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Chapter 1 God's All-Inclusive Plan

You may be surprised to learn that God has a plan for your money. You may have the idea that money is too sordid for spiritual people. Like some of us, you may have grown up with a religious background which referred to money as 'filthy lucre."

However, this is not a biblical view of money. In contemporary culture, money plays a large role in each of our lives. If God does not have a plan for our money, then a major part of living is not under His control. In turn, this will inevitably affect other areas of our lives. The truth is that many Christians, whose lives are not really under God's control, try to solve their problems by becoming more "spiritual." However, many times the answer is to be more practical.

If you are not handling your finances in line with God's plan, then your whole life is out of joint. No matter how spiritual you may be in other areas, you will never know the real blessing and overruling of God in your life until you bring your money into line with the will of God as revealed in His Word. You see, the Bible clearly reveals that God does have a plan for our money.

As a teacher of God's Word, it is my responsibility to share with you God's plan for your money just as I would share His plan for any other area of your life. In Acts Paul says this: "You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house... For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (Acts 20.20, 27)

In other words, Paul is saying that he has declared to them the whole will of God, and that he has taught everything in the Word of God that would be helpful to God's people. The whole will of God includes His will for our money. It is part of the total counsel or plan of God.

I want to point out in a general way that God really does have a plan that covers every area of our lives. In Romans 12:1, Paul says: 'Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Godwhich is your spiritual act of worship.

Notice that spiritual worship includes our bodies; it moves right into the physical world. Some people think the body is not spiritual. Being spiritual includes doing the right thing with your body-presenting it to God as a living sacrifice. Paul continues in the next verse: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

God's will is unfolded in three successive phases by three beautiful words. The will of God is good, pleasing (or 'acceptable" KJV) and perfect. These three words represent three phases in our perception of the will of God.

When we first begin to perceive God's will, we discover that it is good. God never wants anything bad for any of His people. Then we learn His will is pleasing or acceptable. The more we perceive it, the more we want to embrace it. Finally, as we move on in the perception and the application of God's will, we realize it is perfect or complete. The whole, complete will of God covers all areas of your life-and that includes your money.

Paul points out two essential steps to finding God's will. First, surrender yourself without reservation to God. Paul says to place your body on God's altar 'as a living sacrifice." He is comparing it with the Old Testament sacrifices in which the animals that were offered were first killed and then placed on the altar. In this manner they were set apart for God. Paul says that you must do the same with your body: put it on the altar of God's service without reservation. The only difference is that you do not kill the body, but rather present it as a living sacrifice.

The second essential step to finding God's will is learning to think God's way. Paul calls it being renewed in your mind. This means changing your whole outlook, including the way you think, your values, your standards and your priorities. Only as your mind is renewed can you perceive what is God's will.

I want to point out something else that is very important about your money. Do not underestimate your money, belittle it, or think it is unspiritual or unimportant. What does your money really represent? I suggest that it represents four very important aspects of you: your time, your strength, your talents, and quite possibly, your inheritance.

Your inheritance may be money or other valuable things, like houses or lands, which were passed on to you from people who loved and cared for you when their lives came to an end. Perhaps you went to college and had a fairly elaborate education. All those years of education are represented by your money because if you did not have the education you could not make the money that you do. Or you might have special talents or abilities that are not in the academic field that are more practical in nature. Those talents and abilities are represented in your money. Certainly, too, your money represents your time. If you work eight hours a day, five days a week, that is forty hours of your life invested in the money you earn.

When you invest your money, you are investing a major part of yourself for good or bad. I hope you can begin to see how important it is that you invest yourself through your money in that which is good and in accordance with God's will and plan.

God's plan for your life, including your money, is summed up in one beautiful word: prosperity. This is stated in 3 John 2, where the writer says to a fellow Christian: Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. (NAS)

Notice the key word there is "prosper." It covers three areas: your physical health, your soul, and your finances or material needs. In each area the revealed will of God is prosperity or success. God wants you to succeed in the area of your soul, in the area of your physical body, and in the area of your finances.

Failure, defeat, frustration and poverty are not the will of God. I grew up in a religious tradition where being holy meant you had to be poor. I respect people who hold that view, but it is not a scriptural one.