Financial Stewardship
There is an “anti-prosperity teaching” attitude in the church today,
and yet most of the people with that attitude want to prosper.
There are reasons this attitude is so prevalent. Some prosperity teachers live lifestyles that accommodate criticism. I understand that. But faith comes by hearing God’s Word (Rom. 10:17), and faith for prosperity comes by hearing teaching on prosperity. We need to know what Scripture says about prosperity.
1Chronicles 29:12 says,Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
The Lord said those who trust in Him would not lack any good thing (Ps. 34:10). Trusting in yourself or this world’s system is a recipe for disaster. It’s not in man to direct his own steps (Jer. 10:23). There’s a better way, and that’s God’s way.
But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18
God is the One who gives us power to get wealth. Notice He doesn’t give us wealth directly. He gives us the power, or ability, to get wealth. Whether you realize it or not, God is the source of your prosperity. You might say, “But I worked for this money. God didn’t give this to me. I earned it.”
Let me ask this question: What did we do to be born at this most prosperous time in history? We could have been born slaves or in a country where there aren’t economic opportunities. We didn’t give ourselves talents and abilities. We can develop our talents, but each one of us has giftings that were given to us by God. We can’t develop what God didn’t give us.
If the chemicals in your brain were just a little different, you could be stark-raving mad. If you had some debilitating handicap, you would not be able to work. So, again I say, whether you realize it or not, God is the source of your prosperity.
Financial prosperity isn’t God giving you money;
He gives you an anointing that enables you to prosper. The real asset is not the money—not the house, not the car, not the physical tangible things—it is the anointing from God to produce wealth. The real asset is the favor of God. Money isn’t prosperity; money is the byproduct of prosperity. Many Christians fall into the trap of measuring prosperity by the amount of things they have. Being prosperous is relying on God as your source.
There are people who prosper without trusting God, but it usually destroys their lives (1 Tim. 6:9). They have hardship, stress, marital problems, and on and on (1 Tim. 6:10). They might be rich, but it cost them in other areas. If you prosper God’s way, the blessing of the Lord will make you rich, and no sorrow will be added to it (Prov. 10:22).
I believe that the first step to prosperity is recognizing that you are a steward of God’s finances.
This requires a huge mindset shift from the way the world views money. The world encourages you to be an owner and not a steward. But it’s not up to you to pick and choose what you do with your finances. God has given you finances so that you’ll trust Him with them. Then He will cause you to prosper. I know that sounds too good to be true, but it is.
God has a plan for your life. Start from a position of stewardship, and let Him be the owner. You will be blessed, blessed, blessed.
When God is your source, He will supply all of your needs.
And it won’t be according to this world’s economy, with all its depressions and recessions. But your needs will be supplied according to God’s economy. That’s powerful!
Philippians 4:19 says, But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God says He’ll supply all your need! And it’s not going to be according to this world’s system. When God is your source, you will have not only a supernatural prosperity but also a peace that people of the world don’t have.
When people tithe, many of them feel that they’re giving from what they’ve earned. After all, they’re the ones who put in the work to get a paycheck. But everything would change for them if they saw themselves as handling God’s resources.
Stewards are ones who see themselves as accountable for what God has entrusted to them.
Trusting God in the area of finances is the baby step of faith. And if you can’t trust Him with that which is least, then according to what Jesus said in Luke 16, He can’t trust you with heavenly riches:
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. [11] If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? Luke 16:10-11
Some people aren’t healed because they never develop their faith in the area of finances.
Don’t misunderstand—I’m not saying that you can buy your healing. That’s wrong.
But there are people who aren’t seeing their healing manifest because they never trusted God “in that which is least” (Luke 16:10). That may not be true in every case, but it is often the problem. This is the starting place. You can’t skip this.
If you understand financial stewardship properly, it will enable you to be a blessing to others.
And just like 2 Corinthians 9:8 says—
God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.
The reason God makes grace abound toward you is so you’ll abound—give—to every good work. The real motive behind finances shouldn’t be to get—it should be to give. This is a critical point.
Many people who reject teaching on biblical prosperity do so because they see it as selfish or greedy. They say, “I’ve got enough. I may not be rich, but I have a roof over my head and my basic needs covered. I don’t want or need anymore.”
But that is the selfish attitude.
