
Spirit – What He can do according to His faith. Through His Spirit He can do miracles and do
things beyond our understanding.
We need to
embrace both of them for Gods Spirit cannot violate His truth.
How
do the 4% manage money?
USE JARS
This
has to do with how money is stored and used.
There is a big difference here, the 96% focus on what they earn, while
the 4% focus on how they use what they earn.
The 96% think that rich is defined as someone who make a lot of money
each month and have a lot of resources.
The poor are defined by the 96% as people who don’t make a lot of money
each month and have very little resources available. They 4% define rich as someone who voluntary
limit their spending and invest in things that multiply. The poor are the people who spend 100% or
more of what they make each month.
What
is the difference in storage and usage of money?
The
4% store their money in multiple receptacle while the 96% usually store their
money in just one receptacle. The 4%
tend to give, save and invest first, and spend what’s left, while the 96% tend
to spend first and then try to save and invest what is left. The 4% usually have a percentage to spend
while the 96% usually have nothing left to give, save or invest. This is not because they have more money,
they just choose how they use the money that they have differently.
Here
are the jars that the 4% use.
1.
The Lord’s tithe.
This is not your money that you give
to God, it is Gods money that He lets you administrate.
2.
Sharing
This is for people who needs mercy,
whom have experience disaster or tragedy.
3.
Saving
For the future and unexpected events
4.
Investing
Placing your money somewhere that
will increase its value usually by producing a product or performing a valuable
service for others.
5.
Spending
Use this money to purchase the
things you need and want
If
you allocate percentages of your income when you receive it, you will be able
to manage them according to these jars.
If you receive a R100 as an example you will divide it as follow: R10 –
tithe(10%), R10 – Sharing(10%), R10 – Saving(10%), R20 – Investing(20%), R50 –
Spending(50%).
This
is a default example but some people live only on 20% of their income and
invest 50% of it. If you look at your
situation you might think it is impossible, but you can start with different
percentages, the important thing is that you start using different jars, that
you can start thinking differently about smaller amounts of money. This will empower you with what you have
because you can now start thinking creatively about portions of your income.
The
secret to becoming wealthy is in how you use the money you have, not in getting
more money.
Human
nature tends that you will spend 100% of what is in your spending jar.
We will be looking at each
one of the jars individually.
