What keeps us from investing our lives? What keeps us from moving to financial freedom? I’ll tell you what it is: fear.
In the Bible you can find financial principles that God guarantees. God promises that if you do them, you will be blessed. But they require faith, and that scares a lot of people. They are afraid of doing it God’s way.
Many kinds of fears can hold you back. One of them is self-doubt. You’ve failed in the past, so you’re never going to try again. But just because you fail doesn’t mean you give up. Everybody fails. It’s the only way you learn what works! God uses ordinary people who just keep on going instead of giving up.
There were two disciples who denied Jesus before his Crucifixion: Judas and Peter. They committed the same sin, but the difference was the way each reacted to his failure. Judas had a pity party, got depressed, and took his life.
Peter, however, realized what he did was wrong, so he prayed and repented and asked God for forgiveness. Then Jesus chose Peter to preach on Pentecost, and 3,000 people were saved the first day. Jesus chose to build the church on the biggest failure in the bunch.
What a God! He didn’t choose the superstar. He chose the guy who had blown it the worst.
You may have really messed up financially in the past. But it doesn’t matter where you’ve been. What matters is the direction your feet are going right now.
In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, a rich man entrusted his money to his servants before he left for a long trip. When he returned, he asked for an account from the servants. Of the three, two of them doubled the master’s money, but the third was afraid and hid his portion instead of working and investing it. His fear disappointed and angered his master, who said, “Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver” (Matthew 25:28 NLT). The master took away everything the servant had been given.
Fear often emerges when we try to do things God’s way. Satan will try to get you to ignore God’s principles for money management by making you afraid of failure or making you doubt your ability to be a good steward of God’s money.
But if you’re going to be successful in life, you must move against your fears. You have to do the very thing that you fear the most!
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over
What financial failure from your past has kept you from moving forward with God’s financial principles for your life?
Do you pray for God to give you more financial responsibility as a steward of his money? Why or why not?
What is it about God’s way of handling money that makes you afraid to be obedient? Talk to God about those fears today.
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