If you have all you need, trust God for more so you can help others. The thinking that says “I’ve got enough—forget everyone else” is the truly selfish attitude. We need to prosper, not so we can have more, but so we can be a bigger blessing.
The Lord told Abram that He would bless him and make him a blessing (Gen. 12:2). You can’t give away what you don’t have. Abram couldn’t be a blessing to others until he had been blessed.
Likewise, you and I cannot fulfill God’s purposes for our lives without receiving His prosperity.
God’s kingdom cannot advance without God’s people prospering. We need this revelation. We need to know how to prosper God’s way.
I’ve been called by God to raise up Charis Bible College, which will transform the lives of tens of thousands of people who, in turn, will affect the body of Christ all over the world. This is big, and it takes a lot of money to accomplish this. I pray that you, my partners, will allow God to accomplish His pleasure toward you by prospering you unto every good work (Ps. 35:27).
Thank You, Jesus.
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2020
Recession? No Thanks—I’m Not Participating!
Our media buyer called me recently with an emphatic question:
“Andrew, what in the world are you doing over there at AWM?”
He then proceeded to tell me that most of the ministries he works with and others that he knows about are drastically cutting back or, at best, struggling just to meet their obligations. “Yet you guys are expanding and growing by leaps and bounds. What’s the deal?” he asked.
I could have answered that question in a number of ways. For example, God has given us the right message at the right time in history. That’s true. I believe the time has come when the world is longing for the message of God’s grace and unconditional love, and He has prepared us to deliver that message.
Or perhaps I could have answered that it’s our Television Department. We have some of the best and most creative people in America working in Television. Surely that could be the reason for our success. Maybe it’s marketing, the way we present the ministry to the public, or our customer care and prayer ministry provided through the Phone Center. Or maybe it’s just the result of good money management.
Business experts might tell us it’s the combination of all these things that has made this ministry prosper.
And although I have learned over the years how important it is to have great people and a well-run ministry, I don’t believe that’s the main reason we are so blessed.
Right before my mother’s death in June 2009, she asked me to tell her all the things that were happening with the ministry. I talked about all our Bible colleges worldwide, how many letters and calls we were getting, and many of the miraculous testimonies of lives that were being changed.
And then, as only a mother can do, she said, “Andy, you know that’s the Lord doing all of that.” I said, “Yes, Mother, I know it’s the Lord.” Then she said, “You aren’t smart enough to do that.”
Wow! Now you know where I got my bluntness. But that’s absolutely true. Although the Lord has given Jamie and me some of the best and most creative people in any ministry, it is not our great wisdom or talents that are causing these miraculous results.
The only thing we can really take credit for is holding on to the Lord with all we have,and He is taking us for the ride of our lives.
Some of you may remember the letter I wrote in December of 2008. It was a letter of hope at a time when many people were beginning to panic about the economic downturn. All the news was predicting a depression that would mirror the Great Depression. And, as usual, the exaggerated predictions of those in the media never materialized.
Yet many of us are still buying into the lie that they can’t prosper during these times. So, I think we all need to hear that message of hope once again during this Christmas season. THE SKY IS NOT FALLING, JESUS IS STILL ON THE THRONE, AND HIS WORD IS STILL TRUE.
In Genesis, we learn that Isaac went through hard times too. There was a famine in the land (Gen. 26:1), and remember that Isaac was a stranger in that land. He didn’t own any property. But the Philistines around him panicked. They didn’t work their fields. What was the use? There was a famine in the land, but Isaac saw it as an opportunity and took advantage of their idle fields.
Genesis 26:12 says, “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.”
This happened during a drought! What was he doing sowing seed when they were in a drought? He was believing God! That’s what we should do.
Since there was a drought, others hadn’t planted, and food was in short supply. Isaac got premium prices for his crops. The next few verses go on to tell about how Isaac became so prosperous that Abimelech, the king of Gerar, came to him and asked him to leave because he was more prosperous than that whole nation.
“For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him…. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we” (Gen. 26:14 and 16).
This is the news we as believers should be listening to. We have promises from the Lord that He will provide our needs according to His riches IN GLORY by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19). We aren’t limited to this world’s economy!
Let those who only trust in money panic.
