I don’t teach on healing so I can get healed. I’m already living in divine health. Likewise, I’m not teaching on giving so I can get, but for your benefit. Thinking you know all of this will not benefit you. If you think you’ve already arrived then you’re not going anywhere.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man so account of us, as of the servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (KJV)
Servants = Greek hupéretés (hoop-ay-ret’-ace) an underling, a servant, an attendant, an officer. (from hypó, “under” and ēressō, “to row”) – properly, a rower (a crewman on a boat), an “under-rower” who mans the oars on a lower deck; (figuratively) a subordinate executing official orders, i.e. operating under direct (specific) orders.
Steward = Greek oikonomos (oy-kon-om’-os) the manager of a household, a guardian. (Often functioned as the “steward” of a household, and was generally a freedman – i.e. a slave released from forced, legal servitude. A steward is someone entrusted with another’s wealth or property and charged with the responsibility of managing it in the owner’s best interest.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ 18 And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (NKJ)
God is your source. It is His money. He gives you the ability, talents, and capability to get everything you have.
Ephesians 4:28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to… share with the one in need. (Berean)
Give more than you consume. Too many people get all they can. Can all they get, then sit on their can. Prosperity is not selfish. Only wanting enough for you and yours is.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you measure with it shall be measured to you again. (NKJ)
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. (Berean)
Money is not evil. If it were, the devil would make sure you had plenty of it. However, if you are giving to God what is leftover after all the bills are paid, all needs are met, and all wants are fulfilled then you’re not trusting God.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who [are not financially ethical and] crave to get rich [with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth] fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction [leading to personal misery]. 10 For the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically] is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves [through and through] with many sorrows.
Luke 16:1-13 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him,
‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Shrewd = wise, clever, crafty.
9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when it fails, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (NKJ)
We cannot serve our own self-interest and God’s at the same time.
