Why Does God Want Me to Be Financially Confident?

Speaker A00:00:00

You're a Christian. You truly love God. You want your life to reflect him.Let's be honest, sometimes talking about money in church circles, well, feels rather unspiritual. Ask yourself. Wait a minute, Ralph. If I focus on money, am I being selfish? Does financial confidence mean I'm chasing worldly success?Well, here's the truth. God doesn't want you trapped in fear. God doesn't want you trapped in guilt. And he certainly doesn't want you trapped in financial chaos.He actually desires your confidence. That's why I named this show Financially Confident Christian.And he doesn't do that so you can stockpile wealth, but so you can live free to serve him and give generously and truly impact others for his kingdom.I want you to stick with me because today we're going to break the myth that money and faith are in conflict and discover why God truly wants you to be a financially confident Christian.

Speaker B00:00:54

This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence.

Speaker A00:01:07

Hey there. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph. I'm so happy you chose to join me again for today's show.This is the show where I help you break that financial shame and truly step into financial confidence, that financial confidence that God so desires for your heart. And we're continuing in our series Breaking Financial Chains. We're just about done this. Got a couple more episodes left in this series.I hope you've been enjoying it. If you've missed any of them, you can go check them out at our website.That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com where yesterday we talked about why you worry even when things look okay. And so many of us are saddled by that constant worry. I'm going to encourage you to check out yesterday's show.I think I really helped you break it down and you might share it with somebody while you're at it. But today I want to talk about the ultimate why. I actually got this question through our Facebook page.Why does God want me to be financially confident? And I thought that was a great question to somebody ask. I just made an assumption when I named the show Financially Confident Christian.I never thought somebody would wonder why God would want that. And for so many people, that's the reason I started this show. There is this conflict, if you will, this faith versus finance conflict.Some people truly believe that being spiritual means you don't care about money. I've heard it said many times, well, God will provide. You don't have to worry about that. I actually saw a comment on my YouTube channel yesterday.They said, oh, why are you worried about that? God will provide. And that's. A lot of people believe that.And then there's other people that believe that progress feels selfish like you, like I mentioned at the beginning, or that progress feels worldly. And the problem is it burdens so many of us with guilt and we start to neglect our stewardship.And there's this constant tension between ambition and devotion. I found this statistic I thought was really eye opening.

Speaker C00:02:56

It said this.

Speaker A00:02:57

This was from the Barna Group survey. It said 65% of Christians said they feel guilty about wanting to be financially successful.One of the reasons I do this show is I don't want you to feel guilty about being financially successful. It might not be what you expect.

Speaker C00:03:13

But if you feel guilty about this.

Speaker A00:03:16

It results in missed opportunities to truly glorify God with your resources. And that's the whole point.

Speaker C00:03:21

That's what he wants you to do.

Speaker A00:03:23

Because here's the thing. God wants your confidence. He wants your confidence, not for selfish gain. And think about that for a second. What is Ralph really saying today?It's so important that you get a grasp on this. The purpose is to free you, to serve, to free you to give, and to really free you to advance his kingdom. That's the whole point. Money is just a tool.It's not the goal. So many people get stuck on money being the goal and that's where it becomes an issue.But when it's really used as a tool to serve him, to give to him and to advance his kingdom. That's why Lord wants us to be financially confident Christians. Well, let's get right into the word of God. I found this verse in the book of Matthew.It talks all about the parable of the talents. It's a long verse. I'm not going to read it on the show today, but. But I'm encourage you to read. It's Matthew 25, verses 14 to 30.And it talks all about the servant who multiplied their resources. And guess what? It was a command of God. And so many people get hung up on this.God has entrusted what you have and he expects you to manage that wisely. And he expects you to allow that to grow. That was the whole point of the.

Speaker C00:04:30

Parable, the one that buried it, didn't let it grow.

Speaker A00:04:33

But the others let their talents grow.

Speaker C00:04:35

Let their money grow.

Speaker A00:04:37

I found this verse from second Corinthians.

Speaker C00:04:39

Chapter nine, verse eight.And I thought this really summed it up beautifully and God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work.

Speaker A00:04:52

And that's really what the confidence comes down to, it's sufficiency.

Speaker C00:04:55

You know, Maslow studies this thing called.

Speaker A00:04:57

The hierarchy of needs.

Speaker C00:04:58

And I say this on the show all the time. If you're not getting the basic needs, food, clothing and shelter, you're never going to be able to bless other people.You're never going to be able to have generosity, you're not going to be able to be a missionary, you're not going to be able to do any of those things that truly grow the kingdom.

Speaker A00:05:14

And I found this verse in the.

Speaker C00:05:15

Book of Proverbs, chapter 22:7. The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.I've used that on the show talking about debt many times, but it builds into this confidence idea as well. Because financial freedom, when you're not a slave to the lender or, or slave to your finances, it gives you the ability to serve.And one more verse today. It's a little heavy on verses today, but I thought this one was great as well. And this is from Colossians, chapter 3, verses 23 to 24.And it says this, and this could be our marching orders for today. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.I had a mentor say to me, ralph, in your business, even in secular business, work, whatever you do, work at.