In God we trust (Ps. 91:2, 118:8-9; Is. 12:2, 26:4; and Nah. 1:7). We should be rejoicing.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t make adjustments. If you bought into this world’s philosophy of “get all you can and get it by mortgaging your future,” then come to your senses, and follow the principles of God’s Word. Even if you’ve been burned, you’ve learned a valuable lesson, and now you can go forward with a new focus on the Lord as your source.
Let me point out the obvious: This is not a time to cut back on your sowing. You will only reap what you sow (Gal. 6:7). This is a time to believe God as never before. This is our greatest hour. We can demonstrate to the world, as Isaac did, that there is a God in heaven who blesses His people even in the worst times.
In December of 2008, I countered this negative mindset by making some very bold, God-inspired predictions of my own. I didn’t know the details, the difficulties we would face, or the exact cost, but I went on record and said that we were going to build to accommodate growth. Instead of cutting back, we were going to expand, even during a time of “recession.”
We simply refused to participate in the recession.
I know many people thought I was crazy or foolish or both, but here are some stats that might make them think again:
Within a year, we had purchased the 157 acres in Woodland Park that we call The Sanctuary. The hard economic times worked to our advantage and allowed us to purchase this prime real estate for pennies on the dollar. We are now in the process of developing that property into our new Charis Bible College (CBC) campus that will allow our college to grow to at least 3,000 students.
We finally went on the Trinity Broadcasting Network with a daily program in February 2011. This has resulted in 60,000 new people contacting us for the first time this year. That’s a 40 percent increase over the previous year. Our phone calls have nearly doubled to a monthly average of over 30,000. We now have over 1 million visits to our website each month. More people are being reached with this good-news Gospel than ever before. And our ministry income has doubled since December 2008. Thank You, Jesus!
I know someone is thinking, This is just because you are a big ministry. Well, I know plenty of ministries, large and small, that haven’t had these results. And this hasn’t been limited to our ministry. Jamie and I had some money in the stock market from Jamie’s inheritance. When the stock market went down 50 percent in late 2008 to early 2009, our stocks increased 61 percent. Hallelujah! This was because of our faith in the Lord and our refusal to participate in the recession.
The Lord is not a respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11). What He has done for Jamie and me and this ministry, He wants to do for you. But you have to cooperate. You have to reach out by faith to receive the grace God has for you.
Along with the predictions I made in December 2008, I taught a short, two-part series called In God We Trust. I believe what I taught in this series expresses the heart of what caused these miraculous results, and I encourage you to get a copy of this teaching.
Listen to it in light of the testimony I’ve given in this letter. Compare what I believed with what has happened. You can’t help but come to the conclusion that faith in God’s grace works, and it will work for you too. I know this perspective will challenge you, but remember—as you think in your heart, that’s the way it’s going to be (Prov. 23:7). So, if recession comes knocking, open your door, and with a loud, faith-filled voice, say this: “No thanks—my family and I aren’t participating.”
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2020
Praise and Thanksgiving or Fear and Worry… You Choose
I’ve been waiting two years to write this letter. It was two years ago, October of 2005, that I was holding a series of meetings in Scotland.
The avian flu virus (bird flu) hit with all its force. The authorities were killing birds by the thousands in the U.K.
It dominated the news.” I watched the BBC interview of a leading medical “expert” in Britain who was hitting the public panic button. “
When asked about the possibility of this disease mutating from birds to humans, he stated emphatically that it wasn’t a matter of IF, but WHEN.
Then he said, and I quote, “It might be one or two years at the most, but one-third of the world’s population will die by this avian flu pandemic.” Two years were up last month, and to date, worldwide there have only been a dozen or two human deaths attributed to this avian, or bird, flu.
While it is sad that there has been any loss of life from this disease, it certainly hasn’t been one-third of the world’s population. This stands as yet another classic example of how we are systematically misled, or out and out lied to, on a daily basis by the all-pervasive media.
Some may think my assessment of this is a little “overboard.” After all, the “expert” was only sounding a warning about what could happen, but I suggest that it was this “expert” that was “overboard.” He didn’t say this might happen or that this would be a worst-case scenario; he said emphatically that it would happen, and he predicted over two billion deaths in two years from this pandemic.
It is the philosophy of the world to overstate everything and predict the worst possible outcome. Anyone who has had dealings with doctors has experienced this. Liability issues cause them to state worst-case scenarios. The world considers this wisdom. They don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but it is hope that keeps this world from imploding.
