These days when you scan the Internet it won’t take you very long to find the latest get-rich-quick guru. From coaching and coffee to lotions and potions, it seems like just about everyone has a plan to take you from financial zero to hero if you’re just willing to follow their 3, 5, 10, or 21 step plan to untold riches. I often wonder are most of these people already wealthy or are they trying to get there by convincing you and everyone else to buy their product or invest into their process.
Unfortunately, this same mindset often pervades many churches. From misconstrued name-it-and-claim-it teaching to manipulative blab-it-and-grab-it “prophe-lies”, countless Christians have been led into a big vault of disappointment when the fickle formulas they have subscribed to don’t work for them. Like the woman with the issue of blood who spent all her money on doctors who couldn’t fix her, after all these years too many of God’s children are still spiritually and financially sick.
God’s Way is Always the Best Way
One of the key things about the subject of wealth you must understand is that God is not against money or you having it. In fact He gave you the power to get it and a lot of it (Deuteronomy 8:18). However, the problem comes when you don’t recognize why He wants you to have it. He desires you to have wealth for His purposes and His alone. Your aspiration to have money for any reason other than His plans will get you in trouble.
Christians can’t do things the world’s way and expect to get blessed by God. When it comes to building wealth God has already provided a fail-proof blueprint for your success. He laid out the prescription for acquiring earthly wealth that won’t leave you eternally bankrupt.
So it only makes sense that we start at the top of the list in terms of gleaning from a godly man that God blessed with great wealth. That would be Solomon, who many historians have calculated as the richest man that ever lived. In 2 Chronicles 1, we can analyze how God interacted with Solomon to extract principles and a pattern by which we can grow through our application of these key learnings.
Principle #1: Worship
The first step on this godly wealth pathway is worship that originates in prayer. Solomon was given a new assignment and his first inclination was to seek God for direction. He recognized the gravity of the opportunity that was before him and chose not to hang his success solely on his own talents, knowledge, expertise, or anything else that originated from himself. Instead he demonstrated to God his complete humility, submission, and dependence on Him to flourish in this new venture.
Prayer is the incubator of divine revelation, wisdom, and witty inventions. Our efforts to grow financially will be multiplied when we rely more on the Spirit of God and less on our earthly abilities. This dependence will allow you to accelerate your success, reduce unnecessary trial and error, and shorten the gap between busyness and effectiveness.
When you make God the center of who you are and what you do through genuine worship, it changes how you relate to the things that confront you including:
- Promoting God above your circumstances.
- Giving Him permission to be Lord over your situations.
- Inviting His presence, priorities, and provision into your projects.
- Refocusing your mind on God instead of on your need so you look at your need from the perspective of God, not at God from the perspective of your need.
Therefore, you should always go into worship seeking instructions, not toting your list of requests or demands. Your approach should be to ask, “What do you want me to do?” versus asking Him to bless your plan which He didn’t initiate or that may not be best for you.
Further, while it’s very important to have a strong work ethic, your efforts will be less frustrating and more fruitful and fulfilling when you consistently spend quality time in prayer listening more than talking. It’s foolish to just rely on working hard to get wealth when God gives supernatural strength and favor to accelerate processes that would take much longer without His intervention. More time with God will mean less time attempting things that don’t work.
Principle #2: Wisdom
The second step on this godly wealth pathway is wisdom to lead His people. In Genesis, God called everything He created “good.” It wasn’t until Adam and Eve were created that He said His creation was “very good.” Therefore, Solomon recognized that God was entrusting him with stewarding the most significant thing He created, which is people. He knew he needed nothing less than the wisdom of God to do this well.
The most important thing that you can acquire in this life is wisdom. It is the key to getting everything else that is meaningful and significant for a prosperous, God-honoring life.
Why is wisdom so important? Because it’s an absolutely essential asset needed to lead God’s people where He wants them to go. God is in the people business. And if you don’t possess the critical understanding of how to apply divine knowledge in ways that benefit the people He gives you influence over, you will repeatedly makes mistakes – and hurt people – that could have been avoided.
When you are passionately concerned about the well being of the people Jesus died for, you place yourself in the middle of God’s bulls-eye to receive the divine insights you need to provide for their needs. However, if all you care about is getting your projects done you have missed the point of your life and will miss out on priceless revelation. Do you care more about people or your projects?
The purpose of your projects should be to bless people. His wisdom provides creative strategies and tools to develop solutions, solve problems, resolve issues, and change lives. When you can do this effectively on a consistent basis you will attract influence and financial blessings.
God is looking for men and women who will lead His people with integrity and skill, especially in the marketplace (Psalm. 78:72). If He can trust you to love and empower people on a small scale, He can trust you with massive resources to do it on a large scale.
Principle #3: Work
The third step on this godly wealth pathway is work. After Solomon received His incredible prophetic promises from God, He went to work doing what kings do. He didn’t sit around waiting for the proverbial “check in the mail.” Instead as a result of the business transactions he initiated and participated in, he was able to bring extraordinary financial value to the kingdom of Israel and himself.
Sadly, too many Christians fail to see the value of work. They mistakenly think work is a curse. Work is a blessing that God provided to Adam before sin entered the world. The blessing is the opportunity for you to exercise your God-given gifts to bring glory to Him and resources to people.
Your work honors God. Also, when you work you are reflecting your Creator. However, when you disdain the concept of work you devalue one of the most significant characteristics that God designed you with to represent Him. And why would He bless you with abundance in response to an ungrateful attitude? He doesn’t.
One of the biggest reasons why Christians have an adversarial relationship towards work is usually because the job they go to everyday has nothing to do with their purpose. Whether you went after that job out of a sense of desperation, obligation, or the pursuit of money, dissatisfaction has come because you are not operating in the optimal environment to display or maximize the specific gifts and talents God deposited in you before you were born. And until you reposition to doing something more closely connected to what you were created to do, you will be frustrated professionally, spiritually, relationally, and financially.
Financial frustrations lead to financial futility. One reason is because you are not motivated to produce at the level of your potential that would command greater compensation. Another reason is God is not releasing greater financial blessings because you would get complacent and stay where you are instead of moving to a career lane that is more in line with your purpose-gift mix.
Get On The Path
God’s goal is not for you to get wealth by chasing a job or business venture. He wants you to chase Him, so He can reveal your purpose and the best way to capitalize on it in relation to positively impacting people. When you chase God as your number one priority, you don’t have to worry about chasing money because it will chase you.
God desires that you prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. However, godly prosperity can only come through Him. Solomon is a great example for us to learn that God’s way to wealth is a continuous cycle of worship, wisdom, and work. Do you desire great wealth to come into your life? Pursue God with your whole heart, apply the wisdom He gives, and use your gifts and resources to fervently serve people and solve problems with compassion, creativity, and excellence. Then trust God to do the rest.
Paul Wilson, Jr., President of Kingdom Business University, is a faith-based entrepreneurship educator, small business advocate, and community development catalyst who utilizes multiple media platforms to deliver his fervent messages of personal and professional empowerment. His first book, “Dream B.I.G. in 3D: How to Pursue a Bold, Innovative, God-Inspired Life,” has helped countless numbers of people transfer the concept of a fulfilling life purpose into an abundant reality. Learn more about how Paul can help you unleash your passion on purpose at www.paulwilsonjr.com.
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