Speaker A00:06:01

It with all your heart as if.

Speaker C00:06:02

You'Re working for the Lord himself, Lord as your boss. And see, managing money and managing money faithfully is an act of worship. And I love what John Wesley said.He said, earn all you can, save all you can and give all you can. And that's really the big takeaway for today. Earn all you can. Be confident in your earnings, Save all you can. But what does he end with?Give all you can. So, you know, you might be saying rough, okay, how do we align that pursuit of confidence with God's desire?I'm still a little disconnected with that.

Speaker A00:06:33

But here's what you got to do.

Speaker C00:06:34

You got to connect that financial confidence with your kingdom purpose. And when you can do that, worship and service is not self ambition. Rick Warren said this and I thought this was great. Rick said this.The way you store up treasure in heaven is by investing in getting people there. And you know what, we can all learn from that.So here's your one action step for today to really help you get to this point of truly believing that the Lord wants you to have financial confidence. It all starts with this. You got to start by defining your kingdom. Why?When I work with small business people, when I work with those folks, I always help them go to, why did I start this business? Well, you've got to think about the same thing for your personal finances. What is your kingdom? Why? What are your gifts?What is the Lord gifted you with? What are your callings? What has he called you to do? What are your passions? And ask yourself this, and this is going to really sum it up today.How would financial confidence enable me to do those things? Would it be giving more generously if you have financial confidence? Could you give more generously if you have financial confidence?Could you serve without limitations? You're not worried about making that mortgage payment or worried about that car loan or worried about paying off that mountain of debt before you.If you had more confidence, would it enable you to fund ministry or maybe be a missionary yourself or go and do outreach work? But bigger than all those things, if you had financial confidence, would it allow you to have peace of God to focus on your relationship with him?And I think that's what it really all comes down to. So start there, write it down. Write down your kingdom why? And once you do that, I want to encourage you to pray about it.Just say something like, lord, align my financial goals with your purpose. Show me how to glorify you with my resources. Because this isn't about selfish ambition. This is about how to bring that into congruence with God.Has that why for your life. And then I'm encouraged you to do one more thing, and that is link one goal to your why.For example, maybe one of your whys is you want to free up to support missions. Well, maybe one of your financial goals needs to be pay down that debt so you don't have that burden, that slave of being the borrower.As I talked about in the scripture today, maybe it's savings. If you save, maybe it'll enable you to host other families in need. I've got some great people in my own church who host people in need.So link it to that goal. And when you do these things, when you truly start to seek after that financial confidence that Christ wants you to have, it removes that guilt.You don't feel like you're chasing after something you shouldn't chase after anymore. And let me tell you right now, when you really lock into this, it provides you with motivation that you can never even imagine.And it transforms that Stewardship. We talk on the show all the time about stewardship, but what it really is is that stewardship becomes worship. And that's the whole goal.We want to worship a Lord that gives to us, to helps us to really wants us to be those financially confident Christians. Why don't we pray together now, Father God, we just thank you for entrusting us with resources.And Lord, we have to confess that sometimes we see financial confidence as selfish or we see it as worldly.But your word shows us that your desire is freedom for us, Lord, so we can serve you fully and give generously and do all the things that you want as our part of our why our kingdom? Why, Lord? So, Lord, right now we ask that you would align our hearts with your purpose. Transform our financial goals into those kingdom goals.Help us to see money as a tool for worship, not a source of guilt or not a source of something we should feel ugly or dirty about. And may our confidence bring you glory and expand your kingdom through our lives, Lord.And we ask this in ultimate confidence in the name of Jesus, Amen. God desires your confidence, not your comfort. A lot of people get hump on that. It's not talking about comfort.I'm not one of those prosperity preaching knuckleheads. He desires your confidence, but for his kingdom, not for your own comfort. So I encourage you again, define your kingdom. Why today?Really think about that as you go about your day and connect it to a financial goal. Because when your money serves God's mission, I'm going to tell you right now, guilt fades away and purpose rises. I saw this quote from Randy Alcorn.He wrote this book called the Treasure Principle. And it said this. It says, God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.And I think we can all learn from that.And as I'm talking right now, if this episode has encouraged you, if you really feel blessed by this, if you're like, Ralph, I finally get it now, I'm gonna encourage you to share it with someone who's wrestled with this tension themselves between that faith and finance stuff. Show them that confidence with money can be worship. And I'm gonna encourage you to point them right to our website.You can send them right to Financially confident Christian. And listen while they're there. And while you're there, get a copy of my latest book. It's called how to Become a Financially Confident Christian.Kind of nails today's topic. You can get that by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming and make sure you join me tomorrow.I'm going to tie it all together, and we're going to talk about a life of faithful stewardship and true peace.And that's really what the goal of this show, why I get up every day and I bring this show to you because I want you to have that faithful stewardship and and truly find God's peace. And I just want to encourage you right now. You can do this. I believe in you more than you can imagine.But more importantly than that, God believes in you. So go be that financially confident Christian that the Lord wants you to be. God bless you. Stay financially savvy, and you have a great day.