We will never know how many people became depressed or lived in fear because of this report. However, we do know that these predictions had a big impact on the poultry industry worldwide. In addition, where are the animal lovers who cry “foul” (pardon the pun) at the slaughter of poor defenseless animals? All these “experts” have been issued a pass.
Moreover, it’s not just the secular media that has all the doomsday prophets. Remember the Y2K scare? The secular press didn’t make a big deal out of this, but all the Christian media were predicting the worst. Churches were selling six-month supplies of emergency food, generators, and were urging people to move out of the cities.
One pastor I know encouraged people to buy guns and learn how to use them for protection during the panic that was predicted to come on January 1, 2000. There were many who proclaimed this as the beginning of the Tribulation period.
The dawning of the new millennium turned out to be a nonevent. Those who led the body of Christ into the Y2K panic mode responded by saying nobody was hurt but that it was wisdom to be prepared, just in case. But I personally know people who moved, losing tens of thousands of dollars on the sale of their house. Marriages fell apart under the strain. People hoarded food and other basic necessities, suffering from fear in anticipation of the terrible things to come.
You don’t spend months or years nurturing fear and panic and then just turn it off the next day.
These spiritual forces are very detrimental to our spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Our world has become addicted to fear. If there aren’t enough negative things going on, then the media will manufacture something for us to worry about.
I’ve only used two notable examples of this, but the same thing happens hundreds of times each day. We are inundated with bad news and dire predictions that affect our overall outlook and emotions.
This is the exact opposite of how the Bible tells us to live.
Philippians 4:6 says,
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
The Greek word that was translated “careful” means, “to be anxious.” We aren’t supposed to be anxious about anything. Now let me ask you a question and please give an honest answer: Do you get anxious? The dictionary defines “anxious” as,
“Apprehensive; worried.” Do you live with apprehension and worry? Sadly, most people would have to say yes.
The next verse, Philippians 4:7, gives us the results of a person who is careful for nothing.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
This is the scriptural test to see where you are on this issue. Is there a peace that passes all understanding keeping your heart and mind healthy? Remember, your life goes the way of your dominate thoughts (Prov. 23:7 and Rom. 12:2). If you want to control your life, control your thoughts.
This leads to the next verse in this Philippians passage. Paul said,
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8).
If we followed the instruction of this verse, our lives would be totally different. We certainly couldn’t be as dominated by the media as we are. I don’t think anyone believes that the media is honest, just, and pure, reporting the things that are lovely, of good report, have virtue, and are worthy of praise.
I know people want to be informed. So they always have the concern that if they stop listening and watching, they will miss out on something.
However, the vast majority of what would be missed is fear, confusion, and discouragement. And if something really big like a war, a terrorist attack, or a natural disaster occurs, I guarantee, they would hear about it.
The question is, how do we counter the negativism of the world, even the church world, that crowds in on us from every direction?
Isaiah 26:3 says,
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
Most of us long for peace, and Christians especially desire to live in this place of perfect peace. However, this scripture states very plainly that perfect peace comes from God, and more specifically from keeping our minds stayed on God and trusting in Him. Begin with that.
Then, I believe one of the greatest antidotes is thanksgiving and praise.
When we thank God for all His blessings, it refocuses our attention from the negative to the positive things in our lives. Sure, all of us have problems. We live in a fallen world, but God is good, and God’s goodness to us is greater than all of the Enemy’s attacks.
Every one of us has much to be thankful for and more than enough reason to be praising Him. We just need to put everything into perspective. Paul praised God after being beaten, stoned, whipped, and thrown in jail. Then he said these were but light afflictions that last for a moment, nothing to be compared to eternal things (2 Cor. 4:17-18).
Paul understood that praise coming from a thankful heart has great power. It will build you up spiritually, it is a source of strength, it is a powerful weapon against the devil, and it ministers to the Lord, just to mention a few. My series and book The Effects of Praise will help you understand more about its effects. You will learn that it is a source of peace, joy, pleasure, and contentment in every area of your life. It will change your perspective.
The benefits of praise and thankfulness are too numerous to mention in this letter, but I think it’s very appropriate to be thinking about them as we celebrate what I believe to be the most sacred holiday in America. It was set aside just to give thanks and has not been diluted with things like little rabbits and reindeer.
Thank You, Jesus.
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